mart

Speople
Digital generations bring knowledge to life

Volume 1
Issue 1
APRIL 2009

The
Obama
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GREAT
THINK-OFF
Be a survivor
You can even thrive
in hard times
Power of been there

Me Smart?

Youre kidding!
You are what you think

To transfer knowledge, older gens need to catch up digital

Once upon
a time
there was
a prince
. . . whose knowledge capabilities were trapped inside his own skin.

Along came Smar t People

and the world was never the same.

10 kisses sold here for $ 50 $ 25 USD

Limited time only

Smart People magazine is a new media publication

awakening in you the power of knowledge much
sought after by employers worldwide. This power
has always been there but the Web has multiplied
it a million times and, unknowingly, you are using
your smarts (and those of others) every day living,
learning, choosing, working.
Wake up to the power.
Subscribe now: www.smartpeoplemagazine.com
Available in three formats: Online flipblook, html and pdf

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Volume 1
Issue 1
APRIL 2009

LIVING

9 Be a survivor

Your new job description involves

more than just looking for another
job. Time for strategic selfimprovement.

6 Taking control: knowing,

learning deciding

In the digital world, the knowledge

factor is way bigger than corporate
knowledge management.

7 Wheres the bus?

One rainy night two students

develop an online tracking system so
you can ask your PDA.

8 Slumdog Millionaire

Oscar winner resonates with viewers

in a time of economic uncertainty
and the power of knowledging.

Also in this issue

Eight norms 3
Smart People profile 32

Lukas Laubscher rose from

humble waiter to general
manager by listening,
thinking, catering to the
little ones.
The Knowledge Factor 39

Cover story
4 Me Smart? You are
what you think

Thoughts and beliefs create

your reality. What you
believe leads to what and
how you think.

10 Watch your language

To improve your memory, talk to

yourself in terms of what you left
undone, not what you did.

11 Apron strings keep women

out of math fields

In order to have flexibility outside

of work to raise children for one
women reject math-intensive
careers, even when theyre good in
math.

13 Filling the knowledge gaps

Better knowledge flow can help
minimize or even prevent
manmade or natural disasters.

14 The power of been there

A phone call from a friend saved his

life and started a company to help
others take control of their
health.

22 Don Tapscott (Grown Up Digital)

Worlds most knowledgeable authority on the Digital
Generation says they are champions at knowledge
sharing and collaboration.
SMART PEOPLE

SMART PEOPLE

CHOOSING

17 Politics 2.0

16 President Obama

CHOOSING

Obama captured 70 percent

of the young largely through
a digital campaign. Hes
Americas first Internet
president.

fights
for
Blackberry

We had better be
prepared for a White
House with an entirely
new way of working.

20 Death of a

salesman

The shift
in the
power of
knowledge
from the
seller to the
buyer has sales pros taking a new
look at the customer.

LEARNING

27 Great American

Think-off

28 The creative economy

Entrepreneur
Dave Lewis
still thinks
differently
in a world
where
everyone
gets to play
in new
places.

Little town in Minnesota

asks the world Is it ever
wrong to do the right
thing? Its Americas
premier amateur
philosophy contest.

30 Online centers connect

digitally disadvantaged

Britain tries to bridge the online

social divide by connecting them
to Web sites, blogs,
forums, videos,
digital galleries
and radio.

WORKING
34 Facing the

new gens

To transfer
existing
knowledge, the
old gens need to
catch up digital
understand and
connect with the
new gens.

2 SMART PEOPLE

36 Ban bullying

Nine out of 10 British employees are

victims which not only hurts people
but plays havoc with the work
environment.

38 Jobs galore

In spite of the economy and high

unemployment theres a shortage
of knowledge workers but you can
take advantage of the situation
to leverage
yourself into
a Smart People
job.

SMART PEOPLE

About Smart People

Following the eight norms of our readers

Publisher
Jerry Ash smart.guy1@verizon.net
Managing editor
Michele Ash mlinnash@verizon.net
Technology by
Boris Jaeger boris.jaeger@web.de
Graphic design by
Associated Professional Services
designer_aps@verizon.net
Social network hosts
Facebook
Daniel Delgado

Ning
Jerry Ash

Linkedin
Skip Boettger
John Veitch

Twitter
Jack Ring
Alice MacGillivray

MySpace
Alan ONeill

Xing
Boris Jaeger

The editorial policy of Smart People magazine follows the Eight

Norms of Net Geners as described by Don Tapscott in his book
Grown Up Digital. We include Digital Pioneers and Catching Up
Digitals.
This is a new media publication in every sense of the word. It
is published online using the interactive channels of Web 2.0 to
enable prosumers people who want to have a hand in shaping the
magazine to collaborate on content and direction.
The Eight Norms we use as our guidelines are:

Freedom: Net Geners demand the freedom to choose. The more the
better. The Internet has enabled that right and we eagerly compete in
that environment.
Customization: The magazine will continue to evolve as Smart
People representatives host discussion groups in the social networks
and advocate changes in the magazine.
Scrutiny: We expect smart people to examine our value and
determine whether our magazine is unique and worth time and
money. And, we expect to be continually tested.

HR and Learning
Noreen Kelly

Integrity: To earn your trust, Smart People must deliver quality,

relevancy and truth by sharing the best of knowledge and
information from the most reliable of sources.

Entire contents copyrighted, 2009, by Associated

Professional Services, publisher. All rights are
reserved. Contents may not be republished (in print
or electronically) without permission of the publisher.

Collaboration: Smart People magazine has been developed in

collaboration with social networkers in an open, online worksite.
Our prosumers continue to be our board of directors.

Opinions expressed are those of the writers and may

not represent the opinion of Associated Professional
Services or Smart People magazine.

Entertainment: We learn and we do our best when were having

fun. Smart People magazine is deliberately quick and lively and full
of meaning, all at once.

Smart People magazine

Associated Professional Services
1811 Atrium Drive
Sun City Center, Florida 33573
Phone: 813.634.4397

Speed: No one ever said magazines were speedy. But theyll say it
about this one. The magazine may be a periodical, but the flow of
conversation is now.

www.smartpeoplemagazine.com
Tom Davenport
Information
Technology

David Gurteen
Knowledge
Management

Alice MacGillivray
Smart People
Networkers

Innovation: Theres never been anything like Smart People

magazine. We dare to be different because we think differently
and we urge our readers to think differently too. We heed the Eight
Norms because we believe in them.
Robert Wendover
Generational
Studies

The Smart People Magazine Board of Directors is being 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@verizon.net

EDITORIAL BOARD

SMART PEOPLE

COVER STORY
Thoughts and
beliefs create
your reality. True.
What you believe
leads to what and
how you think
. . . which leads
to your creation
and sharing of
knowledge . . .
which defines
what you
perceive as
possible . . . and
leads to your
actions.

4 SMART PEOPLE

Me smart? Youre kidding!

You are what you think

By Alex and David Bennet
Mountain Quest Institute

patterns of neuronal
connections and synapse
strengths can change the
I cant possibly be smart,
physical structure of your
you think. If thats what you
brain. But beware; this is a
assume, youre right. Youre
two-way street. Changes in
not smart. Do you know why? the neural physiology of your
Because you dont believe youre brain also affect the thoughts
smart! Thats all there is to it.
in your mind. What does that
Henry Ford got it right years
mean? Well, first off, it means
ago. If you think you can, you
youve got to keep your brain
can. If you think you cant, you healthy. Stop. Thats a lot on
cant.
the table all at once. Lets
Fords statement is
break it down a bit.
now backed up with new
discoveries in neuroscience.
Mind or brain? Whats
And theres more, much
the difference? Its like the
more. Youve got to watch what relationship between the
youre thinking as well as what waves of the ocean and the

you believe.
water in the ocean. The waves
Your
are patterns; the water is
thoughts particles. Similarly, the mind
that is, represents the patterns created
by neuronal firings, their
synaptic connections and
the strengths between the
synaptic spaces. The brain is
the atoms and molecules
that make up those
patterns. Since you
cant see your own
minds patterns, to
you they are your
thoughts, ideas,
visions, feelings
and more. A single
thought might be
represented by a
network of a million
neurons with each
neuron connected
to 5,000 other
neurons!
Not as ridiculous
as it sounds
when you

consider there are about 100

billion neurons in your brain.
The brain has a high
degree of plasticity; it has the
capacity to change in response
to experience and learning.
Its designed to co-evolve with
its environment the perfect
instrument for adapting and
readapting to the increasing
Change, Uncertainty,
Complexity and Anxiety
(CUCA) that results. And even
when simple information
comes into your brain, it
creates a physical alteration of
the structure of neurons. This
is how you learn.
Learning? As long as you
stay alive, you are learning;
the more you learn, the more
you can learn. Information is
continuously entering the
brain through all of your
senses from the external
world. This information is
then mixed and integrated
a process called associative
patterning with all the
information previously stored
in your memory, patterns
that represent all your
experiences, thoughts and
feelings. Quite literally, almost
everything youve learned in
life. However, those incoming
signals are being captured in
invariant form.
For example, that means
only part of an image of your
friend is being stored. Thats
all thats needed. The mind/
brain develops robustness
and deep knowledge
(understanding, meaning,

COVER STORY
insights and anticipation of
the results of actions) from its
capacity to use past learning
and memories to complete
incoming information. This
marvelous system allows you
to use what you know and
what youve learned in varied
and uncertain situations
something that in the future
only a biological computer
could hope to accomplish.

done before, acquiring new

knowledge. It doesnt matter
how old you are 20 or 70;
you can still learn and learn
well if, and only if, you really
want to.
But for goodness sakes,
dont feel too stressed about
it! Emotions impact your
learning, with maximum
learning occurring when
there is a moderate level of
arousal. A little bit of stress
What about my DNA?
is okay or, even better, if you
DNA blueprints are not set in
feel good about what youre
concrete at the birth of the cell learning, you learn more. By
as was once thought. Genes do the way, the same thing is
not determine who we are or
true for physical exercise. If
who we will become. Through you dont want to do it but
studies in epigenetics which you do it anyway, theres not
literally means control above
much gain. Thats just the way
genetics it is now recognized it is.
that genes cannot be expressed
without influence from the
The unconscious. You
immediate environment of the may have realized by now
cell. Thus nature, nurture and how much stuff is going into
our own personal choices all
your unconscious. A healthy
play significant roles in our
mind/brain is a powerful,
learning and development.
self-organizing, complex
Our thoughts, feelings and
adaptive learning system
actions determine our success, (quite a mouthful, but it does
while our genes playing a
mean something) that is
smaller role.
only limited by the quality
and quantity of incoming
Mind health. There
information and your own
is a direct relationship
choices.
between your health and
The really good news
increased levels of growth
is your brain doesnt take
and integration in your mind. Starbucks breaks and doesnt
When you exercise your body, require sleep. Its on call 24/7.
you increase the amount of
Focused on your learning
blood thats flowing through
and well-being, day and night
your brain which boosts your it goes about discovering
brain power. But theres more to associations among what you
it than that . . . your mind needs already know and all that
exercising too, just like the rest stuff you send in through
of your body. Circuits in your your senses, building patterns
brain that go unused grow
that might help you take
weaker and eventually die.
the best actions tomorrow.
The very best mind exercise is Imagine the amount of social
new learning thinking about networking continuously
and trying things youve never underway among your

neurons! You dont need to

worry about overloading your
mind by learning too much
thats not a smart way to go.
In the course of your lifetime,
your mind/brain will have
created many more patterns
with their connections than
there are particles in the
Universe.
So were back to the
question we started with . . .
me smart?
And the answer is . . . its
your choice.

Knowledge is
the capacity
(potential or
actual) to take
effective action.
Your mind/
brain learns
continuously
in anticipation
of your future
actions.

Alex and David Bennet are founders

of Mountain Quest Institute, a
research and retreat center situated
in the Allegheny Mountains of West
Virginia mountainquestinstitute.
com

Three myths that keep you dumb

Myth #1: I am a product of my genes. FALSE. Many
genes are turned on and off by the environment physical or learning. This can be likened to a dance
between two partners intricately involved as a
couple in winning the big prize. Who do you choose
to let lead?
Myth #2: Im too dumb to learn. FALSE. If youre
alive, you are learning. The mind/brain was created
to help you learn in order for you to survive. If
youre not taking advantage of that learning, that
is a matter of choice rather than capability. Note
the role of nurturing and the environment have
significantly more impact on learning capacity than
previously thought.
Myth #3: As you grow older your mental powers
decrease from loss of neurons. FALSE. As long as
you use your brain and continue to actively think
barring age-related disease your brain capacity
will sustain a good capability. While neurons
continue to die as you age, active brains also
continue to create neurons in several areas. Carl
Jung did some of his best work between the ages
of 73 and 83.
SMART PEOPLE

LIVING

LIVING

6 SMART PEOPLE

Taking control

Knowing, learning, deciding on the home front

By Jerry Ash
Smart People magazine

began to rise. Humph, I

said. Im much smarter than
I think.
In the digital world, the
Then I began to realize
knowledge factor is a lot more something else about my
than a new critical success
knowledge power whenever
factor for the business world.
I didnt know something, I
Its way bigger.
could find out. Just Google
I cant believe how smart
it. How come the weird
Ive become over the past 20
scoring in tennis? Like love
years. Ive learned so much
instead of zero? Answer: The
and when I need to know
French started it by using the
something, the very need
word oeuf, meaning egg (as
sometimes triggers the answer in goose egg or zero). Is that
unknowingly stored in the
really true? I dont know. But
dusty corners of my mind.
its a great story on the tennis
Same with everyone.
court!
My wife was watching
Ive also noticed how
a quiz show on television
much more I depend on the
one night and blurted out an
Internet for information and
answer. Then she turned to
knowledge to help me make
me. I didnt know I knew
important decisions about
that! she said. And, I dont
things I used to leave in
know how I knew that!
the hands of experts like
Well, shes the trivia
medical decisions. In the old
queen, but I began to notice in days I would go to the doctor
my own self some of the same when I didnt feel good.
qualities and my self-image
How do you feel?
Not good, Doc.
What are your
symptoms? he would ask.
In the end he would tell
me what he thought I had
and prescribe some pills.
Faithfully, I took them.
Today, when I have
an ailment, I ask myself
about the symptoms and
then either Google it or go
to my trusted health
information Web
sites. By the
time I get to
the doctors
office, Im
already an informed patient
and we have a consult, just
like two doctors. And, most

importantly, I make an
informed decision about my
own health care!
The knowledge factor is
not unique to me and its not
peculiar to the young who
have grown up digital. We use
the power of knowledge in
almost every aspect of human
life and we do it a thousand
times better than before.
The consequences: dramatic
changes in the patterns of
human life.
Another example: Its time
to buy a new car. Before, we
relied on ads and salesmen.
This second largest purchase
most of us make was based
primarily on impulse driven
mostly by someone else.
Consumer Reports has filled
that void for many years, but
now we have so much more.
We cut out the middleman
by doing our own research
online, coming to our own
conclusions. We use blogs
and discussion boards and
networks to know the real
skinny.
When we walk into the
dealership, we cut the sales
pitch short. Tut, tut, old
man. Ill tell you what I want.
Heck, we may not even go to
a dealership. I just bought my
first motorcycle online!
So, there you have it. The
thinking behind Smart People
magazines living section.
Enjoy, learn, improve your
knowledgeability.

