Castles and Wagons

These are two totally different constructs – like apples and oranges. They also represent the dichotomy between the agile ability to move forward and the fixed position that is guarded and static. Each has a different purpose and each offers a different benefit. Neither is more useful than the other in general, depending on the circumstance. One will get you there, simply and with little ‘baggage’. The other will enable you to stockpile and defend those holdings from a high and lofty vantage, once in position .

What is your circumstance – in life, location?

Except for a few stoic localities, civilization is on the move. Even for those few that ‘have arrived’, changes ‘outside’ create internal pressures – to change inside. The

ability to change – or react well to change is critical – to all.

In their white paper, Creation Nets: Harnessing the Potential of Open Innovation, John Hagel III and John Seely Brown introduce the concept of survival through adaptation, by engaging extended knowledge and extended resources – that comes from creating and extending one’s network of people (‘Creation Nets‘). They note that:

“While larger institutions tend to be in denial about the need
for change or view it as a threat, institutions and individuals on the
periphery see only opportunity. Necessity leads them to adopt a
bootstrapping mindset and to seek out or assemble their own creation
nets to leverage and accelerate their own efforts.
—- +++ —
Increasingly, as we have argued in greater depth in The Only Sustainable Edge, advantage resides in the institutional capacity to get better faster – it is not just about the pace of capability building but the relative pace and the ability to accelerate this pace over time. This in turn depends upon privileged access to the most promising flows of knowledge. Existing stocks of knowledge remain important in terms of earning the right to participate in these flows but…there is also a need to learn how to to leverage and accelerate their own efforts”

They have scouted the territory ahead, and reported back to the camp that “The Only Sustainable Edge, advantage resides in the …capacity to get better faster…”. Whether in personal endeavors, nonprofit initiatives, business ventures, or government oversight – we now all find ourselves on the same ‘edge’ – of vast prairies of opportunity – or vast deserts of doom. We can retreat to our secured positions and defend status quo or recognize the rivers and currents whose flow of change can take us to oceans of abundance. The choice is ours, and the results will follow.

To leverage and accelerate one’s own efforts – it becomes necessary to:

• “to evaluate available flows,
• more effectively participate in the flows and
• more rapidly integrate new knowledge acquired from these flows.”

Castles may no longer be our defense, and it

may be time to circle the wagons, for a moment.

And it’s not just about castles or wagons, it’s also about movement, speed, direction, progress, and arrival. We have to take the time to gather around campfires to exchange information. While the fire may be warm, we will need to hold conversations about what went wrong and what can be better tomorrow. Based on that new insight, we must cooperatively adapt to be ready to set out on the next segment of our continuous journey. We will be surrounded by those who while not our competition are also headed toward the same future. We may even have to encourage those who are afraid.

Our ‘moats’ will not provide momentum. So, those who choose will also saddle up and wave goodbye to those in the castles -

Wagons…Ho!

What’s about YOU? – care to comment?

- dare to COOPERATE?

NOTE: While this website is my personal initiative, the ASK4™ approach is a participant-managed collaboration platform and the U-Netted Nations™ is the result of our ‘Collaboration On Purpose’. My voice becomes one in a million – immediately.

Peering into the STORM

The ultimate thrill and immersion-learning experience appears to come from getting right into the eye of the storm where everything that is going on around you can be reviewed for heightened insight. That’s why some folks chase them.

Steve Paxhia of Gilmore Group, posted these thoughts after hearing Jimmy Wales speak at the O’Reilly Tools of Change conference: “Wikipedia represents the “perfect storm” for a collaborative work or “peering”. According to Wikinomics by Tapscott and Williams, there are three factors necessary to make peering effective: 1) the object of production is information or culture which keeps the cost of participation low for contributors; 2) Tasks can be chunked out into bite-sized pieces that individuals can contribute in small increments and independent of other producers. This makes their overall investment of time and energy minimal in relation to the benefits they receive in return; 3) The costs of integrating those pieces into a finished end product, including the leadership and quality control mechanisms must be low.”

So, collaboration will likely occur where people:

- want (particular/useful) information; that they can

- assemble incrementally and independently; and can from it

- produce a compendium of reasonable quality at little if any cost.

