The Big Idea Blog - Change Agents

Things are changing very rapidly...

nospam@example.com (David Walbridge) — Mon, 23 Aug 2010 11:09:19 -0500

College no longer a good investment?

One

Two

Prolifc blogger / idea man / author Seth Godin changes his mind on book publishing

Buying a home is not a great investment? WSJ

And, A bit of stability in an unstable world..

I'm on twitter @DaveWalbridge (mostly comedic insights)

Let the Sun Shine on Nathans' (in) Famous Hot Dogs

nospam@example.com (David Duccini) — Mon, 05 Jul 2010 12:05:29 -0500

Today's change agent entry is inspired by the former U.S. Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis who is credited with coining the phrase:

Sunlight is the best disinfectant

and is a guiding principle in the benefits of openness and transparency in everything from politics to customer service.

Having lived in Japan for a couple of years and subsequently taking two years of college Japanese, I have a bit of a soft spot for all things Japanese.

I cheered when Takeru Kobayashi decimated the previous world record for eating hot dogs.

So this year when his name started bubbling up in my news filters, I naturally started following the developing story. It seems that Nathans Famous, the Coney Island hot dog company who has been holding a hot dog eating competition on and off since 1916 somewhere along the line out-sourced its marketing to something called "Major League Eating", which from everything I can gather is a shell for-profit corporation trying to not only capitalize on someone else's future colon-cancer, but hell-bent on forming a monopolistic death grip on what used to be a common and free competition held at every county fare (such as pie eating contests etc)

While the spin doctors like Richard Shea of MLE have been trying to shift the blame to Takeru for having a "contract dispute", further trying to use FUD tactics and character assassination by painting him as an unstable individual, reading Takeru's account is a lot more authentic and genuine.

We may never know the full story, since there are always three sides (yours, mine, and the truth) -- what is evident from the public information is that MLE wants to control Takeru and bar him from competing in any non-MLE sponsored event. Period. The irony is not lost on me: On Independence Day someone wants to keep someone from being independent.

Lets translate that:

A for-profit corporation, who's only value-add is providing promotional support in exchange for gathering fee's from advertisers, wants to enslave a human being who's primary means of income is from winning eating contests and barring that individual from competing in any competition that it isn't deriving some economic benefit from.

As far as I can tell, Major League Eating is exhibiting all the classic signs of rent-seeking (from WikiPedia):

"rent seeking occurs when an individual, organization or firm seeks to earn income by capturing economic rent through manipulation or exploitation of the economic or political environment, rather than by earning profits through economic transactions and the production of added wealth."

If anything this suggests that there is an opportunity here for someone to form the "World Eating Federation" a non-profit who's primary motivator is to funnel its revenues in to providing stock to food-shelves or sustainable agriculture in developing nations. Karmically that would help balance things out.

What I've discovered in my little ranting missives on Facebook is that merely mentioning "Nathans Famous" in my updates, its automatically showing up on their facebook page. How amazing cool is that as a lever for change agents to pull? Its not full sunshine, but more like a laser pointer.

Today's Big Idea is this: In social-networks, use and distribute laser-pointers to illuminate bad behavior.

In open source, Eric S. Raymond extols that "with enough eyeballs, all bugs are shallow" -- an application of what Justice Brandeis means when he says "sunlight is the best disinfectant"

Who are you guys and what are you doing here distracting me? The Big Idea Blog is written by David Duccini & David Walbridge

A Lever to Move the World

nospam@example.com (David Duccini) — Thu, 20 May 2010 07:30:00 -0500

There are various versions of today's Big Idea Blog title, attributed to Archimedes the third century Greek inventor (and mathematician, engineer, physicist and astronomer) -- the most consistent accurate translation I can find on having a lever is:

"If I had a firm enough place to stand, I could move the world"

The version that comes to mind most often goes something like "With a big enough lever, I could move the world".

Big Ideas are like that: Once grasped they have the power to leverage change and levers need pivot points. That's where change agents come in -- we identify the pivot points.

In order to effect change you have to understand a little human psychology. What motivates people to change their minds and positions on usually deeply held convictions? It turns out, less than you'd think!

If you're following my tweets or we're LinkedIN you'll know that I've recently been reading "Influencer: The Power to Change Anything" on my B&N Nook -- the highlight feature is working great! (Attention Change Agents of the World: Read this book next! In fact, I would even go so far as to suggest you stop reading whatever you're reading now and go buy/download this and read it right now. It's that important.)

Among the very high number of really big ideas in this book, chief among them is the concept that in order to understand successful outcomes, there are certain vital behaviors (inputs not outputs) that must be identified first -- usually found by looking for positive deviance. These behaviors above all else help explain success versus failures in just about any context. From understanding why the women in one impoverished sub-saharan village have figured out how to filter their drinking water in their dresses to avoid Guinea worm infections and the next village over doesn't -- to radically changing the lives of hardened convicts from repeat offenders to productive, and most of all, happy citizens.

The key to changing just about any behavior, including in ourselves, comes down to two very simple questions. Change one or both of these, and you have a lever to move the world!