LIVING

Wheres
the bus?

One rainy night leads

two students to solve the
problem
Its a question heard at
countless bus stops: Have
you seen the number 48 go
by?
Cold, impatient bus
riders stamp their feet,
check their watches, and
wonder if that bus is ever
going to come. But in Seattle, a
cell phone and the ingenuity of
two University of Washington
(UW) students has come to the
rescue.
Brian Ferris, a doctoral
student in computer science,
spent one too many rainy
nights waiting for the bus.
Im an avid bus rider,
said Ferris. If you ride the
bus enough, you spend a lot of
time waiting; even on the best
of days buses can run late.

from
any phone.
A robotic voice
answers: Where is your bus?
Lets find out. Users then
punch in their stop number if
they know it already, or follow
the prompts to look it up.
A computer checks a
database of current bus
locations, and the voice
announces how long until
your bus arrives. Users can
also access the system online
at www.OneBusAway.org or
by using an iPhone.
OneBusAway keeps
Most bus stops have a
tabs on the bus
timetable of when the bus is
Over the past year and onesupposed to come, and digital
half, Ferris and Kari Watkins,
screens at some central hubs
a UW doctoral student in
show projected arrivals. But
civil and environmental
most lonely bus riders waiting
engineering, have created a
by the curb, scanning the
tool, OneBusAway, that allows
horizon for any sign of a bus,
bus riders to use a cell phone,
have no idea how long they
iPhone or computer to keep
have to wait.
tabs on their buses.
OneBusAway has
Knowing makes waiting
processed 30,000 automated
seem half as long
phone calls since launch in
Research shows that
June, 2008. The Web site gets
removing uncertainty cuts
an average of 1,000 hits a day.
frustration, says Watkins,
People have found out about
who works on transportation
the tool on blogs, from stickers issues. She and Ferris met
at a few UW campus bus stops, through a transit blog and
from a mention in a Seattle
combined their expertise to
magazine and by word-ofcreate OneBusAway.
mouth. To use OneBusAway in
When people have to
Seattle, just dial 206.456.0609
wait, they think twice as much

time
is passing.
So if youre standing
at a bus stop for five minutes,
you perceive that time to
be 10 minutes, Watkins
said. Knowing the wait time
changes the situation. If I
know ahead of time, I can grab
that cup of coffee and be back
in time to catch my bus. That
kind of information makes
taking public transit so much
more livable.
OneBusAway is an
offshoot of MyBus, an online
service Ferris calls the great
granddaddy. MyBus, created
in mid-1990s by UW electrical
engineering professor Daniel
Dailey, allows people to type in
a bus route and stop number to
get anticipated arrival times. It
combines odometer readings,
which regularly get beamed
back to dispatch, and route
information to estimate each
bus current position. MyBus
forms the basis for municipal
bus-tracking services in Seattle
and Chicago.
Ferris and Watkins set out
to expand on MyBus to make a
more user-friendly tool people

Brian Ferris
checks in with
OneBusAway
to see when
his bus will be
arriving.

NEXT PAGE
SMART PEOPLE

LIVING

Slumdog Millionaire
Poverty porn or power of popular culture?
Slumdog Millionaire, the new film from British
director Danny Boyle showcasing a star-studded
cast, continues its steady accumulation of movie
awards including seven Oscars and a best
film award from the British Academy of Film and
Television Arts.
And, while the movie about a poor orphan in
Mumbai who competes on a television quiz show
has also been scoring big at the box office, some
in India are calling the film an example of slum
tourism or poverty porn.
But, according to Temple English professor
Priya Joshi, Slumdogs message is one of
globalization and the power of popular culture to
spread new ideas.
In India, members of the middle and upper
classes, who want to think of themselves as
sophisticated, global elites, were shocked by
Slumdogs depiction of poverty, but it has not
stopped them from flocking to the theaters, said
Joshi.
Slumdog has been a commercial success
in India with the film drawing capacity crowds
to both the English and the Hindi versions. Joshi
observes that the Indian responses to Slumdog fall
into two categories: those who find the film depicts
an Indian underbelly of violence and poverty that
theyd rather not expose to the West, and those
viewers who immediately get the film and
see it as a metaphor for the times.
According to Joshi, Slumdog
Millionaire may best be compared to
Cinema Paradiso. In the same way
that Cinema Paradiso paid homage to
the transformative power of Hollywood
movies of the 1950s, Slumdog
testifies to the power of Bollywoods
blockbusters from the 1970s.
The most interesting question
for Joshi, however, might be why
a film filled with maiming, murder and the torture
of children, has won the hearts of Americans? I
guess the movie has resonated with an American
audience in this time of economic uncertainty
because it captures, and assuages a vulnerability
we all feel, said Joshi. We might not all become
quiz show millionaires, but at least we can feel
good watching someone else get the moolah and
the girl.
Joshi is the prizewinning author of In Another
Country: Colonialism, Culture, and the English
Novel in India.

8 SMART PEOPLE

Wheres the bus?

CONTINUED

could access while away from

their computers. So far Ferris,
a self-described transit nerd,
has invested about $70 of his
own money to buy the domain
name and professional voicegenerating software. The
phone number connects to a
free service that relays phone
calls over the Internet.
Running on shoestring,
prayer and an occasional beer
Im kind of running
this on a shoestring and a
prayer. Ive had people offer
to buy me a beer, anything
they can do to help, Ferris
said. Now that its becoming
popular, a lot of people
are becoming
dependent on it.
Ferris
programs the
site in his spare
time, maintains a
OneBusAway blog,
and scans other
blogs and
Twitter
feeds
for people
experiencing
problems. Hes
gradually adding
more features.
Anyone can write
features for the open-source
tool. One person wrote a patch
to allow you to view two
different routes on the same
computer screen, so you can
load one page to see which
bus will come first.
More features are in the
works. Ferris and Watkins
have built a prototype that
integrates real-time tracking
with the popular trip-planner

feature now offered by King

County Metro and Google
Transit.
The result is a trip
planner that would adjust its
recommendation depending
on whether buses are
running on time. Yet another
prototype finds businesses
that can be easily accessed in
a single bus trip. Thats the
idea that originally inspired
the name OneBusAway.
Maybe Id like to go out
to eat, say Chinese food, but
I dont care what restaurant
I can get to as long as I can
get there easily on the bus,
Watkins said. The goal is to
one day have a whole bunch
of different programs that
would make transit easier to
navigate.
Dreaming a suite of tools
for any transit agency
Eventually the two
envision offering a suite of
bus-riding tools that any
transit agency could connect
to its database to encourage
more people to use public
transit. Someday buses
may be equipped with GPS
antennas that would allow
even better tracking.
For Ferris, he says
this project fits with
his philosophy of using
technology to support social
causes, and its a chance to
create something that people
like to use. But thats not
the only reason he built the
service.
Im a big user of
OneBusAway, he said. I
like to know when my bus
is going to come as much as
anybody else does.

LIVING

Be a survivor

You can even thrive in hard times

By Carol Kinsey Goman, PhD
Kinsey Consulting Services

With many of us feeling the pain of an economic slowdown, its

important to be aware of and proactive about possible changes
in our organizations. While we cant control the economy or the
other forces of change, we can position ourselves to survive and
even thrive in these challenging times.
Here are a dozen tips to consider, whether you feel secure or think your job may soon disappear:
1. Dont get caught unaware. Too
often, workers fail to recognize
the early signs of looming layoffs,
downsizing or shutdowns and are
caught by surprise when they find
themselves without a job. Keep
your eyes open for signs of trouble:
Notice if there are large-scale
layoffs throughout your industry;
if new competitors are increasingly
crowding the market; or if demand
for your companys product or
service is dropping.
2. Imagine the worst-case scenario
and make a plan. What if you lost
your job? What would you do?
When you examine and confront
the situation, you can consider
possible options. At the very least,
you will feel that you have more
control over your reactions if that
scenario should indeed occur.
Heres the trick: Once you have
a plan of action, stop focusing
on the potential downside and
start searching for potential
opportunities.
3. Neutralize your fear.
Neuroscience tells us that when the
fear system of the brain is active,
exploratory activity and risk-taking
are turned off. You can start to
neutralize that system by avoiding
people who are all doom and gloom
about the economy and by turning
off the constant barrage of bad news
from the media.

4. Keep a positive attitude. You

never know when a seemingly
negative situation may turn out to
be for the best. If your job changes
or disappears, its an excellent
chance to learn something new,
discover untapped skills and meet
new people. If you keep a positive
attitude, youll be able to rally
your energy toward furthering
your career regardless of the
circumstances.

7. Read the body language of your

boss. Only a small part of what you
subconsciously interpret from what
people say to you comes from the
words they use. You get most of the
message (and all of the emotional
nuance behind the words)
from vocal tone, pacing, facial
expressions and body language.
Now is the time to hone this innate
but latent ability and turn it into a
survival skill.

5. Stay in the game. In tough

times, your first reaction may be to
hunker down. Nothing could be less
helpful. This is a time to become
very visible in your organization.
In a recent survey of 150 business
executives, 49 percent said they
consider an employees dedication
to the companys mission and
values when downsizing. So
volunteer for projects, take credit
for your success, and speak up. And
if you can come up with ways your
organization can save money now
is your time to really shine!

8. Get a life. Its a fact documented

by my 25 years of research:
people with interests beyond their
professions and organizations are
more resilient under stress and
more effective on the job. From
art to music to sports to friends
and family, youll deal better with
work-related transition and trauma
when your life includes a healthy
counterbalance.

6. Watch what you dont say.

Use positive body language in
meetings: maintain good eye
contact, sit forward in your chair,
and lean slightly toward the person
who is speaking. All of these are
nonverbal signals that you are
engaged and energized.

9. Never stop learning. Now

and in the future, your value to
any organization depends less
on what you know, and more on
how quickly you can update your
knowledge to respond to changing
conditions. If you havent already
done so, now is the perfect time to
join a professional association, talk
with colleagues, and read trade
magazines in your field to update
your knowledge of trends and
issues.
NEXT PAGE
SMART PEOPLE

LIVING

Watch your language

What I was doing vs. what I did

If you want to improve your memory, you should carefully consider how you
frame your past actions in your mind.
In a new study reported in the Journal of the Association for
Psychological Science, psychologists William Hart

of the University of Florida and Dolores Albarracn

from the University of Illinois at UrbanaChampaign reveal the way a statement

is phrased (and specifically, how the

verbs are used) affects our memory

of an event being described and may

also influence our behavior.
In these experiments, a group of
volunteers was interrupted prior to
finishing a word game and were then asked to
describe their behavior using the imperfective
(e.g., I was solving word puzzles) or perfective
(e.g., I solved word puzzles).
The volunteers then completed a memory
test about the word game itself.
It turns out the volunteers who had
described their behavior using the imperfective
were able to recall more specific details of
their experience compared to volunteers
who had described their behavior in the
perfective aspect.
The volunteers writing in the
imperfective aspect also performed better on
a second word game and were more willing to
complete the task than did volunteers who used
the perfective to describe their experience.
The authors surmise that when we think about
our past behavior in the imperfective (e.g., what we
were doing), we tend to imagine that behavior as
ongoing (and not completed yet). This enables us to
easily think about what went into that behavior and
may help us improve performance on similar tasks in
the future.
These findings may be relevant to behavioral
therapy. They suggest that decreasing the
frequency of unhealthy behaviors might be facilitated by discussing these
behaviors in terms of what I did. In contrast, increasing the frequency
of healthy behaviors might be facilitated by discussing these behaviors in
terms of what I was doing.
For a copy of the article and access to other Psychological
Science research findings, contact Barbara Isanski at bisanski@
psychologicalscience.org

10 SMART PEOPLE

Thrive in hard times

CONTINUED

10. Network, network, network.

First, understand the importance
of social capital. Capital is defined
as accumulated wealth, especially
as used to produce more wealth.
Social capital is the wealth (or
benefit) that exists because of your
social relationships. Think of social
capital as the value created by your
connections to others. There is no
more valuable commodity in todays
volatile business environment.
11. Take time to mourn. The
beginning of anything new
always means the death of the old.
Restructuring means changing the
way work gets done and walking
away from the competence and
confidence you gained under the old
system. Losing a job means leaving
a workplace, friends and mentors.
With every ending comes a period
of mourning where it is natural (and
healthy) to grieve for what you have
lost. In fact, doing so will help you let
go of the past so that you can more
quickly move on to whatever the
future holds.
12. Go for it! An uncertain future
can be stressful and traumatic. But
it can also be exhilarating and fun.
Make a conscious choice to embrace
change as an incredible adventure.
Savor it. Exploit it. Enjoy it!
Carol Kinsey Goman, PhD, is an author and
keynote speaker who addresses association,
government, and business audiences around
the world. Her latest book and program topic
is The Nonverbal Advantage Secrets
and Science of Body Language at Work.
For more information, contact Carol by
phone: 510.526.1727, email: CGoman@CKG.
com, or through her Web sites: www.CKG.
com and www.NonverbalAdvantage.com.

LIVING

Glass ceiling?

Apron strings keep women out of math fields

Women dont choose
careers in math-intensive
fields, such as computer
science, physics, technology,
engineering, chemistry and
higher mathematics, because
they want the flexibility to
raise children, or because
they prefer other fields of
science that are less mathintensive not because they
lack mathematical ability,
according to a new study.
The study, an integrative
analysis of 35 years of research
on sex differences in math,
offers explanations for why
women are underrepresented
in math-intensive science
careers. The findings
appear in the March issue
of Psychological Bulletin,
published by the American
Psychological Association.

Career preferences and

lifestyle needs largely dictate
why women arent choosing
physics or engineering as their
profession, says lead author
Stephen J. Ceci, PhD.

