mart

Speople
Digital generations bring knowledge to life

Attention:
Volume 1
Issue 5
Your expertise
SEPTEMBER 2009
SM
is about
to expire.
Here’s help.

Part II: Saving the company Desperation American Muslim

Workarounds will save Let’s look at the Breaks down
dysfunctional benefits. barriers wherever
company. she goes.

You don’t need

training –
when training
isn’t the answer.

How conversation brings KM back to people

Knowledge Cafés
Wouldn’t you just love to tap these phones?
Transfer the passion
Your organization recognizes the value of knowledge. A great deal of money
has been spent on process and systems. But too many of your people aren’t
enthusiastic adopters.
Wouldn’t it be wonderful if you could transfer their energy from those outside
social networks they love and get the same kind of knowledge-sharing and
collaboration going at work? You can.
Smart People bridges the gap
Smart People magazine taps into the social networking craze and connects
the energy to the work place. It’s a cool tool to help people realize the
benefits of both networking and knowledge working.
Now you can co-brand the magazine with special features specific to the
organization. Then you make it available to all your knowledge workers, even
clients and suppliers. They’ll love it, and it will change the culture and the
way things get done around your place.
Smart People and Smart Organizations
Contact Smart People publisher, Jerry Ash
smart.guy1@smartpeoplemagazine.com
for details. Or call him: 813.335.1355
 PDUW
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Volume 1
Issue 5
SEPTEMBER 2009

Cover story
4 Sugar rush at the
WORKING Knowledge Café
How conversation is
bringing KM back to the
6 When you don’t need training people.
Management often tries to fix a
problem with training when training
isn’t the answer.
8 Rules of engagement
When leading people, teams, and
organizations there aren’t any 9 Popping pills
referees but you break rules at your How far should a company go to
own risk. improve its workforce?

Also in this issue CHOOSING

Eight norms of readers 3
The Knowledge Factor 40
KM Six Pack
Part Four of a series of
six articles introduces
newly engaged
employees and
managers to the basics
of knowledge-based
enterprise.
10 Part II: Saving the company
People will change the organization
by finding workarounds to the
dysfunctional processes in their
organizations.
12 Online marketing
Retail and home shopping brands
adapt to connect online with the
“empowered consumer.”
13 Packaging
Made in China and absolutely re-usable.
Consumers turn to other countries for the
green solution.

SMART PEOPLE 1
SMART PEOPLE

LIVING CHOOSING

14 American Muslim
Breaks down barriers by using her knowledge to build a bridge
between different faiths and cultures.
16 Why are some people smarter?
It’s in the genes, but learning adds more cortical modules
improving cognitive skills.
17 Getting to know yourself
Researcher describes theories behind self-knowledge and
shows we can get to really know ourselves better.
18 Same as cash
Become a black belt negotiator and make yourself
another $5,000-10,000 a year. Other cultures do it!
19 Is your avatar fat?
Find out why and learn what you can do about it.

LEARNING
20 Attention! 23 Don’t mess with
Your expertise is about to human nature
expire. Scare you? Well, How come there’s no
you may already be mention in the MBA
obsolute. This one will classroom of the
scare you straight! importance of co-evolving
22 The world is open relationships?
Anyone can learn anything
from anybody anytime. Here’s a look at
23 Emotional contagion
You can either spoil my day or
how the Internet is changing education make my day – facial messages
worldwide. bounce back.

CREATING
26 Desperation 27 Innovating every day 29 Let’s hear it
is the mother Here’s how to succeed by
for the men!
thinking differently in dozens
of invention Women are less
of real-life situations.
Let’s look at likely to share
what benefits we their creative
receive when we work online. Why
find ourselves in a are men’s voices
desperate situation. disproportionately
heard?

2 SMART PEOPLE
 SMART PEOPLE

About Smart People

Following the eight norms of our readers
The editorial policy of Smart People magazine follows the “Eight
Norms of Net Geners” as described by Don Tapscott in his book
Publisher
Grown Up Digital. We include Digital Pioneers and Catching Up
Jerry Ash Digitals.
smart.guy1@smartpeoplemagazine.com This is a new media publication in every sense of the word. It
Managing editor is published online using the interactive channels of Web 2.0 to
Michele Ash enable ‘prosumers’ – people who want to have a hand in shaping the
michele@smartpeoplemagazine.com magazine – to collaborate on content and direction.
Technology by The Eight Norms we use as our guidelines are:
Boris Jaeger
boris.jaeger@smartpeoplemagazine.com Freedom: Net Geners demand the freedom to choose. The more the
Graphic design by
better. The Internet has enabled that right and we eagerly compete in
Associated Professional Services that environment.
designer_aps@verizon.net
Customization: The magazine will continue to evolve as Smart
Social network hosts People representatives host discussion groups in the social networks
Facebook Ning and advocate changes in the magazine.
Daniel Delgado Avigdor Sharon
Alan O’Neill Scrutiny: We expect smart people to examine our value and
Twitter determine whether our magazine is unique and worth time and
Linkedin Jack Ring
Skip Boettger Alice MacGillivray
money. And, we expect to be continually tested.
John Veitch Integrity: To earn your trust, Smart People must deliver quality,
Boris Jaeger mixxt
Boris Jaeger relevancy and truth by sharing the best of knowledge and
information from the most reliable of sources.
Collaboration: Smart People magazine has been developed in
collaboration with social networkers in an open, online worksite.
Entire contents copyrighted, 2009, by Associated
Professional Services, publisher. All rights are Our prosumers continue to be our ‘board of directors.’
reserved. Contents may not be republished (in print Entertainment: We learn and we do our best when we’re having
or electronically) without permission of the publisher.
fun. Smart People magazine is deliberately quick and lively and full
Opinions expressed are those of the writers and may of meaning, all at once.
not represent the opinion of Associated Professional
Services or Smart People magazine. Speed: No one ever said magazines were speedy. But they’ll say it
Smart People magazine about this one. The magazine may be a periodical, but the flow of
Associated Professional Services conversation is now.
1811 Atrium Drive
Sun City Center, Florida 33573 Innovation: There’s never been anything like Smart People magazine.
Phone: 813.634.4397 We dare to be different because we think differently and we urge
our readers to think differently too. We heed the Eight Norms
www.smartpeoplemagazine.com because we believe in them.

Tom Davenport Jane Dysart David Gurteen Alice MacGillivray Robert Wendover The Smart People Magazine Board of Directors is being
Information Library and Knowledge Smart People Generational
Technology Information Science Management Networkers Studies carefully and methodically constructed to assure broad
representation of the personal and professional interests
of our audience, ranging from experts to ordinary smart
people. We invite suggestions and assistance. Contact
Jerry Ash: smart.guy1@smartpeoplemagazine.com

EDITORIAL BOARD

SMART PEOPLE 3
COVER STORY
Sugar rush at the Knowledge Café
How conversation is bringing KM back to the people
David Gurteen’s Knowledge Café, hosted by chocolate manufacturer Cadbury at its headquarters
in Bournville, England, brought together people to discuss the role of conversation in business.
By Joanna Goodman
What brought me to the UK’s most
famous chocolate manufacturer?
I have been experimenting
with microblogging on Twitter.
My growing list of connections is
broadening my reading on IT and
KM, I am inspired by the quotation
tweets and I’ve also discovered a
couple of good restaurants.
Recently, I decided to explore
further. Anyone interested in
technology will be aware of the
webinars, seminars, white papers
and other resources promoting
social networking as a way of
boosting your business – and your
knowledge base.
So it’s interesting – and a little
ironic – that I discovered on Twitter
a KM event designed to promote
face-to-face communication, both
in its own format and in its subject
matter.
4 SMART PEOPLE
David Gurteen was organizing
a Knowledge Café to discuss: What
is the business role of conversation and
how do we encourage more productive
conversations within our organization?
He used Twitter to invite
people to participate in face-to-face
conversations about conversation.
The tweets in advance of the
event promised a lively debate as
tweeters bandied jokes around
the names of popular Cadbury
chocolate bars “Will we have to
Wispa?” asked one. “Will the
presenter give us a Twirl?” quipped
another.
Nearly 50
people met at
the Cadbury
headquarters,
which
reflect the
company’s
origins and
its expansion
into a global
brand with
Victorian
buildings
surrounded
by a huge hi-
tech campus.
You can
immediately
see why it
inspired the Roald Dahl novel
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.
After a short networking
session, where samples of Cadbury
chocolate lifted the mood, we sat
down at tables of six for a brief
introduction to the Knowledge
Café.
What is a Knowledge Café?
According to David Gurteen,
“A Knowledge Café is designed
to engage people with a subject
or theme. We start with a short
talk and focus on one or two open
ended questions.
Participants break into groups
to discuss the theme and questions
and then reconvene into one large
group for a final discussion. The
Café is not about making decisions,
but about gaining a better mutual
understanding of a topic or issue.”
The idea is to replicate
the atmosphere of casual, but
productive discussions between
friends and acquaintances in a café
or around someone’s kitchen table.
It’s about using informal
engagement to promote empathy
and understanding, thereby
building productive (working)
relationships and avoiding and
addressing (potential or actual)
problems.
Cadbury KM: using
science and technology
to create magic
Louise Tirre, from Cadbury’s
global knowledge management
technology and engagement team,
explained how Cadbury uses
science and technology to create
magic.
Louise travels around the
world supporting Cadbury’s
communities of practice, which
among other things, discover tastes
and preferences of consumers
in different regions and use this
information to develop brands of
chocolate, candy and gum.