Sound like the perfect enterprise – good/fast/cheap?.. Also sounds like knowledge-management. The gentle breeze of information available from diversely remote areas is now being drawn into the ‘whirlwind’ of global users via the neural network of the internet, and its ‘cloud computing’ repositories. That takes care of the ‘tropical storm’ of content availability. What can take that tracking data content and synthesize it into a predictable storm-path projection – so we can prepare -and at least avoid danger.

How can that content be transferred into an effective tool for social network collaboration – on purpose – and ending with beneficial results?

What type process easily collects information, automatically aggregates it, objectively improves it, and equitably presents only the best of it for consumption, or for re-evaluation and any needed upgrade? It also sounds like problem-solving, 24/7, complete with planning, navigation, mid-course correction. Where is our gyroscope to keep us oriented – our compass to keep us on course?

We may have the makings for a ‘perfect storm’ but some energy must come together and an eye must form. When it does that will become the center of excitement where that information can become well organized by purposeful collaboration and integrated into the ‘gale force’ power needed for solving real problems. Dare to become a chaser of that ’storm’?

What will it take for ‘us’ to get our ‘clouds’ together…

to grow from the ‘tropical’ strength of ‘content’

to the hurricane force of CHANGE ?

While several options may exist, one comes quickly to mind…

are you ready to ASK4™ it?

Are you ready to ‘peer in’…? You could get caught in

the perfect storm of ‘cooperation’.

You could help make possible ‘one internet, under control, of liberty and justice, BY all’…for those who dare to participate in – and benefit from – their U-Netted Nations™.

What’s about YOU? – care to comment?

- dare to COOPERATE?

NOTE: While this website is my personal initiative, the ASK4™ approach is a participant-managed collaboration platform and the U-Netted Nations™ is the result of our ‘Collaboration On Purpose’. My voice becomes one in a million – immediately.

eMail or ourMail

The following is a REAL email exchange and something that can be:

- a reason to abandon email as a means to collaborate

- a reason to consider new social networking tools

- a reason to avoid some smart_ssed consultants

- a moment of reflection, or mirth

- a case study, or

- all (none?) of the above

=======

TO: Tom (fellow-shareholder of cccCompany)

SUBJECT: Fwd: Re: (let me repeat…?)

- am I too blunt? (<- or is that a rhetorical statement?)

- are you as tired as I am of not having input (as a stockholder)?

I copied you on my reply to Joe’s email (see below)

George <cccc@yahoo.com> wrote:

Date: Sat, 28 Oct 2007 12:17:34 -0700 (PDT)
From: George cccc@yahoo.com>
Subject: Re: (let me repeat…?)
To: Joe <vvvvv@vvvv.com>

Joe,
Some time ago I suggested that you might consider an approach that let you ‘write-once’ – and they could ‘read-many’ (without you having to repeat it or re-send it), etc, etc. (i.e.,-online discussion forum where info could be posted once and accessed 24/7 thereafter).

Since you saw no value in that (then), I had to use this email system (of your choice) to comment on your (re)comments (which I was already clear on..).

But since we are trying to fill time while we wait for opportunity, I guess it may not matter (that I already offered you another option, once before…).

For those that are creating opportunity (while we wait?) – this is their discussion:
http://Challenges-and-Opportunities.. by Lee Bryant
Might be interesting – or at least fill some time – but then I repeat myself

Maybe it’s at least as inspiring as some of the FWD_FWD_FWD vids we all receive(?). Perhaps it’s something fun we can consider when we’re finally funded.

Keep the faith…
GeoB

Joe @vvvvCOMPANY.com> wrote:

Dear vvCOMPANY Associates and Founding Shareholders,

Some have asked with understandable anxiety if I had heard anything since last week’s update. But I really didn’t expect to hear anything until after the meetings scheduled through the week ending Dec 17^th (See excerpt below from prior email report). Given the positive content of the entire report received last week, it would seem there is reason to be optimistic regarding vvvvvvv’s long awaited funding. I keep a guarded heart, however, until it becomes a reality………

• The corresponding documentation indicated a desire and readiness to move toward the next step in the funding process, which included their setting of the date and schedule for multiple meetings in <some city>throughout the week of DEC 13^th thru 17^th. The meetings are expected to span the entire week to work through the multiple projects, and will involve the banking institution and its broker- dealer representatives and the projects’ funding and collateral constituents.

I will continue to keep you apprised of any and all communications pertinent to our mutual objectives for vvvvvvv.COMPANY In the interim, I am always glad to receive your calls if you want to chat.

