All Companies Are Tech

My wife's 70 year old aunt, who is a Catholic Nun and lives in Rome, visited us last week. After getting settled in the guest room the first thing she asked was if we had high-speed wireless. She pulled out her laptop and logged into the server of her religious order in Italy. From our kitchen table she was able to work remotely.

I had the pleasure to be the keynote speaker at a conference for 400 people in the IT Department of a Fortune 500 Company this week. This was not a "tech" company (think food service), but it was amazing to see their dedication to technology and innovation. They are deeply committed to finding ways to make the customer experience better and more efficient. Additionally, the organization has harnessed technology to improve the human interactions of their employees and boost their corporate culture. They accomplish this by developing proprietary technology tools and honoring the power of their electronic world.

I am just old enough to remember the days before technology was pervasive. I recall manual cash registers in some stores when I was a kid (Think of the sound "Cha-Ching"). My first memories of television is 5 stations on a black and white set with "rabbit ears". I lived in the times when mobile phones required the company of a briefcase. And yes, I typed on an Apple LISA and a Commodore 64 (we did not own a computer, but some of my friends with progressive parents had these early models).

I point this out because I believe people around the world are taking technology for granted. The tools we use today have only been around in many ways for about 15-20 years. A lot has changed in that short amount of time. What seemed so magical two decades ago is common place today. The Science fiction of the 1970s and 1980s is standard issue in 2010.

Living in Austin, Texas I have seen a lot of changes in the "tech industry". Now I think we are all in the "tech" business... no matter what we do for a living. All companies are "tech" and that is a good thing.

I see this in my own world as a speaker, author and publisher. New Year Publishing recently launched a new division, NYP Digital Media. The purpose of this group is to help authors (NYP published, self-published, and otherwise) to migrate their products to the iPad, iPhone, Kindle, Android, Blackberry, audio CD's,video products, iTunes Store, iBookstore, Nook, and beyond. Writing a book is no longer just about the book, it is about the technology of digital publishing and print!

Take a few minutes to look at all the ways technology impacts your life. If you are even reading this blog post you are right in the middle of it, and I bet you take it for granted, too!

Looking at the changes over the last couple of decades I am excited to see what the next 20 years has in store (I am sure many more things that require a monthly service fee.... grrrrrrr).

Have A Great Day.

thom

Social Media, Web 2.0, Changing Communication Styles and The Great Flood

Much of the focus in the business world is moving away from the organization and toward the individual. With this I am perplexed as to if the individual can handle this power.

Not any specific individuals, as there are amazing people in all organizations (corporations, non-profits, religious, political, social, etc....), but there are also many lost souls who look for direction from others. I wonder if our moves toward a decentralized model leave many people on the sidelines looking for guidance. Are the haves and have nots no longer just divided by economics, but also by their ability to embrace the changes that the digital world is bringing into our lives?

Those who are natural leaders and entrepreneurs are seeming to thrive in this new transparent environment. Many of the people I know are striving to excel in the new online social media world that is now finding its way out of the fringes and into more traditional industries. You see them writing and reading blogs, active in social media (Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter and beyond), while creating new opportunities for themselves and their employers all at the same time. These people are out front into this brave new world.

Yet where there are leaders, there must be followers. But in this case I see much of the movement being in an individualistic parade. All the leaders seem to simultaneously be following each other.

The blogosphere and Twitter are a great example of the leaders all linking together. People have power that has never existed before to build their personal brand in exciting new ways. They do not need to have the platform of a larger organization to succeed. They self-select the community and bathe in the circular adoration.

This allows many to express themselves and cultivate a persona that extends beyond what it says on their office door or their business card: A business professional can turn their hobby into a side career. An entrepreneur can be a philanthropist and build both a company and discover ways to impact those in need. Anyone can make their own version of art and share it with the world. People who create a following have a voice that transcends the noise of Web 2.0.

But what about the rest of the people who have not the drive or the clarity of self? Those who do good work when given direction, but will never use their internal initiative on their own, are left to languish on the sidelines while the corporate and political structure of society shifts.

I am not here stating that online social media in of itself changes the infrastructure of the planet. However, it is not a fad that will soon fade away. The new methods of communication are having an impact on people. As the younger generations grow up to assume their roles in shaping our society, there will be drastic changes.

The differences between the campaign infrastructure and communication styles of the Barak Obama campaign and that of John McCain are just a scratch on the surface of things to come (and not just in politics). A new area is being ushered in and regardless of if you are 15 or 50, you need to be conscious this or you will be left behind.

We are being swallowed up by a great flood of information. Everyone is bombarded by choices like not other time in history. Many are looking for ways to embrace and capitalize on the massive amounts of information. Others are ignoring the rain and assuming the sun will come out tomorrow. Yes, there will be sun, but it will shine on a different world.

I don't have the answers, but I do suggest we all look at the questions. This is a time for the "Big Tent Thinkers" I have referenced in past blog posts. Do not close your small tent to new ideas. Allow all perspectives to be put in front of you for observation and contemplation. Look beyond what you know and welcome the future.

Have A Great Day.

thom

Coolhunting The Future

I read an interesting book, Coolhunting: Chasing Down The Next Big Thing, by Peter Gloor and Scott Cooper. While parts of the book were a bit too academic (statisticians and PhD's will love those parts!!!), the message of the books was very compelling.

Trends are spread through people who are networked. To study the phenomena of what becomes "cool" they find that when people are connected, and how they interact, plays a valuable role in driving popularity of trends.

