MAD Perspectives Blog

I was thinking about this blog over the weekend (and during the week while recovering from stomach flu).  I was thinking about how I find inspiration for what I'm going to write.  It's been a bit of a process for me to grow comfortable sharing my thoughts in this manner.  As I thought about all the things I could write about in the digital media space, I realized that just the process of gaining inspiration is something that digital media facilitates.

Whether it is personal or professional, we are all inspired by the thoughts of others.  I use the word inspired intentionally.  While many think of this word in a religious or spiritual context, it actually means "to stimulate somebody to do something".  In the business world, we are constantly seeking new ways to drive revenue and create new products or services.  The inspiration for many great businesses is difficult to identify or act upon.  Look at some of our greatest business leaders of the late 20th century (there are too many to count in the early part of the century!).  Steve Jobs.  What makes this man tick?  Fortune magazine just had him on their cover as CEO of the Decade, highlighting his unique approach to business, his attention to design detail and his ability to innovate.  Or Jeff Bezos at Amazon.  What started as an online model to sell books has turned into "the destination" for online shopping.  With acquisitions such as ShopBop or Zappos and investments in cloud computing, his online shopping empire continues to evolve and adapt.  Or, David Neeleman at JetBlue with is focus on customer first, simplifying the ticket buying and check-in process.  And, when they faced their flight cancelation debacle in the winter of 2008, they learned from their mistakes, adopted social media tools to stay in touch and listen to their customers and improve service.

How do we find inspiration in the business world?  We often collaborate with our peers.  We chat about ideas and the feasibility of the market for these ideas.  We read industry journals, subscribe to RSS feeds, join online communities, capturing information and knowledge via as many channels as possible.  Is it becoming too much?  Is there too much information available?  Or, do we just need to organize it better?

The benefits of many Web 2.0 or Enterprise 2.0 solutions are in the ability for employees to more easily connect with their colleagues.  Once they have connected, there are many ways to collaborate online, eliminating challenges of distance and time zone.  They are able to open the conversation for others with similar interests, thus capturing more ideas, stimulating more thoughts, ultimately creating new products or services or processes.  Their online conversations can be saved, tagged and searched in the future instead of being a memory that one struggles to re-capture.  These conversations can stimulate new thoughts now and in the future. 

In fact these solutions enable conversations outside and inside the corporation.  they can stimulate enhanced product design, help resolve customer support issues, generate viral marketing campaigns, inspire new business ventures or new business models.  My inspiration comes from the business, political, social, environmental world around me.  What inspires you?

What's your perspective?

I've just returned from the Enterprise 2.0 conference in Boston.

This was a great experience yet also prompted some puzzling thoughts in my mind.  On the positive side, this conference attracts the movers and shakers and early adopters of web 2.0 technologies for use in the enterprise.  This conference looks at how social networking tools such as blogs, microblogs, networking platforms and wikis can be used behind the corporate firewall to increase productivity, enhance knowledge sharing, reduce imaginary barriers (think business silos) and more.

Vendors have a chance to articulate, defend and argue the value of their solutions.  Companies are exposed to best practices, thus far, enjoyed by early adopters such as Booz Allen, Lockheed Martin and Intel.  These are just some of the companies who were eager to share their stories.  The common goals: to effectively and openly share information within the corporate firewall, to simplify how employees could discover colleagues with common projects, interest or knowledge, to create a commong grounds for employees to publish new ideas or concerns.  Overall, an excellent conference for any company considering a social media implementation, but not sure where to start.

On the downside, I found an interesting paradox.

Remember, this event is a about social media or leveraging Web 2.0 tools within the enterprise. The paradox is that from a networking perspective, the event was unfriendly.  By this I mean it was very difficult to engage in a face to face discussion with fellow participants.  While the Vendor Expo was quite friendly, the vendors were there to find leads and sell solutions.  the general sessions were very well attended and many of the breakouts were standing room only.  However, the usual casual chit chat (i.e., who are you , what do you do, what is your company doing, what excites you here at the conference, etc.) was modest. 

Is this lack of verbal communication due to the fact that many of the participants are technology lovers and preferred to use the technology (i.e., Twitter) to communicate their thoughts?  I shared my thoughts with the few folks who were willing to engage in conversation and they confirmed my concern.  They had had equal challenges in fostering verbal discussion.  My cautionary comment for anyone using or considering social media:  it augments the conversation and interaction.  Social media should not 100% replace actual conversations or meetings.  Think about social media as yet another option to connect, collaborate and communicate, not the only way!

What's your perspective?