Timing of child bearing

coincides with the most
demanding periods of a
womans career

Women with advanced

math abilities choose nonmath fields more often than
men with advanced math
abilities. They also drop out
of scientific fields especially
math and physical science
at higher rates than do men,
particularly as they advance,
says Ceci,
A major reason why
women are underrepresented
not only in math-intensive
Women are
fields but also in senior
underrepresented
leadership positions in most
in math-intensive
fields is that many women
choose to have children, and
science careers.
the timing of childrearing
coincides with the most
Researchers from
demanding periods of their
Cornell University reviewed
career, such as trying to get
more than 400 articles and
tenure or working exorbitant
book chapters to reconcile
hours to get promoted.
conflicting evidence on why
Further, if women enter
math-proficient women are
these fields, they are more
underrepresented in mathlikely to drop out before they
intensive fields such as
engineering; why they choose advance very far due to the
less math-intensive fields (such need for greater flexibility and
as biology, medicine, dentistry the demands of parenting and
and veterinary medicine); and caregiving, says co-author
Wendy M. Williams, PhD.
why when they do choose
These are choices that all
math-intensive careers, they
women, but almost no men,
are more likely to drop out as
are forced to make.
they advance.

Women today compose

approximately 50 percent
of medical school classes;
however, despite these gains,
women who enter academic
medicine are less likely
than men to be promoted or
serve in leadership posts, the
authors said.
As of 2005, only 15 percent
of full professors and 11
percent of department chairs
were women. Non-math fields
are also affected: for example,
only 19 percent of the tenure
track faculty in the top 20
philosophy departments are
women.

Hormonal, brain and other

biological sex differences did
not emerge as primary factors
explaining why women were
underrepresented in science
careers.
And the authors found
studies on social and cultural
effects to be inconsistent and
inconclusive.
NEXT PAGE
SMART PEOPLE

11

LIVING
one percent in math ability,
Ceci said. Women would
comprise 33 percent of the
CONTINUED
professorships in mathintensive fields if it was based
Much of the evidence on
solely on being in the top one
discrimination was dated or
percent of math ability, but
anecdotal, the authors said,
they currently comprise less
and the effects were not strong
than 10 percent.
enough to explain womens
Several large surveys
current low numbers in mathexamined in the analysis
intensive fields. Even though
found that lifestyle choice had
institutional barriers and
the largest influence on career
discrimination exist, these
preferences.
influences still cannot explain
why women are not entering
If it werent for childor staying in STEM (science,
technology, engineering and
rearing duties, the
math) careers, said Ceci.
male-female ratio
The evidence did not
would be much different
show that removal of these
barriers would equalize the
at the top.
sexes in these fields, especially
given that womens career
In a survey of 2,000
preferences and lifestyle
33-year-old academic
choices tilt them toward other professionals in science careers
careers such as medicine and
who were in the top one
biology over mathematics,
percent of their high school
computer science, physics and math classes, the men devoted
engineering.
more time to their current job
Men did outscore women
and said they would devote
on spatial ability tests, a
even more time in their dream
measure that predicts later
job compared to the women,
mathematics achievement
suggesting that this could
but, said the authors, this still lead to more productivity and
doesnt account for the low
promotions.
numbers of women in the
Science, technology,
STEM fields.
engineering and math are not
Moreover, studies showing the only professions affected
mens scoring in the top 1 to
by womens career choices, said
0.1 percent on the SAT-M and
the authors.
GRE-Q exams more frequently
Several studies showed
than women cannot account
that while women are
for the low numbers of women well-represented in less
in math-intensive careers.
math-intensive fields, such
The evidence shows that
as medicine, law, biology,
if math ability were solely a
psychology, dentistry and
function of sex, there would
veterinary science, they are
be roughly double the number still underrepresented in the
of women in math-intensive
top positions of these fields.
careers compared to what
They are either not on
exists now, assuming a 2:1
tenure track, drop off tenure
male-female ratio at the top
track or opt for part-time

Glass ceiling?

12 SMART PEOPLE

positions until their children

get older.
It appears that the
family-career trade-offs
constitute a major factor in
the dearth of women in fields
such as engineering, physics,
computer science and in
higher-level positions in non
math-related fields, said Ceci.
Women who are good
in math seem to have more
career options. Those who are
highly competent in math are
more likely than men to have
high verbal competence, too,
thus opening up the option
of going into the humanities
or law, which may offer more
flexibility in their career
tracks.
There are ways to remedy
the situation, the authors said.
They suggest that universities,
other institutions and
companies create options for
women with math talents who
want to pursue math-intensive
careers.
These could include
deferred start-up of tenuretrack positions and part-time
work that segues to full-time
tenure-track work for women
who are raising children,
and courtesy appointments
for women unable to work
full-time but who would
benefit from use of university
resources (email, library
resources, grant support) to
continue their research from
home.
Source: Womens
Underrepresentation in Science:
Sociocultural and Biological
Considerations, Stephen J. Ceci,
PhD, Wendy M. Williams, PhD,
and Susan M. Barnett, PhD, Cornell
University; Psychological Bulletin,
Vol. 135, No. 2. Full text of the
article is available at www.apa.org/
journals/releases/bul1352218.pdf

LIVING

Filling the knowledge gaps

Like Katrina, 9/11, space shuttle Challenger

government by enabling and
instilling knowledge management
practices in government.
Knowledge Management (KM),
a discipline that uses management
tools along with culture change and
human enablement, has worked in
the private sector.
Is American know-how
Some agencies have succeeded
disappearing from the federal
at
KM,
including NASA and the
government? Or is it that theres no
US Army, but there is no formal
real knowledge sharing system to
federal program. There is no policy,
enable the knowledge of its people
standards or direction. There is no
to flow at the right time and to the
central clearinghouse of lessons
right places.
learned or what works.
In recent years, federal failures
So agencies and departments
to share knowledge have resulted in
must spend scarce consulting
disasters, preventable by a word to
dollars to find their own way,
the wise.
reinventing the wheel in a wasteful
Hurricane Katrina: The federal
duplication of effort. To fill this
response to the preparation and
aftermath of Katrina was marked leadership void, the Federal KM
Working Group presents an
by now infamous failures to
Action Plan calling for formal KM
communicate.
9/11 attacks: The FBI was already governance, with these goals:
Establish a Federal Knowledge
investigating foreign students
Management Center to serve
learning to fly but not land
as a centralized resource for
large jet planes.
agencies in carrying out their
The Space Shuttle Challenger:
own knowledge management
NASA engineers already knew
efforts. The center will provide
the dangers of freezing the Oconsulting and serve as a
ring that failed, leading to the
clearinghouse of federal KM
loss of the Challenger.
resources, such as software,
The impaired response to
expertise and lessons learned.
Hurricane Katrina, the 9/11 disaster
Establish a federal CKO
and the Challenger explosion
Position. This person, the face
all could have been averted.
of Federal KM, will coordinate
Government must improve its
with federal departments to
knowledge sharing networking
explain the benefits of sharing
in order to enable its people to
and collaborating across
communicate, to share and utilize
agencies.
information and knowledge.

KM governance. Enact
The Federal Knowledge
government-wide policies,
Management Working Group,
standards and practices that
comprised of over 700 federal
specify the general direction
employees and contractors, has
and intent of federal knowledge
mounted a campaign to restore
sharing efforts.
American know-how to the federal

Disasters, whether man-made or acts of

nature, can be prevented or minimized
by better knowledge flow. Seven hundred
people in federal government are working
to enable people to share knowledge
sooner, better, more effectively.

Awareness campaign and Web

presence. To communicate
the serious need for KM and
distribute content from those
who know to those who need to
know.
Build a knowledge sharing
culture in the federal
government. Change the federal
mindset from need to know to
need to share.

Train federal workers in

KM skills. By learning KM
competencies, they will also
acquire a deeper understanding
and appreciation of the value of
knowledge sharing.
Meet the challenges of the
retirement Age Wave. KM
includes knowledge retention,
an effort to minimize brain
drain due to the thousands
of retiring baby boomers.
The other side of the coin,
today, is the federal challenge
in recruiting Generation Y
employees, who have been
raised on Web 2.0 and social
computing tools.

SMART PEOPLE

13

LIVING

The power of been there

A phone call saved my life, inspired a mission

By Keith Schorsch
Founder and CEO, Trusera

I remember the day well.

I had settled into my seat
to watch the Seattle Mariners
play on a beautiful August
evening. What could be
better?
I was
enjoying the
game when
the vision in
my left eye
began to blur.
Two innings
later, I heard
a ringing
and nearby
cheering
sounded like
someone
was yelling
directly in my
ear. Strange, I
thought.
At home
an hour later,
the whole left
side of my
face sagged.
Honey, stop
fooling around, my wife
said. What do you mean? I
responded. Half of your face
is frozen, she said with a mix
of fear and confusion. I looked
in the mirror, and my mind
went blank.
Thus began my battle with
Lyme disease, a debilitating
disease caused by a tick bite.
Over the next 12 weeks,
I became systematically
disabled. Besides the facial
palsy came excruciating joint
pain, causing me to wake
screaming three to four times

14 SMART PEOPLE

every night. I could no longer

dress myself; just lifting my
arms caused wrenching pain.
My memory began to
slip; I began carrying Post-It
notes around the house to
remember why I had entered
a certain room. Being with my
one and one-half and three
and one-half year old sons
became unbearable, since I
couldnt filter out noise or be
touched without pain.
My whole world felt
upside down. I had always
prided myself on my ability
to think. More than that, my
brain was a solid chunk of my
identity, and my livelihood.
Before the incident I was
as a senior executive at
Amazon.com contributing
to the companys early
growth from $16 million
to $3.2 billion in sales and
from 90,000 to 35 million
customers. I had doubled
up on time at Harvard
(college and business school).
Thinking was important to
me. Would I ever be able to
work again?

My whole world
felt upside down. I had
always prided myself
on my ability to think.
The physical pain and
emotional toll were bad
enough. The confusion
around my conflicting
diagnoses made it worse.
The doctors couldnt figure
out what was wrong with
me. One well-regarded

doctor urged that I undergo a

craniotomy (drilling a hole in
my skull), insisting I had 48
hours to decide. Thankfully,
I decided not to. Still, I was
confused and exhausted.
Ten doctors, 12 weeks.
Still, no diagnosis.

Phone call from a friend

with Lyme Disease:
Dont make the
mistake I made. Get
checked for Lyme.
Thats when a friend
called. Her message said, I
heard about your symptoms.
I think you have Lyme
disease. I moved to Seattle
from Connecticut with Lyme,
though I didnt know it. Dont
make the mistake I made. Get
checked for Lyme. So I did.
That phone call saved my
life.
It took six weeks of heavy
intravenous antibiotics,
injected by my wife twice
daily, until I had beaten the
bugs. The pain had subsided.
Finally, I could begin the long
healing process. Today, I am
100 percent well if you dont
count a slight sag on the left
side of my face.
The power of been there
With the mental fog and
pain under control, a light
began to dawn. It occurred
to me that if I had been in a
northern New Jersey diner
when the disease presented
itself, I could have gone to the
cook, the server, or someone

LIVING
eating dinner near me and
said, I have the flu and a
weird rash . . . what is going
on? Nine out of 10 could have
told me to get checked for
Lyme.
The friend who had been
through Lyme disease and
called did what 10 doctors
and 12 weeks could not
figure out what was wrong.
Her experience had given
her unique expertise. It had
power the power to change
my outcome and my life.
The power of been there. And
that power was completely
untapped.
How sharing inspired a
company: Trusera
I like to dream, and
I understand the power
of technology. So I began
thinking: How could
the power of technology
unleash the power of shared
experience? How could it
do so in a relevant, credible,
purposeful way?
My answer? Trusera.
Two years ago, I launched a
company Trusera to tap
into the power of shared
experience. Its an online
health network where people
can find and share real world
experience from others who
have been there.
After my illness, I had
begun searching for meaning.
I took stock of all the things
that had happened to me and
realized that though I couldnt
control what I was given, I
could control what I did with
it.
It felt like connecting
all the dots to what became
Trusera. The personal and
professional paths Id followed
had converged working

on great consumer ideas

in technology at Amazon,
McCaw and AT&T Wireless
combined with my personal
experience and commitment
to wellness. I realized that
technology could unlock
wisdom.
After I learned I had Lyme
disease, I had tried to find
information online. What
I discovered fell into two
extremes: the same boilerplate
medical description of Lyme
disease on multiple sites,
and a bunch of noise on
message boards and groups,
information that was hard to
read, hard to find, and did not
apply to me.
I had simply wanted to
find half a dozen people in the
greater Northwest who had
been through this: credible
people who had had a similar
experience and had shared
useful insights. But I couldnt,
so I started a site that enables
others to do so.

Personal experience
has value. Sharing that
experience has power. The
power to change outcomes
and to change lives. Trusera
has helped me find meaning.
But more importantly, it has
unlocked wisdom and insight
that all can share.

Whats gratifying about

Trusera is that it
gives people a voice
and a platform where
they can be heard.
Whats gratifying about
Trusera is that it gives people
a voice and a platform where
they can be heard, and in
doing so, it allows them to be
advocates for their health or
the health of a loved one.
Trusera has enabled
people to take control of their
health and to begin their
journey on the shoulders of
others, building off of others
practical and emotional
experience and insights.

For the full story of Keiths battle

with Lyme and the inspiration
for Trusera, hear his video story
< http://www.trusera.com/
health/stories/storyguy/lymedisease-a-phone-call-saved-mylife-and-inspired-trusera> or
reach his entries < http://www.
trusera.com/health/users/
storyguy>. To learn more about
Trusera visit http://www.trusera.
com/health
SMART PEOPLE

15

CHOOSING

CHOOSING

16 SMART PEOPLE

You want my Blackberry?

