tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36810794228038131602024-03-13T22:41:35.669-07:00The Collaborative ViewCompass360 Consulting Grouphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14541160023041844298noreply@blogger.comBlogger326125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3681079422803813160.post-58139574579590094842009-10-26T04:38:00.000-07:002014-08-16T00:07:35.447-07:00The Way of Strategy (#26): Refining the Definition of the Expert<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_sG9giPgBG9k/SuVqIg8ZGOI/AAAAAAAABrc/GQMxwVYywgc/s1600-h/The+Architect.png" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_sG9giPgBG9k/SuVqIg8ZGOI/AAAAAAAABrc/GQMxwVYywgc/s320/The+Architect.png" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5396836422988142818" style="display: block; height: 320px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 259px;" /></a><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: verdana;">To thrive in the global economy, one cannot be a mono-focused specialist. Those days are gone. The abundance of information and the profusion of copycat competition have created an unstable level of uneven parity.<br /><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">The Expert</span><br />The 21st century expert is proficient in integrating relevant points of various subject matters into one grand picture. It also enabled him or her to capitalize on major opportunities while mitigating the risks.<br /><br />Most amateur experts do not possess the insight, the foresight and the perseverance to be the ultra class expert. They usually talk a good game of "what the objective" should be. As a big picture thinker, these experts rely on their network to do the detail work. The results are usually "good enough."<br /></span><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br />Following are the requirements of the expert:</span><br />
<ul>
<li><span style="font-family: verdana;">Having the skill to define the dots; </span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: verdana;">Connecting them together on time, on budget and on target. </span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: verdana;">Staying focused on the target while being mindful of the relevant external points.</span></li>
</ul>
<span style="font-family: verdana;">The completion of those three points usually guarantees the client that the expert's strategic advice is reliable, relevant and do-able.</span><br />
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<h1 style="color: #000066;">
<span style="font-size: 100%;">Extinction of the Expert</span></h1>
<h2 style="color: #000066;">
<span style="font-size: 100%;">How the knowledge economy is changing the innovation game.</span></h2>
<div style="color: #000066;">
By <cite>Denise Gershbein</cite></div>
<div style="color: #000066;">
The age of the expert is over. Information is flowing at such an everyone, everywhere, everything, all-the-time pace that participation in the knowledge economy is no longer optional, or a value-add. It’s compulsory. And it offers an identity crisis for those individuals and companies who call themselves experts, leaders, innovators, and problem solvers. </div>
<div style="color: #000066; font-weight: bold;">
In the knowledge economy, you can’t achieve expert or lead status just by having a compelling idea, a creative design, or a body of experience to call upon, no matter what field you work in. Unfettered access to information means an expected participation in a larger number of domain verticals. Expectations for the quality of the idea are higher. </div>
<div style="color: #000066;">
But while individual participation and production across domains increases, the bandwidth of the individual to validate his or her ideas shrinks. Your idea or topic will always have a germ somewhere else, whether you know it or not. Audiences are smarter, more skeptical, and more judgmental. <span style="font-weight: bold;">Facts can be checked and disproved easily, and audiences can crowdsource a verdict quickly and summarily. </span></div>
<div style="color: #000066;">
Innovation is a neutral term: it simply means “new.” But new isn’t enough when the crowd can do better. Today, the question of innovation and achieving it through cross-disciplinary collaboration and knowledge sharing is well beyond deep expertise or broad horizons. We’re beyond the lateral and the longitudinal, beyond the specialist or the generalist. <span style="font-weight: bold;">We’re also coming to understand that the crowdsourced collective isn’t the whole answer. </span>To paraphrase Malcolm Gladwell: You can’t crowdsource Shakespeare.</div>
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Convergence hasn’t delivered on its promise because it isn’t the solution: It’s only one step within a future-forward knowledge framework. <span style="font-weight: bold;">Innovation is achieved after disciplines come together, when their organizing principles, themes, and guiding premises overlay in transparency and there is a resulting exponential accretion of knowledge and possibility.</span></div>
<div style="color: #000066;">
The awakening to the power of our collective intelligence can be seen in the business media and the semantic gymnastics swirling around convergence, divergence, design thinking, innovation, and other catchwords. Convergence came on the scene when everyone figured out that there were other domains and verticals that needed to be considered in the practice of design; that there were other practices that could inform your own, other specialties to benefit from, shoulders of giants to be stood upon. Now, being “convergent” is like being multinational but not global. You’re on the big stage, but you haven’t achieved the statesmanship that comes with the full essence of understanding.</div>
<div style="color: #000066;">
This awakening is likely a good thing, but it also means that the idea of a powerful collective intelligence is in its nascency.<span style="font-weight: bold;"> People don’t quite get it yet. Everyone is straining for the holy grail of innovation, but if everything is new, then change just becomes the norm and everything becomes disposable instead of special. Nothing is truly innovative in the finest meaning of the word.</span></div>
<div style="color: #000066;">
Going forward, convergence must not be about the objects of design but about the process of creativity. Because of that it’s becoming harder to imagine a holistic, expert stance for an individual. True expertise and innovation increasingly depend on creativity and problem solving by community, or what we might call a “society of design.” </div>
<div style="color: #000066;">
Does this mean experts, creative directors, and gurus are going extinct? <span style="background-color: #ffffcc; font-weight: bold;">It does if they try to hold on to the fading notion that they’re the central repository of expert knowledge. The fact is, encyclopedic knowledge is in the crowd, and specialized knowledge will rest with the individual. The leaders and experts of tomorrow have to be either polymaths (deep multi-domain experts), curators (those who collect or collate different domains), polyglots (the overlay and meaning makers), or all three. </span></div>
<div style="color: #000066;">
<span style="font-weight: bold;">Even then, effective leadership won’t come simply by collecting numerous disciplines under one roof. Nor will it come by buying a company for the purpose of associating oneself with expertise.</span> True leaders and experts will have to support distributed knowledge networks by attracting polymaths, polyglots, and curators into their workforce, and by pursuing partnerships or collaborative consultancies externally. <span style="font-weight: bold;">Leadership, expertise, and innovation will come from those who rise up to facilitate and speak the lingua franca of all domains.</span></div>
<span style="font-size: 78%;"><a href="http://designmind.frogdesign.com/articles/motion/extinction-of-the-expert.html" target="_blank">http://designmind.frogdesign.<wbr></wbr>com/articles/motion/<wbr></wbr>extinction-of-the-expert.html</a></span></div>
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<span style="color: red; font-family: verdana;">We recently rebuilt the "Tangible Vision" of our company. This site is solely focused on remote team collaboration. Our view on the matter of strategy can be found at <a href="http://www.compass360consulting.com/">www.Compass360Consulting.com</a></span><span style="color: red;">.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: verdana;"><a href="http://www.compass360consulting.com/"></a></span><div class="blogger-post-footer">Copyright:2007 © Collaboration360 Consultants (C360).
Copying, posting and reproduction in any form (without prior consent) is an infridgement of copyright.
Any questions on Compass AE!? Please contact us at www.Collaboration360.com</div>Compass360 Consulting Grouphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14541160023041844298noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3681079422803813160.post-25082504989360440192009-10-25T05:55:00.000-07:002011-07-02T20:57:21.527-07:00The Way of Strategy (#25): Understanding the Innovation Game<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_sG9giPgBG9k/SuS2JdvHViI/AAAAAAAABrE/5MnveLiVafM/s1600-h/WikimediaCommons_Compass_%28drafting%29.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 240px; height: 320px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_sG9giPgBG9k/SuS2JdvHViI/AAAAAAAABrE/5MnveLiVafM/s320/WikimediaCommons_Compass_%28drafting%29.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5396638527214016034" border="0" /></a><br /><span style=";font-family:arial;font-size:100%;" >R</span><span style=";font-family:arial;font-size:100%;" >egardless of the features of any new innovations, there is always a minimum of one technical weakness within its scheme. In most cases, quality is rarely a part of any innovation scheme.<br /></span> <span style=";font-family:arial;font-size:100%;" ><br />By using our Compass AE process, we assessed this innovation with the following steps:<br /></span><ul><li><span style=";font-family:arial;font-size:100%;" >Identifying its approach in terms of </span><span style=";font-family:arial;font-size:100%;" >various strategic variables</span><span style=";font-family:arial;font-size:100%;" >;</span></li><li><span style=";font-family:arial;font-size:100%;" >Determining its tendencies through the collection of information</span><span style=";font-family:arial;font-size:100%;" >;</span></li><li><span style=";font-family:arial;font-size:100%;" >Evaluating the sequences of events through the use of those strategic variables; and (finally)</span></li><li><span style=";font-family:arial;font-size:100%;" >Analyzing the data reliability through "probable and possible" scenarios. ... </span><br /></li></ul><br />#<br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 102);">September 6, 2009</span><br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 102);">N.F.L. Preview</span><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 0, 102);">N.F.L. Looks to College Game for a New Plan of Attack</span><br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 102);">By JUDY BATTISTA</span> <span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 102);"><br /><br />It has been 10 years since the St. Louis Rams rode a fast and furious offense that resembled pinball on cleats — the Greatest Show on Turf — to a Super Bowl title.</span> <span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 102);">But that attack, which seemed to come out of nowhere along with quarterback Kurt Warner, was merely prologue to an explosion of innovation that is transforming the N.F.L.<br /><br />Conjured by coaches who borrow from the wide-open college game, new-look offenses have developed into something previously imagined by video gamers in their living rooms.</span> <span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 102);">Nearly every team now has a Wildcat package, the scheme that carried the Miami Dolphins to the playoffs last season by putting players in unexpected positions.<br /><br />And the spread offense floods the field, with receivers stretched from sideline to sideline, to such effect that Warner and the Arizona Cardinals used it about 85 percent of the time on their stunning run to the Super Bowl last season.</span> <span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 102);">On the horizon is the University of Florida’s star quarterback, Tim Tebow, who will enter the draft next year. He could open the door to what was once virtually unthinkable in the N.F.L.: a quarterback with the size and sturdiness of a linebacker who reads the defense and has the freedom to run as often as he passes in the college-style spread-option offense.</span> <span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 102);"><br /><br />In many ways, change has been forced on the N.F.L. because defenses are so fast and complex, and because fewer drop-back passers, fullbacks and blocking tight ends are being produced in a college game dominated by the spread.</span> <span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 102);">So it is little surprise that almost all N.F.L. teams occasionally use a four- or five-receiver offense, and that Florida Coach Urban Meyer, who has all but perfected the spread with the Gators after giving it prominence at Utah, has been asked for advice from at least four N.F.L. teams, including the New England Patriots.</span> <span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 102);">“I think it would have worked years ago,”<br /><br />Meyer said. “No one has had enough — I don’t want to say courage — no one has wanted to step across that line. Everyone runs the same offense in the N.F.L. A lot of those coaches are retreads. They get fired in Minnesota, they go to St. Louis. They get fired in St. Louis and go to San Diego. I guess what gets lost in the shuffle is your objective is to<span style="font-weight: bold;"> go win the game. If it’s going to help you win the game, then you should run the spread.”</span></span> <span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 102);"><br /><br />The resistance to the spread was based on a belief that no N.F.L. team would expose a quarterback to the pounding that might result with fewer blockers on the field. The Patriots, who rewrote the single-season record book in 2007, are the best N.F.L. team at the pass-heavy version of the spread precisely because quarterback Tom Brady gets rid of the ball so quickly, said Bruce Arians, the Pittsburgh Steelers’ offensive coordinator.</span> <span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 102);"><br /><br />The Dolphins went to the Wildcat to exploit a different advantage. They have two superb running backs, and they could be on the field at the same time.</span> <span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 102);">“You can’t sit back and do the same basic stuff, because both sides have to try to fool the other,” Warner said. “It’s guys in their little laboratory saying, <span style="font-weight: bold;">‘What’s the next big things we can pull out to fool people for three or four plays?’