Ask or get someone to answer the following when it comes to making a change from where they are, to where they need to be:

1. Will it be worth it?
2. Can I (they) do it?

If the answer to one or ideally both is "YES" 90% of your work is done. Yes, it's really that simple. Weave a compelling story (not a set of facts, figures, or a scared-straight shock approach) and you'll create a vicarious human experience that allows its participants the safe distance of watching while at the same time projecting themselves into the situation.

An example from MBA-land that set out to test memory recall -- the experiment divided a group of students into three sections and presented the same information in three modes; in one, the students were given a set of facts and figures, in the second group, a power point presentation was made from the same data, and in the third, the students we're told the information in form of a story about a struggling winemaker trying to make ends meet. Which do you think had the highest recall even six months later? The students who had heard the story about the struggling winemaker reported having thought about it periodically often as analogous to some other situation they were a part of. The vicarious story gave them a hint of the situated context.

That's academic of course, and as my former business partner Jon used to quote from the Simpsons, "in theory, communism works...in theory....". So lets look for real world, big ROI from using these ideas. The authors recount case after case of positive change from getting a factory union to understand the threat of outsourcing, to turning the tide on the spread of AIDS in Thailand, to encouraging hundreds of thousands of people in Mexico to pour into the streets in search of free literacy material, to changing century's old deeply held traditions on encouraging young women in India to marry at far too early ages. In each case, the power of the narrative combined with the vicarious experience enabled people to realize that whatever change was desired/required -- It was worth it and they could do it!

In each one of these examples (and millions more around you everyday) the critical element is the change agent at the pivot point. People don't spontaneously change deeply held beliefs or traditions on their own. The change agent alone cannot pull the lever by him or herself -- in fact I would argue they don't pull the lever at all (or certainly not by themselves.) They enlist the power of other influencers, primarily people recognized as thought or opinion leaders embedded within the culture itself. These are the people that are consistently looked to as an authoritative source of knowledge and information (also know as a subject matter expert). And it's not authority alone that earns them their position.

In order to be a thought leader, two simple conditions must be evident:

1. Are you recognized as having a deep knowledge of the given subject?
2. Do people trust your motives?

I doubt most managers would get two check marks here from their teams. Notice it's called thought leadership, not thought management. (see my previous post on The Difference between Managing and Leading)

The change agent finds the thought leaders and, if they are able to convince them that the change will be worth it, and more importantly that they can do it, they now have the fulcrum for their lever.

The formula is simple:

1. Find the big idea to be your lever. 2. Convince the thought leaders in your village that its worth it and they can do it. 3. Move your world.

Today's Big Idea is this: When it comes to the change needed, ask/answer two simple questions -- 1. Will it be worth it? 2. Can you do it?

Scaling up is easy -- as the shampoo bottles encourage you: Lather. Rinse. Repeat.

Who are you guys and what are you doing here distracting me? The Big Idea Blog is written by David Duccini & David Walbridge

Hunting and Gathering

nospam@example.com (David Duccini) — Tue, 06 Apr 2010 14:25:15 -0500

Few nomadic tribes have written histories let alone any kind of permanent art: Books and statues are heavy.

There is a general sentiment that as a culture, we peaked sometime in the Renaissance, that golden era of art, philosophy, literature and postal delivery up to six times per day in some areas. The band Devo introduced us to the idea that maybe we were de-evolving, a point I'd like to consider in today's post.

In our modern world, we have replaced our hunting and gathering activities with analogs. We travel far from home in search of sustenance (work) -- we are constantly on the move to make sure we have a stream and store of supplies in lean times. If you live paycheck to paycheck you know this better than most. And credit cards only help compound your problem.

Instead of gathering together to share our experiences with our tribe, we become more isolated, replacing story telling with television and other media that has increasingly become mobile. Are we so bored (or boring?) that we need to constantly distract ourselves? I'm sure we all know someone who feels the need to fill every silence with a sound. Does the never ending stream of media serve the same purpose? Could you survive, mentally, if you were shipwrecked on a deserted island?

The science historian James Burke probably best known for his Connections series on BBC was able to show in compelling ways how amazingly interconnected and simultaneously brittle our modern world has become. Take the simple plow for instance (as Burke does in the first episode) -- its invention, he argues, is the trigger effect that allowed us to leap forward out of hunting and gathering.

Fast forward to today. There is little argument that the Internet is as culturally relevant as the plow was thousands of years ago. It has fundamentally transformed inter-personal communications and commerce. As a platform its enabling effects on the Knowledge Worker through so-called Web 2.0 technologies is changing the dynamics of the old business hierarchies and the balance of power. Command-and-control management is rapidly being replaced by a collaborative (and often ad-hoc) Communities of Practice, evolving eventually into Centers of Excellence. The old Guilds are coming into fashion again as a viable means of transferring tacit as well as explicit knowledge.

Corporate America is at tipping point. On insanity:

"The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results"

Remind you of any company you work for? If it doesn't work for them and you know it, what makes you think it will work for you?