Obama answers in the words of Charlton Heston

By Neil Olonoff
Federal KM Working Group
A few weeks ago, Washington
was all atwitter with the
news that President Obama
had approximately the
same relationship with his
Blackberry that Charlton
Heston had with the rifle he
hoisted at an National Rifle
Association convention: You
wont take this away from me
unless it is from my cold dead
hands!
The corporate road
warriors watching CNN
from Aero Saarinen-designed
seats in airline clubrooms
immediately got it; hey, hes
one of us. Meaning digital
native, mobile professional,
wired into the Internet, savvy
grokker of Web 2.0, etc.
All right. But every time
President Obamas Blackberry
buzzes, it is signaling a
presidential mindset that
goes well beyond a simple
desire to stay in touch with
his friends in Chicago. The
message buzzing on that smart
phone might as well be a paid
political message, not from the
political left or right, but from
our technological future. In
fact, we had better be prepared
for a White House with an
entirely new way of working,
and one that is diametrically
opposed to the Bush style.
Where Bush was closed,
Obama promises to be open.
Where Bushs science policies
were frequently tinged with
faith and politics, Obama has
pledged to be, um, science

based. And where Bushs

management style was a
rather traditionalist B-school
management by objectives
approach, the Obama
administration seems to be
headed for a much more
expansive, collaborative style.
Or at least that is what we
read in the few tea leaves
strewn by the memos issued
in the first weeks.
Under President Bush,
we spent eight years with
the drapes pulled closed on

Guantnamo Bay detention

center, the memo on
Open Government and
Transparency contains an
even more abrupt about
face from the Bush style.
That memo uses the words
collaboration and government
in the same sentence in a
Presidential communication
for the first time in a great
while perhaps ever.
From a knowledge and
information sharing point
of view, this is a major

We had better be prepared for a White House

with an entirely new way of working
the windows of government.
When AG Alberto Gonzales
was vetted by Congress he
was asked if he would review
the then-infamous Ashcroft
Freedom of Information Act
(FOIA) Memo of October
2001. That memo referred
to Weapons of Mass
Destruction and Terrorists,
and erred on the side of
caution and secrecy in letting
out information.
Little did we know then
that Gonzales would prove to
be even more of an avoider of
sunlight than was Ashcroft.
Obama wasted little time in
pulling back the drapes and
letting in the sun. Obamas
version urges agencies to
err on the side of disclosure
rather than secrecy when
they respond to Freedom
of Information Act (FOIA)
requests.
Maybe even more
dramatic than closing the

milestone. And it comes none

too soon. With an influx
of 100,000 to 250,000 new
workers needed to meet the
demands of administering
the stimulus bill, agencies
are going to need all the
collaborative smarts they can
muster.
Right now, groups such
as the Federal Knowledge
Management Working Group
are trying to identify how
agencies can work smarter
and faster to meet the goals
that may come in a message
sent directly from President
Obamas Blackberry.
Neil Olonoff is Leader, Federal
Knowledge Management Initiative,
Federal KM Working Group [http://
KM.gov]. Personal profile [http://
www.linkedin.com/in/olonoff].
Blogging [http://FedKM.org]. Email
[olonoff@gmail.com].

CHOOSING

Politics 2.0

Effect of Americas first digital president

By Matthew Fraser
and Soumitra Dutta
Thought leaders at INSEAD
Barack Obamas electoral triumph
was the first American presidential
election won on the Web.
If Franklin Delano Roosevelt
was Americas first radio president
and John F. Kennedy was the
countrys first television president,
Barack Obama is its first Internet
president.
This watershed was largely
overlooked during the presidential
campaign. While most pundits were
focused on the question of race,
speculating whether Americans
would elect a black man to the
White House, Obama was busy
defeating his rival thanks to his
powerful techno-demographic
appeal. His popularity with young
voters was especially high.

Obama enjoyed a
groundswell of support
among the Facebook
generation.
Obama captures
70 percent of young
On Election Day, he captured
nearly 70 percent of the vote among
Americans under 25. In a word,
Obama enjoyed a groundswell
of support among the Facebook
generation. The vote has even been
dubbed the Facebook election.
Obama, who was constantly
thumbing his BlackBerry during
the campaign, had a shrewd
understanding of the electoral
power of direct Web-based political
mobilization. His campaign
leveraged not only Facebook and

YouTube, but also MySpace, Twitter,

Flickr, Digg, BlackPlanet, LinkedIn,
and other Web 2.0 platforms.
At 47, Obama was older
than the average Facebook
member, but he proved to
be a natural Web politician.
On his personal Facebook
profile, he named his
favorite musicians as Miles
Davis, Stevie Wonder and
Bob Dylan, and listed his
pastimes as basketball,
writing and loafing
w/kids (note the hip
shorthand).
The 72-year-old
John McCain, by
contrast, never
managed to connect
with voters online.
McCain:
Missing in
action on the
Internet
McCains
campaign
struggled
to give its
candidate
a Web presence, but
compared to Obamas online
blitzkrieg, the former war hero was
missing in action on the Internet.
The cold numbers tell the story.
Obama counted some three million
friends on Facebook and two
million more on 15 other social
networking sites. He also boasted
13 million names on an email list
and three million receiving SMS
messages coming directly from
Obamas famous Blackberry.
The MyBarackObama.com Web
site was clocking more than eight
million monthly visits, including

35,000 volunteer groups that raised

$30 million on the site. On YouTube,
the Obama channel attracted more
than 97 million video views by
some 18 million channel
visits.

Compare
that to McCains
to
YouTube presence: only 330 videos
were uploaded to the JohnMcCain.
com channel, which attracted just
over 28,000 subscribers.
The McCain channel attracted
barely more than million visits
and some 25 million video views.
Obama beat McCain four to one on
YouTube. Obama attracted double
the Web site traffic and had five
times more Facebook friends. On
NEXT PAGE
SMART PEOPLE

17

CHOOSING
CONTINUED

the microblogging platform Twitter,

Obama could count on more than
112,000 supporters tweeting to
get him elected. McCain, for his
part, had only 4,600 followers on
Twitter. In the world of politics
where victories and defeats can
be measured with great precision,
these stats graphically illustrate
how Obama crushed McCain on
the Web.
The YouTube coup de grace
was the blockbuster Yes We Can
videoclip. The viral circulation of
that video, watched by millions of
Americans only days after it was
first posted, gave Obama solid
electoral credibility in Middle
America. Suddenly he was like
a pop star on MTV. The video
wasnt even made by the Obama
campaign team: it was produced
spontaneously by the hip hop star
Will.i.am, from the group Black
Eyed Peas.
That video offered a classic
example of bottom-up civic
engagement and its viral network
effects. Obamas masterful
leveraging of Web 2.0 platforms
marked a major e-ruption in
electoral politics in America and
elsewhere. Political campaigning is
now shifting from old-style political
machines, which are vertical topdown organizations, toward the
horizontal dynamics of online
social networks.
Web 2.0 platforms like Facebook
and Twitter, by their basic social
architecture, are a perfect medium
for grassroots political movements.
There are no barriers to entry on
sites like Facebook and YouTube.
Everybody can participate, building
social capital online.
Resurgence of social capital
For those who a decade ago
were lamenting the decline of
social capital in America, Web

18 SMART PEOPLE

2.0 platforms have emerged as

powerful tools of social interaction,
civic engagement, and political
mobilization. Unlike traditional
means of civic action dependant on
complex organizations like political
parties, there are no barriers
to entry in the Web 2.0 sphere,
which as the Obama campaign
demonstrated is low cost and high
impact.
Web 2.0 networks like Facebook
not only allow citizens to organize
themselves by bypassing traditional
organizational structures, they
also allow political and business
leaders to engage and communicate
directly with their constituencies
without going through traditional
intermediaries like the media.

Reactionary hostility in
authoritarian regimes
One measure of the Webs role in
providing a political voice to citizens
is, paradoxically, the reactionary
hostility it provokes in authoritarian
regimes that oppose democracy. No
wonder dictatorships resent, and
frequently suppress, free expression
on Web 2.0 networks like MySpace,
Facebook and YouTube. Syrias
autocratic state has jailed bloggers
and blocks Web sites deemed as a
security threat. On Syrias black list
are both Facebook and YouTube.
Even in Egypt, an Arab country that
enjoys open diplomatic relations with
the West, the government takes a
hard line towards online criticism of
the state.

Obamas masterful leveraging of Web 2.0 platforms

marked a major e-ruption in electoral politics
in America and elsewhere.
President Obama, for example,
used his Change.gov site to speak
directly to Americans and today a
White House blog serves the same
purpose.
He is also the first president
who, during a White House press
conference, has called regarding
a question from a Web-only
journalist. These are signs of
powerful changes. Web 2.0 social
networks diffuse power away from
institutions and toward people,
providing effective platforms for a
genuine expression of bottom-up
expression of citizen sovereignty.
Web-based citizen
empowerment can potentially
strengthen liberal democracies and,
more importantly, bring democracy
to countries currently living under
tyranny and despotism in its many
forms.
Call it Politics 2.0.

The Chinese regime has also

imprisoned cyber-dissidents
and, in March 2008, shut down
25 Web sites including YouTube.
Indonesia meanwhile has banned
both YouTube and MySpace. Other
states that have banned Web sites or
imprisoned cyber-dissidents include
Iran, Saudi Arabia, Libya, Belarus,
Burma, North Korea, Tunisia,
Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and
Vietnam.
An OpenNet Initiative survey
published in 2007 reported that
25 of 41 countries surveyed were
engaging in some form of Internet
censorship. Clearly, there is
something about free and open
sites like MySpace, Facebook and
YouTube that non-democratic
regimes find threatening.
Insurgence of anti-democracy
Some contend that Web 2.0
platforms are anti-democratic. They
warn that, even in Western countries

CHOOSING
including the United States, there
is an ever-present danger that
states will succumb to Big Brother
temptations and pry into social
networking sites to spy on their
citizens.
There are even conspiracy
theories that claim Facebook was
started by the CIA through alleged
links between the sites original
venture capital backers and the
American spy agency. While
the CIA admits openly it uses
Facebook for recruitment purposes,
there doesnt appear to be any
operational linkage between the
two organizations.
The CIAs seemingly innocuous
use of Facebook nonetheless
has raised concerns among civil
libertarians. Facebooks privacy
policy, for example, states it does
not share personal information
with third-party companies but
adds that, in order to comply
with the law, it may give personal
information to government
agencies.
If Web 2.0 platforms promote
social capital and civic engagement,
the same self-organizational
opportunities are available to
criminals and terrorists. The
findings of a Dark Web research
project at the University of Arizona,
tracked Jihadist extremist groups
using Web 2.0 media, provide a
particularly disturbing example of
how Web 2.0 platforms can become
vehicles for terrorism. The study,
published in 2008, came across
an alarming number of Jihadist
blogs, including one that post news
updates about so-called occupied
Islamic countries.
Jihadist bloggers were also
active on YouTube, uploading
videos featuring explosives, attacks,
bombings and hostage-taking. On
Second Life, meanwhile, a Terrorist
of SL attracted 228 members and
another group called Liberation
Front counted 65 followers. Some

claim that terrorists are using Web

platforms like Google Earth to
locate potential targets, especially
in countries like Israel. This may
explain why Google has, in fact,
pixilated sensitive zones in Israel and
elsewhere in the world that could
come under a terrorist attack.
NATO prepared for cyber warfare
While the Kremlin denied any
involvement in the cyberattacks
after they first occurred in 2007,
the incident prompted the NATO
military alliance to step up its
readiness for cyber warfare. In early
2009, a pro-Kremlin youth group
admitted it was responsible for
cyberattacks against Estonia.
President Obama, a leader who
understands the power of Web 2.0
platforms, is taking these threats
seriously. During the presidential
election campaign, he promised to
elevate cybersecurity as a national
priority and appoint a cyber-czar
reporting directly to him in the
White House as part of an ambitious,
$30 billion Comprehensive National
Cyber Initiative.
After taking office, President
Obama earmarked $335 million

for securing U.S. Internet

infrastructure. He also gave broad
powers over cybersecurity to the
National Security Agency (NSA)
one of 16 U.S. intelligence agencies
under the direction of General
Keith Alexander.
While the NSAs work is
top secret, its believed that its
cybersecurity efforts include
blocking thousands of foreign
electronic attacks on U.S. systems
that occur every day. Russia and
China, in particular, are believed
to have developed advanced
cyberwarfare capacity.
Barack Obama won the U.S.
presidency thanks to Politics 2.0,
and it now appears like his
American foreign policy will be
driven by Geopolitics 2.0.
Matthew Fraser is Senior Research
Fellow and Soumitra Dutta is Roland
Berger Chaired Professor of Business
and Technology at INSEAD. Their book,
Throwing Sheep in the Boardroom:
How Online Social Networking Will
Change Your Life, Work and World, is
published by Wiley. The books Web site
can be found at www.throwingsheep.com

SMART PEOPLE

19

CHOOSING

Death of a salesman

Or: The shift of knowledge power to the smart customer

Heres an intercepted message from
Sean McPheat known as the UKs #1
authority on modern day selling to the
typical sales professional beleaguered
by demands of todays informed buyer.
McPheat tells entrepreneurs and their
people how they can start to redress
the balance of power in the customer
relationship! Clear evidence that
the knowledge factor has changed
everything.

our prospects have made us work

harder and harder for our sales
(thanks!).
Theres a new kid in town
too. Or should I say, theres a new
objection doing the rounds . . . .

Due to the present economic

climate
I bet youre sick of hearing that
one!
You see, cold calling is getting to
By Sean McPheat
the point where a lot of companies
MTD Sales Training
are asking themselves whether its
really worth the hassle; the buyer of
More objections, more price bashing, today wants more and more and, at
the economy excuse, stalling tactics, the same time, wants to pay less and
gatekeepers from hell and elusive
less!
decision makers! Just what is
Does this sound familiar? Have
happening in the world of selling?
you also found that your prospects
The world of selling is changing seem to be more aware of whats
rapidly and is a very different
going on too?
animal to years gone by.
I mean they seem to have a
The economy is in the worst state lot more knowledge about your
it has been since the eighties and
products and services than they
during
used to. They also seem to know
the past
a lot about your industry too and
couple of
they also know a lot about your
years weve competitors products and services.
all found
And have you noticed what
has happened
to sales cycles
lately?
Buyers
either know
what they
want almost
immediately
and purchase
from you or not
or they seem
to play you
off against the
competition,
playing silly
buggers with
the pricing
or just simply

20 SMART PEOPLE

refuse to return your emails and

calls.
Yes, somethings definitely
going on!
Even gatekeepers are tougher
to get through its as though some
of them have been through combat
training to fend off your calls.

Its not that the current

techniques no longer work,
its just that the audience
they were designed for no
longer exists!
And if thats not enough, after
the incredible time and effort
invested into obtaining the sale or
the account, keeping the customer
and maintaining the relationship
while once a reliable and even
assumed prize has now become
a roll of the dice. Customers are
ready to run to the competition
at the drop of a hat, leaving you
wondering if customer loyalty
means anything any more.
You see, youve read the
books that tell you Thirty-four
ways to close the deal; youve
read the articles that tell you the
exact words and phrases to use to
overcome those objections; and
youve even listened to your sales
managers pass-me-down tips of
the trade, yet still you find it hard
to make your quota!
So why is this?
Well, the approach youre
currently using to try to fix the
problem is similar to that of
looking for a band aid to cure
cancer.
Youve most likely been looking
for an exact sentence or two to
respond to the economy excuse;

CHOOSING
Youve probably been trying
different rapport building
techniques;
Youve probably been tinkering
with your sales presentations too,
havent you?
Your job has been getting
a littler harder every year and
the typical response from your
manager has been to concentrate on
three issues:
Work harder;
Develop more effective tactics,
tricks and closing techniques;
Lower prices to be more
competitive.
However, you may have also
noticed improvement in these areas
has still not solved the problem. You
have probably found that by putting
in more hours, making more calls
and studying more books for that
latest trick or objection-handling
response still has not improved
your sales to the desired level.
So what is the problem?
Actually, it is quite simple: All
of the problems you are currently
facing are actually symptoms of
a bigger problem you are trying
to communicate with a prospect/
buyer who no longer exists!
Theyve read the same books as
you;
Theyve been on the same
courses as you;
They can log on to the Internet
and compare prices with your
competitors products within
minutes;
They can ask for
recommendations using all types
of social media like Facebook
and LinkedIn.
Yes, today, your prospects and
clients are more knowledgable and
sales savvy than ever before so the
question you need to ask yourself
is this: Are you and your staff
properly trained to meet with the
demands of the modern day buyer?