</span> ”</span><br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 102);">Many teams still use a form of the West Coast offense, which <span style="font-weight: bold;">stresses methodical movement down the field</span>. But the tipping point for the offensive revolution might already have occurred.</span> <span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 102);">When the former Tampa Bay Buccaneers coach Jon Gruden attended his son’s high school football tournament, only one school of 77 used a traditional center-to-quarterback snap. The others were in the shotgun, running the spread-option offense. Those are the players who feed into the college game, where even traditional running teams like Texas and Oklahoma have switched to the spread after watching opponents with less talent become competitive with it.</span> <span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 102);"><br /><br />The new schemes force defenses <span style="font-weight: bold;">to honor all 11 players on offense</span>. Against traditional offenses, defenses do not account for the quarterback. But if the quarterback — or the player taking the snap in a Wildcat formation — is a threat to run, it removes the defense’s numbers advantage. When the offense is spread out, the running lanes widen and it is easier to spot blitzes. That holds the promise of more effectively attacking defenses like Dick LeBeau’s confusing zone blitz, which has propelled the Steelers to two Super Bowl titles in four years.</span><br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 102);">When Kansas City Chiefs Coach Todd Haley was with the Jets earlier this decade and with Arizona last season, he said <span style="font-weight: bold;">the teams deployed the spread against opponents they thought could manhandle them because forcing a defensive player to line up wide neutralizes his ability to overwhelm an offensive lineman.</span></span><span style="font-weight: bold;"> </span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 102);"><span style="font-weight: bold;">And with the defense easier to see when spread out, quarterbacks tend to make fewer mistakes.</span><br /><br />Last season, the interception rate dipped below one per team per game for the first time since such statistics were first kept in 1932, even though teams have passed more in the last 20 years.</span> <span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 102);">But the new offenses have also created problems for coaches. Quarterbacks are no longer schooled in the traditional drop-back model that is still the N.F.L. standard personified by Brady and Peyton Manning. It means quarterback coaches must teach rudimentary skills like how to take a snap from directly under the center or even run a huddle. This may eventually force teams to pluck college backups with little playing experience from programs that still run traditional offenses — a risky draft strategy.</span><br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 102);">“As coaches, we have to find ways to use what we have, and we have to do it fast,” said the Dolphins’ offensive coordinator, Dan Henning. “They don’t give you a five-year program. What are you going to do, live and die until you get a franchise quarterback? Nobody wants that, because they don’t want to pick him No. 1 because they don’t want to pay them.”</span> <span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 102);"><br /><br />This season, more teams seem to be trying to adapt elements of their offenses to their players’ talents. The Dolphins drafted Pat White, the former West Virginia quarterback, who is widely expected to run a fuller Wildcat package this year. In Minnesota, the former Florida receiver Percy Harvin will probably be deployed at a number of positions. And in Philadelphia, the Eagles signed Michael Vick — once the highest-paid player in the N.F.L. because he could deploy designed runs to such devastating effect — to run a specialized package of plays.</span> <span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 102);">Still, as tantalizing as the Wildcat is, it is likely to<span style="font-weight: bold;"> remain a curveball</span> more than a regular part of the offense.</span> <span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 102);">“I’m not a fan of putting a $100 million quarterback on the bench or at wide receiver, where they can take a cheap shot at him,” Arians said.</span> <span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 102);"><span style="font-weight: bold;">The threat of injury is probably what will keep the college-style spread option from migrating en masse to the N.F.L., </span>the way the passing iteration of the spread has. In 2006, Vick occasionally ran something similar: He was reading the defense and either running himself, handing the ball off or passing. He surpassed 1,000 yards rushing that season, averaging 8.4 yards a carry.</span> <span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 102);">At 6 feet 3 inches and 245 pounds, Tebow is a physical marvel who Gil Brandt, a former personnel executive with the Dallas Cowboys, thinks will be a top-10 draft pick next spring.<br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-size:100%;" ><span style="font-family:verdana;">/// There is a risk for each objective and every approach. The general objective for most ultra class professionals is to maximize their opportunities while minimizing the risks.</span></span><br /><br />But for an N.F.L. team to make the spread option its full-time offense, it would need several quarterbacks who can do what Tebow does. Even trickier, <span style="font-weight: bold;">it would need players who are built to take the hits he does. Otherwise, one injury means the entire offense must change.</span></span><span style="font-weight: bold;"> </span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 102);">“You’re not going to be running your $18 million quarterback in the option,” said Jeff Jagodzinski, the recently fired offensive coordinator for Tampa Bay who saw plenty of the spread option as Boston College’s head coach.<br /><br /></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family:verdana;">/// All that </span><span style="font-family:verdana;">glitter is </span><span style="font-family:verdana;">not gold.</span><span style="font-family:verdana;"> What factor is one </span><span style="font-family:verdana;">willing </span><span style="font-family:verdana;">to compromise when using something new and innovative?</span></span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 102);"><br /><br />“That would be a tough one to explain to the owner.”</span> <span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 102);">Perhaps, then, Tebow will represent the end of this thread of innovation. Even fans of the spread wonder if it could someday go the way of the wishbone and the run and shoot, earlier offensive incarnations that defenses eventually caught up to.<br /><br />Then someone will have to go back to the laboratory to dream up the next big thing.</span> <span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 102);">Warner will be retired by then, but he will be watching.</span> <span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 102);">“I love the innovation,” he said. “Better than 3 yards and a cloud of dust.”</span><br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 102);">Pete Thamel contributed reporting.</span><br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 102);">Copyright 2009 The New York Times Company</span> <span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 102);"><br /><span style="font-size:78%;">http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/06/sports/football/06offense.html?ref=sports<br /><br /></span></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-weight: bold;font-family:verdana;" ><br /></span><span style="font-family:verdana;">/// *** Innovation is a good idea when one has the time and the resources to experiment with it.</span><span style="font-weight: bold;font-family:verdana;" ><br /><br />Applying the Spread Offense in Business </span><br /></span><span style=";font-family:verdana;font-size:100%;" >In business, a "spread offense" approach works when the strategist is able to create technical mismatches within the opposition's defensive scheme. We discovered that it does always not work for </span><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family:verdana;">those who have limited resources. If the mismatch does not work, the scheme will fail. One's supply of resources diminishes.<br /><br />Whenever the difference maker (the principal implementer) is detached from the setting, the secondary option usually does not have the same experience and skills of the starter.<br /><br />Lesson: It is not cost efficient for the strategist to sacrifice their difference maker in chaotic situations.<br /><br /><br /><span style="font-size:85%;">Sidebar: Regardless of the state of the settings, we professionally prefer the application of methodical movement in our strategic implementation. It creates a level of stability within the client grand settings.</span><br /></span></span><div class="blogger-post-footer">Copyright:2007 © Collaboration360 Consultants (C360).
Copying, posting and reproduction in any form (without prior consent) is an infridgement of copyright.
Any questions on Compass AE!? Please contact us at www.Collaboration360.com</div>Compass360 Consulting Grouphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14541160023041844298noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3681079422803813160.post-36172389806083372992009-10-25T04:38:00.001-07:002009-11-03T17:37:43.582-08:00The Way of Strategy (#24): Knowing the Grand Settings (2)<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_sG9giPgBG9k/SuSY2b66ErI/AAAAAAAABq8/JyBPr3Auz5k/s1600-h/compass_pocket.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 317px; height: 320px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_sG9giPgBG9k/SuSY2b66ErI/AAAAAAAABq8/JyBPr3Auz5k/s320/compass_pocket.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5396606314471887538" border="0" /></a><span style="font-family:verdana;"><br /></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family:verdana;">"Know the challenge, know yourself; your success will never be threatened. Know your settings, know the external changes, your success will always be absolute." - Art of War</span></span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">Whenever one enters into a new competitive setting, knowing the rules and the dimensions of the terrain are the first few steps. Understand the strategic leverage of your team</span><span style="font-family:verdana;">. Determining their </span><span style="font-family:verdana;">strengths and weaknesses. Then matching the attributes to the terrain. Those are the </span><span style="font-family:verdana;">first few steps of a good Compass strategy. ...</span><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_sG9giPgBG9k/SuST7Fb4emI/AAAAAAAABqs/ch5acEtXnFA/s1600-h/trigonometry_compass.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 246px; height: 217px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_sG9giPgBG9k/SuST7Fb4emI/AAAAAAAABqs/ch5acEtXnFA/s400/trigonometry_compass.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5396600896777386594" border="0" /></a><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">We recently were talking to an associate who used some parts of our process in his projects. He explained the following business situation. </span><br /><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family:times new roman;"><br /></span></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 102);font-family:times new roman;" >"We have a mechanical engineer consultant who just has designed the physical box that our module unit will go into. It will be attached to the dashboard that I'm responsible for. He doesn't have an actual dashboard, but he has all the mechanical drawings from the daskboard designer. ... The management presumed that the mechanical engineer did not need any more </span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 102);font-family:times new roman;" >information. He sent me a prototype. We tried to install it and the device did not meet our requirements. ... As you constantly mentioned to us, that people usually performs well, are given a tangible representation of what is required of them. <span style="font-weight: bold;">... ( Sidebar: Defining the end in mind is the most difficult challenge in defining the strategy. Proper strategic assessment and planning areis the other most difficult things to do.) ... </span> </span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 102);font-family:times new roman;" >*I* think what we should have done was to send him an actual dashboard and let him see for himself (not photos) on how it actually works.</span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 102);"> ... </span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 102);font-family:times new roman;" >Management is beginning to come around to see the wisdom of assessing the compass of their situation before doing anything else.</span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 102);"> ..."</span><br /><br /></span><span style=";font-family:verdana;font-size:100%;" >Strategic Assessment is about understanding the compass of one's grand settings. It is not about assumption or guessing. Depending on the quality of the data and the experience of the Compass strategist, he/she can predict the outcome. <br /><br />Our preferred approach is to operate with tangible data from every strategic stakeholders. ...<br /></span><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">Assumptions usually have a tendency of wasting time and money. </span><span style="font-family:verdana;">One cannot tell someone to design a three-dimensional object with two dimensional data. </span><div class="im"><span style=";font-family:verdana;font-size:100%;" ><br /></span></div><span style=";font-family:verdana;font-size:100%;" >One cannot advise inexperienced outcome-driven management (who has no grand picture or any strategic experience on proper logistics and protocol), on the proper strategic management approach until they understand that quality takes time. Poor quality specifics (requirements to process) usually create extended time line and higher operating costs.<br /><br /></span><span style="font-weight: bold;font-family:verdana;font-size:100%;" ><span style="font-size:130%;">"There is no time to do it right. There is always time to fix it. ...</span></span><span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">"</span></span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">When project managers or strategists do not properly build a grand picture that focuses on the agreed "end in mind.", </span><span style="font-family:verdana;">time, effort and money are wasted. It is a lesson that </span><span style=";font-family:verdana;font-size:100%;" >most inexperienced outcome-driven management will never understand.<br /></span><span style=";font-family:verdana;font-size:100%;" ><br />Conclusively, strategic experience results.<br /></span><div class="blogger-post-footer">Copyright:2007 © Collaboration360 Consultants (C360).