KM at Cadbury has developed
a variety of resources helping
and encouraging people to share
information and expertise across
the business to develop, share and
reuse ideas.
Communities of practice
around different specialisms share
knowledge and drive innovation.
Cadbury looks outside the
business and the industry too. Its
Open Innovation Team focuses on
collaborating with people outside
Cadbury through Web sites that
seek input on developing recipes,
processes and products.
Cadbury is not just about
new ideas. Some of its traditional
products are its most successful
brands.
The KM team leverages 200
years of inventing chocolate and
the company’s origins as a family
business, reflected in its values
and culture and representing a
significant part of the brand.
The conversation
Each table discussed the topic
and after a few minutes, one or two
people moved to another table and
discuss the same topic in a different
group. Finally, the whole group
discussed key themes and issues.
For example:
n Internal competition between
individuals and teams
represents a significant obstacle
to productive conversation in
business. Potential solutions
include recognizing and
rewarding collaboration and
giving people credit for their
ideas. It is useful to set the
ground rules at the start of the
conversation.
COVER STORY
n The right working environment in learning and
facilitates casual interaction. The sharing knowledge,
dilemma in terms of workplace by the Internet and
design is that although it even by Twitter!
is important to encourage We discussed
collaboration, people need to be how in the world
able to work without distractions of email, social
n Having separate meetings for networking, instant
discussion and decision-making messaging and Joanna
is a useful way of stimulating texting, we can Goodman is a
open, trusting conversation. bring the art of London-based
n Productive conversations are conversation back freelance writer
not necessarily face-to-face. to the workplace and editor
Virtual teams can work too; – not just having specializing in
success depends on buy- conversations, the legal and
in. For example at Cadbury, but having business sector.
people put themselves out to conversations that She has written
add value. extensively on
join community of practice
teleconferences, notwithstanding The value may technology,
information
the time difference between or may not be
and knowledge
participants. in terms of ROI,
management,
making money communication
Bringing KM back or saving time. and corporate
to the people Conversations social
Knowledge Cafés are a add value in ways responsibility.
fantastic networking opportunity, that are difficult Contact Joanna
whether they are public or within to measure: at joanna.
organizations. by avoiding goodman@
In business, they are misunderstanding, btinternet.com
particularly useful for bringing creating synergy
people together during and after between people
mergers, to build relationships and making their lives easier,
between individuals and teams reducing hassle and helping to
and transfer tacit or experiential create a great place to work.
knowledge. Nor is it just about
They also benefit educational organizations. Knowledge Cafés
establishments and communities can work for just about any special
of practice and interest. Open interest group.
Knowledge Cafés like the one “The outcome for participants is
at Cadbury promote inter- what they take away as individuals
organizational and inter-personal that they can act on and do
knowledge transfer, helping people differently,” explains David.
in different roles, organizations The World Café is a case in
and sectors learn from each other, point, www.theworldcafe.com,
offering fascinating insights into having developed a process where
different approaches to internal people get together to discuss social
communication. issues like sustainability – the object
Knowledge Cafés bring KM of the exercise being making our
back to the people. KM experts, world a great place to live.
scientists, engineers, civil servants, To find out more about Gurteen
educators, charity workers and Knowledge Cafés, visit www.
creatives were drawn to the gurteen.com
Cadbury event by our interest
SMART PEOPLE 5
WORKING
WORKING When you don’t need training
By Michele Martin
When management finds
that staff are not engaging in
work behaviors desired by the
organization, they often turn
to training as the response
for “fixing” the problem. But
training frequently isn’t the
answer.
I want to share five
situations that won’t be
resolved by training.
1. To make up for poorly answer to the problem, either.
designed work processes
Many organizations
have poorly designed work
processes and customer flow.
These processes have often
been jerry-rigged to meet
regulations or accommodate
some shortcoming.
Staff have often developed
workarounds that take them
closer to their goals or that
can be done more quickly and
it is these workarounds that
management doesn’t like.
But generally the reason
that staff aren’t adhering
to a work policy or process
is because the process isn’t
working.
They know perfectly well
what they should be doing,
so lack of skill isn’t their
problem.
Instead, they find that the
process is not working for
them, so they devise some
other way to get their job
done.
2. As a replacement
for corrective action
Several years ago when
I was the HR manager for
a large manufacturer, we
had some serious problems
6 SMART PEOPLE
with a couple of managers
who were engaging in sexual
harassment.
Rather than disciplining
the two offenders, my boss
insisted that we needed to
run a training course for all of
the managers in the company
(over 50 people).
Since they had never done
sexual harassment training
before, running a session
wasn’t a bad idea.
But it wasn’t the complete
What was really needed was
to use a corrective action
process with the offending
employees.
I’ve found that
many organizations
are uncomfortable with
confronting an employee who
is not engaging in desired
work behaviors.
If a few people are having
a problem with coming back
from lunch on time, the next
thing you know everyone
is in a training on “time
management.”
Training should never be
a replacement for corrective
action. It’s frustrating to the
people who are behaving
appropriately and the staff
with the problem generally
don’t believe that the training
is directed at them.
3. To satisfy a ignored or punished.
“requirement”
for professional come home, but if staff are
development
One of my clients contracts using the skills I’m teaching,
to a large government agency then it’s unlikely that they will
that requires periodic staff
development.
Although in principle
this is a good thing, in
practice what happens is that
managers realize at the last
minute that they’re supposed
to be doing staff training at
certain times during the year,
so they run around trying to
find a topic and a trainer to
satisfy the requirement.
Ongoing professional
development is very much a
necessity in today’s economy.
But it can’t happen just to
prove that you’re providing
training to staff.
It needs to be part
of a larger professional
development planning process
that has clearly identified
specific skills that staff need.
And arranging for the
training should be done
thoughtfully, not haphazardly.
4. When performance
expectations have not
been properly developed
I’ve written previously (in
other publications) about how
performance expectations
are the real drivers of staff
behavior and how they must
be properly formulated to
be effective in encouraging
staff to engage in the work
behaviors you desire.
People respond to the
systems in which they operate
– they tend to do what they
are rewarded for doing and
to not do the things that are
I can train until the cows
not going to be rewarded for
actually use them on the job.
Before you get someone
in to do a training session,
first make sure that you’ve

set the right expectations
for performance that will
encourage workers to use what
they’re being taught.
5. When you don’t have area in which training will
management be provided.
understanding and buy-in
I can’t tell you the number
of trainings I’ve conducted
that supervisors and managers
had no clue about.
This is invariably a
recipe for frustration and
confusion because staff don’t
understand why they’ve been
sent to a training about which
their managers have no real
knowledge.
They know that the skills
they’re learning will not be
used or reinforced on the job
if their managers don’t know
anything about these skills, so
to them, the training becomes
“nice to know,” rather than
“need to know.”
And in most organizations,
there’s no time for “nice to
know.”
As I said earlier, training
only works when performance
expectations have been clearly
articulated and the training
supports those expectations.
For this to be the case,
managers must know what’s
going on in the training
sessions their staff are
attending. And they must be
able to incorporate what staff
are learning into the daily
work of staff.
Without management
understanding and buy-in,
there will be little transfer
of training to the job. Which
means that training has pretty
much been a waste.
So when is training the
answer? For training to be
effective, these conditions
must be met:
n Staff must lack skill in the
If people don’t know
how to properly perform
a task, then training can
teach them how to do that.
But if there’s some other
reason that staff aren’t
behaving in a certain way,
training won’t help.
n Performance expectations
have been clearly set
and the training that’s
provided clearly leads to
staff being able to meet
these expectations.
n Managers have a clear
understanding of what
is being taught in the
training.
n There’s a plan for ensuring
that staff have the tools,
resources and supports to
use the new skills when
they return to the job.
WORKING
How many times Michele Martin
have you participated works with
in computer training individuals
three months before the and
computer arrived on your organizations
desk? to transform
How much did you professional
actually remember? ‘Nuff development
said. experiences
n Work processes have been using blogs,
adjusted to incorporate the social
use of the new skills. networks,
If staff are being wikis, social
taught how to use new bookmarking
tools, then the use of those and other
tools should be embedded Web 2.0 tools.
in their daily work. Blog: http://
If they are being michelemartin.
taught specific ways to typepad.com/
engage with clients, then
work processes should
support staff in being
able to engage in those
behaviors.
If you can meet these
conditions, then it’s time to
offer training. If not, then
you need to rethink what
you’re doing and make some
adjustments to your plan.
SMART PEOPLE 7
WORKING

Rules of engagement
Follow the rules, bend or break them, or ignore them
By David Garic

In a desperate championship game, a football coach calls a play – a special play he knows will
work. The ball is snapped. The quarterback drops back to pass and throws to a running back
who catches the ball while he is behind the line of scrimmage. The running back stops, sets,
and throws a completed pass 30 yards downfield to a wide receiver, putting the team in scoring
position.
Wait! The officials are huddled in the middle of the field and then a yellow penalty flag
ascends into the air, Illegal forward pass. The previous play is voided and the team is penalized.
Surely the coach must have known that this type of play was against the rules. Or did he?
If this very same play had been run the previous season it would have been perfectly legal
and within the rules, but an off-season rule change made this play illegal. Yet, the coach was
unaware of it. He didn’t know the rules. It proved to be a costly mistake since his team lost when
the opposing team scored a last second field goal.
When it comes to leading people, teams, and organizations, there aren’t any referees present
to make sure we follow the rules. Over and over again, leaders call the wrong plays without
even knowing they’re breaking the rules. All leaders are different and all leaders lead
differently. Fortunately for us there aren’t very many rules for leading.
So, just what are these rules and why are they so important?

Rule #1: Leaders cannot motivate people

Leaders repeatedly fool themselves into thinking they can motivate people by
offering them some form of tangible reward or by instilling fear in them. In both cases
they are wrong.
Leaders cannot motivate people. What leaders can do, however, is be
motivational. Consider this: All of us are self-motivated. We all do what we do
because we, for a multitude of reasons, are motivated to do it. You see, the key for
leaders when it comes to motivation is not believing that they can motivate
people, it’s that they understand what motivates people, what drives them, and
create the opportunities for them to satisfy those motivations.

Rule #2: Check your ego at the door

Leaders whose focus is egocentric take significant risk. Over and over
again, leaders who behave as though their followers exist solely to serve
them inevitably tumble from their exalted status. They fail to realize that in every
circumstance, any influence that leaders enjoy is a direct result of the willingness of
their followers to allow themselves to be influenced by leaders. If followers aren’t
willing to be led, the leaders are powerless. Effective leaders focus on the needs, wants,
desires, and expectations of their followers; every action they take is intended to
help followers satisfy those needs, wants and expectations.

