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Where leaping to conclusions is my primary form of forward motion.
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The Road Ahead
The Art of The Quick Study
Copy This! The Story of Kinko's
Presence: An Exploration of Profound Change in People, Organizations, and Society
The Art of The Quick Study
Copy This! The Story of Kinko's
Presence: An Exploration of Profound Change in People, Organizations, and Society
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Tuesday, October 18, 2005
The Road Ahead
A group discussion on what trends will most shape our lives in the future. Participants include the usual suspects - Tim O'Reilly, Esther Dyson, Moby, Malcolm Gladwell, Mark Dery, Clay Shirky, David Brooks - but it's still interesting. Some excepts (out of context):TIME Magazine - The Road Ahead
We assembled some of the smartest people we know to identify the trends that are most likely to affect our future. What we got was a fascinating discussion about religion, technology and politics and why no one's golf scores seem to be getting any better.
[...] MOBY: I know a guy in Barcelona who has started a company to develop algorithms to determine whether a song is going to be a hit. It analyzes music to figure it out--and they're selling it to the record companies, and it's quite effective. If you expand on that, there's no reason you couldn't have your own personal search engine that understands your taste and can instantly analyze music based on a whole bunch of different, very subjective criteria to determine whether you might like it. [...]
[...] GLADWELL: One of the big trends in American society is the transformation of the evangelical movement and the rise of a more mature, sophisticated, culturally open evangelical church. Ten years from now, I don't think we're going to have the kinds of arguments about religion that we have today. [...]
[...] DERY: The democratization of available avenues of possibility is always phrased in market-friendly terms. It's about purchasing power--the cornucopia of options available to those who can stuff their shopping carts and proceed to checkout. How many options were available to those who were marooned in New Orleans? [...]
Posted by: 
Terry Frazier at 2:31 PM
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Categories: Business & Finance, Economics, Globalization, Religion, Strategy
Terry Frazier at 2:31 PM
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Monday, October 17, 2005
The Art of The Quick Study
Some good suggestions on finding the structure and meaning of complex subjects – be they new markets, new philosophies, or new strategies. The idea of learning the language – a concept called coming to terms in the classic reading text How To Read A Book – is central to learning any new subject. Having a framework and good tools for doing so gives you consistency and reduces errors. [via Jim McGee]Becoming a better quick study of new markets and technology
Tim Oren offers his process for coming up to speed on a new market or technology. Although it's oriented towards his specific needs as a VC evaluating potential investments, it is general enough to offer an excellent starting point for any of us whose lives are characterized by having to make sense out of new environments on a regular basis. Certainly, there have been times in my career as a consultant when it seems that the primary skill requirement is to be an adept quick study on anything.
Here's Tim's key graf:There are two observations behind this methodology. First, every technology and market has a private language. It's built of terms of art, but also names of landmarks such as products, famous papers and projects, labs, and researchers and other experts. To begin to understand the market you need to learn this language. Fortunately, such a distinctive use of language and interlinkage of people and information artifacts is the very best thing you can have to feed Google or other modern search tools. The second observation is that the best way to learn a field is to watch experts argue about it. [Due Diligence]I would add two suggestions to his approach. First, give some thought to using a mindmap or something similar to manage your growing knowledge base. I'm a fan of MindManager for this kind of effort, and the newest version adds a number of new features to support this kind of organic research strategy. Jerry Michalski is a fan of a product called Personal Brain. I used it a few years back and, while I liked it, ultimaely concluded that mindmaps suited me better. Second, give some thought to how you want to manage the collection of electronic resources (links, captured webpages, pdf files, etc) you will ultimately collect. Lately, I've been having success with a combination of MindManager and Onfolio.
Posted by: Terry Frazier at 7:16 PM
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Categories: Business & Finance, Productivity, Strategy
Terry Frazier at 7:16 PM
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Sunday, October 16, 2005
Copy This! The Story of Kinko's
Kinko's founder Paul Orfalea offers a practical, pragmatic, and entertaining view of starting, growing, and running a multi-billion dollar business from the perspective of a guy who had to rely on his people skills and ability to listen in order to learn.
[More...]
Posted by: Terry Frazier at 8:29 PM
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Categories: Book: reviews, Business & Finance, Copyright, Publishing, Strategy
Terry Frazier at 8:29 PM
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Presence: An Exploration of Profound Change in People, Organizations, and Society
In short: A self-absorbed and rather shallow attempt to claim the invention of a new metaphysics around a repackaging of Buddhism, New Age emotionalism, and a variety of radical change philosophies from the 1970s onward. [More...]
Posted by: Terry Frazier at 12:00 AM
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Categories: Book: reviews, Business & Finance, Globalization, Strategy
Terry Frazier at 12:00 AM
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