Copying, posting and reproduction in any form (without prior consent) is an infridgement of copyright.
Any questions on Compass AE!? Please contact us at www.Collaboration360.com</div>Compass360 Consulting Grouphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14541160023041844298noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3681079422803813160.post-51395713117492908992009-10-23T04:38:00.000-07:002009-10-23T04:38:00.774-07:00The Way of Strategy (#23): Knowing the Grand Settings<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_sG9giPgBG9k/StQunwV51SI/AAAAAAAABqE/2c84cpzZ8VE/s1600-h/phone_off_hook_ars.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 300px; height: 169px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_sG9giPgBG9k/StQunwV51SI/AAAAAAAABqE/2c84cpzZ8VE/s400/phone_off_hook_ars.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5391985914395874594" border="0" /></a><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">"Know the enemy, know yourself; your victory will never be endangered. Know the ground, know the weather; your victory will then be total." - Art of War</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">Knowing the rules of the competition is one of the first few steps of game strategy. ...<br /><br />The quality of one's leverage determines whether the opposition will attempt to utilize the rules against you. If they can't use those rules, they find a way to change it.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">In business competition, the act of fairness does not exist. It is a deceptive belief that most naive and innocent businessmen and women get lured into.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">One should always know the rules and the history of the arena that he/she is competing in.</span><br /><br />#<br />September 25, 2009, 6:58 pm<br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">AT&T Says Google Voice Violates Net Neutrality Principles</span><br />By Saul Hansell<br />Policy and Law<br /><br />AT&T is playing a “gotcha” with Google. The big phone company filed a letter with the Federal Communications Commission Friday saying the Google Voice calling system violates the commission’s network neutrality principles.<br /><br />At issue is Google’s decision not to connect Google Voice customers to certain conference calling and other lines because of what it says are excessive access charges by the providers of those lines. AT&T, which is required to connect its telephones to all lines, says Google is discriminating against certain uses of its network, a no-no in the network neutrality world.<br /><br />Google, meanwhile, says it doesn’t have to follow the same rules AT&T does.<br /><br />Whether AT&T is right depends on all sorts of technical interpretations of the commission’s policies and which regulations actually apply to Google Voice, which is a technological patchwork of telephone calling and Internet communication.<br /><br />But that really isn’t AT&T’s primary concern. The company is mainly trying to score some debating points and show that sometimes companies have good reason to treat some uses of their networks differently than others. (If you do want to get into the policy minutiae, start with this post from the public-interest telecom lawyer Harold Feld .)<br /><br />What AT&T and Google agree on is that the system for exchanging payments between phone companies for completing long-distance calls is deeply flawed. I looked into this last year, when Kevin Martin, then the F.C.C. chairman, wanted to reform what is called intercarrier compensation. After a week trying to understand those rules, I ran away screaming. Our long-distance system is so topsy-turvy that it makes the Mad Hatter’s tea party look like drill time at West Point.<br /><br />But to simplify it as much as possible: When your long-distance company connects your call to a telephone served by a different company, it pays a fee to terminate the call. This fee can range from almost nothing to as much as 7 cents a minute. The difference is set by a number of factors, including state regulatory regimes. In most cases, those access charges far exceed the actual cost of completing a long-distance call, and every telephone user pays higher bills because of these charges.<br /><br />So why do these charges exist? Originally, they were to subsidize service in sparsely populated areas, and they are still defended by the largely rural phone companies that benefit from them, many of which have allies in Congress. (Those phone companies get a number of other subsidies, too.)<br /><br />Meanwhile, some enterprising phone companies, aided by local regulators, have taken to encouraging entrepreneurs to set up businesses that attract lots of inbound calls. Those include the free conference calling services, free fax lines and telephone pornography. The phone companies rebate some of the high call termination fees they receive to the companies running these services.<br /><br />Maybe the commission will decide that Google, since it is turning into a telephone company, will need to connect to those lines and pay the fees. Maybe it will agree with Google’s argument that its services are different enough to be exempt from the rules AT&T follows. But consumers would benefit most if the commission used this as another prod to do the difficult work of bringing some rationality to the way that long-distance calling is priced.<br /><br /><span style="font-size:78%;"><span style="font-family:verdana;">http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/09/25/att-says-google-voice-violates-net-neutrality-principles/?hpw</span></span><br />#<div class="blogger-post-footer">Copyright:2007 © Collaboration360 Consultants (C360).
Copying, posting and reproduction in any form (without prior consent) is an infridgement of copyright.
Any questions on Compass AE!? Please contact us at www.Collaboration360.com</div>Compass360 Consulting Grouphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14541160023041844298noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3681079422803813160.post-41213229528430862132009-10-21T04:38:00.000-07:002009-11-21T01:36:50.106-08:00The Way of Strategy (#22): The Basics of Strategic Assessment<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_sG9giPgBG9k/St7B9AdEdnI/AAAAAAAABqk/_TyETmmlzyc/s1600-h/20070904compass.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 265px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_sG9giPgBG9k/St7B9AdEdnI/AAAAAAAABqk/_TyETmmlzyc/s400/20070904compass.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5394962657474541170" border="0" /></a><span style="font-family:verdana;">Lately, we have been spending our time advising startups who are over focused on tactics, specific means and their set of technological methods. While they refused to recognize the risk and the consequences of not understanding the grand objective and connecting the proper tactical approach to it, these decision makers believe that "keeping it simple" and the use of a specific technology are the key to their business success.<br /><br />We also spent a great deal of time, trying to convince them in the importance of assessing the marketplace settings before building a tangible plan. The problem began when they began to believe that their intuitive feeling is greater than the need for intelligent data.<br /><br />Sidenote: </span><span style="font-family:verdana;">The beginning section of our future book will focus on the fundamentals of the grand picture and how to develop a tangible strategy from it.<br /><br /></span><span style="font-family:verdana;">Regardless of the marketplace, t</span><span style="font-family:verdana;">he general fundamentals for competing strategically are always the same:<br /></span><ul><li><span style="font-family:verdana;">Assessing the grand picture. </span></li><li><span style="font-family:verdana;">Positioning oneself with proper planning; and </span></li><li><span style="font-family:verdana;">Influencing through the implementation of direct and indirect methods.</span></li></ul><span style="font-family:verdana;">Living in an information-driven society does not always mean that people would always make the proper decision. Our resolution is to emphasize the message of understanding the grand picture before making a strategic decision.<br /><br /></span><span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);font-family:arial;font-size:85%;" ></span><span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);font-size:85%;" ><span style="font-family:arial;"><span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);"></span></span></span><div class="blogger-post-footer">Copyright:2007 © Collaboration360 Consultants (C360).
Copying, posting and reproduction in any form (without prior consent) is an infridgement of copyright.
Any questions on Compass AE!? Please contact us at www.Collaboration360.com</div>Compass360 Consulting Grouphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14541160023041844298noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3681079422803813160.post-49185619992455725202009-10-19T04:38:00.000-07:002009-10-19T11:36:25.869-07:00The Way of Strategy (#21b): Assessing the Grand Settings and Other Matters<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_sG9giPgBG9k/Stw2WEzjNEI/AAAAAAAABqU/R3BOFB9ksf8/s1600-h/compass.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 280px; height: 400px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_sG9giPgBG9k/Stw2WEzjNEI/AAAAAAAABqU/R3BOFB9ksf8/s400/compass.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5394246206557992002" border="0" /></a><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">The Raiders understood the compass of their circumstances. Not only were their past performance was flat, the team unity, the leadership and their execution game plan were in disorder. Economically, the Raiders have repeatedly been unable to sell out their seats. A team that does not win, is a failing team that is in chaos. The team is professionally considered to be the laughing stock in the NFL's terrain.<br /><br />After last week's slaughter against the NY Giants, the Raiders needed to change their grand modus operandi in order to regain their respect and retain fan interests.<br /><br />The Raiders defense coordinator somehow regained the control of his defense and properly decided on a different approach and set of plays that gave them a competitive advantage. The Eagles were not prepared for this change of scheme.<br /><br />Conclusively, the Raiders defeated the Eagles.<br /></span><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">Given the right situation, the true professionals will adjust their circumstance in order to survive. </span> <span style="font-family:verdana;">The classic professional sports adage is proven true again. "Any team can be beaten at any day, at any time. ..."</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">Whether the Raiders are able to maintain this new Compass view and the momentum is questionable, we will presume the Raiders are playing with the mindset of "... one game at a time".</span><br /><br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(204, 0, 0);font-family:verdana;" ></span>#<br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 102);font-family:times new roman;" >RAIDERS 13, EAGLES 9</span> <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 0, 102);font-family:times new roman;" ><br />Say hello to defense</span> <span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 102);font-family:times new roman;" ><br />Oakland blitz-fest yields 6 sacks, holds Philly to 3 FGs</span> <span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 102);font-family:times new roman;" ><br />David White, Chronicle Staff Writer</span> <span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 102);font-family:times new roman;" ><br />Monday, October 19, 2009</span> <span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 102);font-family:times new roman;" ><br />The Eagles didn't see it coming, and, frankly, who did outside the Raiders' inner workings?</span><br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 102);font-family:times new roman;" ><br />Philadelphia came into the Coliseum with three wins going on four. The Raiders crawled in with four losses going on their usual 11 or 12.<br /><br />If the Giants could hang 44 points on Oakland the previous Sunday, imagine the potential numbers with the second-ranked scoring offense coming to bat.</span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 102);"> </span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 102);font-family:times new roman;" >"They saw the Giants did what they did last week, so they're coming in thinking they'd really have a day," Raiders cornerback Stanford Routt said. "That's just human nature."</span> <span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 102);font-family:times new roman;" >Here's what wasn't natural Sunday: <span style="font-weight: bold;">the Raiders' defense blitzing and blitzing more, then playing zone coverage and more zone coverage,</span> not letting up until a 13-9 victory was won Sunday.</span><br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 102);font-family:times new roman;" >The defense kept the Eagles out of the end zone and thoroughly confused, just in time to keep the season from being irretrievably lost.</span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 102);"> </span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 102);font-family:times new roman;" ><span style="font-weight: bold;">"They were able to come up with a scheme we haven't seen,"</span> Eagles quarterback Donovan McNabb said after a 22-for-46 showing. <span style="font-weight: bold;">"They dropped back in more zone than we've seen in the early games. They came up with more of a blitz package."</span></span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 102); font-weight: bold;"> </span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 102);font-family:times new roman;" ><span style="font-weight: bold;">In short, the Raiders threw in their entire kitchen-sink package, and they needed every bit of it. </span><br /><br />The no-octane offense scored but 13 points. That was enough to beat the lousy Chiefs in Week 2. It shouldn't have been enough to beat the high-flying Eagles.</span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 102);"> </span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 102);font-family:times new roman;" >But, it did. The Raiders' defense saw to that.</span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 102);"> </span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 102);font-family:times new roman;" >"I'm sure they thought we were sorry and didn't want to play," defensive end Trevor Scott said.</span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 102);"> </span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 102);font-family:times new roman;" >They would have been wrong, on every count.