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Blogging the future

The futurist Jim Carroll has found a new sector in the world of self-help: with the hopeful title “10 Great Words for Innovation” he is creating motivational rules, aimed at awakening the public of its current lethargy and make people envision a brighter future.

In recent years, a myriad of self-help books, lectures, and motivational videos have arrived on the market to assist those who have been hit hard in the recent economic crisis. Jim Carroll, one of the world’s leading futurists, trends & innovation experts, has written “10 Great Words for Innovation”. This document, written to get people on the right track, focuses on ten important words: Observe, think, change, dare, banish, try, empower, question, grow, and do.

To read subtitles in your language, click , then scroll over .

Some of the world’s largest organizations, such as the Walt Disney Corporation, CapitolOne, Nestle, and Visa, all turn to Jim Carroll when seeking insight into the future. He has become internationally recognized for his cutting edge insight. He was named by Business Week as one of four leading sources for insight into creativity and innovation, and was a featured panelist on the CNBC prime-time series, The Future of Innovation, with host Maria Baritoromo.

According to Carroll, in these uncertain times, it is important to change one’s attitudes, actions, and approaches. Using the words and guidelines outlined in “10 Great Words for Innovation”, people can learn to develop new skills in a new market, and to challenge inherent assumptions.

Jim Carroll offers new positive ways to look at the future. We should look forward to new possibilities instead of fearing what may happen. Perhaps we can change things by simply having a better outlook on life.

The new age of the web has arrived. And it will not go unnoticed. Web 2.0 is radically changing the way that enterprises, managers, and professionals are using the internet for their own businesses, and the new challenges are universal and important. Here are ten tips to prepare everyone for the new era of the net.

Web 2.0 (otherwise known as the Internet 2.0), is neither specific software nor a registered brand, but instead stands for the web applications that facilitate interactive information sharing, user-centered design, and collaboration on the World Wide Web. The term is normally associated with Dale Dougherty, vice-president of O’Reilly Media; it became official during the O’Reilly Media Web 2.0 Conference in 2004. The term itself refers to an attitude towards the sharing of information, and the cumulative changes of web usage. This revolutionary approach is based on the Web as a sort of platform. The problem that remains is the fact that neither Dale Dougherty nor Tim O’Reilly (the President of O’Reilly Media) has formulated a specific definition of Web 2.0. Web 2.0 represents the evolution of the World Wide Web, from a series of static sites to a global environment in which online software, multimedia applications, and large band connection offer a wider array of information and a tighter interaction between the users. In this scenario, the absence of a single definition has contributed to an international debate (which still exists) about the term Web 2.0. From the analyses of the statements ranging from Tim O’Reilly to Wikipedia and various posts, I believe that the characteristics of Web 2.0 can be summarized in the following ten tips to better understand the Web 2.0:

1. The Web is a platform. We have gone from installable software on our PC, to software-services that are accessible online. All data and software is now available online.
2. The Web is functionality. The Web aids in the transfer of information and services from websites.
3. The Web is simple. It facilitates the access and usage of web services using user-friendly interfaces.
4. The Web is light. The models of development, the processes, and the models of business become light. The lightness is associated with the ability to share of information and services with ease, and made possible through the implementation of intuitive modular elements.
5. The Web is social. People create the Web, “populate the Web”, by socializing and gradually moving members from the physical world to the online world.
6. The Web is flow. The users are seen as co-developers, while Web 2.0 remains in “perpetual beta”, where it remains at the beta development stage for an indefinite period of time.
7. The Web is flexible. The software is on a more advanced level because it enables access to previously unavailable digital content. This idea is similar to the Long Tail concept, which focuses on the less popular content that couldn’t previously be accessed.
8. The Web is mixable. The expansion of codes in order to modify web applications (like Google does with its Google Maps application) allows individuals who are not necessarily computer professionals to mix different applications in order to create new ones. Web 2.0 gets its power through this “mashup” capability.
9. The Web is participatory. Web 2.0 has adopted a structure of participation that encourages users to enhance the application while they use it, instead of keeping it rigid and controlled.
10. The Web is in our hands. Its increased organization and characterization of information emphasizes its user-friendly interaction through deep linking. Thanks to phenomena such as social tagging, information is always more and more easily available.

It is important to think smart and read smart. Helen Walters, the editor of BusinessWeek, has already done half of the work for us, by outlining the 19 best innovation and design books written in 2009. Our top 10 list highlights the best of the best in innovation and design thinking.

What do contemporary T-shirt graphics, Brooklyn-based design companies, and animated short films have in common? For one thing, they’ve each grabbed the attention of Helen Walters, editor of Innovation and Design at BusinessWeek Magazine. Helen has used each of these diverse topics to illustrate the ability innovative design techniques have to change the world around us.