The sales profession

is missing the boat
We work tirelessly to upgrade
our techniques and the tools of
our trade; however, most fail to
understand the patient has changed!
The modern buyer is an entirely
different animal from those in the
past.
Therefore, the overwhelming
majority of sales techniques and
strategies and all of the old-tried
and true gems and rock solid closes
are simply no longer valid.
Its not that they do not work;
its just that the audience they were
designed for no longer exists. Much
of the knowledge and experience
of the old sales pros has become
irrelevant.
Im not being disrespectful of
those long-time professionals who
have been in the business for years
and are still seeing great success.
The point is that much of what
we learned in the past simply has
no relevance when dealing with
the educated, modern consumer of
today.
With the explosion and
availability of information due to
the Internet, modern day buyers
can lay their hands on nearly every
piece of information, education and
opinion online about your products
and services.
Psst . . . they can then do exactly
the same with your competitors
products and services too!
In short, whether we like it or
not, its a buyers market.
Truth is this isnt an intercepted
message. Sean McPheat actually wrote
this article specifically for Smart
People magazine. He is the founder
and managing director of MTD Sales
Training which has served over 700
companies and in excess of 10,000 sales
professionals. Sean is a thought leader
within the sales industry and is a much
sought after conference and motivational
speaker. www.mtdsalestraining.com

Seven tips to redress

the balance of power

Here are some top tips to start

tipping the scales in your favor:
1. Its more effective to be different
than to be better most
businesses have the
same USPs (Unique
Selling Point) and
benefits, so what
makes you
different?
2. Know your
competitor
products/
services inside out
your prospects will
and they will use this
against you.
3. Open your cold
calls in a
different way
to the norm
everyone
sounds the
same.
4. Have different
sales processes for
different buyers if someone
already knows what he wants
as opposed to someone who
does not know, you should have
a different approach for each.
5. Become a trusted advisor get
away from being viewed as a
salesman and come across as a
trusted and respected advisor.
6. Raise your standards you need
to raise your game so you know
everything there is to know about
your products and services and
your industry as a whole.
7. Become a statistics junkie you
really need to understand your
numbers and performance at
every stage of the sales cycle.
You need to become engrossed
in understanding the science
of your selling and use this to
continually improve.
SMART PEOPLE

21

LEARNING

LEARNING

Grown up digital
Into collaboration,
innovation, fun

By Don Tapscott
Author, Grown Up Digital
The world of work, and its traditional
resistance to sharing knowledge, is about
to be challenged by a new generation of
employees young people who have grown
up digital.
As the first generation in history to be
immersed in digital technology, they have
a natural feel for digital tools that keep
them connected with friends, sometimes
hundreds of them, all day long. For the
Net Generation, as I call them, sharing
knowledge and collaborating with each
other is as natural as breathing. Their way of
sharing, so powerfully demonstrated in the
way they propelled President Barack Obama
to the White House, is now about to enter the
workplace.
Work and how we work together
may never be the same. Organizations
should take a long look at how these Net
Geners operate. Their new modus
operandi could offer companies a huge
competitive advantage in this digital age.
Right now, the nature of work is changing.
Work has become more cognitively complex,
more team-based and collaborative, more
dependent on social skills, more timepressured, more reliant on technological

Don Tapscott is the worlds single

most knowledgeable source on the
impact of the digital revolution on
the Net Generation and, in turn, on
the changes it will bring to the way
we work. The future is for smart
people who have learned the power
of sharing and collaborating online
and in life.

22 SMART PEOPLE

competence, more mobile and less

dependent on geography. This means
knowledge must be shared effectively
so that teams around the world can
collaborate on tricky problems.
Yet for many organizations, sharing
knowledge has been a challenge.

Now executives rate

knowledge management as one
of the worst management tools
in business.
Corporate knowledge sharing
an expensive failure
Companies in North America have
spent billions of dollars on knowledge
management systems designed to
capture and share knowledge embedded
inside organizations with a view to
making them more productive and
profitable.
Knowledge management, according
to a survey by Bain & Company, the
Boston-based management consultancy,
has been one of the top 10 management
tools used by executives worldwide.
Yet most of the time, its been an
expensive failure. Although knowledge

LEARNING
management has been a
popular tool, executives have
usually been disappointed
with the results. In fact, in
Bains most recent survey,
worldwide executives rated
knowledge management as
one of the worst management
tools in business.
Knowledge management
was bound to fail because
its based on a faulty
understanding of how
knowledge should be handled.
The traditional way is to
contain knowledge, as if it
were a finite resource captured
in containers and then made
available through depositories.
This mental model drove
many knowledge management
efforts such as directories,
elaborate company intranets/
portals, and reward systems
for information.
Right away it was plagued
by problems. As it turned out,
lots of people didnt feel like
sharing the knowledge they
knew, and the information that
was gathered was fragmentary
and dated.
The fundamental problem,
though, was this: Treating
knowledge like a rare bottle of
wine, as a precious and finite
resource, makes no sense in
the 21st century digital world.
These days information is not
limited; its infinite and its
amazingly quick to spread on
the Internet.

mean containing or restricting

it, or handing it down, from
top to bottom. Instead,
organizations should think
about sharing knowledge as
the new mental infrastructure
for the 21st century way to
work. If knowledge is power,
as Francis Bacon and so many
others have said, this may well
mean new knowledge systems
will change organizations and
the way we work. Hierarchies
that are propped up by access
to insider knowledge will be
eroded. Sharing knowledge
will encourage a new form of
collaboration.

The Net Generation

has been profoundly
influenced by their
immersion in digital
technology.

The people primed to share

knowledge in this new way are
the youngest employees, the
Net Generation that has grown
up digital. This generation,
children of the Baby Boomers,
are turning 12 to 32 this
year. I call them the Net
Generation because theyve
been profoundly influenced
by their immersion in digital
technology.
Take a look at a teenager
on any weeknight. While hes
doing his homework, he may
be listening to music, taking
calls on his mobile phone,
checking in with friends on
Net Gen prefers sharing
Facebook, writing blogs or
knowledge outside the
Twitters and perhaps playing
control of hierarchies
his favorite computer game.
New knowledge
If the TVs on, its
management has to operate
background noise, like Muzak.
under a new premise, that
He doesnt just watch, as
knowledge is endless and
his parents did. The media
largely outside of the control
he consumes is, at its core,
of the authorities in business.
Managing knowledge does not interactive. Hes a player,

a writer, a talker, an active

participant not just a mute
member of the audience.
Hes rarely alone. Even the
computer games he plays are
collaborative affairs. You win,
or lose, together.
This immersion in
interactive technology has
had a profound effect on
everything the Net Generation
does. When they do homework,
they consult each other. When
they think of buying a new
music player, they check with
friends about the brand and the
price before going to the store,
or ordering it online.
Theyre accustomed to
having hundreds of friends on
Facebook friends they keep
up with
on a
regular
basis.
Boomers

like me are astonished at the

way Net Geners share private
pictures and stories with
hundreds of friends, but to the
Net Generation, this kind of
sharing is the new normal.
They share; they
collaborate. This affects the
way they like to work. Boomers
grew up with hierarchies at
home, at school, at work. The
goal in a hierarchy is to move
up and have more people
reporting to you. But as Tamara
Erickson, a widely respected
NEXT PAGE
SMART PEOPLE

23

LEARNING
CONTINUED

expert on organizations and

the changing workforce, has
observed, this generation
is not turned on by status

or hierarchy. They want to

do challenging work, but
they dont necessarily want
organizational responsibility.
Their dream job, she
says, is something like this:
A job with a goal no one
knows how to solve and lots
of great people to work with.
How different that is from
the workplace I entered after
college, where the goal was to
have a corner office (which I
occupied at one point, which, I
have to admit, felt good.)
That was power over the
people. But collaboration,
as Net Geners know it, is
achieving something with
other people, seeking power
through other people, not
by ordering a gaggle of
followers to do your bidding.
Collaboration is how Net
Geners get things done. Its in
their gene pool.

24 SMART PEOPLE

The power of collaboration

is easy to underestimate
Look at how the Net
Geners helped President
Obama win his epic
presidential race last year. At
the outset, Sen. Hillary Clinton
was the powerhouse. She
had the money, the powerful
backers, the numbers.
But even Clinton, a
seasoned political professional,
did not grasp the full power
of Net Generation style
collaboration. Obama did and
recruited the co-founder of
Facebook, 23-year-old Chris
Hughes, to run his online
campaign.
The Obama campaign
gave the power to its people
to supporters to organize
events, raise money and tell
their friends. This was a major
change from the traditional
political campaign that was
directed from the top, and
it worked. This remarkable
grassroots campaign changed
the game of politics and made
history.

Knowledge
collaboration will
accelerate the creation
of new ideas and
increase competitive
advantage.
Now, as the first wave
of Net Geners enter the
world of business, they bring
with them a new approach
to sharing knowledge and
collaborating.Powerful new
collaboration tools such as
wikis, blogs, social networks,
search, tags, RSS feeds, jams,
telepresence and content
management enable a new
form of real-time knowledge

sharing, or what we call

knowledge collaboration.
This approach is a key to
unleashing and harnessing
the knowledge contained not
only within an enterprise, but
outside its boundaries. This
will accelerate the creation
of new ideas and increase
competitive advantage.
Look at CoreMedia, a
150-person German contentmanagement software firm.
It has not only embraced
the latest digital tools for
collaboration, but it has
changed the way it works
to be truly collaborative
so much so that CEO Sren
Stamer thinks his company
operates like a giant brain.
CoreMedia employees are
remarkably networked when it
comes to sharing information,
using tools from wikis to
Twitter-style microblogging
as part of their daily work.
These tools, together with a
unique organizational culture,
have helped CoreMedia
dispense with the traditional
organizational hierarchy, my
colleague Alan Majer reported
in a paper for nGenera, the
think tank I founded.
In its place is a much
more open and bottomup set of operations and
processes, Majer reported.
CoreMedia has attempted
a bold experiment: instead
of fitting a collection of selfinterested individuals into a
rigid corporate structure, the
company fosters a flexible
and highly networked
structure where individuals
collectively steer the firm. Its
a transformational approach
that promises to improve
everything from the pace of
innovation to the quality of
decisions.

LEARNING
The company uses a
variety of collaborative tools.
Every quarter the company
holds workshops in which
participants can choose a topic.
Then theres microblogging
tool called Trillr which takes
the emotional pulse of the
enterprise.
CoreMedia has also
created its own blogging
platform called CoCo which
includes the ability to evaluate
postings with thumbs up or
thumbs down, or to share
related topics that have
received similar votes. It helps
CoreMedias teams stay in
sync. Naturally, the company
has a wiki a good vehicle
for employees to turn an
idea theyve discussed into a
product.
This has produced
positive results, according to
Majer: Today, the company
is more agile, the dialogue
is richer, and decisions are
more effective. Whats more,
individual employees feel
that they can fix a problem or
propose a solution without
waiting for instructions from
a supervisor. You just have to
open your eyes and see whats
on the blog and the Trillr, said
Stamer, the CEO.

by experts in the Harvard

Business Review as backwards
and counterproductive. But it
makes even less sense to the
Net Gener.
Its a one-way
communication boss to
employee that usually
ignores the employees
wishes and desires. It
happens once a year long
after the performance took
place. It rewards or punishes
individual performance not
the collaboration that Net
Geners treasure. Its more about
compensation and promotions
than improving performance.

Annual performance
review too little, too late.
New approach springs
directly from the Net
Generations need for
more timely feedback.

waiting for the HR department

to issue an invite to an offcampus weekend session, they
gather together online to set up
camps to address an important
professional issue.
Then they bill themselves
as Case Camps a free
communications and social
media unconference, that has
the extra benefit of fantastic
networking and interactive
art in the bar. They set a date,
choose a topic and pick a reallife location. Anyone can give
a 15-minute talk at the camp
and several heavy hitters have
volunteered. Camp takes place,
sponsors pay for the costs, but
participants go for free.
These are the early
signs of a new way to work
for a generation that finds
knowledge sharing
and collaboration to be
NEXT PAGE

Now a new Toronto-based

company calledRypple has
proposed a new form of
feedback. Its a Webbased service that springs
directly from the Net
Generation need
for continuous feedback.
Instead of waiting an
entire year to
find out what
Net Gen wants continuous
feedback, not the traditional managers
think of them,
annual review
employees can send out a
CoreMedia is clearly on
quick (50 words or less)
the cutting edge, but young
question to people
people are introducing
theytrust a manager,
tools that could affect the
way knowledge is spread
a co-worker sitting in
in traditional businesses.
the meeting, even a
Take the standard annual
client or a supplier.
performance review, in which They can chart their
the boss is supposed to tell the progress on issues
underling how he or she rates and improve. Or look
against corporate objectives.
at the way Net Geners
Its been criticized for years
handle job training. Instead of
SMART PEOPLE