</span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 102);"> </span><span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 0, 102);font-family:times new roman;" >The Raiders blitzed the linebackers and safeties from the first series to the last. They sacked McNabb six times for 53 yards, then hit him another eight times for good measure.</span><br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 102);font-family:times new roman;" >Defensive end Richard Seymour had two sacks and three hits. Backup defensive end Trevor Scott had two sacks and two hits. Outside linebacker Thomas Howard got his first sack of the season, but it just as easily could have gone to middle linebacker Kirk Morrison on the double blitz.</span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 102);"> </span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 102);font-family:times new roman;" >To a man, members of the Eagles' offense said they had no idea the Raiders had this in them.</span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 102);"> </span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 102); font-weight: bold;font-family:times new roman;" >The Raiders' defense got off the field with five three-and-outs. It stopped the Eagles short on 14 of 16 third downs. It allowed but six plays inside the red zone.</span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 102);"> </span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 102);font-family:times new roman;" >"If you sit back there and let the quarterback look over the defense for about three to four seconds, he's gonna kill you," defensive tackle Tommy Kelly said. <span style="font-weight: bold;">"We knew we had to pressure him."</span></span><br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 102);font-family:times new roman;" >The Raiders always say that, though. Only now have they gone to drastic measures. <span style="font-weight: bold;">Why they haven't tried this blitzing-zone stuff sooner, no one knows, but it worked wonderfully against the Eagles - if only for the element of surprise.</span></span><br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 102);font-family:times new roman;" >"It was a shock," Eagles right tackle Winston Justice said, "They caught us by surprise."</span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 102);"> </span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 102);font-family:times new roman;" >Right guard Max Jean-Gilles said they weren't "prepared." <span style="font-weight: bold;">Eagles coach Andy Reid said they were "outcoached."</span> Eagles defensive end Chris Clemons, a former Raider, said nothing at all. He declined comment.</span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 102);"> </span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 102);font-family:times new roman;" >"I don't know what to say," Eagles cornerback Asante Samuel said. "They gave it to us."</span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 102);"> </span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 102);font-family:times new roman;" >That, they did, and they didn't even need much help from the lowest-scoring teammates in the NFL.</span> <span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 102);font-family:times new roman;" ><br /><br /></span><span style="color: rgb(204, 0, 0);font-family:verdana;" ><span style="font-weight: bold;">Cardinal Rule: </span> The ultra class professionals are always prepared to have contingencies of what the opposition could do. (One should never underestimate the opposition).</span><br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 102);font-family:times new roman;" ><br /></span><span style="color: rgb(204, 0, 0);font-family:verdana;" ><span style="font-weight: bold;">Cardinal Rule: </span>If the opposition's offense is not scoring, the team has a chance to win. Offense thrills. But it is the defense that wins the game.</span><br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 102);font-family:times new roman;" >The offense chipped in one play of note: tight end Zach Miller's 86-yard touchdown catch with two downfield blocks from receiver Louis Murphy.</span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 102);"> </span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 102);font-family:times new roman;" >Everything else simply was killing the clock. Quarterback JaMarcus Russell managed the game with 17-for-28 passing for 224 yards. Running back Justin Fargas kept drives alive with 23 carries for 87 yards.</span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 102);"> </span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 102);font-family:times new roman;" ><br /><br />For a day, it was all the defense needed.</span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 102);"> </span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 102);font-family:times new roman;" >"We looked at the film last week and knew that we didn't show up to play," Seymour said. "We got embarrassed. We just said, 'Hey, let's come out this week.' If we all put it together, then we could do something good."</span><br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 102);font-size:85%;" ><span style="font-family:times new roman;">E-mail David White at dwhite@sfchronicle.com.<br /></span><span style="font-family:times new roman;">http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/10/19/SPKJ1A7GSG.DTL</span> <span style="font-family:times new roman;"><br />This article appeared on page B - 1 of the San Francisco Chronicle</span></span><br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 102);">#<br /><br /></span><span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 0, 102);font-family:times new roman;" >Raiders overpower Eagles 13-9</span> <span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 102);font-family:times new roman;" ><br />By JOSH DUBOW, AP Sports Writer</span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 102);"> </span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 102);font-family:times new roman;" >Sunday, October 18, 2009</span><br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 102);font-family:times new roman;" >(10-18) 18:23 PDT Oakland, Calif. (AP) --</span><br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 102);font-family:times new roman;" >Louis Murphy sprinted upfield and laid out a defender with a punishing block. Not satisfied, he caught up to the play again and delivered a second block that allowed Zach Miller to cruise into the end zone on an 86-yard catch-and-run.</span> <span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 102);font-family:times new roman;" ><br /><br />For an offense criticized for lacking big plays, intensity and leadership, a rookie receiver gave the Oakland Raiders all three in one play that answered the skeptics.</span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 102);"> </span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 102);font-family:times new roman;" >Miller scored the only touchdown of the game, Justin Fargas helped control the clock by rushing for 87 physical yards and Oakland's defense harassed Donovan McNabb all day in a 13-9 victory over the Philadelphia Eagles on Sunday.<br /><br /></span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 102);"> </span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 102);font-family:times new roman;" >"We went out and threw a fight on somebody and said, 'Enough. Let's play,'" coach Tom Cable said. "That's all you can say. There's no magic words or anything like that."</span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 102);"> <span style="font-weight: bold;"> </span></span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 102); font-weight: bold;font-family:times new roman;" >It was a major turnaround from the last three weeks when the Raiders (2-4) lost by at least 20 points for the first time in franchise history, capped by a 44-7 loss to the Giants last week.</span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 102);"> </span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 102);font-family:times new roman;" >After that game, New York linebacker Antonio Pierce said it felt like playing a scrimmage.<br /><br />Those comments were posted in the Raiders' locker room this week and the team responded to the critics in impressive fashion.</span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 102);"> </span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 102);font-family:times new roman;" >"That gave me extra fuel," Murphy said. "You have to look yourself in the mirror and man up. His comments were true. We played flat. We didn't play with any emotion. This game was totally different. We took those comments to heart."</span> <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 0, 102);font-family:times new roman;" ><br /><br />The key Sunday was the Oakland defense. Coordinator John Marshall mixed in more zone coverages and blitzes than usual to combat a high-powered Philadelphia offense that was averaging the second-most points in the league.</span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 102);"> </span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 102);font-family:times new roman;" >The Eagles abandoned the run early, only had Michael Vick on the field for two plays, allowed six sacks and were the first team in three years to fail to score a touchdown against the Raiders.</span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 102);"> </span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 102);font-family:times new roman;" >"They were able to get home and hit our quarterback," coach Andy Reid said. <span style="font-weight: bold;">"When we did have opportunities we didn't take advantage of opportunities."</span></span><br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 102);font-family:times new roman;" >Philadelphia's last chance ended when McNabb underthrew DeSean Jackson on fourth-and-4 from the Oakland 44 with 2:14 remaining.</span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 102);"> </span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 102);font-family:times new roman;" >"I'm sure they watched the Giants game and thought we were sorry," Scott said. "But all week coach Cable talked about <span style="font-weight: bold;">persevering and forget the past and move forward so we can get to where we want to go.</span>"<br /></span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 102);"><br /></span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 102);font-size:78%;" ><span style="font-family:times new roman;">http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2009/10/18/sports/s161606D22.DTL</span></span><div class="blogger-post-footer">Copyright:2007 © Collaboration360 Consultants (C360).
Copying, posting and reproduction in any form (without prior consent) is an infridgement of copyright.
Any questions on Compass AE!? Please contact us at www.Collaboration360.com</div>Compass360 Consulting Grouphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14541160023041844298noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3681079422803813160.post-38108777861747075002009-10-15T04:38:00.000-07:002009-10-19T02:40:01.449-07:00The Way of Strategy (#21): Assessing the Grand Settings and Other Matters<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_sG9giPgBG9k/Stgu5qVI68I/AAAAAAAABqM/Y1BTUJoWe7U/s1600-h/2009+Compass-600px.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_sG9giPgBG9k/Stgu5qVI68I/AAAAAAAABqM/Y1BTUJoWe7U/s400/2009+Compass-600px.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5393112121926544322" border="0" /></a><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Compass Team Strategy Rules</span><br /></span><ul><li> <span style="font-family:verdana;">A team that masters the fundamentals first, has the option to implement great strategic moves with ease. (A top Taiji player used to remind me that one who masters the small moves, will be able to make the big moves.) </span><br /></li></ul><span style="font-family:verdana;"></span><ul><li><span style="font-family:verdana;"> </span><span style="font-family:verdana;">A team that operates together, must have the same access to all relevant information.</span><br /></li></ul><br /> <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 0, 102);">[ The day after ]</span><br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 102);">So what are we left to think after the 49ers' 45-10 head slap by the Falcons? The loss seemed most stunning to the 49ers themselves and particularly to head coach Mike Singletary. In his postgame news conference, Singletary said he never expected the blowout and he believed his team had established a standard that would have made such shattering losses no longer possible.</span><br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 102);">The 49ers firmly believed they were the better team going into Sunday's game. That's why Singletary showed his players a clip of the American relay team from the Beijing Olympics. Viewed as far more talented than the rest of the field, the relay team faltered because they dropped the baton. Singletary's message was to remember to execute the small details.</span><br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 102);">Mike Singletary's coaching powers will now be tested.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">The 49ers never got to the small details because they were overwhelmed by the big details of the Falcons superior offense, defense and special teams.</span><br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 102);">So instead of getting a new standard established as a solidly good team in the NFL, what Singletary might have done in his first four games is lift the team up by his Herculean acts of motivation, discipline and hard work. It's possible that the immensely rigorous training camp made the players believe they had been forged into a better team.</span><br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 102);">That might be true, but what's also true is that they're the same group that went 7-9 last season and they are still adjusting to another new offensive coordinator.</span><br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 102);">The Falcons proved to be far more agile in the preparation. <span style="font-weight: bold;">Over their bye week, the Falcons ditched their defensive identity as a zone team and installed a blitzing, man coverage scheme. </span>Even though they were unfamiliar with such a style they pulled it off magnificently and flummoxed the 49ers as a result. That's quite a feat for a team in only their second year under head coach Mike Smith and with five new starters on defense.