Rule #3: Do it right

Leaders have a moral responsibility to their followers to ensure that what
they require of their followers is within ethical boundaries. Succinctly, they must
create and maintain the ethical climate within which they operate. Simply by virtue
of their authority and position in an organization, leaders can wield significant amounts
of power. Misusing this power can produce horrendous and often deadly results. They

8 SMART PEOPLE
 WORKING
are expected to define what is right and what is wrong, and when they choose to ignore what is
right and expect what is wrong, they place their followers in harm’s way.
To do it right, leaders must:
n Define a clear, understandable set of guidelines for their followers. Give examples of what is
right and what is wrong.
n Define and determine ahead of time what the rewards are for ethical behavior. Conversely,
determine ahead of time the consequences for unethical behavior.
n Monitor the level of stress and pressure followers are performing under. Determine what the
optimal level of stress is and seek to prevent it from increasing.
You can choose to follow them, bend or break them, or ignore them. Whatever choice you
make, the rules are the rules, and they are as real as Newton’s law of gravity. Like Newton’s law,
the rules have a predictable effect on how successful or unsuccessful any leader will be. As long
as people are in positions of responsibility, attempting to influence other people to achieve a
goal, or to get the job done, the rules will be there.

David Garic develops and trains leaders in organizations and is the author of Leading from the Front.
Web site: http://www.garicconsulting.com

Popping pills to enhance workforce

How far should a company go to improve its workforce? What
type of “self-improvement” culture should an organization
adopt?
In the Summer 2009 cover story for The Conference Board
Review, writer Michael Schrage seeks to address these
questions – and the many uncomfortable and
provocative issues they raise. “Organizations
may soon be forced to rethink everything they
thought they knew about improving talent
and bringing out the best in people,” writes
Schrage.
“All over the world, the best-performing people in the
best-performing organizations always look to get better at to outperform and overachieve,” Schrage points out – from
getting better,” says Schrage, a research fellow at the MIT concert musicians popping beta blockers to calm anxiety
Sloan School’s Center for Digital Business, Boston. “In to beauty pageants paying for contestants’ breast implants.
tomorrow’s global markets, being the best will increasingly The corporate realm is no different, particularly with Western
depend on ready access to the best technologies, the best companies facing competition from those in less-regulated
(and presumably legal) drugs, and the best coaching and countries.
mentoring money can buy.” “The irony here is that tomorrow’s business leadership
Indeed, most firms think nothing about supplying their has no choice but to enhance its performance around how
workers with free coffee. Is it now time for HR to dole out it enhances performance – or forfeit its people and best
caffeine pills too? Of course, that’s only the onramp to a opportunities.”
road fraught with ethical dilemmas. Companies will face far
more difficult decisions when it comes to recommending to The Conference Board Review (www.tcbreview.com) is The
its executives self-improvement techniques – counseling, Conference Board quarterly magazine of ideas and opinions
coaching, and yes, even drugs. for business leaders. The full article is downloadable at
As it is, “strategically awkward decisions around tcbreview.com/a-better-workforce.php. To contact author
personal enhancement are found everywhere talent strives Michael Schrage: courter@conference-board.org

SMART PEOPLE 9
CHOOSING
CHOOSING Part II: Saving the company
How ordinary smart people will change the organization
In Part 1, August 2009 issue, presents a bleak picture of the state of business management
in the U.S. Part II digs deeper.
By Dave Pollard organizations in the 1990s.
Senior managers expressed
In the 1980s and 1990s, most concerns that email would
organizations invested in be a scourge, and many
three new technologies, attempted to limit its use.
mostly reluctantly: fax, email They were right about it being
and intranets. a scourge, but not successful
Fax was a faster and in limiting its use.
cheaper
way to send Managers thought email would be a
marketing scourge and they were right.
materials to
customers and
Corporate intranets were
to receive orders, and send
used at first to automate the
instructions to and collect
two dominant types of shared
performance data from remote
organizational information:
operations, and it was not
policies and procedures, and
an expensive technology to
directories.
introduce.
Eliminating hard-copy
Its heyday was a mere
manuals and directories
decade.
was a welcome change, but
Email and
intranets quickly became
corporate
massive repositories for
intranets
millions of context-free
were
archived documents that were
introduced
of almost no use to anyone but
in most
the author.
The consequence has been
an explosion in complex server
technologies, taxonomies and
search technologies . . . for
information that almost
no one finds to be of
any value. Documents
touted as “reusable best
practices” were dumped
into the corporate intranet and
abandoned.
To try to connect
to customers, many
organizations in the 1990s
and 2000s have invested in
‘extranets’ (Web sites that
10 SMART PEOPLE
only customers had access to)
and sophisticated, interactive
public Web sites.
They found to their
chagrin that decision-makers
in most organizations were too
busy to visit their Web sites,
and that most of the people
browsing the Web pages they
had so carefully crafted were
job-seekers, students doing
papers, the competitors and
the media.
So here we are in 2009,
and the principal information
flows in most organizations
are still exactly what they were
in 1975.
What’s changed:
n Instead of typed memos,
instructions are now sent
to employees by email;
performance data is sent back
up to management by email,
or captured electronically
automatically.
n Peer-to-peer conversations
are still mostly real time
and face-to-face or voice-to-
voice (or IM); asynchronous
conversations in email threads
are arguably the least effective.
Email has allowed more
conversation with colleagues
outside the organization.
With young workers much
learning occurs through
such conversations, though
IT security in most large
organizations prohibits
many of the social media
used by young workers to
communicate outside the
organization, nullifying much

of this advantage and creating do it for them), there has
considerable animosity.
n The library has been
largely supplanted by the
intranet, but it is now much
harder to find things and
there are fewer information
professionals able to help
you find stuff, so searching
takes longer and is less
effective. The intranet in
most organizations is still
used principally for the same
two purposes: looking up
policies and procedures, and
directories.
n Email has allowed a
massive increase in the
amount of work delegation
between employees in most
organizations.
It is easier to delegate
work when you don’t have
to face the person you’re
asking to do it, even though
the chance of it being done
well is less. Email also allows
much more procrastination in reason for this is simple:
organizations – people
send requests for
information to others
Friday afternoon, as
an excuse to put off
working on a project until the 1. We have not done
next week.
There is considerable
evidence that email has
had a significant negative
effect on productivity and
work effectiveness, because
there is no accountability
to the sender for time of
the recipients that has been
wasted, and because it costs
nothing to send an email
to an unlimited number of
recipients.
n After a period of
disintermediation (people
doing their own on-line
research instead of having
librarians, assistants or
information professionals
been a swing back to re-
intermediated research, as
most employees learned
they lack the significant
competencies needed to do
quality research.
Young workers tend to
still do their own online
research, but only until
they find an appropriate
intermediary and reach
the level at which they
are permitted to delegate
research.
n Most marketing material
is now sent by email and
also duplicated on the
organization’s public Internet
site, but in these electronic
forms it is mostly unread.
In other words, in adding
to the volume and complexity are finding ways to draw on
of information systems, we
have added relatively little
value, and in some cases
actually reduced value. The
We could shrug off KM, except people – by necessity – are now
managing their knowledge and information on their own.
anything to substantively
improve the ability of
senior management to
manage the business
(i.e., to manage cash
flow, share price, risks or them from one job to the next.
opportunities).
2. We have not done
anything to substantively
improve the effectiveness
of any of the information
flows that matter in
organizations, or the
quality of the information. how smart people are changing
We have, in short,
implemented a solution that
addressed no problem. We
introduced new KM tools
because we could.
CHOOSING
If that were the end of the
story, we could just shrug off
KM as another business fad
and move on.
But there is something
happening in organizations
today that is beginning
to improve the quality
of information and the
Dave Pollard
effectiveness of information
is former chief
flows that matter, something
knowledge
that creates a second
officer of Ernst &
opportunity for KM people to
Young, coaches
actually do something useful.
entrepreneurs
What is happening is
and writes “How
that people are beginning to
to Save the
manage their own information
World” which
and information processes.
ranks high on
People are finding
the blog lists in
workarounds to the
Canada – http://
dysfunctional processes in
blogs.salon.
their organizations. They
com/0002007
people in their growing online
networks to do their jobs
better.
They are realizing that
if tomorrow’s workers
will end up working in a
dozen different jobs in their
lifetimes, they need to take
responsibility for their own
learning and their own
knowledge, and take it with
Increasingly, they are
keeping their knowledge
in their own personal
repositories, and in their own
personal networks.
In Part III, October issue, learn
the organization one person at a
time.
SMART PEOPLE 11
CHOOSING
Online marketing
Retailers engage power of Internet shopper
A new report published by
Experian, a global information
services company, suggests
that retail and home shopping
brands need to adapt in order
to connect online with “the
empowered consumer.”
The report, titled
“Engaging Online with the
Empowered Consumer,”
highlights that the rise of Web
2.0 and social networking,
price comparison sites and
online discount codes have all
led to consumers expecting
greater value and service
levels. According to Experian’s
report, the reality is that many
retailers and home shopping
companies are failing to live
up to consumers’ multi-
channel expectations.
Using the home shopping
sector as an example,
Experian’s analysis reveals
the harsh reality of customer
engagement:
12 SMART PEOPLE
n 45 percent of customers
are single purchasers, with
figures rising as high as 75
percent in some cases.
n 60-70 percent of “best”
customers have not
purchased in the last 12
months, signifying that
companies are taking
one or two seasons to
recognize that high value
customers have lapsed.
n 30 percent of customers
generate nearly 70 percent
of revenues.
Experian’s report suggests
that brands need to encourage
repeat purchasing and
loyalty by blending offline
and online insights to dictate
precisely how and when a
company engages with today’s
increasingly-savvy customers.
For example, insight
from Hitwise, an Experian
company, found that online
shoppers are evolving – with
27 percent of online shoppers
over 55 years old in 2008
compared to just 12 percent in
2005.
According to the report’s
authors, the biggest problem
is that while many companies
have a multi-channel
marketing strategy in place,
more often than not it operates
in isolation of the rest of the
brand portfolio.
The result for the
consumer is a fragmented
experience with inconsistent
service levels and value
propositions.
Online consumer
behavior is changing rapidly
and while online fashion
retailers have embraced
online strategies such as
expanding email marketing
and search strategies, and
targeting lifestyle and social
networking sites, traditional
catalogue retailers have
generally not been as quick to
adapt.
As a result, online
fashion retailers have seen
a 31 percent increase in UK
Internet traffic over the last
12 months compared to just
one percent for traditional
catalogue companies
according to Hitwise.
Marie Myles, director
of marketing consulting
for Experian’s Integrated
Marketing division,
commented: “Our new
report lifts the lid on why
engaging online with the
empowered consumer is a
business imperative in today’s
tough economic climate. The
fact that online retailing has
grown by 40 percent in the
last 12 months underlines
why brands must change the
way they communicate.
“While ‘wow’ factors will
be memorable and generate
conversations, innovations
in marketing and brand
loyalty will be lost if the
basics continue to be ignored.
Greater emphasis needs to be
placed on the exploitation and
application of existing data
assets. The enhanced insight
derived from this approach
and the move to a coordinated
customer contact strategy will
lead to more profitable and
longer relationships between
brands and consumers.”

