The frustration of being able to help

I am not sure how many people understand that when others see a situation where someare struggling and they can help, it can get quite frustrated. The fact that an outsider can help is not necessarily based on intelligence, but on perspective and a lack of "received wisdom." It took an outsider, Lou Gerstner, from RJR Nabisco and American Express, to turn around IBM. Yet, all too often, people will say, "you have not worked in this industry," without realizing that it may be the biggest recommendation. GM has many smart people, but they seem to make no progress at all in fixing the company.

What comes after "convergence?"

We know, or should know that technology does not stand still. The promise of "convergence" has been with us for over 15 years, and is only now beginning to be fully commercialized. This will not be complete for another fifteen. So what could come after? We read today that for the first time a man has controled a computer and simple mechanical devices with his brain. Perhaps we will get to the stage where we can not only replace parts of the body perfectly, but to the point where humans will be able to control mechanical and electronic devices with the mind. We will get to the point when we will be able to access the sum total of human knowledge simply by thinking about it. Of course that will not stop people acting like idiots!

Executives who know their business can be improved, but won't do it

It is not only the low level employee who sees effort as a nuisance, customers as an irritation, and feels threatened by ideas for improvement. Many executives feel the same way. All companies can be improved in a number of ways. Improvement has to come from inside and outside. Yet many executives are proud of their inability or resistance to change. They insist on trying to remake the world around them in the way which they want it to be. AOL has often been a good example of this, and many of the power companies are. Such companies often believe that market power or regulation can skew things their way. For a while it can, but the reverberations are severe when the marketplace gets its revenge.

The Sales prevention department

In a recent New York Times blog article by David Pogue, he describes how a Kinko's employee tries to turn away business:
http://pogue.blogs.nytimes.com/?p=75
Unfortunately, this is quite common. We each meet it often. Ulimately, we cannot blame the employee, but the top management which allows this to happen.

Do companies like Kraft really understand?

Companies are talking more and more about "open innovation." Procter & Gamble has shown us how it can be done - being genuinely open and eager to outside innovation. So many of the company's new products were developed externally. Intel and Nokia are pushing the concept. Companies such as Jones soda, and Threadless are putting the customer in charge. Kraft recently said it would encourage ideas from consumers instead of automatically rejecting them as in the past, however good. Nevertheless, they have made the process so procedure ridden, threatening (they say that if the idea is not legally protected enough, they will take it and pay the submitter $5,000, thus declaring up front that consumers cannot trust them). It is clear that they just don't understand what putting the customer in the driver's seat means, and the attempt may well do more harm than good.

If you want to let the customer drive innovation, you must give him or her the controls. Allow the customer to innovate and be scrupulously ethical. While the lawyers will warn you to limit liability, the cost of this may be consumer trust and credibilty.

The promise of Wikipedia

I am a fan of Wikipedia. I have even made some small additions and modifications to a few articles. An enclopedia written by everyone seems a wonderful concept. However, it is actually a modest group of 1,000 or so people aho do the bulk of the work. As with so much, a tiny minority do most of the work, with a slightly larger majority who contibute in a lesser way. The majority of users do not contribute.

So in many parts of life few contribute to volunteer activities. Now this is fine as long as those who do recognize this. I see often that volunteers become bitter and frustrated as they see others do little but take. All volunteers need to recognize that the reward is in the doing. Helping others brings great rewards.