Groups of people working together for the common good through Collaborative Innovate Networks can accomplish more than those same people would in isolation. One example is bee hives. Researchers have found that bees do not break off from the hive to start their own hive the way that humans might leave a company to start a competitive firm (although there are situations when a hive becomes too large that a new queen comes in and the old queen takes half the workers, but this is for the collective good). Bees always perform with the good of the entire group as their central motivation.

Our human culture is changing faster than ever, and the those who are out in front are not just starting trends, but are cultivation their popularity. When focused on extreme communication with those in your network (both give and take), you can influence the future. This means that you have to be paying attention to what is happening around you and engage others in conversation about how these trends effect you today and in the future. To do anything less is to just sit and wait for the tide of change to engulf you and sweep you along to destinations determined by others.

Become proactive within your network. Educate yourself about what is changing. Evangelize for the common good. Strike the passion in the hearts of others. Change the world for the better. The opportunities are available each of us to make a difference. Let's do just that.

Have A Great Day.

thom
www.thomsinger.com

The 50 Who Matter Now

The cover story of the July 2007 Business 2.o Magazine is "The 50 Who Matter Now", a list of the top 50 most influential people in the technology world (okay, some are companies or industries, as ever since Time Magazine named "You" the person of the year, such generalizations are all the rage). And lets face it, those who matter in tech matter to all of us.

As I read through this conglomeration of important names (some whom I had heard of - others I had not) I kept pondering how cool it would be to be in the same room with all these folks. It would be the networking event to end all networking events. The term "Power Networking" would show this party as an example on the web pages of Jimmy Wales' (number thirteen) Wikipedia.

Imagine for a moment finding yourself as the 51st person in the room of a classic grand old hotel ball room, having the chance to network with those who are changing the future over wine, cheese and some fancy salmon dinner.

What would you ask Steve Jobs (number two) or Fake Steve Jobs (number thirty-seven)? Would your conversation with Richard Branson (number thirty-three) warrant his sending you a handwritten follow up note? Could you and Jeff Bezos (number twelve) develop a mutually beneficial friendship that would lead to future business opportunities? Or would he at least send you a free Amazon.com gift certificate?

This fictional, yet amazing, dinner party would in itself change the world, as I believe that when true visionaries are put together, anything can happen (and usually does).

Here is the list of Business 2.0's 50 Who Matter Now:

1. Eric Schmidt, Larry Page, and Sergey Brin, CEO and co-founders, Google

2. Steve Jobs, Co-founder and CEO, Apple

3. Private Equity, The new Masters of the Universe

4. Michael Moritz, Managing director, Sequoia Capital

5. Paul Jacobs, CEO, Qualcomm

6. Rupert Murdoch, CEO, Newscorp

7. Susan Decker, Executive vice president, Yahoo!

8. Arnold Schwarzenegger, Governor, California

9. John Chambers, CEO, Cisco

10. Katsuaki Watanabe, President, Toyota

11. Brian McAndrews, CEO, aQuantive

12. Jeff Bezos, CEO, Amazon

13. Jimmy Wales, Founder Wikipedia

14. Mark Hurd, CEO and president, Hewlett-Packard

15. Bruce Chizen, CEO, Adobe

16. Barry Diller, CEO IAC/InterActiveCorp

17. Robin L, Co-founder and CEO, Baidu.com

18. Agile Software Development, A new appraoch to Web-based code

19. Martin Eberhard, Co-founder and CEO Tesla Motors

20. Shigeru Miyamoto, Senior managing director, Nintendo

21. Randall Stephenson, Chairman and CEO, AT&T

22. Michael Arrington, Founder, TechCrunch

23. Min Kao, Co-founder and CEO, Garmin

24. Tony Fadell, Senior vice-president, Apple

25. Philip Rosedale, Founder and CEO, Linden Labs

26. Tom Cogan, Chief project engineer, Boeing

27. Janus Friis and Niklas Zennstrom, Co-founders, Skype and Joost

28. Reed Hundt, Vice chairman, Frontline Wireless

29. Nicholas Negroponte, Chairman, One Laptop Per Child

30. Charles Phillips, President, Oracle

31. Mukesh Ambani and Anil Ambani, Chairman Reliance Industries and chairman, Reliance ADA Group

32. Indra Nooyi, CEO, PepsiCo

33. Richard Branson, Founder, Virgin Group

34. Mark Zuckerberg, Founder and CEO, Facebook

35. Howard Draft, Chairman and CEO DraftFCB

36. Kevin Walsh, Managing director of renewable energy, GE Energy Financial Services

37. Fake Steve Jobs, Author, Secret Diary of Steve Jobs

38. Arianna Huffington, Co-founder, Huffington Post

39. John Edmond, Co-founder, Cree

40. Sam Zell, Real estate magnate and media kingpin

41. Tim O'Reilly, Founder and CEO, O'Reilly Media

42. Doug Melton, Co-director, Harvard Stem Cell Institute

43. Elon Musk, Bleeding-edge entrepreneur

44. Evan Williams, Founder, Twitter

45. You, Web-enabled mass participation

46. Paul Graham, Founding partner, Y Combinator

47. Ed Iacobucci and Vern Raburn, CEO, DayJet and CEO, Eclipse Aviation

48. Gina Bianchini, CEO, Ning

49. Jason Calacanis, CEO, Mahalo

50. Jay Adelson, Chariman and CEO, Digg and Revision3

So if you and I cannot get invited to this party, we need to be on the look out for others who have the vision and the ability to influence change or to do it ourselves. Seek out dynamic people and learn from them. Help them achieve their ideas that are transforming the world of business, and share in the glory of accomplishment.

One side note, as the father of two highly spirited daughters, I am sad to see so few women on this list of those who inspire and motivate. By the time my kids are grown, I hope that that will have changed!!!

Have A Great Day.