Packaging
Made in China and absolutely reusable
In our western societies
almost all food and drink
products are packaged.
Packaging is useful for
hygienic reasons and helps
to dramatically reduce food-
related illnesses, but it is all
too often over-designed and
wasteful.
Only Germany has hung
onto the tradition of reuse
systems and 60 percent of all
beer, mineral water and soft
drinks is coming in refillable
bottles, which can be reused
up to 40 times.
In China, consumers are
starting to adopt western
consumption patterns
and growing amounts
of packaging are rapidly
becoming a major issue.
Over the last two decades
the Chinese economy has
been enjoying growth
rates of 8-10 percent. In this
period of growth and boom
environmental issues have
been in the background, but
there are new and sustainable
trends emerging.
Absolut Vodka has been
one of the most iconic brands
since the 1980s and it defined
an era and generation as
much as the Pet Shop Boys
and the fall of the Berlin Wall.
Last year the designer
Jamy Yang was given the
opportunity to design the
promotional package for
Absolut Pears for the Chinese
market.
The design is a 21st
century interpretation of
the classic Absolut bottle
in combination with reuse
functionality. The pack can
CHOOSING
take two bottles, has a handle brand characterized by
and, as it is easy to carry, creativity and a fresh design
avoids the use of a shopping attitude.
bag.
The material is attractive
and transparent and the
container can easily be reused
as a small suitcase, storage
unit, a bowl or even as a
pendant light.
It can also be taken
back to the shop to stock
up supplies or to friends’
houses and parties. When
the container has reached the
end of its first cycle, it is 100
percent recyclable.
Jamy Yang was recently The brand constantly
ranked as one of the Ten stretches the boundaries of
Excellent Young Chinese beauty and human needs,
Designers recognition. as well as the interaction
He studied and worked in between design and everyday
China and in Germany and life.
received various international At the core of
design awards including 2002 organization’s work is the
Germany Red Dot Concept redesign of oriental culture,
Gold Award and 2008 Design the rethinking of modern
For Asia Silver Award. life and reuse of everyday
Yang is represented by material.
Y-TOWN, an independent
Reader exchange – Departing knowledge won’t come back
Alan O’Neill wrote: I was listening to the BBC1 News and heard this quote from an LDV
(van maker) worker who has just been made redundant: “The knowledge is going and it
won’t be coming back.”
This echoes what I have been saying for years about knowledge management “By
the time you realize you need Knowledge Management, it is too late.”
When are companies going to wake up and recognize that the key knowledge resides
in the minds of their staff, the Smart People. It has value, it is useful, but most importantly
. . . it can be lost.
Jerry Ash replied: The digital culture outside the workplace provides freedom and
opportunity and that’s what digitals will demand when they go to work. Enabling
knowledge to work. Isn’t that what we’ve told the C-level they need to do – enable, not
just manage?
SMART PEOPLE 13
LIVING

American Muslim
LIVING Breaks down barriers wherever she goes
“I want to help bring from Karachi to a small town John’s University in Queens,
peace and harmony to in Oman. Non-Omanis were applied for her immigration.
the world,” says Ayesha not permitted to attend college What should have taken
Siddiqui, who is proud to there, so at great financial no longer than ten months
be an American-Muslim, a sacrifice Siddiqui, who now ended up taking three and
Pakistani-American and a lives in the Bensonhurst one-half years; she finally
New Yorker.  section of Brooklyn, was sent arrived in New York in 2000.  
“I’ve lived in the Middle back to Pakistan to study. Before their marriage,
East and here; I feel I can be a Her father had always Siddiqui’s husband said he
bridge between different faiths supported her education would send her to college
and cultures.”   endeavors and she never here. By 2002, though, she was
Coming from someone disappointed him, graduating a mother of two and thought
else, this could sound like at the top of her class in every it wasn’t possible.
a lofty dream. But Siddiqui, school she ever attended.    Two years later, her
34, a married mother of two “My father would tell husband urged her to pursue
sons, breaks down barriers me that I was his life savings her education. “He convinced
wherever she goes.
Named New York City
College of Technology’s (City
Ayesha Siddiqui says her religion is not narrow-
Tech) 2009 valedictorian, she minded. Her husband totally supports college
is the first Pakistani Muslim and career. Women talk to men and Islam is a
female student to receive this
honor in the history of the religion of peace.
college.  
“I have always worn the when I’d worry about the me to go back to college.
hijab, the head covering that finances,” she noted. “He Having been given this
Muslim women wear,” she would say that education is second opportunity to study
explains.  money well-spent.”  and have a career, I wanted to
“People I meet have a lot It’s not surprising that do something different.”  
of questions that I am always Siddiqui, the oldest of five Siddiqui, who was on her
happy to answer, like ‘How children, aspired to join the school’s debate team in Oman
come you are going to school foreign service when she and used to sing, act and host
when you have a husband and graduated with a bachelor’s shows there, always enjoyed
children?’ ‘How come you degree in political science drawing and making greeting
talk to male students?’ and ‘Is from Karachi University in cards for friends and family
Islam really about killing other 1996.  and posters for school events.
people?’   “I wanted to earn a Recalling this, she decided
“I stress that my religion master’s degree in mass to get her college degree in
is not narrow-minded,” she communications and graphic design.   
continues. “My husband eventually represent “I loved it from the first
totally supports my going to my country as an day of class and knew it
college and having a career. ambassador,” she says.   was for me,” she said. “I
Women can talk to men who While studying for truly believe that effective
aren’t family members. And, Pakistan’s civil service exam, visual communication can
Islam is a religion of peace; we she got married. Her husband, help resolve issues, conflicts.
don’t condone killing.”   who grew up in Karachi and Graphic designers have a
When she was six years earned a master’s degree in responsibility to society
old, Siddiqui’s family moved medical technology at St. because design is a universal

14 SMART PEOPLE

language – it speaks to so
many people.”    I thought of giving
Siddiqui worked hard and
earned her associate degree
at Kingsborough Community
College in one year with a GPA
of 3.97.
She finished the
requirements for her bachelor’s
degree in communication
design at City Tech in
two years and is the first
advertising design and graphic
arts student to be named
valedictorian in City Tech’s
history.
During the entire time, her
whole family back in Pakistan
– parents, inlaws, siblings
– were committed to her going
to college.
Her mother-in-law, who is
in her seventies, visited often
to help out. But it was up to her
and her husband to come up
with a way to make it work.   “Find your
“My husband and I
have no relatives here, so we
really had to coordinate our
schedules. He worked the
night shift – 11:30 p.m. to 7:30
a.m. – as a technical specialist
in Maimonides Medical
Center’s blood bank and also
had a weekend job.
“That’s so we’d have the
money for me to go to college
and he could be home for
the children while I was in
school,” she explained.   Siddiqui, who earned a
“I cooked meals for
my family every day,” she
adds. “When my chores were
done at 9 or 9:30 at night I
would start my homework,
often staying up until
midnight. Then I would get up
at 6 a.m. and start again.”   mother-in-law have been.
Her studies almost
derailed this past fall when
her father died in Islamabad,
where her parents moved after
her father retired.  wrong. Both of them have
LIVING
“I was so bereft,
up,” she says. And
then she felt her
father’s presence and
his words, 
“I raised you to
be a strong woman.
Go back and focus.
Find your strength.” 
“And I did. By
pulling myself out
of the sadness, I am
stronger than ever
before. And that’s
the message I gave to
graduates,” continues
Siddiqui, who
delivered her
valedictory address
at City Tech’s June
commencement in
the WaMu Theater
at Madison Square
Garden.
very high expectations of
strength within your me. Sometimes, my husband
weakness and remember would tell me not to push
nobody is perfect. Treat myself so hard. But I said no, I
everyone with respect.”   have to do my best.”
During an internship And she has.
at the Women’s Press
Collective, Siddiqui found her New York City College of
professional path; she’d like to Technology (City Tech) of The
be a graphic designer for non- City University of New York
profit organizations.  (CUNY) is the largest public
“I learned so much there, college of technology in New York
especially how to survive with State, US.
limited resources.” 
Padcast: http://www1.cuny.
3.98 grade point average out edu/forums/podcasts/?p=650
of a possible 4.0 at City Tech,
misses phoning her father to
let him know her grades, but
his death made her realize
even more how supportive
her husband, children and
   
“My sons are so proud
of me. When I got my only
A-minus, my oldest son
wanted to know what went
SMART PEOPLE 15
LIVING
Why are some people smarter?
Learning capacity can increase intelligence
Why are some people smarter
than others?
In a new article in Current
Directions in Psychological
Science, a journal of the
Association for Psychological
Science, Eduardo Mercado III
from the University at Buffalo,
The State University of New
York, describes how certain
aspects of brain structure and
function help determine how
easily we learn new things,
and how learning capacity
contributes to individual
differences in intelligence.
16 SMART PEOPLE
Cognitive plasticity is
the capacity to learn and
improve cognitive skills such
as solving problems and
remembering events.
Mercado argues that the
structural basis of cognitive
plasticity is the cortical
module. Cortical modules
are vertical columns of
interconnected neuronal cells.
Across different areas
of the cerebral cortex, these
columns vary in the number
and diversity of neurons they
contain.
Identifying how cortical
modules help us learn
cognitive skills may help
explain why variations in this
capacity occur – that is, why
people learn skills at different
rates and why our ability to
learn new skills changes as
we age.
Studies examining a
number of different species
have shown that, on average,
a larger cortex predicts
greater intellectual capacity.
The source of this
correlation is unclear, but
Mercado believes that a “more
expansive cortex provides
more space within which a
larger quantity and greater
diversity of cortical modules
can be distributed.”
In other words, Mercado
notes, when it comes to
intellectual potential, it is not
the absolute or even relative
size that is important, but
how many cortical modules
(with various types of
neurons) are available.
These features of cortical
organization and function
determine how effectively our
brain distinguishes events.
This ability to differentiate
events may be what enables
us to learn cognitive skills.
One implication of this
proposal is that experience
can be as important as
genetics in determining
intellectual capacity.
Specifically, structural
changes of cortical modules
generated by development
and learning experiences may
also contribute to individual
differences in intelligence.
This research has
important implications
for improving educational
techniques and can
potentially lead to new
methods for rehabilitating
patients suffering from brain
damage.
In addition,
understanding how cortical
modules function may lead
to new ways of increasing
intelligence.
However, Mercado
cautions that “new
technologies for increasing
cognitive plasticity have
ethical. Implications.
He concludes, “The
phrase ‘changing your mind’
may soon take on a whole
new meaning.”
 LIVING

