mondaydots

principles of contribution

Watch "principles of contribution" on Vimeo

Transcript:
In our last post we promised a follow up for making your contribution social media ready. We have a few basic principles that if followed can help your content avoid being ignored and capture the attention of your second and third circles.

The first of these principles is to lead with passion. Find something you are passionate about and pursue it. We see so many people using social media just for the sake of using the technology or for shameless self promotion. If you aren't passionate about your work it will show in the quality. If you want your contribution to capture attention, put your heart and time into it, there are no shortcuts. 

contribution = rockstar

Watch on Vimeo

Social media and networking have fooled a lot of people and companies into thinking they are rockstars. Unfortunately the ease of access and near zero cost of distribution have created an internet that sounds a lot like this. (bad music playing) The abundance of fake rockstars have created an audience that is willing to be your friend, but not willing to listen to what you have to say, buy your product, or help you get a job. 

dots that sell

Tyler Speer has done an excellent job with his latest mondaydots presentation he built to help American Crane sell their asset management system. These are dots that sell! I really enjoy the finer touches and effects that he built into this presentation including using dots as the leaves for the tree (especially the changing colors). 

Excellent work Tyler! Keep it up!

Download AMS Transcript-1

behavioral economics of intrinsic motivation

watch "behavioral economics of intrinsic motivation" on vimeo

Transcript:
One of the most basic questions I hear from managers is: How can I do a better job of motivating my team? Should you use a bigger carrot or a sharper stick?

disruptive innovation

watch disruptive innovation on vimeo

For the last few years I have been fascinated with Clayton Christensen's theory of disruptive innovation and its application to business, politics, education, and insurgency models. What I find most interesting is that his theory, featured in both The Innovator's Dilemma and The Innovator's Solution provides a prescription for a small entrant with less resources to compete with and beat a large incumbent.

stop motion dots

Deb recently forwarded the above picture (full size version) she found in a catalogue, titled International Voices. The piece of art really intrigued me as it was created using only dots. I contacted the artist, Sumalee Sampansakul, and inquired about the piece. Sumalee was incredibly gracious and explained that the work was created about a year ago for school as part of a stop motion piece!

 I have had many emails about alternatives to the process I use to create mondaydots, and stopmotion looks like it could be a great (albeit more time consuming) alternative! Nice work Sumalee!

active inertia

watch active inertia on vimeo

Transcript for "active inertia":

In my Gamble model post I argued that the military, like most large organizations is incredibly inert to change. I made the case that most organizations are unable to change because of an entrenched culture. Individuals that try to enter the organization with different thoughts and views usually get frustrated, leave, or quit because reward structures are rarely set up for innovation. The individuals that do move up share the values and beliefs of the current leadership and are promoted. This self perpetuating cycle doesn't allow for the needed influx of innovation to keep up with environmental change and the organization usually dies.

Don Sull has come up with another concept to explain why most large organizations go bad. He calls the concept "active inertia". In it's most simple form, active inertia is described as a company that is facing a disruptive shift in the market and instead of adapting to the change, the organization simply accelerates the activities that succeeded in the past. What is interesting is that Don argues that the things that made the organization successful in the past, actually create the pitfalls after the market disruption. Take an organization built like GM. GM was so focused on competing with Ford and Chrysler that they failed to see the signs that Toyota was causing a disruptive shift in the market. The way they framed the their "competition" blinded from the market shift and their real competitor.

elevator rules

I have been working on a couple collaboration mondaydot presentations with people all over the world. Some I will be able to share, some I can't. It has been incredible to see how the dots act like a universal visual language to explain problems, situations, and solutions. If you have an idea for dot model and would like to collaborate, send email to jeff@jeffmonday.com - I do have a pretty demanding job, but I am able to work on projects over the weekend!

I have been collaborating with Deborah Volberg Pagnotta, CEO of Interfacet out of New York and she just posted her first dot presentation, elevator rules! Her consulting firm specializes in helping employers and employees play well together; including on-site and online training for employers on cultural diversity, workplace harassment, religious accommodation, and other vital topics. For employees, Interfacet specializes in workforce re-entry, communication skills, appropriate behavior, career guidance and how to find your path in today's complex world of work.

Using mondaydots to help explain cultural differences, religious differences, communication skills, and behavior has an incredible benefit: removing the prejudice between the dot and the audience creates a meta cognitive experience that helps to expose hidden predjudices. Great work Deb! Keep it up!

goals and alignment

watch on vimeo

One of the most basic problems I see in business today is the misalignment of the organizational structure. The process of moving an organization toward a goal in a timely manner seems simple enough, yet I see so many business go lopsided and fall short of their goal.

cuts! panic! value?

cuts! panic! value? on vimeo

The state of California is up against an interesting problem - How do you do more with less? I have always found the process of public policy decision making fascinating. The process is well modeled by Neal Mitchell's public policy triangle. It is simple: decision makers must decide which initiatives to fund in order to create the most value for their constituents. If you follow Steven Covey's example of starting with a defined end state: the goal is to achieve stasis through creating the most value for your constituents by funding the right initiatives, while keeping a balanced budget.