</span><br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 102);">Part of the switch in tactics included playing a five-man, two-linebacker, four-linemen defense against the 49ers predominate use of their twin tight-end offense. The 49ers never seemed to get comfortable with that adjustment, particularly tight end Vernon Davis, who reverted back to his old ways of tentative route running.</span><br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 102); font-weight: bold;">The one not startled by the switch was quarterback Shaun Hill. Like a couple of research nerds in white lab coats, Hill and fellow quarterback Alex Smith scoured video from the 2008 Falcons searching for changes the Falcons might adopt during their bye week. They discovered that Atlanta at times blitzed and played man coverage last season, and Hill and Smith figured they would try it again.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 0, 102);">The problem is Hill knew it, but the rest of his offense didn't and a quarterback can only do so much if the rest of his offense was unprepared.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 0, 102);">From that standpoint the 49ers were clearly and thoroughly out-coached.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 0, 102);">So what the 49ers may have discovered is that there are limits to the Singletary philosophy of just playing basic football and allowing the other team to make a mistake. If the other team is talented and if they throw something completely different at the 49ers, they can knock San Francisco out of their comfort zone and the stunning results were all there, exposed in the soft autumnal light of a glaring 45-10 loss.</span><br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 102);font-size:78%;" >http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/blogs/ninerinsider/detail?&entry_id=49389</span><br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-family:verdana;font-size:100%;" >Lesson: A team that focuses on mastering the basics, will always lose to a team who mastered the basics many months ago.</span><br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-family:verdana;font-size:100%;" >Lesson: In a high risk and high reward scenario, one cannot </span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-family:verdana;font-size:100%;" >continuously </span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-family:verdana;font-size:100%;" >live off the same set of plays. The world class competitor must always be prepared for that day where he or she must adjust to a scenario where the opposition knows their modus operandi (i.e., the strategic approach, the plays, the adjustments, etc.) In a life and death scenario, the competitor must either evolve or perish</span>.<br /><br />#<br /><span style="font-family:verdana;"><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">If a certain fan base is paying their professional sport team many millions of dollars per year for the privilege of watching their team perform professionally and efficiently, should that team have spend more time and effort, properly preparing for the game?</span> ... Is that how a professional should operate?</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">A world class professional is the expert who knows the compass of their grand settings by having a comprehensive understanding of the basics, the technicalities and the cycles. He or she also knows how their competitive arena is being affected by the other parts of the globe.</span><br /><br /><span style=";font-family:verdana;font-size:100%;" >The world class professional is someone who is always focusing on the now, while being mindfully aware what could happen next.</span><br /><br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 102);">#<br /><br />Tuesday, October 13, 2009 (SF Chronicle)</span><br /><span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 0, 102);">Singletary says 49ers must prepare better</span><br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 102);">John Crumpacker, Chronicle Staff Writer</span><br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 102);"> (10-12) 18:37 PDT -- If the 49ers looked unprepared in Sunday's didn't-see-it-coming blowout loss to Atlanta, it's because they were. So said coach Mike Singletary.</span><br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 102);"> "We learned that preparation is everything," Singletary said after absorbing the worst defeat of his nascent coaching career. "Yesterday ... on the defensive side of the ball, I felt they (the Falcons) had a good game plan and we had a difficult time getting on track. The preparation on</span><br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 102);">our behalf, starting with me, was not good. Just did not do a good job overall."</span><br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 102);"> Singletary suggested changes in the lineup might be in the offing, probably at right guard where second-year player Chilo Rachal has struggled in pass protection. The 49ers have this week to tinker before returning to play at Houston on Oct. 25, when running back Frank Gore</span><br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 102);">should be back and wide receiver Michael Crabtree likely will be active for his first NFL game.</span><br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 102);"> The coach said deficiencies on the offensive line contributed to Shaun Hill having his worst game as a starting quarterback. Hill completed 15 of 38 passes for 198 yards, was sacked three times and had one pass intercepted for a passer rating of 45.7.</span><br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 102);"> "Overall, the inconsistency in terms of the blitz pickups caused him to get rid of the ball prematurely," Singletary said. "It was more a case of some of the offensive-line breakdowns in pass protection. We will address that this week, next week. We may have to make some changes there."</span><br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 102);"> </span><br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 102);"> Asked if one of those changes could be at right guard, the coach said, "Quite possibly."</span><br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 102);"> The 49ers would have several options if that's the case. They could install versatile backup Tony Wragge at right guard and leave Adam Snyder and Tony Pashos alternating at right tackle. Or they could start Pashos at right tackle and move Snyder to right guard, where he has started six games in his career.</span><br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 102);"> During this bye week, Singletary said his task is to evaluate the 53-man roster to determine "whatever changes we need to make, we make them now. That's the most important thing."</span><br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 102);">----------------------------------------------------------------------</span><br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 102);font-size:78%;" >http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2009/10/13/SPGP1A4IRV.DTL</span><br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 102);">---------------------------------------------------------------------</span><div class="blogger-post-footer">Copyright:2007 © Collaboration360 Consultants (C360).
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Please contact us at www.Collaboration360.com</div>Compass360 Consulting Grouphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14541160023041844298noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3681079422803813160.post-45660755518568335412009-10-14T17:55:00.000-07:002011-05-05T01:40:18.186-07:00The Way of Strategy (#20): Always Assess Your Opposition<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" style="font-family: arial;" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_sG9giPgBG9k/StQdHq6HcYI/AAAAAAAABpk/xJW7VSzKq7A/s1600-h/bigstockphoto_Leadership_798680.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 369px; height: 200px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_sG9giPgBG9k/StQdHq6HcYI/AAAAAAAABpk/xJW7VSzKq7A/s400/bigstockphoto_Leadership_798680.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5391966671483662722" border="0" /></a><br /><span style="font-family: arial;font-family:verdana;" >Compass 1st Rule of Competition: Assess, Position and Influence<br /></span><br /><span style="font-family: arial;font-family:verdana;" ><span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Cardinal Rule</span> </span>of Competition: Stay focused on your grand objective during the competition.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: arial;font-family:arial;" >One who loses their emotional balance, usually </span><span style="font-family: arial;font-family:arial;" >become so engaged to the micro-event, that he/she </span><span style="font-family: arial;font-family:arial;" >surrenders their focus of the grand objective. <br /><br />A leader should never lose their cool especially <a style="font-weight: bold;" href="http://www.mercurynews.com/ci_13541632">in the field of competition</a>. There is no excuse.</span><br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 153); font-family: arial;font-size:85%;" ><span style="font-size:100%;"><br /><br /></span></span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 153); font-family: arial;" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_sG9giPgBG9k/StQpusXvKFI/AAAAAAAABp8/cSAdouzmNEA/s1600-h/leadership_penguines.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 288px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_sG9giPgBG9k/StQpusXvKFI/AAAAAAAABp8/cSAdouzmNEA/s400/leadership_penguines.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5391980536030767186" border="0" /></a><br /><span style="font-family: arial;font-size:85%;" ><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 153);"> </span><span style="font-weight: bold;">#</span><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">49ers Post game</span><br /><br /></span></span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" style="font-family: arial;" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_sG9giPgBG9k/StQla5duKeI/AAAAAAAABp0/zJ1cfduolmE/s1600-h/img-strategic-leadership+%28pawn%29.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 302px; height: 308px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_sG9giPgBG9k/StQla5duKeI/AAAAAAAABp0/zJ1cfduolmE/s400/img-strategic-leadership+%28pawn%29.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5391975797901634018" border="0" /></a><br /><span style="font-family: arial;font-family:verdana;" >/// A competitor who does not stay focused on the grand picture, is usually the one who is being pawned.</span><br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 102); font-family: arial;font-size:100%;" >This game had everything, including a nice shouting match between Mike Singletary and the acknowledged dirtiest player in the league, Falcons guard and former 49er, Harvey Dahl. Dahl completely got into everyone's head including the head coach.<br /><br />"I wish I had better coaching ediquette," Singletary said. "I have to get better at that. ... It was the heat of the moment."<br /><br />Dahl also drew a personal foul from Takeo Spikes at the end of the game. <span style="font-weight: bold;">He was living rent free in the 49ers' heads.</span><br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">/// Once the opposition has misdirected you from the game, you are being pawned. </span><br /><br />"I expected a little bit of it," said 49ers linebacker Manny Lawson, who knew Dahl when Dahl was a practice squad player. "But nothing like that."<br /><br />Others downplayed the Dahl factor, with a very somber Shaun Hill saying, "That's part of the game."<br /><br />Spikes attributed the loss to this. "Whatever could have gone wrong, went wrong, times two," Spikes said. That included a Michael Turner fumble in the first half that was kicked right to a Falcon.<br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;font-size:100%;" ><br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;font-size:85%;" ><span style="font-size:78%;">http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/blogs/ninerinsider/detail?&entry_id=49354</span><br /><span style="font-size:78%;">http://nfl.fanhouse.com/2009/10/11/fiery-mike-singletary-shouts-at-falcons-harvey-dahl-apologizes/</span><br /></span><br /><span style="font-family: arial;"></span><br /><span style="font-family: arial;font-family:verdana;" >If the San Francisco Niners coaching staff properly assessed their opposition, they would have realized that a specific element of the opposition was going to play dirty. They should have been prepared for this worst case scenario. Click <a style="font-weight: bold;" href="http://www.cbssports.com/nfl/story/11793612">here</a> for a news item on the mindgamer who got into Singletary's head.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: arial;">#</span><br /><br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 102); font-family: arial;"> </span><br /><br /><br /><span style="font-family: arial; font-weight: bold;">Compass View</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: arial;font-family:verdana;" >Point #1: Assess your opposition properly and carefully.<br /><br />Point #2: </span><span style="font-family: arial;font-family:verdana;" >Plan your gameplan to exploit their strengths and weaknesses<br /><br />Point #3: Plan and prepare for best and worst case scenarios.<br />* Ensure your contingency </span><span style="font-family: arial;font-family:verdana;" >plays are in your script. (We presuming that you have one. Do you?)</span><span style="font-family: arial;font-family:verdana;" ><br /><br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;font-family:verdana;" >Point #4: Consciously know what you are planning for.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: arial;font-family:verdana;" >Point #5: Prepare your team on your contingency moves for all </span><span style="font-family: arial;font-family:verdana;" >best and worst case scenarios. </span><br /><span style="font-family: arial;font-family:verdana;" ><br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;font-family:verdana;" >Point #6: Never ever let a negative event stay in your head for more than a micro moment. Remember to keep your eye on the current event while being mindfully aware of the rest of the game. Avoid the emotional negativity. </span><br /><span style="font-family: arial;font-family:verdana;" ><br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;font-family:verdana;" >Point #7: It takes a coolhead to win a hot game</span><span style="font-family: arial;">.</span><span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0); font-family: arial;font-size:85%;" ><span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);"><br /></span></span><div class="blogger-post-footer">Copyright:2007 © Collaboration360 Consultants (C360).
Copying, posting and reproduction in any form (without prior consent) is an infridgement of copyright.