Regards,

Joe

==========

eMail may never die out

but we could die FROM it meanwhile…GSB

What’s about YOU? – care to comment?

- dare to COOPERATE?

NOTE: While this website is my personal initiative, the ASK4™ approach is a participant-managed collaboration platform and the U-Netted Nations™ is the result of our ‘Collaboration On Purpose’. My voice becomes one in a million – immediately.

Knew-Know-NEW

If you KNEW what your employees (colleagues, competition, clients) KNOW, you would immediately try something NEW. That is the ultimate challenge and offers the ultimate opportunity – for each of us, and all of us.

It’s all about how you interact with – and how you ‘look’ to – others. Those are two basic human needs: – to be loved – and not to ‘look bad’. Fortunately (or unfortunately) “they” won’t always tell “us”, because we all are (by that same nature) ’sympathetic’ when someone is acting in a ‘pathetic’ manner. But the information is still easily available – to everyone else!

What was once only whispered around the water cooler, over the tops of martini glasses, in board rooms, has now gone completely public. All that ’social’ stuff is now impacting our ‘business’ stuff. Jimmy Buffett speaks of the ‘Coconut Telegraph’ in his song about how the island people manage to ‘get the word out’. That little wisp of island breeze is now being collected and published, roaring like a huge hurricane, across the universe of the internet, and

…what’s blowing in the wind is about YOU (and us, and our businesses).

What that means is that we need to be the first to know (about us), not the last. Are you prepared to weather the ‘information’ storm? Are you tuned in to ‘information’ weather central?

Are you feeling informed?

Are you feeling up-to-date?

Or are you feeling left behind?

Reminds me of an old cliché that goes – ‘I know how you feel, I felt the same way, and here’s what I found…”

that the next NEW thing is LISTENING 2.0

via Web 2.0 in BUSINESS 2.0

(which has already advanced to Business 3.0 while we were sleeping…).

What’s about YOU? – care to comment?

- dare to COOPERATE?

NOTE: While this website is my personal initiative, the ASK4™ approach is a participant-managed collaboration platform and the U-Netted Nations™ is the result of our ‘Collaboration On Purpose’. My voice becomes one in a million – immediately.

LIFEcycle Requirements

Life – it just keeps changing. Everyday something becomes a new challenge, because of something else that changed, unexpectedly. Our new needs reflect new requirements, new parameters that must be overcome.

Throughout our life(cycle), the nature of those changes will vary by situation and by urgency. One or more of ‘Murphy’s Laws’ predicts that the most urgent will be the least understood or hardest to remedy.

Whether it’s in personal health, family relationships, social issues, political realms, business ’success’, nonprofit ‘results’, or government ’support’ – change is the constant. Managing that change, and coordinating it to accommodate diverse populations in equally diverse situations is an enterprise-level undertaking. So why isn’t that effort well integrated?

Why aren’t our social conversations collected as anecdotes to point to symptoms? Then why aren’t our response actions aimed at the root cause – instead of the ‘because’ (symptoms)…? Perhaps it’s as simple as:

We’re disconnected!

True, we have now been inducted into the world of online SELF-publishing, complete with video to document our ‘intelligence’(?). We can rant in any of several forums and re-present ourselves in any of several media styles.

But what for…?

Even those sites that endear us to some worthy cause seldom capture our ‘requirements’ in a manner that even the novice programmer would accept for building the ‘code’ for the ‘program’ that could meet our ‘need’. Even if an ‘application’ of effort was created, it might not even serve the original user population, let alone be scalable or able to be leveraged for reuse elsewhere, on someone else’s ‘platform’, or in another ‘environment’. Perhaps we should consider gathering ‘enterprise-level’ requirements to help with our

Global Relationship Management (GRM)

For that to be possible, we can turn to the art/craft of business analysis. Somehow we have to collect the ‘user story’ needs and turn them into functional ‘human interface’ results, locally and globally. What we must also avoid is ‘analysis paralysis’ by making BETA progress, pending ‘perfection’.

Cooperation at this level demands a systems approach that accounts for all stakeholders, recognizes all perspectives, objectively creates consensus, amicably enrolls participation, makes those benefits globally available, and accepts that change is the only constant, the ‘IF’ that prescribes the next ‘Therefore’…and

that’s not utopian – that’s utilitarian.