Today's Big Idea: If you feel like you are stuck, stop hunting and gathering. It might just be time to pick up a plow.

Working smarter is possible and it may just be your own personal tipping point.

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How to Spot the Robot in Your Organization

nospam@example.com (David Duccini) — Thu, 01 Apr 2010 12:00:00 -0500

As some of you have heard, I was recently RIF'd.

For those of you not up on your corporate biz-speak, RIF or Reduction In Force is the politically sensitive way of eliminating people.

Now a days, you don't actually "fire" people, you just tell them that their jobs have been eliminated. It's very much like the scene in the movie Office Space when they discover that Milton was still getting a pay check - they just fixed "the glitch".

I was ultimately fired by a robot. A "Mark-5" model to be specific.

Let me explain.

The "Mark-5" model of robot is a highly specialized machine that has been designed from the ground up to, well, grind down. If it was fully human, you might call it a social climber, the Mark-5 robot only knows how to climb corporate ladders by viewing the world through spreadsheets -- in other words all of its actions are based on "running-the-numbers" and verifying the output satisfies the borg collective it is a part of.

The Mark-5 that took me out has a highly evolved processing unit, thanks to its exhibiting what can best be described as Asperger's Syndrome where in humans, its described as:

The lack of demonstrated empathy is possibly the most dysfunctional aspect of Asperger syndrome. Individuals with AS experience difficulties in basic elements of social interaction, which may include a failure to develop friendships or to seek shared enjoyments or achievements with others (for example, showing others objects of interest), a lack of social or emotional reciprocity, and impaired nonverbal behaviors in areas such as eye contact, facial expression, posture, and gesture.

Unlike those with autism, people with AS are not usually withdrawn around others; they approach others, even if awkwardly. For example, a person with AS may engage in a one-sided, long-winded speech about a favorite topic, while misunderstanding or not recognizing the listener's feelings or reactions, such as a need for privacy or haste to leave. This social awkwardness has been called "active but odd". This failure to react appropriately to social interaction may appear as disregard for other people's feelings, and may come across as insensitive.

AS is no laughing matter. And thanks to all sorts of really good medications, most people with AS live rich and fulfilling lives!

But I'm talking about a robot here that doesn't even know its a robot. And to some extent, is a more credible concern than asteroids hitting the earth or a zombie attack.

The Mark-5 robots are easy to spot. Look for the following conditions:

1. Upper Middle Management -- usually fully exhibit The Peter Principle in that they have reached that level of incompetence faster than anyone else.
2. Glassy Eye Stare -- its not so much that they don't blink or don't make eye contact they do but with their minimal processing units, the world to them looks very much like The Scanner Darkly and they have to constantly scan for "friend or foe". The default is always "foe".
3. No "sense" of humor. No point in even trying.
4. OCD tendencies-- usually rigidly fastidious and an unhealthy fascination with working out as its the only way they can discharge the undecipherable customs and rituals of the humans they are in charge of herding. See Replicant.

The good news is that once you've identified the robot, remediation can begin almost immediately because once you've realized that they are robots all their patterns of behavior become transparently clear. They become predictable. You'll know what they are going to do WAY before they have calculated it themselves. In fact they are wholly incapable of surprise. Only errors in processing.

I believe in coincidences as should you. They frequently describe the state of the world in the simplest way possible.

However, I put more "faith" if you will in cause and effect. When you become really good at seeing patterns, you have the ever so slight advantage of being able to reasonably guess what effect will come from what cause. And since all effects become causes that feed into yet more effects, it is like surfing a wave.

It's no coincidence I wore blue jeans and my Superman T-shirt to work on Tuesday...

Putting the 'Cult' back into Culture

nospam@example.com (David Duccini) — Thu, 18 Mar 2010 07:30:00 -0500

There's been a lot of buzz and rubric in the last few years about how the next growth story companies will be based on organizations that are "focused on sustainable growth", "socially consciousness", "built on foundations of engaged employees", or doing business "better, faster, cheaper" -- sound familiar? Does hearing that many hollow mantras in a row invoke a gag-reflex? It should.

Most of those messages are not coming from inside the company, but from outside consulting firms hired to help lost companies find their way. And true to the nature of the grand tradition of consultancy, the company hires the truthsayer to point out that the emperor has no clothes, pays the bill, and sends them on their way.

In other words, those messages are "bolted on" versus "baked in" to the cultures of those companies that choose to repeat them.

I think that

It's time to put the "cult" back into "culture"!

The measure of any initiative, especially one that involves a fundamental cultural shift, lies not in how many people are "card carrying members", but rather in the size of the choir that sings the songs!

If the message your company is projecting is not delivered with conviction and authenticity by a management that leads by example the net effect is little more than a grotesque parody of propaganda. The messages become a source of derision when the actions of the company are counter to the cultural image it claims to project. The more the company repeats the inauthentic message, the more often it becomes the capstone butt of many conversations.