Any questions on Compass AE!? Please contact us at www.Collaboration360.com</div>Compass360 Consulting Grouphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14541160023041844298noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3681079422803813160.post-63850037256674414742009-10-13T04:38:00.000-07:002009-10-14T12:35:40.178-07:00The Way of Strategy (#19): Intelligence Gathering<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_sG9giPgBG9k/StFVPzcTHoI/AAAAAAAABpc/7s69Qj7rPMM/s1600-h/Cyber-Assess+%28Four+Views%29.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 341px; height: 276px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_sG9giPgBG9k/StFVPzcTHoI/AAAAAAAABpc/7s69Qj7rPMM/s400/Cyber-Assess+%28Four+Views%29.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5391183958934494850" border="0" /></a><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">To succeed in an information-driven society, companies are constantly gathering and analyzing </span><span style="font-family:verdana;"> intelligence on the consumer </span><span style="font-family:verdana;">every cyber second.<br /><br />Why is it important?</span><br /><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-family:arial;"><br />"Those who do not know the positive and the negative conditions of their marketing terrains, cannot properly conduct their marketing and sales operations efficiently; ...Those who do not possess the latest customer data, are unable to obtain the advantages of the terrain." --- Paraphrased from the Art of War 7</span></span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">Q: How do you secure this type of intelligence?<br />A: Start by understanding the grand picture. One assesses the grand picture by understanding the obvious and non-obvious factors.<br /><br /><br />Our questions to you:<br /></span><ul><li><span style="font-family:verdana;">Do you know what is your grand picture? </span></li><li><span style="font-family:verdana;">Do you know how to assess the business intelligence of your grand picture? </span></li></ul><span style="font-family:verdana;">Until you answer those questions, you will be struggling in the middle of the pack. If you want to talk about about a better alternative, please contact us at service [aatt] collaboration360 [dott]com<br /></span><br />#<br /><span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 0, 102);">As Google and Microsoft vie, Twitter could turn tweets into dollars</span><br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 102);">Sharon Gaudin, Computerworld</span><br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 102);">Thursday, October 8, 2009</span> <span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 102);">(10-08) 14:57 PDT --<br /><br />With Google and Microsoft both looking to ink a deal with Twitter for its real-time data, the microblogging company could have finally found a way to turn tweets into dollars.</span> <span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 102);">At the same time, the titans of tech may have found a way to boost their real-time search efforts in the midst of their raging search war .</span> <span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 102);"><br /><br />The intense rivals are in separate talks with the new online darling Twitter to set up their own data-mining deals , says a report from The Wall Street Journal 's AllThingsD Web site.<br /><br />The "advanced talks" are said to be over licensing deals that would allow them to integrate real-time Twitter feeds with their search engines, Google's search and Microsoft's Bing.</span><br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 102);">None of the three companies would respond to requests for information about the reported negotiations.</span> <span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 102);">AllThingsD reported today that the individual deals could mean upfront payments worth several million dollars, or involve revenue-sharing plans.</span> <span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 102);"><br /><br />"Ah, this could be a way for Twitter to make some money , and maybe more than just a little money," said Dan Olds, an analyst with The Gabriel Consulting Co.</span> <span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 102);"><br /><br />"It finally means a business model for Twitter, or at least the beginnings of one. And, of course, it means real revenue, which is very important. Not just in licensing revenue from Google or Microsoft, but also in potentially getting a piece of the action on an ongoing basis. So there could be considerable upside here for Twitter,"<br /><br />Olds said.</span> <span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 102);">Industry watchers have been waiting not so patiently for Twitter to come up with a business plan and actually start making some real money.</span> <span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 102);">Twitter co-founder Biz Stone has said for months that the company has wanted to focus on building features into the site before worrying about the business end of things.</span> <span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 102);">If either, or both, of these deals go ahead, they would solve some big income issues for Twitter.</span> <span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 102);"><br /><br />"The data is valuable," said Ezra Gottheil, an analyst at Technology Business Research Inc. "It allows the search engines to front-end Twitter. And it also clues them in to what people on the Web are talking about."</span> <span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 102);">"What people are now twittering about is what people are now interested in...," Gottheil said.<br /><br />"So the engines could include tweets as indexed content, either through an option, a separate search page, or a search window."</span> <span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 102);">Gottheil said he doubts that either Google or Microsoft would allow the other to have the only license with Twitter.<br /><br />If one deal goes through, the other would most likely follow, he said. In the ongoing battle for supremacy , neither company would want the other to gain a real-time search advantage .</span> <span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 102);">"<br /><br />For Microsoft and Google, it's more ammunition they can use to beat the hell out of each other," said Olds.<br /><br />"It's probably more important for Microsoft to secure a deal than Google, but I would expect that there will be deals with both of them..."</span> <span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 102);">"The hype around Twitter currently has it being considered to be one of the very best ways to gauge what people are talking about and what they're interested in.<br /><br />This is a direct benefit from Twitter becoming so large. It's the value of a huge user-footprint," Olds said.</span> <span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 102);"><br /><br />Original story - <span style="font-size:78%;">www.computerworld.com/s/article/9139168/As_Google_and_Microsoft_vie_Twitter_could_turn_tweets_into_dollars</span></span><br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 102);font-size:78%;" >Copyright (c) 2009, IDG News Service.<br />All rights reserved. IDG News Service is a trademark of International Data Group, Inc.</span><br /><span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 0, 102);font-size:78%;" ><br />http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/g/a/2009/10/08/urnidgns852573C40069388000257649007801FA.DTL</span><br />#<div class="blogger-post-footer">Copyright:2007 © Collaboration360 Consultants (C360).
Copying, posting and reproduction in any form (without prior consent) is an infridgement of copyright.
Any questions on Compass AE!? Please contact us at www.Collaboration360.com</div>Compass360 Consulting Grouphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14541160023041844298noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3681079422803813160.post-74108247558141756722009-10-08T04:38:00.000-07:002009-10-08T04:38:00.214-07:00The Way of Strategy (#18): How to Be An Expert<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_sG9giPgBG9k/Ssr6BxWe18I/AAAAAAAABpU/QGepiE8zJjA/s1600-h/414px-Musashi_ts_pic.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 276px; height: 400px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_sG9giPgBG9k/Ssr6BxWe18I/AAAAAAAABpU/QGepiE8zJjA/s400/414px-Musashi_ts_pic.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5389394812436666306" border="0" /></a><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">From A Book of Five Rings (Go </span><span style="font-family: verdana;" class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0">Rin</span><span style="font-family: verdana;"> No </span><span style="font-family: verdana;" class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_1">Sho</span><span style="font-family: verdana;">)</span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">Written by </span><span style="font-family: verdana;" class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_2">Miyamoto</span><span style="font-family: verdana;"> </span><span style="font-family: verdana;" class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_3">Musashi</span><span style="font-family: verdana;"> Translated by Victor Harris</span><br /><ul style="font-family: verdana;"><li>Do not think dishonestly. </li><li>The Way is in training. </li><li>Become acquainted<span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_4"></span> with every art. </li><li>Know the Ways of all professions. </li><li>Distinguish between gain and loss in worldly matters. </li><li>Develop intuitive judgment and understanding for everything. </li><li>Perceive those things which cannot be seen. </li><li>Pay attention even to trifles. </li><li>Do nothing which is of no use. </li></ul><span style="font-family: verdana;">You can find more information on the Five Rings at </span><a style="font-weight: bold; font-family: verdana;" href="http://www.samurai.com/5rings/">Samurai.com</a><span style="font-family: verdana;">.</span><div class="blogger-post-footer">Copyright:2007 © Collaboration360 Consultants (C360).
Copying, posting and reproduction in any form (without prior consent) is an infridgement of copyright.
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Please contact us at www.Collaboration360.com</div>Compass360 Consulting Grouphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14541160023041844298noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3681079422803813160.post-70921606492650756762009-10-03T04:38:00.000-07:002009-10-03T04:38:00.229-07:00The Way of Strategy (17): What Makes An Expert (2)<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_sG9giPgBG9k/SsUaej32BYI/AAAAAAAABpM/xYCwH82o3m0/s1600-h/EveryoneIsAnExpertBySethGodin+v2.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 350px; height: 300px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_sG9giPgBG9k/SsUaej32BYI/AAAAAAAABpM/xYCwH82o3m0/s400/EveryoneIsAnExpertBySethGodin+v2.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5387741641546532226" border="0" /></a><br />A continuation of the topic "The Expert"<br /><br /><br />#<br /><br /><div id="header"> <img src="http://www.scientificamerican.com/assets/img/interface/logo.gif" alt="SciAm.com logo" /> </div> <div style="color: rgb(0, 0, 102);" id="headline"> <p> July 24, 2006</p> <h1><span style="font-size:100%;">The Expert Mind</span></h1> <h2><span style="font-size:100%;">Studies of the mental processes of chess grandmasters have revealed clues to how people become experts in other fields as well</span></h2> <p> By Philip E. Ross</p></div><div style="color: rgb(0, 0, 102);" id="content"><!--/end advertise--> A man walks along the inside of a circle of chess tables, glancing at each for two or three seconds before making his move. On the outer rim, dozens of amateurs sit pondering their replies until he completes the circuit. The year is 1909, the man is Jose Raul Capablanca of Cuba, and the result is a whitewash: 28 wins in as many games. The exhibition was part of a tour in which Capablanca won 168 games in a row. <p>How did he play so well, so quickly? And how far ahead could he calculate under such constraints? "I see only one move ahead," Capablanca is said to have answered, "but it is always the correct one." </p><p>He thus put in a nutshell what a century of psychological research has subsequently established: much of the chess master's advantage over the novice derives from the first few seconds of thought. This rapid, knowledge-guided perception, sometimes called apperception, can be seen in experts in other fields as well. Just as a master can recall all the moves in a game he has played, so can an accomplished musician often reconstruct the score to a sonata heard just once. And just as the chess master often finds the best move in a flash, an expert physician can sometimes make an accurate diagnosis within moments of laying eyes on a patient. </p><p>But how do the experts in these various subjects acquire their extraordinary skills? How much can be credited to innate talent and how much to intensive training? Psychologists have sought answers in studies of chess masters. The collected results of a century of such research have led to new theories explaining how the mind organizes and retrieves information. What is more, this research may have important implications for educators. Perhaps the same techniques used by chess players to hone their skills could be applied in the classroom to teach reading, writing and arithmetic. </p><p> <b>The <i>Drosophila</i> of Cognitive Science</b><br />The history of human expertise begins with hunting, a skill that was crucial to the survival of our early ancestors. The mature hunter knows not only where the lion has been; he can also infer where it will go. Tracking skill increases, as repeated studies show, from childhood onward, rising in "a linear relationship, all the way out to the mid-30s, when it tops out," says John Bock, an anthropologist at California State University, Fullerton. It takes less time to train a brain surgeon. </p><p> </p><hr noshade="noshade" size="1"> <b><i>The preponderance of psychological evidence indicates that experts are made, not born. </i></b> <hr noshade="noshade" size="1"> <p>Without a demonstrably immense superiority in skill over the novice, there can be no true experts, only laypeople with imposing credentials. Such, alas, are all too common. Rigorous studies in the past two decades have shown that professional stock pickers invest no more successfully than amateurs, that noted connoisseurs distinguish wines hardly better than yokels, and that highly credentialed psychiatric therapists help patients no more than colleagues with less advanced degrees. And even when expertise undoubtedly exists--as in, say, teaching or business management--it is often hard to measure, let alone explain. </p><p>Skill at chess, however, can be measured, broken into components, subjected to laboratory experiments and readily observed in its natural environment, the tournament hall. It is for those reasons that chess has served as the greatest single test bed for theories of thinking--the "<i>Drosophila</i> of cognitive science," as it has been called. </p><p> The measurement of chess skill has been taken further than similar attempts with any other game, sport or competitive activity. Statistical formulas weigh a player's recent results over older ones and discount successes according to the strength of one's opponents. The results are ratings that predict the outcomes of games with remarkable reliability. If player A outrates player B by 200 points, then A will on average beat B 75 percent of the time. This prediction holds true whether the players are top-ranked or merely ordinary. Garry Kasparov, the Russian grandmaster who has a rating of 2812, will win 75 percent of his games against the 100th-ranked grandmaster, Jan Timman of the Netherlands, who has a rating of 2616. Similarly, a U.S. tournament player rated 1200 (about the median) will win 75 percent of the time against someone rated 1000 (about the 40th percentile). <span style="font-weight: bold;">Ratings allow psychologists to assess expertise by performance rather than reputation and to track changes in a given player's skill over the course of his or her career. </span></p><p> Another reason why cognitive scientists chose chess as their model--and not billiards, say, or bridge--is the game's reputation as, in German poet Johann Wolfgang von Goethe's words, "the touchstone of the intellect." The feats of chess masters have long been ascribed to nearly magical mental powers. This magic shines brightest in the so-called blindfold games in which the players are not allowed to see the board. In 1894 French psychologist Alfred Binet, the co-inventor of the first intelligence test, asked chess masters to describe how they played such games. <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 0, 102);">He began with the hypothesis that they achieved an almost photographic image of the board, but he soon concluded that the visualization was much more abstract. Rather than seeing the knight's mane or the grain of the wood from which it is made, the master calls up only a general knowledge of where the piece stands in relation to other elements of the position. It is the same kind of implicit knowledge that the commuter has of the stops on a subway line. </span></p><p>The blindfolded master supplements such knowledge with details of the game at hand as well as with recollections of salient aspects of past games. Let us say he has somehow forgotten the precise position of a pawn. He can find it, as it were, by considering the stereotyped strategy of the opening--a well-studied phase of the game with a relatively limited number of options. Or he can remember the logic behind one of his earlier moves--say, by reasoning: "I could not capture his bishop two moves ago; therefore, that pawn must have been standing in the way...." He does not have to remember every detail at all times, because<span style="font-weight: bold;"> <span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 102);">he can reconstruct any particular detail whenever he wishes by tapping a well-organized