Wikinomics & Mass Collaboration
Today, encyclopedias, jetliners, operating systems, mutual funds, and many other items are being created by teams numbering in the thousands or even millions. While some leaders fear the heaving growth of these massive online communities, Wikinomics is an approach to put this fear to rest. Smart firms can harness collective capability and genius to spur innovation, growth, and success. Based on a ... posted on Aug 02 2007, 2,033 reads

What Foundations Learn From Failure
Among the reports on a coffee table in the Carnegie Corporation’s reception area is one on the foundation’s efforts to help Zimbabwe overhaul its Constitution and government. It gets straight to the point: “This is the anatomy of a grant that failed.” Just a few years ago, it would have been astonishing for a foundation, particularly one as traditional as Carnegie, to publicize a failure. ... posted on Jul 27 2007, 2,095 reads

The Making of a Good Decision-Maker
Good decision-makers may be made, not born, says a Carnegie Mellon University and RAND Corp. study. People who do well on a series of decision-making tasks involving hypothetical situations tend to have more positive decision outcomes in their lives, according to decision scientists. The results suggest that it may be possible to improve the quality of people's lives by teaching them better decisi... posted on Jun 19 2007, 2,353 reads

The Value of Outlandish Ideas
"When I founded The Body Shop I just wanted a means to support myself and my two daughters. When I applied for a loan to start a small shop in1976, the man behind the desk looked as if I’d asked him to shave his head. A woman? Running a business? How preposterous, he obviously thought. My company went on to show how business can be done differently worldwide, proving that women can indeed run su... posted on Jun 07 2007, 3,029 reads

The Time Bank: Better Than Barter
They stand over the table like surgeons, white masks over their noses and mouths, latex gloves covering their hands. Terrie Anderson is stirring a tub of gray grout powder while Sherri Shokler pours in what looks like milk from a thrift-store cream pitcher. Anderson, an educational consultant, is learning the art of mosaicing at a class taught by Sherri, an artist, and Jeff, an archaeologist turne... posted on Jun 06 2007, 2,459 reads

Taking Social Innovation To Scale
According to Margaret Wheatley, the world changes when networks of relationships form among people who share a common vision of what’s possible. So rather than worry about critical mass, our work is to foster critical connections. We don’t need to convince large numbers of people to change; instead, we need to connect with kindred spirits. Through these relationships, we develop the new knowle... posted on May 22 2007, 2,122 reads

Lessons From A Dyslexic CEO
As a student, Paul Orfalea had always had trouble with words, so he focused instead on people. Kinkos, the mega copy centre chain store he started, is testimony to his inspiring ability to turn the disability of dysexia into an asset. Through his tremendous people skills, and really paying attention to the things that matter, Orfalea grew Kinkos into a household brand. He says, "My favorite questi... posted on Apr 21 2007, 2,651 reads

The Speed of Trust
A sought-after speaker and advisor on leadership, ethics, and high performance, Stephen M.R. Covey, former CEO of the Covey Leadership Center, is now exploring trust. In his new book, "The Speed of Trust: The One Thing that Changes Everything," Covey challenges age-old assumptions about trust. Interviewed here, he explains why the notion of trust as a soft, social virtue is a myth and instead demo... posted on Apr 10 2007, 4,309 reads

We Are All Innovators
Innovation, to organizational consultant and thought leader, Margaret Wheatley, means the ability to rely on everyone's creativity. Wheatley -- whose work studies systems thinking, theories of change and learning organizations -- is quick to recognize that in today's era of constant change, it is crucial for leaders to constantly evolve and adapt. Doing this, Wheatley maintains, depends on one's a... posted on Apr 02 2007, 2,796 reads

The Principles of Great Groups
Personal leadership is a popular study topic; far less studied is group leadership. And yet, few great accomplishments are ever the work of a single individual. Our mythology, though, refuses to catch up with our reality, as we cling to the myth of the Lone Ranger, the romantic idea that great things are usually accomplished by a larger-than-life individual working alone. In actuality, as they say... posted on Mar 19 2007, 3,676 reads