That’s the requirements-gathering utility that we all need, to create a self-managed global platform built on the ‘code’ of ethics, to enroll us ALL – in a self-correcting ‘environment’, enabling us sustain our individual – and collective LIFEcycle ‘programs’, and

to meet our mutual ‘needs’, globally

————————————–

(w/Apology to all tech folks: Poetic License Herein Requested

What’s about YOU? – care to comment?

- dare to COOPERATE?

NOTE: While this website is my personal initiative, the ASK4™ approach is a participant-managed collaboration platform and the U-Netted Nations™ is the result of our ‘Collaboration On Purpose’. My voice becomes one in a million – immediately.

My Problem – OUR Survival

“If I ruled the world…” no longer works. Try living as an ‘island’ in personal, nonprofit, business, or governance and you will indeed become isolated.

My problems soon become yours – even if you are currently unaware of their encroachment. Everything that everybody does effects all of us, eventually.

So there is only ONE answer – WE have to cooperate.

(Blindingly obvious, but – Are we done yet?)

Politicians step right back into the old paradigm when they make promises. Business leaders mistake coercion for cooperation. The list goes on forever about THEM approaching OUR problems without US involved in planning the resolution, or reaping an equitable share in the benefits.

Transparency has virtually changed all that, really. The internet soon makes everything known. Six-foot fences were once rumored to be a standard in the Bible belt so that the neighbors couldn’t see each other drinking. With apologies to all (our) ‘religions’, that type approach no longer works on anything, for anybody, anywhere. Welcome to “Universe 2.0″.

So the challenge becomes to create local solutions within a global context. That holistic viewpoint is familiar theme in business enterprise management. What may be unfamiliar in Enterprise 2.0 is the open and social aspects of the new conversations. As we advance from being sold to by CRM to defining our needs and vendors by VRM to GRM (Global Relationship Management) – what may be unique is applying that open approach to local, regional, national, and international governance contexts where fences often divide.

Shared fences demand shared effort. Shared efforts demand shared benefits. Shared benefits demand shared insight. Shared insight demands shared inputs. Shared inputs come from collaboration, in a GRM approach.

Our shared “CollaborNation” – recognizes that your problem = our survival. What comes next is a means to give ‘U’ a stake in that Universe.

That movement is starting at the ‘edge of the virtual universe’ (internet) and will migrate into the center of our personal, nonprofit, business and governed lives.

Are we really ready for “…no more fences” ?

- we’re virtually there already!

Here Comes Everybody!

ASK4™, a simple 4-question problem-solving tool that is used to create ‘unexpected consensus’ and sustainable results for those who agree to cooperate within and benefit from the U-Netted Nations™.

…and individual influence to equitable control of

the international relationship economy.

What’s about YOU? – care to comment?

- dare to COOPERATE?

NOTE: While this website is my personal initiative, the ASK4™ approach is a participant-managed collaboration platform and the U-Netted Nations™ is the result of our ‘Collaboration On Purpose’. My voice becomes one in a million – immediately.

Just (Un-)DO IT!

‘Just Do It!” – yeah right!

If only it were that simple. In our rush toward results we are often willing to sacrifice effort – ahead of insight. Trying another ‘HOW” without knowing ‘WHY’ may get us the same failure rate – and perhaps another notch in our ‘insanity belt’.

So, “Why can’t we get to ‘HOW’?”….(not by repeating our prior approach). We have to use the right questions and have to question our prior answers!

Asking the right questions – in the right sequence, will get us to the “WHY’ (it.. is what we don’t like or isn’t what we desire instead…) and uncover ‘WHAT’ to do (if anything) – and ‘HOW’ to do THAT something that can actually can bring sustainable benefits

Taking that approach, cooperatively, 24/7, could have earth-shattering benefits – for good – and for us all.

Adults tend to ask ‘HOW” – children tend to ask ‘WHY’, .
…from the mouth of babes…so they say(?).

ASK4™ is a four-question process improvement and change-management tool for solving problems and creating better results. It is engineered to bypass entrenched ‘bastions of reluctance’ that typically prevent progress – in personal, cultural, institutional, and international contexts.

What’s about YOU? – care to comment?

- dare to COOPERATE?

NOTE: While this website is my personal initiative, the ASK4™ approach is a participant-managed collaboration platform and the U-Netted Nations™ is the result of our ‘Collaboration On Purpose’. My voice becomes one in a million – immediately.

