A Balanced Mind
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corporate mindshift: management:global trends

THINGS DON’T CHANGE: PEOPLE CHANGE THINGS

I like the quote from Andy Warhol, “They say time changes things but you actually have to change them yourself.” One of my best life lessons was coming to the realization that when I changed the way I looked at a situation – the situation itself seemed to change - when you change the way you look at things, the things you look at change!

EASIER TO SAY, THAN TO DO…

In our current economic dilemma, we become increasingly aware that some things have to be done dramatically differently for corporations and businesses to succeed and come out of this downturn, not only intact, but thriving. In my career in senior management, we often heard the phrase, “Organizations need to change to adapt to changing times.” Well, I first heard those comments almost two decades ago.  It seems very few companies have been able to stick with the thinking process long enough to determine just what changes need to be made.

IT’S THE PEOPLE – NOT THE ORGANIZATION

Or, maybe they did come to conclusions about what actually had to happen – but they didn’t like what they discovered – that it was not a restructuring of the organization that would make the difference -it was a whole restructuring of the thinking processes, attitudes, values, etc of the people in the organization that was where phenomenal and lasting change would occur.

“Our life is what our thoughts make it.” – Marcus Antonnius, Roman Emperor

TRIANGLE FOR MINDSHIFT

There has been much said about organizations needing to become more creative. Often that results in setting up a research or innovation section. That still sidesteps personal responsibility. I believe the successful organizations will be those who recognize the critical value of accessing the fully functioning minds of all employees -  and that involves understanding current brain research.

LEFT BRAIN

For purposes of simplicity, the left hemisphere of the brain is often referred to as the rational, logical mind. This function is highly revered in western corporations. Many of the left-brain functions can now be dealt with through technology, or easily taught to people in emerging economies.

RIGHT BRAIN

Intuitive, creative, innovative thought resides in the right hemisphere. This function in most organizations, if accessed at all, is often deferred to the Communications, Research or Innovation departments and specific hirees are jettisoned into the organization based on their skills for creativity.

PREFRONTAL CORTEX

This more recently studied part of the brain, exists in the front area of the head, more commonly referred to in eastern thought, as the Third Eye.  Brain research is pointing to this area as that which is being activated when compassionate, loving, ethical, spiritual thoughts are engaged.  It is also called the Executive functioning area of the brain. It is where we learn to discern right from wrong, feel compassion, and understand the consequences of our actions.

This part of the brain is believed not to be fully functioning until the mid-twenties. Some researchers believe that stress blocks the synapses or messages from the impulse areas of the brain to the prefrontal cortex. If that is the case, dealing with reduction of stress in the workplace would be essential to incorporating more ethical, moral, and spiritual thought. Our present economic and political situations might suggest this part of our brain power is not being accessed much, if at all, by some banking systems, organizations, or political powers.

WHERE ARE WE HEADED?

It is my belief that successful organizations, and there are many examples out there already, will be those who combine all three lobes in a balanced fashion. Each individual will be engaged in activating their intuitive, creative, innovative abilities, choosing actions that will have the best possible outcomes for the greatest number of people, and carrying out those ideas in a logical, well thought-out plan.

My Monday Blog, Enlightened Orgs Best Practices, celebrates those balanced, beautiful minds and their accomplishments. In past economic recessions or depressions there were winners and losers. It will be so again.

This time, I believe the companies that will be most competitive will be those who can access and balance the full capabilities of the human mind…intuitive, creative, innovative, logical, rational, ethical, moral and spiritual.

Is your company aware that change is required but just not sure how to begin? As a former corporate manager, I know the challenges of introducing new concepts with the existing leadership.  There are advantages to an unbiased third party facilitation. Contact me to discuss your organizations needs and to customize an approach suitable for your circumstance...  info@soulabundant.com.

BLESS BLESS
JUDY BERG

Organizational Behaviour Consultant
author: Imagine Your Soul Abudant: Attracting Success, Fulfillment and True Happiness
more about: www.soulabundant.com
Judy’s book can be ordered from her website www.soulabundant.com.  Special prices for bulk orders upon request. Seminars and retreats customized to the needs of your group or organization.

research: crowd-sourcing prediction software

CUSTOMERS TALK. DO YOU LISTEN?

One of my favorite themes in life has become the critical need and great value of letting your customers TRULY communicate with you.

So I was going to write a simple post today about online prediction software used for crowd-sourcing [Wikipedia] (leveraging mass collaboration) But, like most of my thoughts, it twisted and turned a bit. So I tried to unravel it for you here.