Recently, Helen has shifted her focus from producing original work to publicizing and critiquing the work of others. Her survey of the 19 best innovation and design books written in 2009 is a helpful guide for anyone looking to become more informed on this year’s innovation innovations, for lack of a better phrase. 10 of these books stood out to us as especially interesting or unique:

1. Change by Design by Tim Brown – a persuasive argument for the necessity of maintaining a well-functioning design department to succeed in tomorrow’s business climate.
2. The Design of Business: Why Design Thinking is the Next Competitive Advantage by Roger Martin – a practically applicable guide to creating and maintaining a quality design department written by one of the most respected people in the field.
3. A Fine Line: How Design Strategies are Shaping the Future of Business by Hartmut Esslinger – Frog Design’s founder’s personal entertaining and informative anecdotes of his time spent at companies including Apple, Disney, and SAP.
4. Design-Driven Innovation: Changing the Rules of Competition by Radically Innovating What Things Mean by Roberto Verganti – a revolutionary look at the field that focuses on companies’ ability to manipulate markets by using innovative design to alter customer expectations.
5. I Miss My Pencil by Martin Bone and Kara Johnson – an exercise in innovative design itself, this uniquely formatted book emphasizes the non-traditional aspects of the field in a very interesting and accessible manner
6. Discovery-Driven Growth: A Breakthrough Process to Reduce Risk and Seize Opportunity by Rita Gunther McGrath and Ian C. MacMillan – an executive’s handy-book to implementing innovative designs without creating excessive risk written by professors from Columbia and Wharton.
7. The Age of the Unthinkable, Why the New World Constantly Surprises Us and What We Can Do About It by Joshua Cooper Ramo – a survey of disruptive innovation as it has manifested itself in the business community and the world at large, emphasizing its inevitability and potential to be positive.
8. Innovation Tournaments: Creating and Selecting Exceptional Opportunities by Christian Terwiesch and Karl Ulrich – two Wharton professors’ academic look at the way innovation can be encouraged and managed through the use of certain business practices.
9. Clever: Leading Your Smartest, Most Creative People by Rob Goffee and Gareth Jones – a persuasion piece arguing that brilliant, difficult people are going to be the primary source of innovative and economic growth in tomorrow’s economy.
10. Glimmer: How Design Can Transform Your Life and Maybe Even the World by Warren Berger – a look at individuals that the author sees as important to changing the field of innovative design, and consequently the world, that pays special attention to designer Bruce Mao

More Info:

• http://images.businessweek.com/ss/09/12/1216_best_design_innovation_books/1.htm
• http://www.helenwalters.com

Sigmund Freund’s intellectual curiosity has rendered him a profound connoisseur of the human life and psyche. Here are five of his wisdoms that refer to the future and human existence, ranging from love to culture, and from his own thoughts to the relation with others.

Sigmund (Shlomo in Hebrew, which means “the wise”) was the first son of Amalie Nathanson, the third wife of Jacob Freud, a Hebrew wool merchant from Galicia. When Sigmund was only four years old, the family had to move to Vienna in 1860 due to political-economic upheavals. Jacob was a freethinker although he had studied the writings of the Jewish tradition, and did not give his son an orthodox education. Sigmund passionately immersed himself in reading and studying the Bible at an early age, and was fascinated by Jewish history. This fascination would greatly influence him later in life. At the time, Vienna was a city full of strong anti-Semitic sentiment, which was a source of great limitation. At the same time, however, this did not stop Sigmund’s inspiring thoughts.

Things did not become much easier with the passing of time. Sigmund was dedicated to his studies, but he graduated behind schedule (in March, 1881), because the life of a student was too constricting. He disliked the way the teachers taught their classes, and it left him feeling unsatisfied and critical. His thoughts and curiosities needed to be free to inquire about the aspects of human existence that so often attracted his attention.

His sensibility of thought was not easy for his wife Martha, with whom he had six children. He saw her in the role of wife and mother, but not as a lover and confidant. This drove him to find comfort elsewhere, causing many problems in his relationships. Sigmund’s life was one indeed fully lived, in every aspect; an experience of a grand mind that serves as a great providers of wisdom and warnings for the future.

More Info:

• http://www.cla.purdue.edu/academic/engl/theory/psychoanalysis/freud.html

Roger Harrop directs Speakers With Content, an American group that connects audiences with experts and specialists who provide practical information, solutions, and materials in an inspiring and insightful manner. Based on experiences and personal observations, Roger Harrop outlines the 10 key concepts of a successful entrepreneur.

As the Group Chief Executive of Servomex for seven years, Roger Harrop helped the company become the world leader in gas analysis. Now the President and Fellow of the Professional Speakers Association, Harrop is a keynote speaker for international corporations, business leaders groups, and associations. Here are his ten tips for our leaders:

1. Know what your weaknesses are, and always have a number 2, someone that can complement you and your weaknesses.
2. Know what your purpose is. What is it that you want to achieve? Knowing one’s purpose can help direct people in the right direction.
3. Belief is of upmost importance. If you don’t believe in yourself and your work, people will see right through you.
4. Passion is key. If you don’t have passion for your work, it will never be as good as it could be.
5. Demonstrate courage by taking risks in order to move the business forward.
6. Respect people. There aren’t any successful entrepreneurs who treat people badly.
7. Always have a Plan B. Never forget Murphy’s law: if a project takes a bad turn, be ready with another plan.
8. Keep it simple.
9. Work smart, not hard. Clever people know how to get the job done in the most efficient way possible.
10. Enjoy what you are doing, and above all, make the most of life.

You can hear all about Roger Harrop’s tips from the man himself in the following interview:

To read subtitles in your language, click , then scroll over .

More Info.:

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qh7c_o9xI6s