Getting to know yourself a little better

How well do you know Although it can be fairly as something that cannot be
yourself? It’s a question many simple to assess how people’s breached.
of us struggle with, as we try attitudes change over time; However, he remarks
to figure out how close we that is, have them predict that “self-knowledge is less a
are to who we actually want how they will feel at certain matter of careful introspection
to be. time and then actually than of becoming an excellent
In a new report in measure their feelings at that observer of oneself.”
Perspectives on Psychological time, it is more difficult to Wilson suggests some
Science, a journal of the measure people’s current self- ways that can help us learn
Association for Psychological knowledge accurately. more about ourselves, such
Science, Some as really attempting to be
psychologist To know more methods of objective when considering
Timothy
D. Wilson
about yourself, try to acquiring
accurate
our behaviors and trying to
see ourselves through the eyes
from the see yourself through information of other people. Another way
University the eyes of other on a person’s of knowing ourselves better
of Virginia feelings or their is to become more aware of
describes people. personality findings from psychological
theories are to compare science.
behind self-knowledge (that reports from their peers Wilson concludes, “Most
is, how people form beliefs and study their nonverbal of us pay attention to medical
about themselves), cites behavior. findings that inform us about
challenges psychologists However, Wilson our bodies (e.g., that smoking
encounter while studying it, has “great faith in the tobacco is harmful), and can
and offers ways we can get to methodological creativity” learn about our psychological
know ourselves a little better. of his “fellow social selves in the same way.”
The study of self- psychologists” and is
knowledge has tended to confident that questions raised For copy of “Know Thyself” and
focus on how accurate we by these types of experiments other articles in the Perspectives
are at determining our own will be answered in the next on Psychological Science
internal states, such as our few years. special issue “The Next Big
emotions, personality and Although Wilson Questions in Psychology,” visit
attitudes. acknowledges all the www.psychologicalscience.org
However, Wilson notes interesting findings that have
that self-knowledge can come out of new technologies,
be broadened to include such as fMRI, he cautions that
memory, like recalling how those type of studies may not
we felt in the past, and be very relevant to studying
prospection, predicting how issues associated with self-
we will feel in the future. knowledge.
While a number of There are a number of
researchers are conducting theories that aim to describe
studies that are applicable to self-knowledge by a dual-
those various facets of self- process model, pitting the
knowledge, Wilson observes unconscious against the
that there is not much conscious.
communication between Wilson notes that these
them, one reason this field is theories are pessimistic in that
challenging to investigate. they view the unconscious

SMART PEOPLE 17
LIVING
Same as cash
Become a black belt through negotiating
By Michael Soon Lee
How would you like an extra
$5,000 to $10,000 or more a
year?
‘This money can be
earned simply by becoming
a better negotiator, yet most
people in the United States
rarely take advantage of the
power of bargaining, except
on rare occasions when
making large purchases like
cars and houses.
In other countries,
like Asia, people negotiate
everything everyday and save
thousands.
Negotiating is
like a martial arts
contest where
power,
leverage
and
timing
can
mean the
difference
between
winning and
losing.
In martial arts the
black belt symbolizes mastery
of the craft and there are
seven major belts that you
must master before being
awarded the highest honor.
Beginners in martial arts
start out as white belts. This
18 SMART PEOPLE
symbolizes purity and lack of
knowledge like a seed waiting
to germinate.
Likewise, in negotiating
there are indicators that
you are a novice such as not
being aware that everything
is negotiable under the right
circumstances.
Not only cars and houses
can be subject to haggling in
the United States, even such
items as death and taxes can
be negotiable as well. For
instance, if you can negotiate
better healthcare,
you are likely to
live longer and if
you can reduce
your taxes, you
instantly increase
your standard
of living.
The author
regularly
receives a
“good patient”
discount from
his dentist
because he always
pays his bills
promptly and, when
representing clients before
the IRS, has gotten the
agency to forgive tens of
thousands of dollars in
back taxes.
The second rank
is usually the yellow
belt and represents the
seed reaching for the sun and
getting ready to grow.
In martial arts you
prepare for a contest by
spying on your opponent
to find any weaknesses.
In negotiating you do the
same thing by doing your
homework about the party
you are bargaining with.
For example, if you’re
buying a diamond ring, what
are the attributes that make
one more valuable than the
other and what’s the lowest
price you can find the one you
want on the Internet?
The third belt is green,
which symbolizes the seed
beginning to sprout.
In martial arts you learn
how to warm up by stretching
your muscles so you don’t
injure yourself.
In negotiating you warm
up by building rapport with
the other party through
small talk. Many amateur
bargainers miss this step,
which is crucial because
people like to do business
with people they like.
The fourth belt is blue
symbolizing the plant
reaching for the sky. In
martial arts you practice
your punching and blocking
techniques.
At this stage in the
bargaining process you learn
to respond to offers in a way
that doesn’t give away your
intentions. For example, if a
seller offers you a five percent
discount you should reply,
“You’ll have to do better than
that.”
This implies that their
offer isn’t good enough
without you putting anything
on the table yourself.
The fifth belt is usually
brown calling to mind the
plant becoming firmly rooted

into the earth. In martial arts
this is the stage when you
learn to use time effectively in
a tournament.
Negotiators at this level
know that it’s crucial to set
deadlines for the other party
otherwise there is no pressure
to come to agreement.
Savvy bargainers know
that if you give people all day
to make up their minds they
will take all do.
They are also aware that
the one with the least time
pressure usually wins.
The sixth belt is red
symbolizing the setting sun
and the fact that the plant has
matured.
This is the stage where
martial artists learn to always
be on guard because there can
be unfair fighters who will
kick you when your back is
turned or even hit you below
the belt.
Similarly there are dirty
fighters in negotiating who
try to trigger your emotions
by insulting you or those
who will try to renegotiate a
contract after signing it.
Experienced negotiators
do not allow themselves to
get emotionally involved and
protect themselves against
renegotiations by always
saving something for the end
for such events.
The final belt is black
meaning that the highest level
of skill has been achieved.
However, just like in
martial arts, the learning
never stops. In fact, there are
LIVING
actually 10 degrees of black
belts each one harder than
the last. In negotiating you
can never stop learning if you
want to be a master.
There are many ways
to improve your bargaining
skill such as going to garage
sales and flea markets
and to constantly look for
opportunities to bargain.
Michael “Soon” Lee, MBA, is a
nationally recognized professional
speaker and author of the book
Black Belt Negotiating™. He
has negotiated everything from
multi-million dollar real estate
transactions to major motion
picture deals and even discounts
on gas for his car. He is President
of EthnoConnect™. Web site:
http://www.ethnoconnect.com

Does your avatar make you look fat?

Creating a Second Life avatar, or virtual representation of For this study, researchers interviewed 29 residents in the
oneself, that is thin and physically fit may encourage individuals Second Life virtual world. Half the participants were interviewed
to become healthier and more physically fit in their real lives, by a thin avatar and half by an obese avatar.
according to a study by researchers at RTI International. The study also found that participants interviewed by the
The study, published in the August issue of the Journal thin avatar were more likely to report that their own avatar
of Virtual Worlds Research, found support for the idea that shape was thin than those interviewed by the obese avatar.
individuals are more likely The average body mass index
to engage in physical (BMI) reported by participants
activities in their real lives was also higher when
if their avatars in Second interviewed by the obese
Life engage in physical avatar than was reported by
activities. those interviewed by the thin
“Based these on avatar.
preliminary results, it The researchers suggest
seems likely virtual reality that the ease of manipulating
users may adjust their the size and shape of one’s
identity to be consistent avatar in Second Life gives
with that of their researchers the opportunity
avatars,” said Elizabeth to understand social factors
Dean, research survey surrounding issues such as
methodologist at RTI and obesity, body image and
the study’s lead author. physical fitness.