25

LEARNING
To be sure, some
information
must be kept
perfectly natural. Yet older
within
company
boundaries.
employees dont get it.
Many still criticize the Net But that shouldnt give
companies a reason to ban
Generation as entitled, lazy,
blogging.
coddled by the parents, and
Instead, employers
woefully ill prepared, as a
should explain the rules to
Don Tapscott
U.S. employers group put it.
is chairman
They suspect that these social new Net Gen employees,
says Danah Boyd, a fellow at
of nGenera
networking tools are a big
The Annenberg Center for
waste of time.
[http://www.
Communications, University
ngenera.com/]
of Southern California: You
and the author How to mitigate clashes
have a guideline on it. You
between young and old
of 13 books
have to make it very, very clear
It is perhaps inevitable,
on the impact
that there is zero tolerance for
then, that the new generation
of the Internet
[sharing company information]
and the old should clash over
on society.
with the penalty of being fired
how work works.
His latest
for cause.
The Net Gener arrives at
Theres no question that
book, Grown
work, eager to use his social
sharing
knowledge and
Up Digital, is
networking tools to collaborate
learning
to collaborate is a
now available
and create and contribute to
challenge,
but it only begins
through
the company.
with the adept use of tools like
your favorite
For starters, hes shocked
social networking. Companies
to find the companys
bookseller.
have to change in a far deeper
technological tools are more
way to adapt to the Net
primitive than the ones he
Gens way of working in a
used in high school. The
collaborative way.
company he works for still
Companies will have
thinks the Net is about Web
to
completely
rethink the
sites, presenting information,
way they handle them, from
Sure, some info must be kept within the first contact until after
they leave the company.
company boundaries. But that
Companies need to discard
doesnt justify a ban on blogging. the old model of top-down
employee development,
rather than a Web 2.0
which calls on managers to
collaboration platform.
recruit, train and supervise
The Net Gener is surprised, employees, and replace it with
perhaps naively, to learn that
a more appropriate employercorporations have antiquated
employee relationship for this
ways of working. Then the
generation.
company bans Facebook at
the office because it suspects
New model is about
Net Geners are wasting time
collaboration, not
chatting with friends and
old-fashioned supervision
throwing digital snowballs
The new model is about
when they should be working collaboration, not old thus depriving Net Geners
fashioned supervision from
of their link to friends, to fun,
the moment an employee is
to co-workers. Pretty soon, the hired until long after he or she
talent heads for the exit.
leaves.
CONTINUED

26 SMART PEOPLE

I believe that companies

that work in the Net Gen
way will be the winners of
the future. The new Web
which allows you to not
only hunt for information,
but contribute offers the
technology to help us harness
human skill, ingenuity and
intelligence more efficiently
and effectively than anything
we have witnessed previously.
By mobilizing the
collective knowledge,
capability, and resources
embodied within broad
networks of participants,

Future winners will

unlock structures,
reach outside
boundaries and tap
into vast pools of
intellectual capital.
smart firms can accomplish
great things.
People throughout a
firm, locked into traditional
organizational structures, can
be freed to share knowledge
and ingenuity.
Further, companies can
reach outside their boundaries
to tap into vast pools of
labor available in the global
economy.
Whether designing
an airplane, assembling a
motorcycle, or analyzing the
human genome, the ability
to integrate the talents of
dispersed individuals and
organizations is becoming
the defining competency for
managers and firms.
This is a tremendously
powerful way to do business,
says Best Buy CEO Brad
Anderson. Its unleashing the
power of human capital.

LEARNING

Great American Think-Off

Is it ever wrong to do the right thing?

On June 13 before a live audience New York Mills, Minnesota, US, population 1,219, will celebrate
its 17th year hosting a debate which is the culmination of Americas premier amateur philosophy
contest, the Great American Think-Off. The topic this year: Is it ever wrong to do the right thing?
Selected by a panel of judges, four finalists will be announced May 1 based on 750-word essays.
They will receive $500 plus travel, food and lodging expenses. The winner will be decided by the
audience attending the debate and he or she will be named Americas Greatest Thinker for 2009.
Its all happening in a tiny little town in the American Midwest, located on a railroad track,
bypassed by Interstate 10. Why not?
Cultural, creative opportunities for rural Americans
The Think-Off is the brainchild of the New York Mills Arts Retreat & Regional Cultural
Center, located in a former storefront on Main Street and dedicated to expanding the cultural and
creative opportunities of rural Americans by offering innovative, quality arts programming and
demonstrating how the arts can be used as an economic development tool in rural communities
across the nation.
New York Mills is a small town that thinks big.
The 2008 debate was held on Saturday, June 14 and Americas Greatest Thinker for 2008 was
Craig Allen of West Linn, Oregon. The topic: Does immigration strengthen or threaten the United
States?
Immigration? Champ says system the real threat
The thinking champ argued that even though he did not oppose immigration, the system
of immigration and immigration policy in the United States is broken, encouraging an influx of
illegal immigrants. The broken system, he argued, poses a threat to the United States.
One of Allens arguments was that many Americans remain fearful of immigration hence
the efforts to build a fence along the southern border with Mexico. Mr. Allen made an effective
argument that we have reached the point in America where those who disagree about
immigration can no longer engage in civil conversation to find a means of fixing the system.
In the debates best moments the four Think-Off finalists touched on what it means to be
an American, and the conversation confirmed that American identity is both complex and
evolving.
The silver medal winner, Deana Cavaliere from Richfield, Minnesota, proposed that the
flow of immigrants representing diverse cultures has resulted in an unpredictable mix of
ideas that makes America the most innovative and wealthy country in the world. Cavaliere
suggested that this status has been placed in jeopardy today as Americans become more
fearful about the economic and cultural effects of many new arrivals to our shores.
The two bronze finishers were Tom Bailey of Nashville, Tennessee, for strengthens, and
Nick Thayer of St. Cloud, Minnesota, for threatens.
Stay tuned: More to come, June, July editions.
Smart People will follow the 2009 Great American Think-Off, announcing the finalists
in the June issue and the winner in July. Well print his or her winning essay.

SMART PEOPLE

27

LEARNING

The creative economy

Where everyone gets to play in new places

By Dave Lewis
Innovation expert

Reprinted by
permission.
First published in
Knowledge@
W. P. Carey
[http://knowledge.
wpcarey.asu.edu],
Dec. 3, 2008.

Dave Lewis

28 SMART PEOPLE

In Canada, a group of Nike

employees meets once a
week in the same place at
the same time for a creative
brainstorming session. The
meetings always last the same
amount of time.
But theres an element that
keeps the sessions from going
stale. The meetings are on a
Toronto subway car.
The attendees from Nike
board at the same stop and
get off at the same stop. They
also have some guests other
passengers on the car.

Gray Formica meeting

spaces lead to Gray Formica
thinking, Dave Lewis told
an audience at the Center
for Services Leadership at
Arizona State Universitys
19th Annual Compete
Through Service symposium.
The name of Lewis
company is a copy editors
bad dream, but the mission
of ?What if! The Innovation
Company is to shake folks
out of stale thinking, so it
works. Lewis knows there
isnt necessarily a fast train
that takes companies to a
more innovative and creative
place. Creativity that leads to
innovation, Lewis said, tends
to be more a habit than a
destination.
What is it?
Creativity is a term that
gets thrown around a lot
but is sometimes difficult to
define.
?What if! has a working
definition of creativity.
According to Lewis, it is
the habit of continually
doing things in new ways to
make a positive difference
to our working lives.
?What If! was
launched in the United
Kingdom in the early
1990s by two Unilever
employees. Charged with
innovating, they were
frustrated with
the companys
bureaucracy, so
they went off
on their own,
keeping Unilever as a client
and adding dozens of other

well-known companies
such as Johnson & Johnson,
Kimberly-Clarke, Marriott
and Wal-Mart.
In the early years, ?What
If! worked on specific projects,
but the principals soon found
there also was demand for
teaching clients the skills of
innovation.
?What If! has grown
to more than 300 people
with offices in four cities,
including New York. Lewis,
one of the first hires in North
America, joined the company
after finishing his MBA at
Columbia.
Everyone can play
At the companies he
visits, Lewis too often hears
that creativity and innovation
are jobs for the marketing
department, or someone with
innovation or insight in their
title.
I dont really think
thats true, he said. I
think everybody has an
opportunity to do things in
new ways. How many of us
have ever cooked without a
recipe? How many have ever
redecorated a room?
Both endeavors engage
the type of creativity that can
spur innovation in industry,
he said. Creativity can be
something as small as that,
Lewis said.
Innovation is also
something that can be
practiced everyday. When
we do something every day,
it becomes second nature, he
says.

LEARNING
Turning to action
While creativity shouldnt
be limited to a few elites at
a company, some discipline
is required in order to make
creativity useful and valuable
for a business.
I believe in creativity
that gets you somewhere,
Lewis said. I dont believe in
creativity just for having fun.
He calls that crazy-tivity
and says thats better done
outside of work.
Creativity and
innovation are distinct
entities, Lewis points out.
But the two words are often
interchanged in the business
world.
Creativity plays a role
in all aspects of innovation,
beginning with the generation
of ideas. But creativity is not
the goal. Creativity should
lead to innovation, he says,
based on a combination of
insight into customers needs
and wants with ideas, creating
impact.
What works and doesnt
Lewis gives a couple
of examples of innovative
products one executed well
and one that wasnt.
Listerine recently
launched a popular new
product strips that dissolve
and freshen breath. This
new product started with
a customer insight, that
everyone needs a discreet
way to fight bad breath while
out in public. Working with
Johnson & Johnson, Listerine
developed the dissolving
strip. It was new technology
being used as a spermicide in
Asia.
When Listerine
introduced its mouthwash
product, sales surpassed 12-

month projections in the first

three months. The company
actually ran out of inventory.
The technology has since been
adapted for other products,
including flu remedies,
vitamins and pain-killers.
However, the Segway
exemplifies creativity and
innovation that didnt go so
well.
The two-wheeled, electric
personal transportation device
made a splashy debut in 2001.
Steve Jobs himself said the
Segway would be as big a
revolution to the human race
as the personal computer,
Lewis recalls.
Although the company
told the Wall Street Journal
last summer it expected a
50 percent jump in sales,
the Segway does not appear
to have swept the country.
(Segway, a privately held
company, does not divulge
sales figures.)
Lewis says, While the
technology is good, Segway
lacked insight into their
customers lives, the kind of
perceptive observation that
made Listerine successful
with the breath strips. What
was the consumer or market
need? The challenge with the
Segway is where do you drive
it? Its too big for the sidewalk
and it doesnt have enough
power for the open road.
Barriers
Lewis frequently
encounters teams that walk in
saying they cant be creative.
You might as well turn
around and walk right out
the door, he says. Attitude is
everything.
According to Lewis,
employees are seldom given
the opportunity to acquire

Smart profile
Rise from teenage entrepreneur
Dave Lewis started early in business, joining the
start-up basketball footwear and apparel company,
AND 1, while still in high school. Over the next 10
years, as the business grew from four to more than
200 people worldwide, his responsibilities included
brand development, marketing communications,
new product and business development.
He also helped develop AND 1s Mix Tape
entertainment property, overseeing various
multimedia ventures with partners such as ESPN,
Activision and Harper Collins.
Dave grew up in South New Jersey, US, and
got his MBA at Columbia Business School in New
York. His passion for education, creativity and
entrepreneurship combined with his belief that life
is too short to not go for it and have fun led him to
?What if!
Dave is now helping to develop the Learning
Team in the Americas and thus spends his days
delivering speeches, running courses and working
with companies on ways people can be more
innovative and of course have more fun!
More information: www.whatifinnovation.com
the skill sets to be creative.
The knowledge of how to
facilitate an ideation session
is an example of a skill you
can learn. But unless you
invest the time and energy in
acquiring these skills, even the
right attitude goes for naught.
Companies can build
structures, such as rewards
and measurements, to ensure
change happens. One of the
best ways to come up with
ideas is a greenhousing
session where ideas are
nurtured before they are
judged, because ideas never
occur in a fully formed
fashion.
For example, the iPod was
not conceived as a hand-held
device that would play MP3
NEXT PAGE
SMART PEOPLE

29

LEARNING

In Britain

6,000 online centers connect digitally disadvantaged

It should be no surprise
that the country most
experienced in the art of
knowledge sharing, with
its history of town criers
and the sport of debate,
would be the most vigorous
adapters and promoters of
new media communications
breakthroughs.
The United Kingdom
even has a Digital Inclusion
Minister, Wayne David.
The digital revolution
has seen interactive
tools like Facebook,
YouTube, MySpace and
Twitter transform selfexpression and
communication,
helping
individuals and
communities

across Britain share

information, explore issues
and stimulate change. Yet the
government frets that less
than half of the Brits are
taking part, and its probably
disadvantaged people and
places missing out on their
own slice of cyberspace and
the chance and the platform to
make their voices heard.
Patrick Carter, a British
labor peer, says the field
of digital dreams cant be
achieved with a build it and
they will come mentality;
people must receive the same
investment as pipes and
sites.
Helen Milner, managing
director of UK Online Centres,
says, Great infrastructures
and top-notch content are
meaningless if 17 million
people still cant, wont or
dont take advantage of them.
The social divide emerging
between the haves and havenots of technology cannot
be fixed merely by building

access or beautifying whats

accessible.

The creative economy

Some are killed; some are

mortally wounded.
The words yes but are
often the sword that delivers
the mortal wound, because
yes but can discourage all
but the most persistent. A
better approach is yes and,
Lewis preaches. This way
ideas are refined by addition,
rather than worn down by
criticism.

The practice of creativity

in business should not
be limited to so-called
creative types. Every
individual in the company
has the ability to be
creative and should be
encouraged.
Creativity in business
must add to the bottom
line. That requires focus
and discipline as well as
skills.
Businesses need to give
employees the skills and
structure to bring change
to the marketplace.

CONTINUED

files, sport a touch-screen and

connect to an iTunes store
where consumers buy music
downloads.
Someone had the seed of
an idea, Lewis said. It was
collaborated on, built upon,
they added some constraints,
worked around them, and
then created the product.
Eventually ideas are
judged, but often the fateful
moment comes too soon.

30 SMART PEOPLE

Bottom line
Creativity in the business
world is a habit that can be
practiced and honed.

On the other side

of the digital divide
Those on the other
side of the digital divide
need motivation, skills and
confidence more than they
need megabytes, she said.
Those at the forefront of
the phenomena are set to light
a way for those flailing in the
wake of the new media wave,
thanks to a new Beacon
scheme from UK Online
Centres.
The new media the
leaders are speaking of
are community and social
media which encompasses
community Web sites, blogs,
forums, videos, digital
galleries and community
radio.
These media bring local
people together to generate
their own ideas and content,
and improve their lives and
communities in the process.