Tribal knowledge, especially customs, are based on an oral tradition through the form of stories told and retold. Those messages are heard, internalized and repeated and amplified out. They become memes through which knowledge is passed from one person to another. You'll find the true believers in any message become the new carriers for that message and bring it to the organization.

"See it, Own it, Do it." or as Gandhi is oft quoted:

Be change you want to see in the world.

So today's big idea is this: Actions speak louder than words but the right words lead to right action. This is the essence of leading by example.

The key is to find the right beat that everyone can dance to...

Who are you guys and what are you doing here distracting me? The Big Idea Blog is written by David Duccini & David Walbridge

Change Agents: Loose Cannons or Shaped Charges?

nospam@example.com (David Duccini) — Wed, 24 Feb 2010 07:30:00 -0600

I recently saw a presentation from a divisional president at a large medical device company who was assuming control of one of the companies other lines of business. The speech was a combination of rationale for the merging of divisions as well as an introduction by the executive to assure his new expanded staff that he was actually a human, and not some corporate droid sent to assimilate. It was a nice gesture.

One of the the things that made me perk up a little was when he took a slight detour from his prepared remarks and made the comment that "most people who think they are change agents aren't" since they put their shoes on the same way, get dressed and go to work the same way everyday. On this point, I would have to agree as I wrote last year in Practice Makes Pretty Good that baking in a little variability to your daily life is a building block to being a change agent. I like this guy already.

What I find interesting about the challenges ahead for this particular executive is that he's stepping into an organization that culturally does not recognize or reward change. In fact just about everything about the management culture he's inheriting actively do everything in their power to enforce conformity. This is probably an overactive form of the "seeking confirming evidence for deeply held beliefs" bias that most people have. This is embodied in the fact that they surround themselves with what they believe are like-minded individuals, most of whom are little more than a bunch of self-serving sycophants that would roll over and knife them in the back to get ahead. Directors in companies sit at the awkward phase between being a 'super manager' and possibly ascending to the Vice President ranks have that bias on steroids. Many of them suffer from extremely low self-esteem and a crippling fear about their own worth and contributions. It is symptomatic with the old adage that most people are promoted to one level above their competency (There's even a book on the topic). This is especially true in management where eventually with each missed promotion they wonder if they've arrived at that point. Chances are, you have.

Which brings me to the analogies posited in the title. Are Change Agents "loose cannons" or more like "shaped charges" (or even like "snipers" as my friend Daniel has suggested). Loose Cannons are really only a problem if you have one on your deck or under your control. Most change agents by their very definition are not on anyone's deck, and definitely not under anyone's control. Change Agents are collaborative and persuasive, not coercive and manipulative. The best change agents are transparent in their motives.

Maybe I'm just partial to Italian philosophers, but I think one of the more interesting works on change comes from our friend Niccolo Machiavelli which, though The Prince was written as a short treatise on foreign policy, is just as insightful into human nature within most organizations:

There is nothing more difficult to take in hand, more perilous to conduct, or more uncertain in its success, than to take the lead in the introduction of a new order of things. For the reformer has enemies in all those who profit by the old order, and only lukewarm defenders in all those who would profit by the new order, this lukewarmness arising partly from fear of their adversaries … and partly from the incredulity of mankind, who do not truly believe in anything new until they have had actual experience of it.

In other words, not everyone who espouses their desire for change will support you. Some may even try to throw you under the bus.

Your goal should be a combination of bottom-up support first, then work on top-down, by-passing middle management if necessary. Leave them to fight their petty turf wars among their temporary fiefdoms. Real change happens with or without them.

So today's big idea is this: One person's loose cannon is another's shaped charge. It all depends whether you understand their role in the organization.

More great quotes from Niccolo Machiavelli can be found here.

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Creativity in business, non-profits and politics... using DVD's as your metric.

nospam@example.com (David Walbridge) — Wed, 17 Feb 2010 10:48:44 -0600

One of the challenges of business is trying to be an agent of change.

Imagine being the assistant vice president at Hollywood video who keeps saying...Um, guys? Maybe we should look at changing our business model...Guys?

People won't and don't pay $3.95 (plus late fees) for a rental DVD anymore - and drive to the video store twice? Not happening.

Netflix changed the DVD rental model to a 'no work for the customer' model. Red box is renting from vending machines in McDonald's and Wal-Marts...for those unable to commit to a full month of DVD's...

Why didn't Hollywood video change? Adapt? Plan better? Take the risks?

Inertia. For a long time, their model was working. For years customers had the choice of either Blockbuster or Hollywood. Price, selection, hours, policies all very similar. Why change something that's working? It was making money like a clown with the carnival balloon concession.

Netflix and Redbox - Small companies. New. Risking everything. Hollywood video. Big, old. 2,000+ stores. Very pokey.

The bigger the business the slower to change. The older the business the harder to change. And is nearly all companies, the leadership -- the people who must approve the changes -- skew older and more conservative.

This 'resist all changes and be suspicious of those who might suggest it' is worse in non-profit groups. {We have very little money, they seem to say, we must preserve all of it.}

And even worse in politics. Much worse. Things have to get pretty awful before a promise of hope and change will get a person elected. Quite awful. Stinky.