SMART PEOPLE 19
LEARNING
Attention: Your expertise is about to expire
LEARNING In the old days, people hoarded knowledge as a hedge against colleague competition or
obsolescence. But the shelf life of knowledge and expertise is short-lived in the fast-paced
environment of the 21st century. Be careful not to let yourself go beyond your expiration
date. Here’s what a consultant may be telling your boss. It’s just as relevant to you.
By Ross Shafer
The headline got your
attention didn’t it? It’s scary
to think you might actually
become obsolete.
What’s really frightening
is to already be obsolete and
not even know it.
You see, it doesn’t matter
that you’ve been an expert in
your field for 20 years. Or that
you are a leading expert in
your field, today.
What are you doing to
make sure you’re an expert
tomorrow? In 10 years?
You already know that
technology changes weekly.
You know that today’s
workforce consists of four
wildly different generations.
And, you just heard your
competition recently went
“global”
– or has started
franchising.
Bold growth
begs to ask bold
questions . . .
like, “Am I still
relevant?”
Are you
relevant to your
customers, your
clients, your
patients, your
colleagues or
your employees?
If you aren’t
important to your
core (and vital) constituents,
you are destined to experience
a withering market share
20 SMART PEOPLE
and the loss of your most
talented co-workers and staff
members.
So what can you do about
keeping your edge? How
can you continue to grow
when the trends seem to be
outpacing you?
Attend the wrong
convention
Yes, I’m actually asking
you to “crash” a big general
meeting at a hotel near you.
Find out what big convention
is in town. Dress well. Show
up. Tell “security” at the
door that you don’t have
your badge but that you
didn’t want to miss the guest
speaker. (All true).
Ninety-five percent of
the time you’ll be able to
sit down and soak up some
information that will likely
revolutionize your business.
In my job I get the
opportunity to attend 80+
conferences and conventions
each year. I have a front
row seat to a myriad of best
practices. And then do I my
best to cross-pollinate them at
the next conference.
For example: I went to
a grocery convention and
found out that 42 percent of
grocery shoppers still don’t
know what they want for
dinner at 4:00 p.m.
I passed on that valuable
tidbit to a chain of successful
seafood restaurants. They
immediately started running
their radio ads at 3:00 p.m.
Planting another meal
option in the minds of the
listeners (when they are
starting to think about dinner)
has caused their restaurant
business to climb.
Best practices are
a moving target
What works today might
not work tomorrow. I heard
Jack Welch tell a group of tech
executives that when he ran
General Electric he would
actually penalize a manager
for not being forthcoming
about a better way he/she was
doing things.
That policy became an
inside joke at G.E.
A manager would call
Jack’s office and say, “Hey, I
think we’re onto something
really cool in Des Moines.
Please tell Jack so I don’t get
caught with it.”
Companies like 3-M are
never satisfied with exceeding
sales goals on today’s great
products. They take enormous
pride in the fact that 30
percent of their products
didn’t even exist four years
ago. They innovate to remain
relevant.
I was at a Kodak camera
meeting in the late ‘90s where
a top sales executive stood
up and told the group, “Don’t

be freaked out by digital
photography. It’s a fad.”
Endorsing that kind of
irrelevance has diminished
their stock value, their
employee recruiting, and their
market share.
I wonder if the folks at
Polaroid had similar denial
toward the digital revolution.
Stop losing sleep
over technology
If you have email, a Web
site, a reliable server, and the
ability to sell products and
services online, you’re doing
great.
You’re better off
worrying about the human
communication skills of your
work force.
With the rampant
proliferation of cell phones,
voicemail, email and text
messaging, more and more of
your customers and clients are
craving human contact.
They want to talk to
human beings. They want
a trusted relationship with
you so they can stop “dating”
your competition. Honestly,
they could care less what
generation of routers and
switchers you’re running.
They want you to listen to
what they need – then consult
them on their choices.
We teach Customer
Empathy™ classes
… instead of customer
“service” because today’s
customers want you to
understand their point of view
before, during and after the
transaction.
LEARNING
They want you to know Have a meeting with
they often feel helpless, out of the Millennials in your
control, and anxious about the workforce. Ask them what
purchase; especially if it’s a Web sites they surf. Ask
high-ticket item. them where they spend their
You may be a person weekends and off time. Ask
who sells homes, computers, them to help you set up a
or BMWs all day long. But Wikipedia page or upload
your customer may only homemade company videos
buy an item that huge two to to YouTube.
four times in their lifetime. Young people are relevant
Creating a trusted emotional by design and peer pressure.
connection with your They embrace change because
customer is the only recipe for change means “better.”
long-term customer loyalty.
Listen to our culture
Don’t just subscribe to
your industry magazines.
Every month, go to your local
newsstand (or
go online)
and read a
variety of
publications
you normally
wouldn’t read.
Pick magazines about
science, medicine,
sports, money, guitars and
women’s issues.
Get a sense of what our
culture is talking about. How
are they spending their time?
Remember, they’re anxious to
How are they spending their
download software upgrades.
money? Listen to people talk
If you take an active
at the supermarket, the drug
interest in paying attention
store, the fast food restaurant,
to life and humanity,
the hardware store . . .
obsolescence will never be
wherever.
your problem. Plus, you’ll
You’re listening for
have plenty of time to focus
“buzz.” Buzz is the new stuff
on more important crises . . .
everybody is talking about.
like your hairline?
You want to be buzz.
Ross Shafer is a TV personality
Young people know
turned business consultant and
about buzz
conference speaker/humorist. Web
They are often early
site: http://rossshafer.com/index.
adopters of technology,
php
games, phone services and
anything fun and interesting.
Their shorter attention spans
demand it.
SMART PEOPLE 21
LEARNING
The world is open
Anyone can learn anything from anybody anytime
A new book by an Indiana
University School of
Education professor takes a
comprehensive look at how
Web technology is changing
worldwide education.
The World is Open:
How Web Technology is
Revolutionizing Education,
written by Curt Bonk,
professor of instructional
systems technology,
documents the many ways
in which he says innovations
have made it possible so
“anyone can learn anything
from anyone else at any time.”
The book is inspired by
the best-selling work of New
York Times columnist Thomas
Friedman, “The World is
Flat.” In the book, which
came out in 2005, Friedman
documented 10 “flatteners”
22 SMART PEOPLE
that have made economic Bonk also discusses a 21-
globalization much easier. year-old behind a free online
Bonk’s book provides a book catalogue who already
framework for understanding made his mark on the Internet
the availability of education by helping author “Real
through Web technology with Simple Syndication,” or RSS, at
his own list of 10. age 14.
“With it, people
can go down the list Collaboration is from birth
not of ‘flatteners,’
as Friedman talks to death – from K-12 to the
about, but of workplace.
‘openers,’ as in the
doors becoming Not only is education
open for education,” Bonk changing in the places where
said. the Internet is available,
“By having that list of 10, the resources available on
it is a somewhat succinct list the Internet are changing
from the potentially hundreds education even where the
that could be listed, so as not Internet is not available, Bonk
to overwhelm people with the said.
possibilities.” People are taking
The 10 key trends Bonk knowledge to remote places.
explores include “Web “For instance, in Western
searching in the world of e- China, I talk about the ‘1kg
books,” “availability of open Project,’ where people go
source and free software,” on the Web, volunteer their
and “real-time mobility and time and visit schools in
portability.” The beginning Western China, and bring one
letters from each trend spell kilogram of stuff with them,”
“WE-ALL-LEARN.” he said.
The book documents “These kids don’t have
numerous stories of e- Internet access. But really, the
learning, from the founding Internet’s enabling them to
of Wikipedia to a high school get education that normally
student who took coursework wouldn’t happen.”
traveling with her family at In the book, Bonk points
sea. out how the different trends
Extensive interviews have especially impacted
include a young millionaire worldwide education,
in Tapei who made a fortune particularly open courseware
first translating Lord of the and open education resources
Rings books and then used on the Web. Shared online
that money to translate video and “wikis,” online texts
open courseware from the that readers can contribute to,
Massachusetts Institute of are having a large influence.
Technology into Chinese and
make it available for free. NEXT PAGE

Don’t mess with human nature
By Charles Ehin
Think for a moment about
your most memorable work
and life experiences. What
aspects of those events
ultimately surface as most
meaningful?
My guess is that the
episodes are closely linked
to mutually rewarding
relationships.
“Things” seldom enter the
picture.
But guess what? Nearly
all business schools, at least
at the introductory levels,
are still focused on the four
functions of management –
planning, organizing, leading
and controlling.
These functions were
originally introduced by
the two most prominent
management gurus at the
beginning of the 20th Century!
Anyone can learn anything from anybody anytime
CONTINUED
“The fact is that
collaboration is from birth to
death these days,” Bonk said.
“You have to do it in K-12
schools to survive oftentimes,
and also in workplaces.”
“The vast majority of
people going online are not
looking at it to take a course,
or to get a degree,” Bonk
said. “They’re doing it out of
their own personal volition.
They’re doing it out of their
own learning quest, if you
will.”
Through the testimonies
of e-learners, teachers,
technology leaders and
others, Bonk points out that
The last time I checked
we’re supposed to be firmly
anchored in the Knowledge
Age. So what gives?
How come there still is
almost no mention in the
classroom of the importance
of co-evolving relationships
which is such an important
part of human nature and
one of the most critical
components of the innovation
process?
Why? I guess it’s hard
to stop a charging rhino (old
habits are hard to break).
It may also be because
relationships are emergent
and, therefore, are hard to
track if they can’t be included
in financial statements.
Organizations and social
networks are composed of
people. They are organic
entities, not machines.
Therefore, human nature
not only are the methods
of instruction changing,
technology is also altering the
way we learn things.
“If all you have in your
tests are dates and states
and capitals – which you
can easily have access to and
put on your flash memory
sticks -- what have we really
taught people?” Bonk said.
“So we have new questions
about education and about
types of knowledge, levels of
knowledge, types of skills,
problem-solving. What should
be the goals for education?”
There is an extensive Web
presence accompanying the
book. “I truly tried to show
LEARNING
should receive the utmost
attention instead of machine
metaphors like the Industrial
Age functions of
management.
What’s most
disturbing about
the lack of focus
on human nature
is the fact that
most of the work
in any enterprise
is accomplished in
informal networks
where meaningful
“unmanaged”
relationships are the
name of the game.
In the May issue of
Smart People, I mentioned
my discovery of the
“organizational sweet spot.”
Is it any wonder that in
the sweet spot mutually
supportive relationships and
NEXT PAGE
that the world is open by
having a lot of free content,”
Bonk said.
The site, http://
worldisopen.com, features
links to resources and
references from the book,
some excerpts, as well as a
book prequel and postscript.
Bonk will soon be adding an
e-book “extension” of the text.
The site also links to his
personal blog, TravelinEdMan
(http://travelinedman.
blogspot.com/), as well as
discussion spaces for readers
to share their own stories
which can be expanded in a
wiki.
SMART PEOPLE 23
LEARNING
Don’t mess with human nature
Professor CONTINUED
Charles (Kalev) unmanagement reign? Put
Ehin is an another way: at the sweet spot
author and the focus of each individual’s
recognized frame of mind shifts from the
innovation “dreaded power of the boss”
dynamics to “engaging and enjoying the
authority. power of the surrounding co-
His latest evolving networks.”
book is The It helps to keep in mind
Organizational that every organization, if it’s
Sweet Spot: still in business, has at least
Engaging the one sweet spot. The trick is to
Innovative find it and let it see as much
Dynamics of “daylight” as possible rather
Your Social than having it function in the
Networks. Web darkness of the bowels of an
site: www.Un enterprise constantly on the
Management. lookout for the controlling
com. hand of management.
Therefore, what’s
essential is developing an
organizational context that
facilitates the emergent
(non-supervised) use of
unique individual skills and
talents in concert with other
individuals.
What makes the sweet
spot so powerful is its sell-
organizing dynamics. The
major factors in this churning
process are the sharing of
tacit knowledge (un-codified
24 SMART PEOPLE
knowledge grounded in
personal experiences), the
expansion of social capital
(goodwill provided to
informal network members
through valuable information,
influence and cohesion) and
human nature (fundamental
human computation
differentiating between
hostile and hospitable
stimuli).
Recent research has added
two more key components
to the dynamics of the
sweet spot – pride and the
wandering mind.
Strangely, psychologists
until very recently ignored
pride as a basic social
emotion. That no longer is the
case.
Researchers analyzed
unprompted responses to
winning or losing a sporting
event. They found that
expressions of pride after a
win were similar to all nations
involved – a slight smile, with
head tilt, and hands on hips or
raised high.
Most importantly, they
found that people tend to
associate pride with higher
status even when the person
involved ranked relatively low
on the totem pole.
Just imagine what a
little “natural” pride can
do instead of prizes doled
out by management such as
the “employee of the month
award.”
That person is eager to
start or join another project.
Also teammates will be more
enthusiastic about receiving
advice from such people and
inviting them to join their
team.
Mind wandering is
the other new component
deserving a prominent place in
the organizational sweet spot.
Neuroscientists have
found that our minds wander
at least fifty percent of the
time when we are involved in
a task, even when explicitly
asked to pay close attention.
Interestingly, two regions
of our brains become active
during mind wandering.
One is the executive control
system. This area of the brain
influences both our conscious
and subconscious thoughts
toward important goals.
The other region is the
default network. Essentially,
this region becomes active
during self-referential
thinking. That is, reflecting
on personal experiences or
picturing yourself in the
future.
The bottom line is that
we innately, consciously or
unconsciously, reflect on the
here and now and the future.
In effect, we try to balance the
current with what lies ahead
on the horizon.
Now, how do you think
this all plays out in different
organizational contexts? That
is, one based on the firm
adherence to the functions of
management, the other based
on the principles of human
nature or sell-organization. I’ll
let you answer that question
on our own.
What I suggest is that
we start paying much closer
attention to Mother Nature
and leave the functions of
management where they
belong – on the pages of
history books.
 LEARNING