system of connections</span>. </span></p><p>Of course, if the possession of such intricately structured knowledge explains not only success at blindfold play but also other abilities of chess masters, such as calculation and planning, then expertise in the game would depend not so much on innate abilities as on specialized training. Dutch psychologist Adriaan de Groot, himself a chess master, confirmed this notion in 1938, when he took advantage of the staging of a great international tournament in Holland to compare average and strong players with the world's leading grandmasters. One way he did so was to ask the players to describe their thoughts as they examined a position taken from a tournament game. He found that although experts--the class just below master--did analyze considerably more possibilities than the very weak players, there was little further increase in analysis as playing strength rose to the master and grandmaster levels. <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 0, 102);">The better players did not examine more possibilities, only better ones</span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 102);">--</span>just as Capablanca had claimed. </p><p>Recent research has shown that de Groot's findings reflected in part the nature of his chosen test positions. A position in which extensive, accurate calculation is critical will allow the grandmasters to show their stuff, as it were, and they will then search more deeply along the branching tree of possible moves than the amateur can hope to do. So, too, experienced physicists may on occasion examine more possibilities than physics students do. Yet in both cases, the expert relies not so much on an intrinsically stronger power of analysis as on a store of structured knowledge. When confronted with a difficult position, a weaker player may calculate for half an hour, often looking many moves ahead, yet miss the right continuation, whereas a grandmaster sees the move immediately, without consciously analyzing anything at all. </p><p>De Groot also had his subjects examine a position for a limited period and then try to reconstruct it from memory. Performance at this task tracked game-playing strength all the way from novice to grandmaster. Beginners could not recall more than a very few details of the position, even after having examined it for 30 seconds, whereas grandmasters could usually get it perfectly, even if they had perused it for only a few seconds. This difference tracks a particular form of memory, specific to the kind of chess positions that commonly occur in play. The specific memory must be the result of training, because grandmasters do no better than others in general tests of memory. </p><p> Similar results have been demonstrated in bridge players (who can remember cards played in many games), computer programmers (who can reconstruct masses of computer code) and musicians (who can recall long snatches of music). Indeed, such a memory for the subject matter of a particular field is a standard test for the existence of expertise. </p><p>The conclusion that experts rely more on structured knowledge than on analysis is supported by a rare case study of an initially weak chess player, identified only by the initials D.H., who over the course of nine years rose to become one of Canada's leading masters by 1987. Neil Charness, professor of psychology at Florida State University, showed that despite the increase in the player's strength, <span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 102); font-weight: bold;">he analyzed chess positions no more extensively than he had earlier, relying instead on a vastly improved knowledge of chess positions and associated strategies. </span></p><p> <b>Chunking Theory</b><br />In the 1960s Herbert A. Simon and William Chase, both at Carnegie Mellon University, tried to get a better understand-ing of expert memory by studying its limitations. Picking up where de Groot left off, they asked players of various strengths to reconstruct chess positions that had been artificially devised--that is, with the pieces placed randomly on the board--rather than reached as the result of master play. The correlation between game-playing strength and the accuracy of the players' recall was much weak-er with the random positions than with the authentic ones. </p><p>Chess memory was thus shown to be even more specific than it had seemed, being tuned not merely to the game itself but to typical chess positions. These experiments corroborated earlier studies that had demonstrated convincingly that ability in one area tends not to transfer to another. American psychologist Edward Thorndike first noted this lack of transference over a century ago, when he showed that the study of Latin, for instance, did not improve command of English and that geometric proofs do not teach the use of logic in daily life. </p><p>Simon explained the masters' relative weakness in reconstructing artificial chess positions with a model based on meaningful patterns called chunks. He invoked the concept to explain how chess masters can manipulate vast amounts of stored information, a task that would seem to strain the working memory. Psychologist George Miller of Princeton University famously estimated the limits of working memory--the scratch pad of the mind--in a 1956 paper entitled<span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 102); font-weight: bold;"> "The Magical Number Seven, Plus or Minus Two." Miller showed that people can contemplate only five to nine items at a time. By packing hierarchies of information into chunks, Simon argued, chess masters could get around this limitation, because by using this method, they could access five to nine chunks rather than the same number of smaller details. </span></p><p>Take the sentence "Mary had a little lamb." The number of information chunks in this sentence depends on one's knowledge of the poem and the English language. For most native speakers of English, the sentence is part of a much larger chunk, the familiar poem. For someone who knows English but not the poem, the sentence is a single, self-contained chunk. <span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 102); font-weight: bold;">For someone who has memorized the words but not their meaning, the sentence is five chunks, and it is 18 chunks for someone who knows the letters but not the words. </span></p><p>In the context of chess, the same differences can be seen between novices and grandmasters. To a beginner, a position with 20 chessmen on the board may contain far more than 20 chunks of information, because the pieces can be placed in so many configurations. A grandmaster, however, may see one part of the position as "fianchettoed bishop in the castled kingside," together with a "blockaded king's-Indian-style pawn chain," and thereby cram the entire position into perhaps five or six chunks. By measuring the time it takes to commit a new chunk to memory and the number of hours a player must study chess before reaching grandmaster strength, Simon estimated that a typical grandmaster has access to roughly 50,000 to 100,000 chunks of chess information. A grandmaster can retrieve any of these chunks from memory simply by looking at a chess position, in the same way that most native English speakers can recite the poem "Mary had a little lamb" after hearing just the first few words. </p><p> Even so, there were difficulties with chunking theory. It could not fully explain some aspects of memory, such as the ability of experts to perform their feats while being distracted (a favorite tactic in the study of memory). K. Anders Ericsson of Florida State University and Charness argued that there must be some other mechanism that enables experts to employ long-term memory as if it, too, were a scratch pad. Says Ericsson: "The mere demonstration that highly skilled players can play at almost their normal strength under blindfold conditions is almost impossible for chunking theory to explain because you have to know the position, then you have to explore it in your memory." Such manipulation involves changing the stored chunks, at least in some ways, a task that may be likened to reciting "Mary had a little lamb" backward. It can be done, but not easily, and certainly not without many false starts and errors. Yet grandmaster games played quickly and under blindfold conditions tend to be of surprisingly high quality. </p><p>Ericsson also cites studies of physicians who clearly put information into long-term memory and take it out again in ways that enable them to make diagnoses. Perhaps Ericsson's most homely example, though, comes from reading. In a 1995 study he and Walter Kintsch of the University of Colorado found that interrupting highly proficient readers hardly slowed their reentry to a text; in the end, they lost only a few seconds. The researchers explained these findings by recourse to a structure they called long-term working memory, an almost oxymoronic coinage because it assigns to long-term memory the one thing that had always been defined as incompatible with it: thinking. But brain-imaging studies done in 2001 at the University of Konstanz in Germany provide support for the theory by showing that expert chess players activate long-term memory much more than novices do. </p><p>Fernand Gobet of Brunel University in London champions a rival theory, devised with Simon in the late 1990s. It extends the idea of chunks by invoking highly characteristic and very large patterns consisting of perhaps a dozen chess pieces. Such a template, as they call it, would have a number of slots into which the master could plug such variables as a pawn or a bishop. A template might exist, say, for the concept of "the isolated queen's-pawn position from the Nimzo-Indian Defense," and a master might change a slot by reclassifying it as the same position "minus the dark-squared bishops." To resort again to the poetic analogy, it would be a bit like memorizing a riff on "Mary had a little lamb" by substituting rhyming equivalents at certain slots, such as "Larry" for "Mary," "pool" for "school" and so on. Anyone who knows the original template should be able to fix the altered one in memory in a trice. </p><p> <b>A Proliferation of Prodigies</b><br />The one thing that all expertise theorists agree on is that it takes enormous effort to build these structures in the mind. Simon coined a psychological law of his own, the 10-year rule, which states that it takes approximately a decade of heavy labor to master any field. Even child prodigies, such as Gauss in mathematics, Mozart in music and Bobby Fischer in chess, must have made an equivalent effort, perhaps by starting earlier and working harder than others. </p><p>According to this view, the proliferation of chess prodigies in recent years merely reflects the advent of computer-based training methods that let children study far more master games and to play far more frequently against master-strength programs than their forerunners could typically manage. Fischer made a sensation when he achieved the grandmaster title at age 15, in 1958; today's record-holder, Sergey Karjakin of Ukraine, earned it at 12 years, seven months. </p><p>Ericsson argues that what matters is not experience per se but "effortful study," which entails continually tackling challenges that lie just beyond one's competence. That is why it is possible for enthusiasts to spend tens of thousands of hours playing chess or golf or a musical instrument without ever advancing beyond the amateur level and why a properly trained student can overtake them in a relatively short time. It is interesting to note that time spent playing chess, even in tournaments, appears to contribute less than such study to a player's progress; the main training value of such games is to point up weaknesses for future study. </p><p> Even the novice engages in effortful study at first, which is why beginners so often improve rapidly in playing golf, say, or in driving a car. But having reached an acceptable performance--for instance, keeping up with one's golf buddies or passing a driver's exam--most people relax. Their performance then becomes automatic and therefore impervious to further improvement. In contrast, experts-in-training keep the lid of their mind's box open all the time, so that they can inspect, criticize and augment its contents and thereby approach the standard set by leaders in their fields. </p><p>Meanwhile the standards denoting expertise grow ever more challenging. High school runners manage the four-minute mile; conservatory students play pieces once attempted only by virtuosi. Yet it is chess, again, that offers the most convincing comparison over time. John Nunn, a British mathematician who is also a grandmaster, recently used a computer to help him compare the errors committed in all the games in two international tournaments, one held in 1911, the other in 1993. The modern players played far more accurately. Nunn then examined all the games of one player in 1911 who scored in the middle of the pack and concluded that his rating today would be no better than 2100, hundreds of points below the grandmaster level--"and that was on a good day and with a following wind." The very best old-time masters were considerably stronger but still well below the level of today's leaders. </p><p>Then again, Capablanca and his contemporaries had neither computers nor game databases. They had to work things out for themselves, as did Bach, Mozart and Beethoven, and if they fall below today's masters in technique,<span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 102); font-weight: bold;"> they tower above them in creative power</span>. The same comparison can be made between Newton and the typical newly minted Ph.D. in physics. </p><p>At this point, many skeptics will finally lose patience. Surely, they will say, it takes more to get to Carnegie Hall than practice, practice, practice. Yet this belief in the importance of innate talent, strongest perhaps among the experts themselves and their trainers, is strangely lacking in hard evidence to substantiate it. In 2002 Gobet conducted a study of British chess players ranging from amateurs to grandmasters and found no connection at all between their playing strengths and their visual-spatial abilities, as measured by shape-memory tests. Other researchers have found that the abilities of professional handicappers to predict the results of horse races did not correlate at all with their mathematical abilities. </p><p>Although nobody has yet been able to predict who will become a great expert in any field, a notable experiment has shown the possibility of deliberately creating one. L¿szl¿ Polg¿r, an educator in Hungary, homeschooled his three daughters in chess, assigning as much as six hours of work a day, producing one international master and two grandmasters--the strongest chess-playing siblings in history. The youngest Polg¿r, 30-year-old Judit, is now ranked 14th in the world. </p><p>The Polg¿r experiment proved two things: that grandmasters can be reared and that women can be grandmasters. It is no coincidence that the incidence of chess prodigies multiplied after L¿szl¿ Polg¿r published a book on chess education. The number of musical prodigies underwent a similar increase after Mozart's father did the equivalent two centuries earlier. </p><p>Thus, motivation appears to be a more important factor than innate ability in the development of expertise. It is no accident that in music, chess and sports--all domains in which expertise is defined by competitive performance rather than academic credentialing--professionalism has been emerging at ever younger ages, under the ministrations of increasingly dedicated parents and even extended families. </p><p>Furthermore, success builds on success, because each accomplishment can strengthen a child's motivation. A 1999 study of professional soccer players from several countries showed that they were much more likely than the general population to have been born at a time of year that would have dictated their enrollment in youth soccer leagues at ages older than the average. In their early years, these children would have enjoyed a substantial advantage in size and strength when playing soccer with their teammates. Because the larger, more agile children would get more opportunities to handle the ball, they would score more often, and their success at the game would motivate them to become even better. </p><p> Teachers in sports, music and other fields tend to believe that talent matters and that they know it when they see it. In fact, they appear to be confusing ability with precocity. There is usually no way to tell, from a recital alone, whether a young violinist's extraordinary performance stems from innate ability or from years of Suzuki-style training. Capablanca, regarded to this day as the greatest "natural" chess player, boasted that he never studied the game. In fact, he flunked out of Columbia University in part because he spent so much time playing chess. His famously quick apprehension was a product of all his training, not a substitute for it. </p><p>The preponderance of psychological evidence indicates that experts are made, not born. What is more, the demonstrated ability to turn a child quickly into an expert--in chess, music and a host of other subjects--sets a clear challenge before the schools. Can educators find ways to encourage students to engage in the kind of effortful study that will improve their reading and math skills? Roland G. Fryer, Jr., an economist at Harvard University, has experimented with offering monetary rewards to motivate students in underperforming schools in New York City and Dallas. In one ongoing program in New York, for example, teachers test the students every three weeks and award small amounts--on the order of $10 or $20--to those who score well. The early results have been promising. Instead of perpetually pondering the question, "Why can't Johnny read?" perhaps educators should ask, <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 0, 102);">"Why should there be anything in the world he can't learn to do?" </span></p></div><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 102);font-size:78%;" >http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=the-expert-mind</span> #<div class="blogger-post-footer">Copyright:2007 © Collaboration360 Consultants (C360).