As an agent of change / innovation / creative professional your ideas will be met with fierce resistance - not on their merits - but simply because they are different. People will question your abilities, your motives, your patriotism. They will get angry with you. They will resist, stop meetings, argue.

Without considering the value of the idea.

People want things to be the same. Please don't change my facebook layout, my comics page, the position of the driver's seat in my car. Let's posit you had an idea to save your company 10%. Across the board. Or make 10% more profit. You present it. What would you expect to happen then?

Well, legal has to look it over.
We'll have to form a committee
Shoot it over to accounting to see what they think...
Can you write that up?
Lets put that on the agenda for April's meeting.

TBI: Companies that do not change become examples in business 101 classes...examples of big failures. You and your business MUST change / adapt/ reward change, new ideas and creativity. Fully expect fierce resistance to ideas and 'you caould lose your job over this' reactions to really good ones.

Hollywood video is closing a third of their stores because they refused to change. The RedBox and Netflix models are transparent - easy to recreate. A thirteen year old can explain how they work. And each one involves several radical concepts: NO LATE FEES. VENDING MACHINE. $1.
FREE TRIAL.

{The richest man in America runs a company that did not exist 50 years ago. In fact his industry did not exist 50 years ago. Does he quit producing? Thinking? Adapting? On the contrary, they release new products every 3-5 years.}

Professional: Someone who makes the very difficult seem very easy

nospam@example.com (David Duccini) — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 16:00:00 -0600

Following on from last week's intro article The Science of Persuasion and the Art of the Sale

Marketing and sales embody the art and science of persuasion, manipulation and compliance. “Selling” has probably been going on longer than marketing, though it is not hard to imagine the role of "advertising” embedded in our DNA in the form of gestures. Marketing is typically done in a one-way, non-interactive (passive) mode – whereas sales involve active agents. My research focuses on the latter with a goal of illuminating a possible strategy for building defenses against Bounded Irrationality by understanding Daniel Dennett’s Intentional Stance (in a nutshell, the thinking about what other people are thinking).

The best sales people know how to “read” their customers. The value added they provide ranges from gopher (fetch the item) to in-store subject matter expert. In commission based sales, where a sometimes significant portion of the salesperson’s salary (compensation) comes from a percentage of the total purchase price of the items sold (usually as a percentage of the profit) there is a higher motivation to increase the total spend of their customers.

Frequently, unbeknownst to the customer, there are additional sales incentives in place, usually in the form of a sales target or time-based contests. However, even with full disclosure of a potential bias, it does not lead to rational decision making. For example the salesperson discloses that if you buy X that will help them win a contest – in fact it could lead to a subtle collusion exploit where the shopper feels like they are helping the salesperson. This method is actually seen as the modus operandi of door to door charitable giving campaigns (magazine sales, candy bars, kids programs, etc).

Items these days are rarely of the “craft” variety (wherein you are buying from the maker directly) – which can mean the margins vary greatly by the time the end product reaches the showroom floor. The “up-sell” and the “cross-sell” are techniques employed by sales professionals to increase the over all transaction, and frequently will target higher-margin items, which likely lead to higher commissions or tips. The “gradation technique”, otherwise known as “foot-in-the door” form is as evident in dining experiences employed by wait staff as it is in consumer products.

Gradation techniques have been well understood by psychologists for decades. The so called “foot-in-the-door” (FITD) form is well known to salespeople and according to Freedman “it is one of the cornerstones of fund-raising.”

Here’s how it works:

…if a person complies with your first, small, request, he or she will have an increased tendency to comply with your subsequent, larger request.

That's an anchoring move. There's an equally effective, almost polar opposite approach called the "door-in-the-face" request:

...the “Door-in-the-Face” approach works when (a) a costly, large first request that the recipient will probably refuse and then (b) making a second, less costly and more realistic request.

This second approach exploits a “framing attack” which we will explore in greater detail in a follow-on article.

In the intro story to the paper, we see Molly employing both!

Today's Big Idea is this: Who is anchoring and framing your next thought? And what action is it likely to lead to?

Remember, "forewarned is forearmed"...

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Click here for a .pdf copy of the full paper.

Who are you guys and what are you doing here distracting me? The Big Idea Blog is written by David Duccini & David Walbridge

The Science of Persuasion and the Art of the Sale

nospam@example.com (David Duccini) — Wed, 20 Jan 2010 12:00:00 -0600

(This is from the introduction to my final paper in IDSC 8711 Cognitive Science which I took this past semester at the U of M)

I'll write more about the various research and findings in upcoming articles. Enjoy!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

It’s late fall when the compliance expert makes her way down the block of a quiet urban St. Paul neighborhood known as West Como. The leaves of the maple trees lining the streets have started turning fire red and the setting sun lights them like burning bushes. She scans the block and selects the side with fewer houses. “Fewer houses mean more land between the houses”, she thinks, “which means larger tax revenues collected from the owners ergo more donation margin” she recalls from a pep rally she attended last week. She’s profiling her primary targets and a quick check of the clock on her clipboard tells her that she has plenty of time to make her way up the other side of the street. Besides, she thinks to herself, if she’s only marginally successful in her goals on this side of the street, it will only make it easier to work the crowd on the other.

