Saturday, May 24, 2008

The Future of Work


The Future of Work: How the New Order of Business Will Shape Your Organization, Your Management Style and Your Life (Hardcover)
by Thomas W. Malone

From the Reviews

A more apt title would have been: The Future of Organizational Structure.

As an expert on communications costs and benefits, Professor Malone explores how the pros and cons of centralized hierarchies, loose hierarchies, democracies and free markets compare in producing better organizational results. The book abounds with examples.

The book's overall theme is that with the costs of communications plummeting and the value of the information communication increasing it is inevitable that organizations will decentralize more than ever . . . by employing hybrid forms of loose hierarchies, democracies and free markets for the same organization.

The book ends up with a call to live your dreams that draws on decidedly nonmanagement sources of inspiration. The key idea is that organizations can live values that uplift everyone in them.

If you would like a solid introduction into the forces that are influencing shifts towards decentralization, The Future of Work is a good theoretical overview. Professor Malone also points you to online resources for finding out about best practices in some of these areas.

The book would have been vastly more valuable if it had focused on a few key areas of management performance (such as developing new business models, creating breakthrough new products, or bypassing competitor's established cost advantages) and described how best to apply the concepts in those contexts. I hope that Professor Malone will choose to do this in future books and articles.

Saturday, May 10, 2008

Webinar — The Outlook for Foundation Giving in 2008

Join us from the comfort of your own office to hear the latest perspective on how grantmaking foundations are being affected by current trends in the U.S. economy and how foundation giving might fare. Steven Lawrence, senior director of research at the Foundation Center, will present findings from the Foundation Center’s new report, Foundation Growth and Giving Estimates: Current Outlook, and address the following topics:
Did foundation giving falter as the economy began to slow in 2007?
Given a weak economic climate, what is the outlook for foundation giving in 2008?
What do prior downturns suggest about the current funding environment?
The webinar will conclude with a question-and-answer segment.
Thursday, May 15, 2008, 2:00-3:00 pm (Eastern Time)
more information ...

Tuesday, May 06, 2008

Your own Super Niche

To Find a Niche: Focus!

Many entrepreneurs think that selling to the widest possible market is thelikeliest path to success. The problem is that the "take all comers" approach isnot very effective as an overall marketing strategy; marketing becomes expensivewhen everyone is a potential prospect.

Today's small businesses share a fiercely competitive playing field. Combined with information overload, this means that it's harder to stand out when you havea generic message. If you are merely a "management consultant," a humble"business coach," or a nondescript "financial advisor," you risk fighting it outover price with competitors who offer identical services to yours.

To rise above the fray, you need a compelling business message aimed at the rightpeople. You need to cultivate your own Super Niche.

Read the whole article