Company structures may well still be based on the factory model. But the cogs of the machine, the workers, are no longer the illiterate and externally-motivated unwashed. In fact, most knowledge workers these days do wash!

It is no longer sufficient to blindly follow last century’s “best-practices” when it comes to “managing” knowledge workers. New processes, tools and strategies founded on the basis of respect and collaboration are the …

The Invention of Hugo Cabret by Brian Selznick
ISBN-10: 0439813786
ISBN-13: 978-0439813785

A beautiful combination of novel, graphic novel, and movie. Selznick has really created a new approach here to the idea of a book. And it is a great story to boot.

Here’s a “deleted scene” from the book on Amazon, typical of the beautiful drawings therein.

The author’s passion and dedication really showed through. I …

An entertaining and profound talk by Sir Ken Robinson on education, creativity, talent, and the future. Everyone should indeed watch this.

GK Chesterton in What’s Wrong with the World:
“There has arisen in our time a most singular fancy: The fancy that when things go very wrong we need a practical man. It would be far truer to say that when things go very wrong we need an unpractical man. A practical man means a man accustomed o merely daily practice, to the way things commonly work. When things will …

So you can’t decide whether to be a millionaire or an artist?
Hot, unmissable tips on GapingVoid.
Thanks be to Stilgherrian for the heads up.

Global easy access to components (from low to high-tech) + global easy access to distributed intelligence and knowledge = build amazing stuff that would not have been as easily possible otherwise.

Example here.

What is the impact of this on our individual ability to change our world?
What happens when you no longer need the infrastructure and R&D of a large corporation to build stuff like this?

What do customers want?

There is a difference between identifying problems to solve, and actually solving those problems. In our culture, we are trained in the latter, but not the former. Innovation starts with identifying the problems at hand.

Do “business people” really know what customers want anyway?

Paul Graham’s article Why Smart People Have Bad Ideas

Can you outsource innovation? Can you buy an innovation as an outcome from a consultant - much like you would but a business process, a compliance certification, or a piece of information technology?

Of course you can buy a contained and discrete innovative solution or product. But I am referring to innovation as a culture thing here, something that innate to the being of your organisation.

If you want to …

“Ideas come from: new hires, people on the periphery, front-line workers, customers, great companies in other industries.” From The Big Moo, edited by Seth Godin

Make a point of speaking to at least one person in your organisation from each of these groups next week. Ask them for their thoughts and opinions on things that they would not normally get asked.

“When everyone else is looking the same way for inspiration, look somewhere else.”

A great story and pointers to Finding fresh inspiration.

Thanks to Stil for this heads up.