She starts with the larger 1930’s stucco two story on the corner. The lot is large, taking up the equivalent of three houses on the other side of the street. A semi-private cedar fence rings the backyard. A quick check to the driveway reveals a bright yellow Smart Car, license plate “B SMART”. Bingo she thinks. These are my people.

She sees movement inside the house and casually approaches the front door. Ringing the bell she hears a buzz from deep inside the house, reminiscent of some indiscriminant sound from a black and white television show she can’t name. Must be original, she thinks and mentally puts a checkmark next to frugal.

“Hi my name is Molly” she says suddenly bright and cheery to the skeptical eye from the man staring her down from behind the screen door. “We’re out today collecting signatures from like-minded people who care about water quality. Would you be willing to sign here along with your neighbors that you care about water quality too?”

He opens the door and takes the clipboard – scanning the list of names he realizes that he doesn’t recognize any of them but also realizes that he hasn’t made an effort to really get to know his neighbors. He notices the stack of strategically fanned brochures underneath the signature sheets as he hands it back to her. She’s tracking his every gaze, feigns a small hurt look that he’s not impressed with the trophies she’s collected so far, but it fades as quickly as it appeared. She knows she collected them in another neighborhood, so it is really unlikely that he knows any of them.

She see’s the clock on the clipboard again – that constant drumbeat compelling her forward. She quickly snatches one of the brochures and tries to hand it to him. He humors her by scanning through it as she runs through her canned spiel on how important clean water is, and how few people world wide have clean water, and how X thousands or hundreds of thousands of people die every day or year, he’s not really sure which, “because they don’t have clean water” she finishes.

He looks up from the brochure and raises his hand, signaling that she can stop.

“You can keep the brochure” she says.

He knows what she’s after and plays along, “yes, I care about clean water and would be more than happy to help with a donation, the thing is I don’t normally have a lot of cash on me, mainly plastic to help me track my purchases. You understand?”

“Well, we do take checks”, she offers sincerely. “Most people have been giving between thirty-five to forty dollars”, she lies. Most people SHOULD be giving that much she thinks internally to reconcile the dishonesty. Molly really does care about clean water. She also cares about winning the trip to Mexico.

“Let me see what I have”, he says stepping back inside the house to check his wallet. She makes another mental checkmark and thinks tonight’s compliance run is going to be easier than she thought.

He comes back with a twenty and hands it to her in exchange for some additional brochures and the clipboard again for his signature. He politely refuses and she makes up some excuse about needing people’s names for “accounting purposes” and flips up the signature sheet to reveal another page with donors and dollar amounts. He tells her to put down “Doe” and steps back inside. Again the fleeting wounded look appears but she realizes the clock is ticking and shifts back into a sunny disposition. Besides, she knows from the public tax records she printed out on the backside of her clipboard who he probably is. Looking down the street she sees a neighbor out raking leaves and resets the check list and prepares to tell the neighborhood of the generosity of the guy on the corner.

The guy on the corner was me, and I had just been played.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
(C) Copyright 2009 "The Science of Persuasion and the Art of the Sale: The Role of Framing in Developing Defenses to Bounded Irrationality"

Who are you guys and what are you doing here distracting me? The Big Idea Blog is written by David Duccini & David Walbridge

Star Trek, the metaphor

nospam@example.com (David Walbridge) — Mon, 04 Jan 2010 21:52:47 -0600

Ok, reality time. We are geeks here. I am. Dave is. Most of us are. We love media, technology, books. Pretty nerdy. Pretty fun. We grew up on the mac, the Star Wars movies, the dial-up modem. We own so many chargers that (metaphor goes here.)

Finally saw Star Trek 2009. Ok I don't know what to call it as there have been so many iterations of the Trek brand. The most recent one. The young Spock and Kirk one. Good movie. Fun. Not the point

Star Trek was one thing, at one time in a single media. A short lived TV show. Then they changed it, (a movie) updated it, (more movies) moved in a new direction, (another TV show) Changed the characters. Changed the universe.(*) Spoiler alert. Then, when then re-imagined it, they mixed old and new and moved though time....

Star Trek is a pretty neat concept. And a newer, slightly different, pretty neat concept, And another successful, and another...which is a great metaphor for spring-boarding off your own great ideas.

Today's Big Idea: Re-imagine your idea. And don't be limited by little things like the universe or time....

DW

(*Changed the universe. Thats BIG thinking. The whole universe. )

Follow-up note -- Seth Godin makes a similar point with seth's blog

The Big Idea in New Years Resolutions: Don't make them

nospam@example.com (David Duccini) — Tue, 29 Dec 2009 17:00:00 -0600

First off, a big thanks to you for helping us launch The Big Idea Blog this year -- we love the feedback we're getting via karma votes, comments, emails, txt msgs, and of course in person!