Emotional contagion – good and bad

By Carol Kinsey Goman
Carol Kinsey Goman,
It started out to be a wonderful day. The sun was shining and I was singing along PhD, is an author and
with my favorite radio station while driving through unusually light traffic to the San keynote speaker who
Francisco airport. Then, as I was turning into the airport parking lot, a driver abruptly addresses association,
pulled in front of me and glared through his rearview mirror. At the ticket counter the government, and
airline employee frowned and sighed as I explained the need to make changes to my business audiences
itinerary. By the time a scowling attendant took my airline ticket, I scowled right back. around the world. Her
latest book and program
My good mood had been contaminated!
topic is The Nonverbal
No one is immune to emotional contagion. Facial gestures and their underlying
Advantage – Secrets
emotions (both positive and negative) are highly infectious and “catching” them is a and Science of Body
universal human phenomenon. We all tend to mimic the facial expressions and reflect Language at Work. 
the mood of those with whom we have contact.  Getting a genuine smile can brighten For more information,
up our day. And angry frowns are upsetting. contact Carol by
We’re hardwired to mimic expressions and emotions and have been doing so since phone: 510.526.1727,
infancy. Nine-month-old babies look longer at their mothers and express greater joy email: CGoman@
when their mothers are themselves joyful. One-year-olds, after watching a videotape CKG.com, or through
of an actress portraying either positive or negative feelings, will mimic the actress’ her Web sites: www.
expressions and alter their own emotions accordingly. CKG.com and www.
As adults, we remain susceptible. Swedish researchers found that merely seeing a NonverbalAdvantage.
com.
picture of a happy face produces fleeting activity in the muscles that pull the mouth
into a smile. In fact, whenever we look at a photograph of
someone portraying any strong emotion, like sadness, disgust
or joy, our facial muscles automatically start to mirror that
expression. And it isn’t just a physical response, since our facial
expressions will subtly trigger the corresponding feelings.
A business simulation experiment at Yale University gave
two groups of people the assignment of deciding how much of
a bonus to give each employee from a set fund of money. Each
person in the group was to get as large a bonus as possible
for certain employees, while being fair to the entire employee
population.
In one group, the conflicting agendas led to stress and
tension, while in the second group, everyone ended up feeling
good about the result. The difference was in the “plants”
– actors who had been secretly assigned to each group. In the
first group, the actor was negative and downbeat -- and in the
second, positive and upbeat. The emotional tone of the meetings
followed the lead of each actor – although none of the group
members understood why his or her feelings had shifted. In times of
In my change-management consulting, I’ve noticed that in times of organizational organizational
uncertainty, employees instinctively pay more attention to the facial expressions of uncertainty,
those around them. People search for smiles or frowns to get a better sense of how employees
to interpret and react to a situation, and then they begin to mimic the predominant instinctively pay
emotions. When someone moans about an upcoming change or rants that the company more attention to the
is sure to go under, co-workers can be “infected” with a kind of collective anxiety about facial expressions of
those around them.
the future 
Especially now, in challenging times, we need to make sure we’re part of the
positive emotion solution, and not part of the problem. 

SMART PEOPLE 25
CREATING
Desperation is the mother of inspiration
CREATING By Bob Goshen
Everyone has been there at
one time or another – the cold
sweats or the sickening of the
stomach when presented with
a challenge that seems totally
overwhelming.
The initial shock, the
process of questioning how
could this be happening?
Why did this happen to me?
What am I going to do? And
for some, is life really worth
living? An event that causes
total desperation!
Whether faced with the
possibility of a life-threatening
illness in yourself or a loved
one; or an unfortunate
downturn in business
that affects yourself, your
employees and the suppliers
you’ve built relationships with,
desperation is there.
But you see, everyone has
encountered the challenges.
There are those who have lost
a family member or a child
and have grown past that
initial desperation. You’ve
heard story after story
about challenges that
would make most
people no longer
desire fellowship
with others, stories
that would send most
people into total
isolation; yet they
have stood strong
and have for the most
part helped others
who have had the
same challenge they
experienced.
So what do you learn from
desperation? How can you say
that inspiration is produced by
desperation? Can desperation
26 SMART PEOPLE
be our friend? Let’s look at
what benefits we receive
when we find ourselves in a
desperate situation.
n It makes you reevaluate
where you are. You must
immediately ask the
question, what created this
challenge? Is it something
I did? What principle did
I violate to receive this
pain? Could I have done
anything differently?
Was this totally out of
my control? Desperation
makes you stop and
readjust to the now. It
makes you take inventory
of your life and often puts
life back into balance.
It forces examination of
actions.
n It challenges your
character. It either makes
you a better person or a
bitter person. It makes
you lean on the values
learned that keep you
secure in your thoughts
and actions. It moves you
into a stronger pattern of
patience and endurance,
by beginning to find just
how strong you are and
how the years have given
you the ability to endure
much more than thought
possible.
n It slows you down. Often
the diagnosis of a disease
immediately slows a
person down. It makes
you look at activities over
the years and how our
bodies and minds have
been treated. Desperation
related to a health
challenge drives you to
the deepest core values
and creates a brand new
mindset that says “health
is the most important asset
we maintain,” and we
will work harder to feed
our bodies. Desperation
as related to health is
sometimes the only way
God has of saying, “You’re
too stressful; slow down.”
n It makes you consider your
faith. Many have found in
those times of great
desperation they move
closer to spiritual beliefs.
The greatest cure for
desperation is hope. It is the
only ingredient that can move
a person forward from that
slippery slope of desperation.
The hope that tomorrow will
be a better day, the hope that
relationships will get better.
And for those who have lost
a loved one, the hope and
belief in knowing they are in
a much better place.
Whether it is a business
not coming together or a
much larger family challenge,
you were placed here on earth
not to survive but to thrive, to
give light to those who have
none.
Even during the desperate
years of the 1970s when this
nation stood in “stagflation”
for more than a decade, when
the Dow Jones hit 850 points,
when there were gas lines
two miles long as we rationed
gasoline, and the record was
set for bankruptcy, there was
new inspiration.
For during this time
“Skylab” was put into space,
the Concorde fly from Europe
to the United States in less
than four hours, and a young
NEXT PAGE