LEARNING
The need to boost
engagement in new
technologies is gathering
considerable momentum
within government, and is
seen as a way to unite isolated
communities and involve local
people in the control of local
issues.
Hazel Blears
Empowerment White
Paper last July announced
the creation of Digital
Mentors to support digital
content creation in deprived
communities.
The UK Online Centres
Community Media Beacons
kick-started that work across
the 6,000-strong UK Online
Centres Network. The idea
of the Community Media
Beacon is to get the centers
already leading the way
in this area to share their
tips and experiences with
the rest of the UK Online
Centres Network in order
to inspire more projects,
and eventually get different
online communities working
together.
Centers were invited to
apply to become beacons, and
10 winners were picked from
across the country for their
innovation and success in
establishing and supporting
community media initiatives.
In January they were officially
awarded Community Media
Beacon status at a special
ceremony.
In Durham, England,
where tourist information
boasts a city (and county)
where you can stop your
workday world and get
off, a project designed
to raise the educational
aspirations and achievements
of Durhams young people
through information and

communication technology
(ICT) has been hailed a
success in promoting greater
social inclusion by Inclusion
Minister David.
The Inclusion Minister
saw first hand the
Aspirations Begin at Home
Project which aims to raise
education standards and help
young people achieve their
dreams for the future. During
the visit, he also discussed
other current and planned
projects designed to promote
digital inclusion.
The Aspirations Begin
at Home Project has already
helped install computers and
broadband connectivity in
around 300 homes, enabling
over 900 people to gain access
to a PC and encouraging more
families to engage in their
childrens learning.
As well as focusing on
young people, the project
has evolved to help adults
develop IT skills through the
introduction of flexible and
adaptable broadband Internet
and comprehensive training
schemes.
In recognition of its work
in this field, the District
Council has won three Beacon
Council Awards and in 2003 it
was awarded Beacon Council
Status for its work on social
inclusion through ICT.
Online Centre Network
in place since 2000
The UK Online
Centre Network was set
up in 2000 with money
from the Department for
Education and Skills Capital
Modernization Fund and the
New Opportunities Fund.
The Centre Network is now
managed by a Ufi (University
for Industry) team which is

working to develop a valuable

and sustainable network.
Originally set up to
provide public access to
computers, the role of the
Centres has evolved and they
now play a strong role in
exploiting information and
communication technology to
develop skills and confidence,
achieve social inclusion and
create stronger communities.
This service is now
available at http://
careersadvice.direct.gov.
uk/ and will become part of
the new Adult Careers and
Advancement Service, being
launched in 2010.
Compiled from information
provided by Abi Stevens, UK
Online Centres.

Family challenge game

UK Online Centers uses online games to help
people get started on the Internet. One is the
Family Challenge Game which begins with a
graphic showing Your House and the neighbors
house, the Walkers, across the street.
The object of the game is to outsmart the
Walkers (Its like keeping up with the Joneses in
the US).
The player looks into the Walkers house
to see how they live and discover they have no
computer. So, the Walkers have to leave their
house every time they need to know something.
You click on the bathroom and discover one of the
Walkers problems their child has a sore throat.
The question: is it tonsillitis?
You use your computer to find the answer.
The Walkers go to the doctor. You find out the
child just has a common sore throat and you get
some tonic from the medicine cabinet. You win!
You solved the problem while the Walkers were
. . . still walking.

SMART PEOPLE

31

WORKING

WORKING

32 SMART PEOPLE

Smart People profile

Lukas Laubschers rise from waiter to general manager

Young, trendy general
managers are not hard to
come by in the restaurant
business, but finding passion,
determination and endurance
all rolled into one is a recipe
for success.
One such GM, Lukas
Laubscher, now has The Crab
at Chieveley as his oyster.
The Crab at Chieveley
in Newbury Berkshire, UK,
an award-winning seafood
restaurant with oceans of
charm and a boutique hotel
serving the freshest fish
and seafood from shores in
Newlyn, Brixham and Looe,
specializes in huge, succulent
Alaskan crabs!
Lukas started his career
as a humble waiter in a
franchise steakhouse in South
Africa and his single-minded
determination to jump
the career ladder had him
bounding into management
within a year.

As operational manager he
oversaw a huge brigade of staff
and forged the way in kiddie
entertainment when The Spur
Steakhouse became the first to
offer a variety of ways to keep
little ones happy while their
parents indulged in meaty
pastimes.
Ignoring the fact that
steakhouses were a highly
competitive market and even
tougher to make a mark,
Lukas continued to develop
restaurant-friendly play areas,
fun parks and family events
before hooking a career catch
by joining a start up seafood
restaurant, Catch 22.
Starting from scratch,
literally bricks and mortar,
Lukas steamed his way
through a new learning curve
and enhanced his knowledge
and enthusiasm for Fruits De
Mer.
Eventually the lure of
expanding his skills landed
him at
Donnington
Valley Hotel
and Spa in
Newbury
as food and
beverage
services manager,
responsible for F&B
between 2005 and
2007.
Lukas team
building skills
soon had him
promoted to
acting deputy
manager of
a large fourstar hotel

that achieved many awards

including the American
Airline Hotel of the Year.
Needless to say, many
competitive eyes were
watching Lukas and he was
soon fished out and caught in
The Crab at Chieveleys net.
Steve Hughes, new owner of
The Crab, head hunted Lukas
like a fishing trawler hunts
crabs.
The challenge for Lukas
now is to continue to build
on The Crabs vast array
of unique experiences. His
overall brief requires him to
further elevate The Crabs
commercial success with style
and imagination.
His agenda includes
working with Head Chef
Jamie Hodson to refine an
extremely successful and
diverse menu, growing a
restaurant that is already
celebrated, constant training
and development for a highly
praised team and expanding
the boutique guest rooms.
The constant praise for the
quality of service, attention to
detail, staffs enthusiasm and
exceptional conduct is a direct
reflection on Lukas strength
to build a dedicated team.
The team at The Crab is of
an outstanding pedigree with
many of the key staff having
worked with Michelin-starred
chefs. Lukas says: The Crab
is unique and a very attractive
and exciting opportunity for
me!
The Crab is also renowned
for its hotel rooms, some of
NEXT PAGE

WORKING

Strategic corporal

Game-changing decisions transferred to junior non-coms

Listen up corporate
management. From the
organization that inspired
the management principle of
command and control comes a
change in management style that
transfers decision-making to the
front lines.
During the Association
of the United States Armys
Institute of Land Warfare
Winter Symposium and
Exposition this year in Fort
Lauderdale, Fla., US, Gen.
Peter W. Chiarelli said the
Army should focus on
connectivity, commonality
and survivability.
With the rise of the
strategic corporal the
junior noncommissioned
officer that makes gamechanging decisions in the

field it is imperative that

even the junior-most soldier
in the field have as much
information as he needs to do
his job, Chiarelli said.
Information is power,
and we need to make sure
we are pushing power down
to the lowest levels on the
battlefield, where it is most
needed, he said.
It is no longer realistic
to assume all or even the
majority of game-changing
decisions will be made at
senior levels of command; to
the contrary, those decisions
are more often made by the
individual soldier on the
ground. We are committed
to the network and to
networking every soldier.
Over the last few years
the Army has developed new

Smart People profile

CONTINUED

which proudly flaunt their

own private hot tub gardens.
Each room reflects individual
themes of famous rooms from
around the world and features
authentic decor in luxury and
decadence.
In a crab shell, The Crabs
unique features, its delectable

seafood and exotic rooms

with candlelit hot tubs, make
a potent combination for
a trendy general manager.
Without a doubt, The Crab at
Chieveley is Lukas oyster!
For more information
on The Crab at Chieveley,
browse www.crabatchieveley.
com or email Paula Wynne at
crabatchieveley.com.

technology to help push more

information to the soldiers that
need it most, the general said.
In 2004, for instance, the
1st Cavalry Division deployed
to Iraq with whats called the
Command Post of the Future
(CPOF).
In one year, commanding
a division in Baghdad, because
of CPOF, there was not a single
time that I called a brigade
commander to my command
post to issue an operations
order, Chiarelli said.
We did it all over the
collaboration network of
CPOF.

MAD Mentors help

10 businesswomen succeed

Ten women from London, who had their dreams of

being mentored by some of the most successful
women in business come true, are half way
through their Make a Difference MAD tutorship
in the FreshIdeas Events Mentor Competition.
During the past three months these female
entrepreneurs and careerwomen have had their
ideas scrutinized, digested, pummelled and recrunched, and finally . . . gently nurtured into
shape with the help of the best businesswomen
in the industry!
In November 2008, the winners of the
FreshIdeas Events Competition met their Mentors,
appropriately named Make A Difference (MAD)
women. In May, the most successful Mentor
Mentee Couple will be chosen and awarded the
Grand MAD Mentor Prize.
All 10 mentees have confessed they have
been on an exciting and inspiring roller coaster
ride and they dont want to get off!
Stay tuned.

SMART PEOPLE

33

WORKING

Facing the New Gens

To transfer knowledge, older gens need to catch up digital

By Robert Wendover
Executive Director
The Center for
Generational Studies

Those who have inhabited the

workplace for the past many
years recognize the wealth
of information they and
their colleagues possess and
wonder how best to transfer
it to those inheriting their
responsibilities.
But what about the
worldwide
generation of
workers just
now entering
the workforce?
Ask most of
them about
the role of
knowledge
transfer as they
enter their jobs
and theyll give
you a blank
stare.
It doesnt
necessarily mean theyre
apathetic. It just hasnt
occurred to most young
workers that this massive
transfer of wisdom and insight
needs to take place. . . now.
Those of the generation
that has grown up on the
Internet assume they can just
Google it. Why bother until
they need it?
While so-called explicit
knowledge the information
in documentable sources can
be retained and transferred
indefinitely, so-called tacit
knowledge the knowledge
of personal experience that

34 SMART PEOPLE

supplies the context for

application and interpretation
of explicit knowledge expires
with the departure of the
person possessing it. So how
will this emerging generation
approach the process of
absorbing the knowledge from
veteran workers?
To break the barrier, heres
some of what the hierarchy
and its departing workers
should know about incoming
young workers:

Taking time to explain

the relevance of what will be
learned is a key to investing
New Geners in the process.
Continually reinforcing this
relevance through examples
and application will help
maintain the engagement of
their multi-channeling minds.
They will look for delivery
that is convenient. E-learning
is so 2008. This emerging
generation is looking for
ways to learn and grow on
their schedule and
in their preferred
environments.
That
increasingly means
mobile devices such
as PDAs and cell
phones. The current
human resources
and training
media is alive with
discussions about
the efforts being
made to deliver
instruction and
support through
New Geners will look for
applications such as Twitter.
value. Young workers factor
While this evolution is
time into everything they do.
Ask them to memorize routine still in its infancy, be assured
company procedures to which that young professionals
they cannot relate and theyll will embrace these platforms
and take them to levels that
stall.
challenge organizations to
But ask them to learn
software that can be leveraged keep apace. Those responsible
for knowledge management
in other environments and
and transfer will find
theyll spend the weekend
themselves faced with the
mastering the application.
same challenges.
Any knowledge to
They will look for delivery
be transferred needs to
that
is engaging. Young
be delivered in a way
professionals are not static
that demonstrates value
learners. Even though they
and relevance to the new
have endured the monotony
generation.
of many high school and

WORKING
college classes, they have
also mastered the non-stop
engagement of video gaming
and other interactive devices.
While older workers are
more likely to sit patiently
through didactic presentations
and training, emerging
learners will begin to change
channels if not engaged
within the first few minutes.
Organizations will be
faced with the challenge of
placing both explicit and
tacit knowledge in formats
that stimulate young learners
using interactive applications
that employ video and
audio clips as their base for
instruction. Think YouTube
and TeacherTube on steroids.
They will want to
influence the transfer process.
Where veteran workers
have been content to take
the learning and mentoring
processes at face value, young
professionals will not sit still
for methods they find not to
their liking.
Society has taught these
individuals to speak up and
suggest solutions. To dictate
the terms of knowledge
transfer will only alienate
them and encourage them to
look for ways to obtain the
knowledge on their terms,
thereby circumventing
organizational practices.
Rather than working to
control knowledge transfer
methodologies, organizations
will be better off learning
from these young workers
on how to best engage them.
Then a more dynamic learning
environment will evolve.
They will interpret and apply
knowledge in their own ways.
When one looks at the
creativity brimming forth
from some in their teens

and twenties, it is easy

to understand why this
generation sees no limits on
how they can accomplish
the tasks at hand.
While this is
certainly not true of
all young workers,
organizations that
foster an environment
of flexibility based on
outcome will thrive
more readily than
those that follow a
protocol that confines
this youthful creativity
and enthusiasm.
Certainly clear
parameters must be
provided to ensure the
security and integrity
of proprietary knowledge
and practices. But strict
control over the execution of
knowledge transfer should be
discouraged.
They will work
collaboratively to share
knowledge. While some
workforce veterans have been
known to hoard information
because they view it as an
element of job security,
emerging professionals
appear to be at the opposite
end of the spectrum.
One of the things
that can be learned from
this generations focus on
electronic networking is that
they will bring this practice
into the workplace at all
levels. The speed with which
information is distributed
throughout the world is
seen everyday in social
networking.
Using this phenomenon,
coupled with the generations
seemingly in-born prowess
with technology, and it is
certainly understandable why
todays and tomorrows young

knowledge workers will

take the constant sharing of
knowledge for granted.
But while this
phenomenon can be viewed
as a strength in transferring
knowledge, organizations
will have to be more vigilant
than ever in protecting their
proprietary information.
The canons of knowledge
management and transfer
have yet to be fully defined.
Yet without the input of
the emerging generation,
these practices may become
irrelevant prematurely.
Organizations that
embrace the skills and desires
of these young workers will
better ensure the successful
transfer of knowledge in the
coming years.
Robert W. Wendover is director of
The Center for Generational Studies
based in Aurora, Colo., US. Contact
him at wendover@gentrends.com.
For a more in-depth exploration of
this and other related issues, visit the
Centers Web site at www.gentrends.
com.
SMART PEOPLE

35

WORKING

Ban Bullying

Nine out of ten British employees are victims

New statistics provided by
The Andrea Adams Trust in
conjunction with its national
campaign against bullying
in the workplace in Britain
indicates that out of 10,000
participants of an online
survey
92% of workers felt they are
currently being bullied;
49% of those indicated that
their immediate manager
was the bully;
56% of respondents stated
that in their workplace
bullying is a very serious
problem;
47.8% of respondents
stated that when they

made a formal complaint

procedures were not
followed correctly.

For a full list: http://www.

banbullyingatwork.com/
supporters-and-links.html.

Links
http://www.banbullyingatwork.com/
http://lawprofessors.typepad.com/
adjunctprofs/2008/08/new-york-may-ba.html
http://bulliedacademics.blogspot.com/2008/11/7thnovember-2008-ban-bullying-at-work.html
Lyn Witheridge, founder
and CEO, said: Leaving aside
for a moment the emotional
aspect of bullying and the
traumatic effect it can have on
both targets and witnesses,
these figures indicate that
at last we are coming to our
senses and employees are
gaining the courage to speak
out against one of the most
destructive forces at work
today.
Cannot turn a
blind eye, deaf ear
She saw the response
as significant. Turning a
blind eye or a deaf ear is no
longer an option and we urge
everyone to join our national
campaign, now in its fifth
year, she says.
Witheridge claims to have
a number of supporters within
government departments,
the National Health Service,
UK Primary Care trusts, the
Department of Health, several
universities and city councils
and scores of other private
and public organizations such
as British Airways, a major
sponsor.