Today's Big Idea comes from Thomas Jefferson,

"Never put off till tomorrow what you can do today"

Of course for those Mark Twain fans among us who likely subscribe to his

"Never put off until tomorrow what you can do the day after tomorrow"

Jefferson's admonishing seems easier said than done!

There is something to be said for tradition of course. I see it every year at my gym -- the parking lot is filled to overflow in January, and returns to normal levels around mid February.

Don't get me wrong, I love traditions -- they are little stars we get to orbit around throughout the year. And speaking of stars, it reminds me of the Weird Al song, "That's Your Horoscope For Today", where he mockingly says:

The stars predict tomorrow you'll wake up, do a bunch of stuff and then go back to sleep

True genius.

So why do we do it? We make the resolutions with all good intention of following through -- an aspirational goal if you will. The optimist sees opportunity while the pessimist thinks of the nature of the surface material on the road to hell. Somewhere in the middle is the rest of us. But broken promises to ourselves can have a negative reinforcing loop effect.

There is a transformative power in writing down goals, reading them aloud, and posting or declaring them publicly (think of how wedding vows are exchanged, oaths of office, or ceremonies are performed). Change Agents know that once you can name a thing you can control it. Mythology is filled with stories of deities and saints who create things by speaking their names. Change agents are like modern day superhero's. The word of the day is "reification".

When you are ready for change you move from passive to active. Why be passive and wait for the coincidental passing of some arbitrary time to get started?

One of my all time favorite quotes, that is at once so simple, elegant, powerful, it's almost zen-like in its meaning, comes from a fictional character:

Do, or do not. There is no try. - Yoda

Pure genius.

So if you must make any New Years Resolution, make it final: No more New Years resolutions.

Today's Big Idea: Treat everyday as if it were New Years Day.

Here's a mental exercise to get you started: I sometimes like to think that I wake up everyday inheriting the memories of a previous 'me' -- who is more real? The me that was? Is? Or will be? What would you do differently today if you could start it over? For the lighter side of existential philosophy go rent "I Heart Huckabees" (how am I not myself?), or "Joe Versus the Volcano", or even "GroundHog Day".

Who are you guys and what are you doing here distracting me? The Big Idea Blog is written by David Duccini & David Walbridge

The Cult of the Dead Tree: New Metaphors Needed in Knowledge Management

nospam@example.com (David Duccini) — Tue, 15 Dec 2009 12:30:00 -0600

Knowledge Management tools seem to be going through the same kind of spasms that regular OS User Interfaces have experienced ever since the GUI was developed by XEROX PARC.

We seem to be saddled with these outmoded metaphors of things like "files and file cabinets" -- and even the concept of 'disks' as something tangible (physically spinning memory??) -- are fading fast with flash drives and network attached (web-based) storage.

Given the capabilities of the medium we're working in, "scalable user interfaces" could be leveraged to provide access to content in a way that is meaningful to each user, without having to change the underlying Knowledge Owner's mental models or the Knowledge Objects/Elements they create.

Taking it a step further, using the ideas of "aspect programming" content could be personalized in a way that allows/provides each user a perspective or view on the content in an order that makes the most sense to them -- even in the case of something as pathetic as 'ego'.

The idea of having "editions" of collected works is largely meaningless, when what you're really concerned about is the currency (and history) of any given Knowledge Object -- micro versioning if you will....

I'm not sure though that the collective 'we' have developed the right vernacular and metaphors to be able to discuss such a system, let alone be conversant not only among ourselves, but among the potential users writ large!

It reminds me of the story of the "iron horse" -- that fundamentally people thought of mechanizing existing models -- they thought they wanted an iron horse -- what they needed was a locomotive. Or as Henry Ford has said about not giving people what they wanted: "Faster Horses" (see my post on Telling People What they Need to Hear). Something of a paradigm shift was needed to move society forward: New Metaphors had to be developed and dispersed.

It seems to me that we cling desperately to the ink stained pressed dried fibers of woody stem plants and the associated forms and utilities created to make them more useful (such as forewords, tables of contents, indices). They are no longer precious to us and no longer deserve the veneration.

Today's Big Idea: Its time to abandon our "Cult of the Dead Tree"* -- to burn its codex in effigy for all to see so that we may break its spell and allow us to transcend it.

Use a Wiki to Capture Your Tribal Knowledge (.pdf available on the topic) or One for Personal Information Management

*The inspiration for the title "Cult of the Dead Tree" came to me in my IDSC 6471 Knowledge Management class at CSOM. I was thinking about the power of metaphors and wondering, what it must look like from a completely alien archaeologist kind of perspective about what a report on civilizations on planet earth would include? What would you say about the us and our fascination with killing trees and staining them in order to transfer knowledge, only to bind them and put them up inside of buildings or dump the remnants in landfills. And how odd things like paper shredders would seem? Therefore....

Please consider the environment before printing this blog entry

Buy Local. Think Global.

nospam@example.com (David Duccini) — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 07:41:12 -0600

Part of being creative is doing the opposite. I've blogged before about mixing it up, starting with breakfast.