Surfing or Wipe-out?

Whatever level of understanding you have about surfing, you are familiar with the difference between:

• successfully using the uplift and momentum to propel you forward at little effort,
• or instead, loosing your balance, falling into the abyss, and being pummeled by a wave of impacts.

It’s either surfing or it’s a wipe-out, and only a few options in-between those two.

Fast-forward to the ‘groundswell‘ of information that is sweeping across the new online media channels made available by and for the people who understand, create, and deftly use the web. They can ’surf’ with dexterity. They make it look easy to the rest of us who venture in and may soon find ourselves overwhelmed or left sputtering on the edge of success after looking for answers to our questions, or just plain friendship.

Since others can and have made the ‘ride’ and beckon us to ‘come on in’, we assume the sport is for everyone and re-launch our resolve against the elements. What looks like the ultimate wave of progress (for them), may be to some of us – only an unrecognized information undertow. We stand to get sucked in to endless currents of “he-said-so-she-said-but I think”….

Surfing is great for some, survival may be more than than enough for the rest of us. Mere survival sounds passive and certainly we can expect more and even get more from our shared experience in this ocean of opportunity. Instead of the current approach that draws us in to each and every website and whirlpools of disconnected conversation, we need to channel the energy of convergent tides of influence, and use the momentum of consensus to direct our cooperative efforts toward safe arrival at new destinations.

What appears to be needed instead is a way for us to look for the hidden currents that are actually headed in the direction we all need to go, a life-raft in which we can safely combine our efforts, and a few paddles to steer and manage our directed travel toward our intended destination. Then perhaps we too can use the lift of cooperation and the currents of influence to our advantage.

That can happen, not by abandoning the extreme sports, but by creating a means for the rest of us mere mortals to get our feet wet too, without the repeating novice experience of another ‘wipe-out’.

ASK4™ is a simple online 4-question approach
- that enables website/user group interoperability
- to co-manage their ‘Collaboration on Purpose’
- for creating ‘unintended consensus’
- that enables global cooperation
- to solve universal issues.
for those who participate and cooperate
for their mutual interests in the U-Netted Nations™.

CRM-VRM-GRM

From person to market to universe – our relationships are virtually alike at all levels, and now being seamlessly connected across all dimensions – virtually (via the Web).

The old means of interaction are being abandoned, ineffective for these new groundswell relationships. New methods are being envisioned in the minds of those futurists who dare to champion new approaches for solving familiar issues along the expansive global supply chain.

We are moving from being controlled by those who provided goods and services and marketed them to us (push), to being represented to them as a measured demographic, complete with the metrics of our ‘group desires‘ (pull).

The transition from that CRM management of the ‘customer’ to VRM management of the ‘vendor’ by the customer (group) is changing the way we interact internationally – in our global relationship management, ‘GRM’.

As we move from push to pull to cooperation, the dynamics will need an initial jump-start, and continuous adjustment thereafter. Our approach must be accommodating and adaptive – built to handle/deliver constant CHANGE.

Are you ready for GRM?

To now cooperate GLOBALLY, we will need an approach that:
- is self-learning – adds better knowledge to each iteration
- causes “unintended consensus”- creates common ground
- enforces critical path – aligns participants to chosen actions
- is self-healing – next iteration based on prior lessons learned
- is transparent/non-intrusive ‘lifestyle’, not one-time initiative
- fosters objectivity – recognizes “because”; finds the root-cause
- catalogs local issues and aggregates/integrates global solutions

What if…U-ASK4-IT…?

ASK4™ is a four-question process improvement and change-management tool for solving problems and creating better results. It is engineered to bypass entrenched ‘bastions of reluctance’ that typically prevent progress – in personal, cultural, institutional, and international contexts. That can also enable a sustainable U-Netted Nations™, one internet, under control, of liberty and justice, BY all – and give U a stake in the Universe.

Imagine getting what you need – frequently
- or being the provider of what others desire!

I need + you have = WE WIN

What’s about YOU? – care to comment?

- dare to COOPERATE?

NOTE: While this website is my personal initiative, the ASK4™ approach is a participant-managed collaboration platform and the U-Netted Nations™ is the result of our ‘Collaboration On Purpose’. My voice becomes one in a million – immediately.