A slide show from Fast Company.
More on the Importance of Beliefs in an Organization
“…truly great organizations think of themselves in a fundamentally different way than mediocre enterprises. They have a guiding philosophy or a spirit about them, a reason for being that goes far beyond the mundane or the mercenary.” — Built to Last
It is eye-opening to realize the critical role that beliefs play in organizations. For we typically think of beliefs mostly at the individual level. But it is the shared beliefs and values in an organization that play the biggest role in making the organization effective and meaningful, and a place where people want to contribute.
The Importance of a Basic Philosophy to Every Organization
“The basic philosophy of an organization has far more to do with its achievements than do technological or economic resources, organizational structure, innovation and timing.” — Thomas Watson, Jr.
Who was Thomas Watson, Jr.? From Wikipedia: “Thomas John Watson, Jr. (January 14, 1914 – December 31, 1993) was the president of IBM from 1952 to 1971 and the eldest son of Thomas J. Watson, IBM’s first president. He was listed as one of TIME Magazine’s 100 most influential people of the 20th century.”
Mediocrity and the Web
From Seth Godin’s latest book, Linchpin: Are You Indispensable?:
The Internet has raised the bar because it’s so easy for word to spread about great stuff. There’s more junk than ever before, more lousy writing, more pointless products. But this abundance of trash is overwhelmed by the market’s ability to distribute news about the great stuff.
Of course, mediocrity isn’t going to go away. Yesterday’s remarkable is today’s really good and tomorrow’s mediocre.
Mediocre is merely a failed attempt to be really good.
Note: Godin isn’t using “really good” in a positive sense in that last line. His point is: don’t go for really good. Go for remarkable.
And so the problem in being mediocre is not that you failed at being really good. It’s that you were aiming at being really good in the first place, instead of aiming at being remarkable.
(Side note: remarkable doesn’t necessarily mean flawless. It means “worth remarking on.” So doing something remarkable is not necessarily to be confused with a perfectionistic quest.)
Google's Two-Front War with Apple and Facebook
A good look at current and upcoming developments by Scoble. Here’s the first sentence:
I’ve now heard from three separate Google employees that Google will release a news feed that will compete with Facebook and Twitter.
On Not Worrying About Typos on Blogs
Here’s Penelope Trunk’s perspective on typos on blogs:
There is a new economy for writing. The focus has shifted toward taking risks with conversation and ideas, and away from hierarchical input (the editorial process) and perfection.
As the world of content and writing shifts, the spelling tyrants will be left behind. Here are five reasons why complaining about typos is totally stupid and outdated.
I don’t totally agree with her angle, but I do think we should be lenient about typos on blogs (and, as a time-pressed blogger, that’s a relief). It’s interesting to read the whole thing.
Why Write a Book Rather than Just a Series of Blog Posts
Godin’s post today is why write a book. The reason to write a book can be different from the reason to publish a book. He talks about both, since his new book Linchpin: Are You Indispensable? releases today.
I'm Putting This in My Tickler File
Tom Peters, in Re-Imagine!: Business Excellence in a Disruptive Age:
To my 30-year-old readers: I hereby wager that when you’re my age, Wal-mart and Dell will be either dead or irrelevant.
I’m not positive on that — I think they can last. But that doesn’t mean they will. Will be interesting to see.
(Tom Peters, by the way, was I think around 60 when he wrote this. So I’m putting this in my tickler file for about 2036.)
Nonprofits Are Worthy of Funding
Well said by Drucker in Managing the Nonprofit Organization:
Fund raising is going around with a begging blow and asking for money because the need is so great. Fund development is creating a constituency which supports the organization because it deserves it. It means developing a membership that participates through giving.
Nonprofits are not doing optional work. They deserve to be funded (excepting those that lack integrity and effectiveness).
When you give, don’t see yourself as spending discretionary money that you are using to do a favor for the organization. You are giving because the organization and cause are worthy of funding.
The Profit in Nonprofit
This is a good article on the story of Kiva from the Stanford Social Innovation Review. Here’s the summary:
Kiva, the first online peer-to-peer microcredit marketplace, is one of the fastest-growing nonprofits in history. But its nonprofit status was not inevitable. Here’s why Kiva chose to be a 501(c)(3), what this tax status buys the organization, and how being a nonprofit poses challenges.