It's one of the reasons that Dave and I "argue" from the the opposite perspective on some Fridays, in a feature we call Point-CounterPoint. Finding topics we can disagree over is harder than you think (what with having the same first name -- just kidding, trying to see if you're reading this or skimming!)

Today's topic is on whether you should buy locally or not. Dave is going to argue against, leaving me to defend it -- which is challenging for me, just coming off of four years of getting my MBA at the U of M's Carlson School of Management and studying case after case for benefits of globalization.

What does it mean to "buy local" ? In the simplest sense it means, spend your money where you live, in your community on goods and services that support that community. That's harder than it sounds. For example, do you dine at a chain restaurant like an Applebee's (they are after all your neighborhood bar & grille -- you know, the one that you have to drive to, and doesn't serve any of the local beers?) -- does that count?

Does shopping at a big box store count? Even if you did buy appliances from a local hardware store, they are manufactured somewhere else, probably in the same foreign factories that the big box store carries. The difference here is that you are supporting someone in your community -- and when that plastic and metal box breaks, they are likely going to support you.

What about groceries? It no longer occurs to us to even wonder if banana's are in season -- or even wonder if we could buy some -- the question is largely nonsensical to us. If we want something we just go and buy it. Heck, even pre-processed foodstuffs like Tom & Jerry batter mix was available all summer at my local Rainbow.

What about firewood? In Minnesota in the last few years there have been these billboards that extol us to buy local firewood. It's a prophylactic approach to try and stop the spread of disease, like the Emerald Ash bore beetle.

So does "buying local" impart some kind of bargained for exchange or is it a means of altruism? Does it matter more than say, political affiliation, or choosing to support your local sports team (Go Vikes!) Or is it a cautionary tale to keep your business closer to home?

I would argue that it is all of those things -- it matters because it makes a statement about your identity, you vote with your dollars, and your support to local businesses means not only income for people in your community, who in turn spend that money, hopefully in the community, they will deposit some of that in a bank (hopefully a local credit union) -- who in turn will loan the money out to local families to buy houses, who will need to furnish them, and to local businesses to buy inventory, or expand, or have a line of credit to float payroll on occasion. The power of the deposited dollar is vast (the money multiplier effect of re-lending) -- and finally, the taxes on each transaction, nominal (or disproportionate) as they may seem, go to local projects. They pay for roads, schools to educate future tax payers, fire & police service to protect your stuff, libraries to make you smarter, and whole host of other public service professionals, who in turn, will likely need to do the very same things that you do. Buy local.

So today's Big Idea is this: "Buy local -- it's impact is global in the sense of the world outside your front door."

This has all happened before, and it will all happen again....unless....

nospam@example.com (David Duccini) — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 07:30:00 -0600

Today's topic is on patterns especially the kind that repeat.

In Systems Engineering we're concerned with patterns. We do the big think work on lots of projects. Incidentally (and coincidentally) it was recently ranked as this years Number One Best Job in America by Money Magazine. Who knew?

But you don't have to be working on the next generation space shuttle or ultra cool implanted medical devices to put systems thinking into practice in your world! It's no secret that I'm a fan of Peter Senge's "The Fifth Discipline" having blogged a couple months back about having "Dialogues instead of Discussions." Today we're going to focus on the essence of the book -- recognizing patterns.

One of the few highlights I made in the book (and I admit, I still find it hard to mark up a book) is on page 124 -- one of those brilliant, but unassuming statements that like the rug in the Big Lebowski, "it really pulls the room together" :

The essence of mastering systems thinking as a management discipline lies in seeing patterns where others only see events and forces to react to

That was one of those "a-ha" moments for me (hence the the highlighting, stars, and eventual business card bookmark). Go back and re-read the quote -- slowly -- savor it a bit -- and think about what the implications are. Spooky isn't it? It's one part "seeing the future" and two parts "knowing the present" with dash of "being able to do something about it."

Fortunately, recognizing patterns is something we're wired for. Unfortunately, we are also creatures of habit (not to mention self-destructive behaviors) that make it hard for us to recognize them in ourselves. In most people it lies on a spectrum from instinct to experience. One of the things I like about Senge's book is embodied in the subtitle The Art and Practice of the Learning Organization -- it conveys an aspirational goal in the word 'practice'. Recognizing patterns can be learned through practice -- and sometimes with the help of an outside observer (friends?).

In systems thinking, recognizing opportunities for leverage means being able to make small changes that have dramatic (and hopefully positive) impacts on outcomes (it's cousin is chaos theory -- you know, Jeff Goldblum explaining it in Jurassic Park??). It means finding balancing loops that "act like brakes on a car" -- or the reinforcing (amplifying) loops that "form the engines of growth" (p. 79).

So today's Big Idea is this: What balancing loops (habits) are holding you back? What small change could you make right now?

BTW, you don't have to have an existential moment, but for a little humor, go rent the movie Ground Hog Day.

Who are you guys and what are you doing here distracting me? The Big Idea Blog is written by David Duccini & David Walbridge