RSS streams, Tweets, eBooks, email, meetings, phone calls, magazines, social media, and books, to name a few, I propose 2010 the year of less noise and more decisions.   

We are swimming, some might say drowning, in communication saturation*.  Nearing the end of the year I thought to post this blog to share with others my goal to manage noise and get an idea from many of you how you approach information and communication saturation to break ourselves from being slaves of the feed**.

Knowledge i...
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Cultures are characterized by how things are done around here.  Culture is sometimes adopted from the founder, sometimes developed consciously by teams who try to improve performance, and sometimes culture is formed in reaction to a lack of leadership or need for survival.

Culture emerges from collective:

• behavior,
• values,
• norms,
• assumptions,
• expectations, and
• process

When organization culture is set, it is difficult to change.  Reasons you need to change an organization culture might include:...
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Meetings, meetings, and more meetings.  We have meetings to clear up confusion, to communicate, to interact, to make decisions, to listen, and to collaborate.  Too many meetings end without clear decisions and too often it is not until after the meeting is finished when the real conversations begin when people:

• complain about not being heard,
• complain about pushy agendas,
• hold back their cooperatation,
• complain about lack of involvement

Those type of meetings waste time and create acrimony, which ...
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Technology enables information, but why are so many information technology projects failing? 

• 74% of all projects fail, come in over budget, or run past the original deadline*
• 90% of major Information Technology (IT) project initiatives fail to be completed on time and on budget*
• A survey by the international consulting firm KPMG finds that 56% of IT projects globally fail, but believe that 56% is an underestimation of the scale of the problem
• UK IT Director Forum Certus believes that failure ra...

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First in a series of investigations into the death of the music industry record business.

Background:  I went to Berklee College of Music as a conducting and arranging major.  I switched my major to music business mid-way when I discovered how lawyers and accountants make the major decisions about the music I heard.  I wanted to change that from a performer perspective. 

I worked 3 years in the record business and became convinced something was wrong with the record business model (1989-92).  ...
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I have not heard a more savaged social media tool than the negative comments I hear about Twitter.

What do I hear time and again about Twitter?  "I don't want to hear that someone is waiting in line for coffee.  I don't care".  My response:  if you have boring friends, you have boring conversations. Twitter is opt-in on who follow and who can follow you, just as LinkedIn and Facebook, are also opt-in.  You choose who to follow and receive Tweets from, you don't have to follow anyone's Tweets. ...

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I see and read so much about offers to teach or facilitate innovation, but what is innovation?

• Innovation is risk
• Innovation is dialogue
• Innovation is opportunity (also known as diversity)

Are you innovative:  Do you ask good questions or do you listen without judgment or without looking to interrupt?  Do you allow yourself and people around you to remain in the moment?  Have people told you that you are a good listener?  Are you known to cultivate, mentor, or develop others or are you surrounde...
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