Wednesday, October 26, 2005

You are the talent

Take a look around…

Are the people you work with truly amazing?
Do the people you work with inspire you?

What are you going to do about it?

Now here’s the real deal – you can’t change other people you can only change yourself.

What are you going to change about yourself today?

Thursday, October 20, 2005

Omnipresent Software Friends

How would you feel if you asked a friend for help and the response was "I can only help you if you are sat as your desk"?

So why do we accept this from our software friends?

These little programs we have created to make our lives easier are now tying us to our desks rather than setting us free.

I for one want my software friends with me at all times. I can't predict when I'll want to write, read, communicate or transact and I certainly do not want my moment to be lost because my software buddies are hanging out at the office.

There is no reason today for your software friends to be at your side 24-7. The technology is not yet perfect but it is available. I can write my blog for anywhere, I can read my email from anywhere, I can view my contacts from anywhere, I can access our corporate collaboration space anywhere, I can access my desktop PC from anywhere - you could too!

I love having my software friends with me at all times; I can react to the moment which makes me more effective and requires me to write less post-it notes to remember things!

If your software is not omnipresent, find yourself a business geek and set your software free!

J.

Wednesday, October 19, 2005

Company 2.0

Hi

I am the Business Geek. What does this mean?

For me this means looking at the world of business through the eyes of someone who is deeply technical. It's kinda like looking at the world of business with the Matrix style digital display.

Applying technology correctly to business problems can make any business go vertical. We have seen companies like EBay, Skype, Yahoo, Google and even Amazon go vertical in the past 5 years but no traditional businesses have achieved this yet. Why is this?

My belief is that any business can go vertical but traditional businesses have too much baggage to make the transition which is why these newer companies without the baggage have achieved this dream status.

At the same time we have seen traditional businesses who went vertical previously like Microsoft get bogged down by their baggage and have their position challenged by the likes of Netscape and now Google. This really is the innovators dilemma in all its glory.

So, what does the Business Geek propose...

The Business Geek's proposal is Company 2.0. If you are the CEO of a major business and you want to go vertical create a version 2.0 organisation, find yourself a business geek, hand them a pot of cash (say 1% of your profits) and tell them to eat your lunch. Challenge 2.0 to become more successful than 1.0 within 2-3 years.

Sounds scary doesn't it? But at least this way you'll end up owning the business that is eating your lunch powered by technology rather than someone else!

Even if 2.0 fails to eat your lunch you'll have collected a whole bunch of technology, people and experiences that you can incorporate into your 1.0 business and probably more importantly these people are not working for your competition!

The caveat; choose your business geek well. Giving the wrong person 1% of your profits may all go horribly wrong!

Decide carefully.

J.