Innovating every day
How to succeed by thinking differently
By Holly G. Green
Who doesn’t recognize the
need to constantly innovate
today? After all, just look
around at all that is new in
our world in the past few
years.
Are you twittering?
One million+ others are.
Do you have a product or
service video up on YouTube?
Twenty-five million+ people
do. And are you LinkedIn or
participating in SecondLife?
These are just a few of the
new social media innovations
that are dramatically
changing how people connect
and get work done.
Now think about other
areas that are changing just as
rapidly: technology, diversity,
competition, products, etc. It
Desperation
CONTINUED
man who quit college started
a company called Microsoft.
Yes, “desperation is the
mother of inspiration.”
Bob Goshen is an international
marketing consultant, trainer, and
founder of three corporations. He
is a former U.S. spy turned global
business guru who specializes
in creating a leadership culture
that gets things done. Bob has
developed marketing strategies for
such noted companies as Coca-
Cola and Sunrider International.
For more information visit www.
bobgoshen.com
CREATING
can be a bit mind boggling understanding
and certainly intimidating to of your own
ponder how to keep up these assumptions,
days. beliefs and
What does innovation biases – we all
look like at work today have a lot of
and do you need to spend them.
millions for a research and They are
development department to the thoughts
come up with the next great that pop up as
product or service? soon as we see
How can you more someone, hear
actively incorporate new something or
thinking, new products and even smell a
new options including getting particular scent.
more done with less into your Making
day-to-day activities? assumptions
Today innovation needs to about possible
be about: solutions to a
n Challenging the ways we problem can
do things even when it limit creativity,
has always worked well; causing
n Continually creating new difficulty.
products, services and At the
ideas that have value for beginning of
stakeholders; any project
n Trying different and novel or when faced with a tough
ways to deal with ongoing situation, pause for a moment
challenges; and note your assumptions.
n Constantly seeking and What do you believe to be
implementing new and so and could it be different?
better ways to achieve Learn to recognize when the
results. strongest thoughts appear
Innovation is more in your head and stop for a
than brainstorming or idea moment.
generation. To be truly Ask yourself “What if
innovative, you have to do . . . I am wrong . . . There is
something different. And something else . . . It could be
for businesses, whatever it is interpreted another way . . .
you do must have value for at There is more I know/do not
least one of your stakeholder know about this”?
groups (employees,
customers, suppliers, Ask the right questions
partners, etc.). Focus on where you
Key actions you can take want to go (versus where you
to be more innovative include are or what is in the way).
developing awareness and NEXT PAGE
SMART PEOPLE 27
CREATING
How to succeed by thinking differently
CONTINUED
Give yourself a clear target
by describing, as clearly as
possible, what it looks like
when you achieve success.
Think about which beliefs you
need to move out of the way
or suspend (i.e., “that’s not the
way we do things here . . . our
customers will never accept X
. . .”).
Jot down the most
interesting questions you can
come up with to encourage
thinking differently and make
your questions open ended
and future focused.
Consider different
angles
Pose questions
to prompt your
brain to look at
the same data in a
new way. “What
Green
would our competitor invest
in if they were us? What one
thing do our customers really
want us to change? What do
our employees think would
provide the most fuel for our
success?” Questions help
28 SMART PEOPLE
you look at challenges from
different perspectives. They
help change our perception
so that the same data has
different meaning.
Stage your field of vision
Get the right things in
front of you. Adult humans
are very visually driven
creatures, but today there are
more distractions than ever
competing for our time and
attention.
Make sure your targets
are visible to you as much of
the time as possible. Get them
on the wall in your office;
have them pop up on your
task list on your computer
and PDA. Make sure they are
visible to everyone involved
as well.
If it is not in front of you
visually, you probably won’t
do it, so take the time to fill
your working area with the
visuals that help keep you
focused on success.
Connect the dots
in new ways
Figuring out patterns
forms a large part of
our intelligence. Your
subconscious mind likes
closure.
When faced with an
incomplete picture, it works
to complete the mental image
by inferring the missing
information.
Your mind works the
same way on an unsolved
problem or challenge; it loves
to dive right in and get the
job done by using what you
already know or expect.
So, look for successful
approaches that can be
applied to your situation.
What products, services and/
or companies are incredibly
successful right now? What
can you adapt from what they
are doing?
Original ideas can come
from recognizing new
connections between familiar
things and transforming them
into something new.
In many ways, our own
brain gets in our way the
most and minimizes our
innovation. We can learn to
leverage the power of it by
pausing every now and then
to:
n Define excellence up front
(don’t do it over, spend the
time to do it right the first
time);
n Consider different
perspectives and angles;
n Ask simple questions
to trigger a new way of
perceiving;
n Ponder the impossible.
Holly G. Green is author of
More Than A Minute, and
CEO and managing director,
The Human Factor, Inc. She has
more than 20 years of executive
level and operations experience
in Fortune 100, entrepreneurial
and management consulting
organizations. She was previously
president of The Ken Blanchard
Companies, a global consulting
and training organization as well
as LumMed, Inc. a biotech start
up. For more information, visit
morethanaminute.com.
 CREATING

Study finds men more than women

share their creative work online
A Northwestern University, likely to contribute online and two out of three women
U.S., study finds that men content,” says Hargittai. engage in creative writing, art
are more likely to share their The study titled “The photography, music or film/
creative work online than Participation Divide: Content video generally (and this does
women despite the fact that Creation and Sharing in not relate in any way to the
women and men engage in the Digital Age” recently Web).
creative activities at essentially
appeared in the journal, “So while
equal rates. Information, Communication and creative
“Because sharing Society. output, on
information on the Hargittai and Walejko the aggregate,
Internet today is a form found men were more than is equally
of participating in public twice as likely to share music distributed
culture and contributing to on the Web that they had among men
public discourse, that tells created or re-mixed than and women,
us men’s voices are being were women; and that men the sharing of
disproportionately heard,” were also considerably more such content is
says Eszter Hargittai, assistant
likely to post film or video not,” Hargittai
professor of communication they made when compared to says.
studies at Northwestern women who engaged in film- Of the 61
University. or video-making. percent of the
Hargittai co-authored “Much of the early full sample
the study with Northwestern research about the Web who reported
researcher Gina Walejko. dwelled on accessibility engaging in at
Overall, almost two-thirds and on digital technology’s least one type
of men reported posting their ‘haves’ and ‘have-nots,’” of creative
work online while only half of says Hargittai. And early activity, 56
women reported doing so. conversations about the Web percent said
However, when Hargittai revolved around its potential they posted at least some of
and Walejko controlled for as a social leveler once access their creative work online.
issues were Not surprisingly – since it
“It appears that lack of perceived resolved. is the easiest content to post
Today, – the most popular type of
skill is holding women back from researchers creative content shared online
putting their creative content out like Hargittai was creative writing. Just over
there,” says Hargittai. – who directs half of the students who report
Northwestern’s engaging in creative writing
Web Use also reported posting their
self-reported digital literacy Project – and Walejko study work online.
and Web know-how, they how people use the Internet, Video was the second
found that men and women who creates content for the most popular creative work
actually posted their material Web and whether or not the to be posted, at just under
about equally. Internet contributes to social 50 percent. Again, Hargittai
“This suggests that the equality. points to the ease of posting
Internet is not an equal In their survey of creative such material. “Video-sharing
playing field for men and content – whether online or sites like YouTube make it
women since those with more offline – the Northwestern relatively simple for people to
online abilities – whether researchers found that on share their own or remixed
perceived or actual – are more average two out of three men videos,” she says.

SMART PEOPLE 29
KNOWLEDGE FACTOR
KM Six Pack #4
THE K FACTOR Company: Not managing but enabling knowledge
This is the fourth in a series of six articles introducing newly engaged employees and
managers to the basics of knowledge-based enterprise.
By Jerry Ash
Before cultural change in a
knowledge-based organization
can occur on the shop floor,
the right corporate culture has
to be in place in the executive
suite, creating an environment
where people are comfortable
developing new work
practices.
Restrictive procedures and
guidelines from the top down
leave little place, if any, for
human emotions, inspiration,
know-how and individual or
collaborative adventure in the
employee culture.
Managing today requires
knowing what people face in
their jobs and finding ways
to reconcile issues and enable
creative thinking.
Leading and following
in the KM community is
a collaborative up-down
exercise. There are several
keys to establishing a
knowledge-friendly corporate
culture. The most important
are:
n Seeing the organization
less as a machine operated
by people, and more as
an organic and biological
organism composed of
people, expanding and
even mutating with
innovative ideas or faster
response times than that of
competitors.
n Seeing the business
based on individual and
collaborative commerce
instead of corporate
commerce, which will
30 SMART PEOPLE
change the old concept of
the firm.
n Seeing the role of
managers as one of
communicating, mentoring
and enabling, rather than
managing.
Organizations in the
Industrial Age took big people
and put them in little boxes,
then gave them a half-written
script – the job description
– and expected them to play a
role.
The minute they started
to be themselves, their scripts
were stuffed in their faces.
Often the most common
misconceptions remain that
employees have limited
or narrow capabilities, are
untrustworthy or even
disloyal – and thus, the need
for rigid rules.
And yet, no one’s goal in
life is to do a mediocre job at
a company he or she hates. In
fact, most want to do a terrific
job on meaningful projects at
a company they care about
and with people they like.
The organization that
genuinely recognizes
the necessity of KM and
builds an environment that
welcomes initiative and
collaboration will find that a
positive change in employee
culture – top to bottom – will
quickly follow and corporate
achievements will soar.
In the best KM model,
managers are valued not
because they are in control or
know more than their staffs,
but because they can quickly
communicate the things they
do know and get staff to do
the same with each other.
Where the company
is willing to change its
organizational chart from
vertical lines to overlapping
circles, hierarchy will take
on a wondrously different
complexion.
Modern-day leaders will
build environments of trust
and mutual respect where
creative contribution is the
norm.
Such norms in corporate
culture have, in recent years,
changed the way staffs work,
share, learn, and respond to
clients’ needs.
These are self-motivated
workers who know their
knowledge is important to the
performance of the company
and to themselves.
They are energized and
committed to increasing
innovation, performance
and productivity. They are
testimony to the impact that
changes in corporate culture
and management practice can
have on the knowledge-driven
organization.
See Six Pack #1 through 3 in
the May through August issues
[www.smartpeoplemagazine.
com]. In the October issue: Not
hoarding but managing one’s
personal knowledge.
 Economic crunch
affecting your people?
Is doing more with less
stressing them out?
Do something for them
and the company.
Co-brand Smart People magazine
and make it available to everyone –
employees, suppliers, even customers.
It’s one cool tool that reaches out
to the digitally connected
to transfer their passions for social
networking, online learning and
research from the outside-in.
Results: Less stress.
Happier, more creative
and collaborative workers.
And higher productivity
to offset the lean years.

for
everyone
Contact Smart People publisher, Jerry Ash
smart.guy1@smartpeoplemagazine.com
for details. Or call him: 813.335.1355
 If you believe in Smart People, raise your hand!
The people behind this magazine are the vanguard of a volunteer
community intent on helping people leverage the knowledge
and networking power of the Internet to make living, learning, choosing,
creating and working better for all of us. It is an enormous task
we undertake and we need you.
Marketing professionals • Social
networkers • Community leaders •
Prosumers • Writers • Subject
Experts • Collaborators • Partners •
Affiliates • Communicators •
Researchers • Champions •
Leaders • Activists •
– and just plain ordinary smart people

Contact Jerry Ash, Volunteer #1

smart.guy1@smartpeoplemagazine.com

P.S. As in all sharing, you will get more

than you give by being a part of this grand
project – if you value the learning, growing
and experience to be gained here.