RHEINGOLD’S MIND

I first fell in love with Howard Rheingold’s mind [Wikipedia] when he took his turn editing the Whole Earth Review. He was one of so many thinkers and doers who interacted with the great works of Steward Brand. [Wikipedia]

Periodically, I check Howard’s site to see what he’s focusing on. He bumped his fame with his 2003 book Smartmobs: The Next Social Revolution. Smart Mobs: The Next Social Revolution parallels much of our early work at MutualGravity creating functional online platforms. Howard has been trying to build his own social network platform for years.

Related to that, I’ve embedded his current video about web videos on his vlog. It a simple, visual overview of video on the web.

LETTING THE CROWD TELL YOU YOUR BUSINESS

Predictify is one of many open social networks built on the idea that the crowd can predict the future, participants can build a reputation based on their accuracy, and marketers can post questions to collect actionable data.

It’s one of many twists on traditional marketing research approach being tested by companies. Like most approaches, one of our key concerns wraps around statistical validity. Can you trust this sample of people and this methodology to bring you accurate enough information for you to make multi-million dollar decisions on it? We’ll come back to that issue next Tuesday. We’ll simplify the jargon, and give you the information and tools you need to understand validity to do research correctly.

In the meantime, there’s a lot of potential in letting your constituents, or the whole world, give you their best guess into the future.

WANT TO EXPLORE FOR YOURSELF OR YOUR BUSINESS?

Begin with a comparison of online prediction software used for crowd-sourcing. It’s a bit dated, but there’s a good discussion of various online prediction software on Mercury Research and Consulting’s Mercury’s Blog on prediction markets.

David VanAmburg’s involvement with marketing research began in 1968 when he was hired as a research analyst with technology leader, Lord Corporation. Since 1977, he has provided over 2,000 research studies for clients in 165 industries, designed the first national hunger study for America’s Second Harvest, and taught MBA courses in the subject. He loves designing research studies and analyzing results.

VanAmburg Group and MutualGravity design automated real-time marketing research and customer feedback systems for large and small corporations, from utility customers to hospital patients to restaurant patrons, and more. What can we implement for you?

Web Marketing: VanAmburgGroup.com

THANK GOD OUR NEW SITE IS UP

Over the years, we created and managed a lot of websites for clients, and focused on creation of MutualGravity’s software platform, leaving some of our own sites to collect dust.

Until a few weeks ago, VanAmburgGroup.com was untouched since 1999. Yet that was our public presence, our 24/7 communications with the world. If you saw the old site, you probably thought we were on a long cruise or something.

So this quarter we revamped the the entire site:

1. To share hundreds of pages of practical research, planning and marketing information,
2. To communicate some of the exciting projects we’re working on, and
3. To bring in some of our global partners.

In this process, I’ve committed to being transparent with our site development and search optimization.

Starting today, every Monday I’ll share some of our related accomplishments and challenges. On Wednesdays, we’ll offer web design and SEO nuggets for your use.

THE BLOG SCHEDULE

But before I jump in to the site development discussion, here’s what to expect with the Thinking Big Works blog.

For the main site:

• Check the chart above for the full schedule. We’ll also add posts beyond those categories and days.
• To simplify your reading experience, every post will have a category header, so you can easily choose which ones you want to read. The first line of each post will give a bit more information on what it’s about.
• Author Judy Berg now posts daily. As of today, I’ll be posting daily. Noted management consultant, Greg Pashke will begin regular posts next week. And SEO specialist, Jody Resnick, will be sharing his insights beginning in January.

Read more about current and upcoming site features below the fold.

HERE’S WHERE WE ARE WITH THE SITE

For the main site:

• We’ve completed about 70 pages of information most with charts, and will add 5-10 a week, and post the new ones every Monday.
• We’ve completed about 50% of our search optimization. We’ll share that wonderful process on Wednesdays.
• Friday of this week we’ll launch a video tour of the site to help you access the practical info you need.
• Starting next week, we’ll add white papers, slide overviews, and other detailed info for your research, planning, marketing, and web marketing use.

WHY ENLIGHTENED ORGANIZATIONS

On Mondays and Tuesdays, Judy Berg and I will be sharing a public conversation about one of the most exciting trends you will witness in the worlds of business and government.

We all experience the daily revelations of greed, corruption and other mistakes made by individuals in the recent past. There are enough news and commentary outlets discussing examples of these sad affairs. You may have lost 50% of your retirement savings so far, but we’re all just beginning to experience the fallout of these actions. Yes, there will be more.

But our focus is what comes beyond the chaos that fixates the nightly news. There are amazing people who have created amazing organizations over the past 30+ years. They are the ones who will redefine our economy, our world society, our reality – and not in a few generations.

Starting in January:

• We’ll be interviewing 100+ of the leading thinkers on the planet.
• You can join in on our Enlightenors’ Cafe online conversations, which we’ll announce soon.

Want more on our near and medium-term projections for the economy and how it will affect your business? Keep reading Thinking Big Works. Thanks.

Best wishes,
David