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Business

Would You Want to Know Your Competitor’s Strategy?

Bill A.

A story surfaced today on TechCrunch.com claiming that a Facebook employee boasted the company “has obtained copies of proprietary Google documents outlining their social strategy.” Besides being way uncool to yammer on about at a cocktail party, it poses an interesting question: Would you even want to know your competitors’ plans?MORE…

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Another Reason To Hate The Yankees

Patrick Griffin

Every April, hope springs eternal for all 30 teams across Major League Baseball. For some teams, that hope can peter out after a poor couple of months. The knock on Major League Baseball is that the same few teams make it to the playoffs every year, without the parity seen in other leagues. like football’s NFL.

But today, in July, MLB wants to give you a reason to believe in your team. More specifically, they want you to give them some cash to give you a reason to believe in your team.MORE…

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Tune In, Turn On

Ted Nelson

Someone recently forwarded me a list of important leadership characteristics, from the U.S. Air Force of all places, as part of their program to identify “emerging leaders.” The list resulted from a comprehensive review of knowledge on the subject of leadership, and results in eight concise characteristics:MORE…

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Eco Surfboards: Will the industry land a 360?

Mike J.

A lot of surfers feel guilty about their most prized possessions being made from pollutants, but it hasn’t always been this way. Here’s a quick timeline of surfboard design (according to the Internet):MORE…

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My Bags and Me

Rocky P.

Ladies and gentlemen, the Captain has turned on the Fasten Seat Belt Sign; please make sure your pocket books are in their upright and open positions.

Earlier this week Spirit Airlines put a price on placing bags in overhead bins; now, depending on whether travelers ‘pre-reserve’ their place in advance or enroll in the ‘Ultra-Low Fare Club,’ their ticket prices fly an extra $20 to $45 – not exactly peanuts.MORE…

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A Kleenex and a Communispace?

Jimmy Z.

I think it’s interesting when clients or members refer to their community as “a Communispace.” For example, when a client says, “Can you help so-and-so access our Communispace?” Or when a member says, “I belong to the XYZ Communispace.”

It is reminiscent of other companies whose names have achieved noun status —Kleenex, Zipper, Velcro—and some that have even been lucky enough to become verbs, ‘googling’ and ‘xeroxing.’ In a similar fashion, “a Communispace” has become shorthand for the unique sui generis experience that is a Communispace community.MORE…

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Transformations in Next-Generation Research

Diane H.

One of the best parts of my job is that I get to spend significant time with Communispace clients. My goal is to meet with at least 50 clients in the course of a year, and when I see them, I often ask these questions: What have you learned since we last met? What is changing in your field? What did you used to think was true that no longer is?

The answers are always fascinating—and recently, we synthesized comments from 100 insights professionals about their “New Normal.” The result is a list of 8 New Rules for Listening to Customers. As follow-up, we’ve gotten reactions from another 200 people, and we are currently getting additional responses from attendees at the recent ARF Re:think Conference in NYC where I’ll be presenting these to a large audience for the first time.MORE…

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The Risk of Not Making Mistakes

Bill A.

Risk is a tricky concept. Business typically wants to limit, manage, or mitigate it. Eliminating risk altogether probably would be seen as the ultimate success (thank you, Six Sigma). But in life, most great things don’t come without some level of risk.

Getting married, having kids, quitting a job, taking a new one. Think of any of the biggest developments in your life or the broader world around you and I’d bet none of those happen without a fair amount of risk.MORE…

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