36 SMART PEOPLE

An official company
statement reads: British
Airways is proud to be
supporting Ban Bullying at
Work. We are committed
to creating an environment
where dignity and respect are
at the core of our relationship
with others.
At a recent country-wide
Ban Bullying at Work Day,
the airline held workshops
and hosted stands to raise
awareness on practical aspects
of dealing with harassment
and bullying.
Trade union confirms
findings
Trades Union Congress
(TUC) General Secretary
Brendan Barber said Our
own survey shows concerns
about bullying at work have
increased by 25 percent since
2006.And as the economic
downturn puts workers
under greater strain, there is
a danger that bullying could
spread even further. There is
simply no excuse for bullying
at work. It can leave people
traumatized, unable to work
and unhappy after work, and

WORKING
harms office morale too. We
urge employers to look at their
working culture and policies
to ensure whenever bullying
rears its head at work, it is
stamped out straight away.
TUC is the voice of Britain
at work with 58 affiliated
unions representing nearly
seven million working people.
Industrial Age culture
counter to Digital Economy
The problem of bullying
is a social issue held over
from the dying Industrial
Age which treated people
as chattel and managed
them through command
and control, Jerry Ash,
knowledge management
expert and publisher of Smart
People magazine, says.
It is a culture that is
difficult to break in a new
era where managers must
become leaders and enablers
who create an environment
of openness, trust, innovation
and collaboration at all levels
of the organization. Those
who dont wont survive in the
Digital Economy.

Children ban bullying with a brush stroke

One of the most effective places to address cultural issues is in the public schools.
Britains war on bullies starts in the classroom. Young people think differently and,
in the age of digital empowerment, will insist on personal and professional dignity
and respect.
Schoolchildren who won a ban bullying poster competition, organized by the University
of Essex, England, have visited the Colchester Campus to receive their prizes.
The Universitys Equality and Diversity Unit ran the competition at the end of last
year, inviting local youngsters to design a poster on the theme of banning bullying. The
competition was held in support of the vice chancellors initiative to promote dignity and
respect on campus and formed part of National Anti-Bullying Week.
Joint winners in the 4-7 age group were Anna Hughes (Millfields Primary School,
Wivenhoe) and Rhianna Lawrie (Chase Lane Primary School, Dovercourt), while joint
winners in the 8-11 age group were Hettie Finn (Millfields Primary School, Wivenhoe) and
Charlotte Joiner (Hilltop Junior School, Wickford).
The prize winners, who attended the event with their parents and representatives from
their schools, received prizes of gift vouchers and engraved pens from Vice Chancellor
Professor Colin Riordan. They also went on a tour of the university and had a celebration
lunch at Wivenhoe House.
Syd Kent, from the Equality and Diversity Unit, said: We were delighted with the
response and would like to thank everyone who took part; the overall standard was very
high.
The issue of bullying is part of the National Curriculum and information about the
competition was sent to schools across the region, covering areas close to the universitys
campuses in Colchester, Loughton and Southend. The winning entries may be used in
future publicity campaigns to highlight dignity and respect.
Link: http://www.essex.ac.uk/news/event.aspx?e_id=497
Email: comms@essex.ac.uk

Big Brother bullying incident sparks deluge of calls to helpline

The tirade of abuse
unleashed by Channel 4s Big
Brother contestant Alexandra
De Gale on her fellow
housemates Rebecca Shiner
and Rachel Rice, sparked by a
disagreement over some overcooked chips, has prompted a
deluge of calls to the
Andrea Adams Trust the
most established UK charity
dedicated to preventing
workplace bullying.
The confrontation is
just the latest in a series of
incidents on high profile,
primetime TV programs

such as Big Brother and

The Apprentice, where reallife bullying has been
portrayed on TV screens for
entertainment value.
It has also reportedly
resulted in more than 300
complaints to Channel 4 and
broadcast watchdog Ofcom.
By taking a voyeuristic
approach to bullying
behaviors, reality TV
programs run the risk of
perpetuating the myth that
bullying is acceptable,
says Lyn Witheridge, chief
executive of the Andrea

Adams Trust. Sadly, when it

comes to bullying, failure to
challenge this type of behavior
is tantamount to condoning it.
Channel 4 should therefore be
congratulated in this instance
for making it very clear to
Alex that her behavior was
unacceptable.
Link: http://www.
guardian.co.uk/media/
organgrinder/2008/jun/12/
anotherbigbrotherbullyingr

SMART PEOPLE

37

WORKING

Jobs galore

Forget recession. Theres a knowledge worker crisis.

In a recent issue of the Journal of
Professional Nursing, nurses were
defined as knowledge workers and
the role of knowledge became the
central focus of a new recruitment
policy for building a strong nursing
workforce.
Google recruiting+knowledge
worker and you will get 500,000
hits.
If all Baby Boomers do retire
on schedule (and some wont),
employers will bleed knowledge at
an unprecedented, life-threatening
pace.
More significantly, employers
are beginning to get it. That is, they
are painfully aware that their most
important asset really is located in
the brains of its smart people.
This may be bad news for the
company, but good news for you.
Companies face a crisis
and many dont even know it.
Knowledge savvy executives
and managers are acutely aware
of the threat to the companys
future viability. Those who havent
embraced the idea of knowledge
management worry just as much
about all the expensive and
laborious training they will have to
spring for.
Smart people may be just as
oblivious to the meaning of the

38 SMART PEOPLE

knowledge factor in their own

lives unless their professional
journals, like the nursing journal,
have defined their people as
knowledge workers. And people in
all professions really are knowledge
workers.
Recruiters are now busy
retraining themselves to broker
this new kind of candidate smart
people. They not only see the
growing demand for smart people;
they see the shortage coming.
The clear-eyed see the shortage
now. Yes now, when all the
attention is on unemployment.
Whether you are one of the
unemployed or the worried
employed, now is the time for you
to start looking at yourself as a
knowledge worker. And build on it.
The minute you begin thinking that
way, the future looks very bright.
Sure, take inventory. What you
know. What you think you know.
What you dont know. How you can
contribute what you know for the
company. For yourself.
But most importantly, take some
of your spare time to learn how to
be a knowledge worker. In the right
work environment, knowledge
working comes naturally, but
unfortunately a majority of work
environments arent knowledge

work friendly. If youre a Net Gener,

you wont like that.
Become self-educated
about knowledge management
whether or not your goal is to be
a knowledge manager. Truth is,
almost all the information you find
on the knowledge thing will be
management oriented. No problem.
Just do like Smart People magazine
does turn it inside out. Take the
messages and revise them to your
point of view the knowledge
worker.
Probably the best KM conference
of the year is coming up in Houston,
Texas May 11-15, at the Houstonian
Hotel, Club & Spa. Ill be there. Its
the product of the of APQC [www.
apqc.org/kmconf09].
The theme is The Knowledge
Transfer Revolution. Dont worry
about it being over your head. KM
is not rocket science and the people
who attend are ordinary smart
people who work at different levels
of KM. This is the 14th Annual
Knowledge Management Conference
and Training event. I attended the
first and several since. I always come
away bristling with new ideas and
new energy. And Im sure this year,
Ill find some management stories I
can turn inside out!
~ Jerry Ash

THE KNOWLEDGE FACTOR

The Knowledge Factor

When the Digital Gens meet the KMers

By Jerry Ash
For 175 years we have been
taught that people are hired
not for what they know,
but for what they can do.
Theyve been trained, handed
job descriptions and told
their futures depended on
performing to the standards.
Without regard for what
people have already learned,
we have been schooled and
trained in the company way.
You know the old yarn:
The new hire is a college
graduate, but now the real
learning begins! In that
scenario, having completed
an education any education
only means weve passed
a test that indicates we are
teachable.
For almost two centuries
the top-down industrial
model of management has
been the only model of
management the one taught
in MBA schools and applied to
all work, even when it doesnt
make sense. It works on the
assembly line, but it is a silly
way to run a hospital or any
knowledge-driven enterprise.
This has been the way
for dozens of generations.
Its, like, in the genes. And
reinforced by a teaching
system where students are
taught but dont learn, absorb
but dont think.
The knowledge factor
The Industrial Era is over.
Sure, industry still exists. But
it no longer rules the economy.
The command and control
way of managing still exists

but does not make sense

in the knowledge-driven
economy.
During the past 55
years, courageous pioneers
of Knowledge Management
(KM) have been hard at work
analyzing the Knowledge
Factor observing a natural
shift in which people are
in transition from chattel
to knowledge worker.
Management guru Peter
Drucker first uttered the
phrase knowledge worker
in 1954, a lifetime before
todays Digital Generation.
From the management
point of view, KM advocates
have been studying,
analyzing, theorizing,
experimenting, applying
lessons learned for the last
30 years. They have spent
fortunes to assemble a deep
body of knowledge about the
Knowledge Factor to exploit
knowledge in the workplace.
Many of these initiatives
have been hugely successful,
mostly in mega companies
in the global setting. And,
surprisingly, heavy industries
are among the winners
as they become aware of
themselves as knowledgedriven enterprises.
All knowledge originates
in the human mind and
it cant really be managed.
Rather, in a savvy enterprise,
management gives way to
facilitation, with command
and control giving way
to a self-motivated,
knowledge seeking, sharing,
collaborating environment.

The most important

realization in Corporate KM
has been that people are the
key. And the most important
tool for unlocking and
extracting value from human
knowledge is the community
of practice (CoP).

The people factor

Unfortunately, ordinary
smart people have not been
privy to the dialogues. Weve
been programmed to stay
out of corporates business
and mind our own (unless
NEXT PAGE
SMART PEOPLE

39

THE KNOWLEDGE FACTOR

Jerry Ash
is former
managing
editor, Inside
Knowledge
magazine,
author of several
books and
now publisher,
Smart People
magazine. He
may be reached
online just about
anywhere and
directly at
smart.guy1@
verizon.net

40 SMART PEOPLE

CONTINUED

we work in research and

development or something
like that). And our experience
reminds us to stay in our
own domain; outsiders even
inside the company are
unwelcome in other business
units.
Further, rarely has the
dialogue stretched beyond the
workplace to life or vice versa.
The digital factor
Meanwhile, the digital
factor has caught fire, bringing
people to the Internet to seek,
learn, share, even collaborate
and accomplish great things.
Digitals are engaged in
the rush to social networks
where they tell all to friends
and strangers, and yet they
lack trust in communities of
practice (CoPs) set up by the
hierarchy back on the farm.
Into this clash of cultures
rides the Digital Generation
Don Tapscotts wired
warriors who are now ages 11
to 32. Theyve never known a
world that wasnt digital and
they dont understand a world
that has yet to adjust to its
great truths and principles.
There must be a grand
plan. Business really wants to
change, but it doesnt know
how. The old ways are so
ingrained into the structure of
the company and the culture
of both company and the
people it hurts. But here come
the Digitals, unencumbered
by the past and intent on the
future. And older generations
are catching up digital.
As usual, this latest
generation and the changing
generations will be ridiculed
but they wont be broken.
After surviving the hierarchy

of formal education and

learning in the self-directed,
democratic world of the
Internet, Net Geners simply
wont cower to command and
control.
Having dabbled in
knowledge management for
tens of years, business and
industry will be learning
from these Net Geners who
are the future of everything.
The savvy companies, the
ones who have cherished
the promise of knowledge
management, will be more
than ready to catch up digital.

change during their lifetimes

and they still know how to
adjust to it. Many, like me,
welcome it.

The magazine factor

Smart People magazine
jumps into that cauldron of
change and synergy.
We are bringing
knowledging to the
mainstream and we are
marrying it with the dynamics
of a Digital Generation
that has never known a life
without knowledge sharing,
learning, collaborating and
innovating.
The Digitals need to know
The age factor
what the pioneers who have
Because they will meet
gone before them have been
in the digital space, the new
doing to clear the way for
culture will also learn from
the old. The older generation(s) thinking differently. And, the
really are catching up digital. pioneers need to know the
great opportunities riding the
And the Digital Generation,
wave of the New Gen.
contrary to popular belief,
In the spirit of the Digital
are veritable sponges of
Age, Smart People magazine
knowledge. Dont make the
mistake of thinking that Mom will be different a new
media publication. It has been
and Dad, the Boomers, arent
developed collaboratively
already learning from the
kids. And pay attention to the with the help of 60 volunteers
in an open space online. It is
grandparents too. Tapscott
more than a magazine with
says the Digitals are very
much family oriented, making feedback channels now at
work in several of the major
the exchange of knowledge
social networks Facebook,
much more likely than many
MySpace, Linkedin, Twitter,
have predicted.
Xing and Ning. We are
I recently started a
offering Webinars and talk
competitive tennis league for
radio featuring some of our
men age 60-90. As I gathered
authors. And we are working
contact information I asked
on a virtual reality Meeting
for their email addresses. All
but one had one. And the one and Conference Center which
will become the first resident
who didnt was embarrassed
of our Smart People Online
and said he would be getting
Community.
an address soon! Now, email
Together, we will change
may be so yesterday, but
the
way
we live, laugh, learn
these guys are wired and the
and
earn
our livelihoods.
young of mind are capable
of changing their ways. Yes,
Boomers+ have weathered

Once upon
a time
there was
a princess
. . . whose dreams were trapped inside her sleepy head.

Along came Smar t People

and the world was never the same.

10 kisses sold here for $ 50 $ 25 USD

Limited time only

Smart People magazine is a new media publication

awakening in you the power of knowledge much
sought after by employers worldwide. This power
has always been there but the Web has multiplied
it a million times and, unknowingly, you are using
your smarts (and those of others) every day living,
learning, choosing, working.
Wake up to the power.
Subscribe now: www.smartpeoplemagazine.com
Available in three formats: Online flipbook, html and pdf

Keynote
Speakers

Carla ODell, PhD

President APQC

Christopher Meyer
Chief Executive
Monitor Networks

The KNOWLEDGE TRANSFER Revolution:

NEW Paradigms, NEW Payoffs
APQCs 14th Annual Knowledge Management
Conference and Training
May 11-15, 2009
Houstonian Hotel, Club and Spa
Houston, Texas
www.apqc.org/kmconf09

Alan Deutschman
Author
Change or Die: The Three
Keys to Change at Work
and in Life

John McQuary
Vice President, KM
and Technology
Strategies, Fluor Corp.

Rob Cross
Professor of
Management,
University of Virginia
and Research Director,
The Network Roundtable

Victor Newman
Author
The Knowledge Activists
Handbook: Adventures
from the Knowledge
Trenches

Bryant Clevenger
Global Leader, IBM Global
Business Services,
Knowledge Sharing
Strategy