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Please contact us at www.Collaboration360.com</div>Compass360 Consulting Grouphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14541160023041844298noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3681079422803813160.post-44581985109658980172009-10-01T04:38:00.000-07:002009-10-01T14:10:58.060-07:00The Way of Strategy (16): Defining the Expert (Pt. 2)<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_sG9giPgBG9k/SsR3JWSCAhI/AAAAAAAABpE/WgfYI4RBGM8/s1600-h/Relax_im_the_expert_button-400x.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 400px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_sG9giPgBG9k/SsR3JWSCAhI/AAAAAAAABpE/WgfYI4RBGM8/s400/Relax_im_the_expert_button-400x.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5387562056725692946" border="0" /></a><span style="font-family:verdana;"><br />Following is another viewpoint on what makes a person "The Expert":</span><br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 102);" class="q" id="q_11814b7cc390a5d0_1"><span style="font-weight: bold;">#<br /><span style="font-size:100%;">Where Do Experts Come From?</span></span> <div> Posted November 26, 2007<br /><br /></div> <div>Don't get excited. This is not a geek version of the "Birds and the Bees" talk.</div> <div><br />I just finished reading another excellent scientific paper called <a href="http://scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?articleID=00010347-101C-14C1-8F9E83414B7F4945" target="_blank" onclick="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)">The Expert Mind</a>, which I discovered through one of <a href="http://codebetter.com/blogs/jean-paul_boodhoo/archive/2007/11/16/the-expert-mind.aspx" target="_blank" onclick="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)">Jean-Paul Boodhoo's posts</a>. The article examines the question of whether experts are born or made and offers some interesting insights into what it means to be an expert and the best ways to become one.</div> <div><br />As you probably guessed from my recent <a href="http://geekswithblogs.net/coredump/archive/2007/11/20/116982.aspx" target="_blank" onclick="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)">"Is that Juice On Your Face?"</a> post, I am fascinated by the question of competence and what leads some people to attain it while others, like the Juice Bank Robber, …well…er…don't attain it. <strong>I often marvel at how some developers who are relatively inexperienced and have only average intelligence are able to attain a high level of knowledge and expertise that surpasses battle-worn industry veterans and off-the-chart mensa types.</strong> This article not only attempts to explain this mystery, but it does so through one of<a href="http://geekswithblogs.net/coredump/archive/2007/09/29/115717.aspx" target="_blank" onclick="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)"><script><!-- D(["mb"," my favorite hobbies, Chess\u003c/a\u003e.\u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv\u003e\u003cimg src\u003d\"http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2308/2064376503_717f437d1c.jpg?v\u003d0\" align\u003d\"right\" hspace\u003d\"10\" vspace\u003d\"10\"\u003eIf you\u0026#39;ve ever seen exhibitions by Grand-Masters who\n play against scores of opponents simultaneously while blind-folded, it is easy to dismiss such people as talented freaks of nature with computer-like powers of analysis and photographic memories rather than view them as merely experts in their field who have trained themselves through long and intense study.\u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv\u003eHowever, recent studies show that chess masters have only average abilities when it comes to memory and visual-spatial analysis. For example, despite having almost perfect recall for board positions related to actual games, the recall of grand masters turned out to be no better than average players when the pieces were arranged randomly on the board in unrealistic scenarios.\u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv\u003eBased on evidence like this, the authors conclude that \u003cstrong\u003eexperts rely not so much on an intrinsically stronger power of analysis as on a store of structured knowledge, which takes an enormous amount of time and effort to attain.\u003c/strong\u003e What appears to make much more\n difference than experience or talent is what the authors call \u003cstrong\u003e\u0026quot;effortful study\u0026quot;, which entails continually tackling challenges that lie just beyond one\u0026#39;s competence.\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv\u003eIt turns out that what differentiates an expert from a novice isn\u0026#39;t that experts alone know how to engage in effortful study, but it is that experts continue to utilize this technique long after a novice stops.\u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv style\u003d\"margin-left:40px;font-family:Arial\"\u003eEven the novice engages in effortful study at first, which is why beginners so often improve rapidly in playing golf, say, or in driving a car. But having reached an acceptable performance–for instance, keeping up with one\u0026#39;s golf buddies or passing a driver\u0026#39;s exam–most people relax. Their performance then becomes automatic and therefore impervious to further improvement. In contrast, experts-in-training keep the lid of their mind\u0026#39;s box open all the time, so that they can inspect, criticize and augment its contents and\n thereby approach the standard set by leaders in their fields.",1] ); //--></script> my favorite hobbies, Chess</a>.</div> <div><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2308/2064376503_717f437d1c.jpg?v=0" vspace="10" align="right" hspace="10" />If you've ever seen exhibitions by Grand-Masters who play against scores of opponents simultaneously while blind-folded, it is easy to dismiss such people as talented freaks of nature with computer-like powers of analysis and photographic memories rather than view them as merely experts in their field who have trained themselves through long and intense study.</div> <div>However, recent studies show that chess masters have only average abilities when it comes to memory and visual-spatial analysis. For example, despite having almost perfect recall for board positions related to actual games, the recall of grand masters turned out to be no better than average players when the pieces were arranged randomly on the board in unrealistic scenarios.</div> <div>Based on evidence like this, the authors conclude that <strong>experts rely not so much on an intrinsically stronger power of analysis as on a store of structured knowledge, which takes an enormous amount of time and effort to attain.</strong> What appears to make much more difference than experience or talent is what the authors call <strong>"effortful study", which entails continually tackling challenges that lie just beyond one's competence.</strong></div> <div><br />It turns out that what differentiates an expert from a novice isn't that experts alone know how to engage in effortful study, but it is that experts continue to utilize this technique long after a novice stops.<br /><br />Even the novice engages in effortful study at first, which is why beginners so often improve rapidly in playing golf, say, or in driving a car. But having reached an acceptable performance–for instance, keeping up with one's golf buddies or passing a driver's exam–most people relax. Their performance then becomes automatic and therefore impervious to further improvement. In contrast, experts-in-training keep the lid of their mind's box open all the time, so that they can inspect, criticize and augment its contents and thereby approach the standard set by leaders in their fields.<br /></div><br /><div>Thus it appears that <strong>motivation is a more important factor than innate ability in the development of expertise.</strong> If you truly want to become an expert, then you have to resist the pull of complacency and constantly approach your field with the same passion, curiosity, and effortful study that you did when you first started.</div> <div><br />So if being an expert appeals to you (which it probably does if you're bothering to read professional blogs), then you have to start by asking yourself one question. Can you honestly say that you are still improving rapidly because you approach software development with "effortful study" or is your progress occurring at a snail's pace because you are stuck in that complacent stage?</div><br /><span style="font-size:78%;"><a href="http://www.caffeinatedcoder.com/where-do-experts-come-from/" target="_blank" onclick="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)">http://www.caffeinatedcoder.<wbr>com/where-do-experts-come-<wbr>from/</a></span></span><br /><br />#<br /><span style="font-size:78%;"></span><div class="blogger-post-footer">Copyright:2007 © Collaboration360 Consultants (C360).
Copying, posting and reproduction in any form (without prior consent) is an infridgement of copyright.
Any questions on Compass AE!? Please contact us at www.Collaboration360.com</div>Compass360 Consulting Grouphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14541160023041844298noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3681079422803813160.post-7358803186800727652009-09-28T04:38:00.000-07:002009-10-06T01:11:10.713-07:00The Way of Strategy (15): Our Definition of An Expert<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_sG9giPgBG9k/Srn5dn1yWTI/AAAAAAAABo0/Khbjis-UdZI/s1600-h/iStock_000006607900XSmall.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 347px; height: 346px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_sG9giPgBG9k/Srn5dn1yWTI/AAAAAAAABo0/Khbjis-UdZI/s400/iStock_000006607900XSmall.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5384609116804241714" border="0" /></a><span style="font-family:verdana;">Q: What is our definition of an expert?</span><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">A: Following is our list of attributes that makes an expert:</span><br /><ul style="font-family: verdana;"><li>Analytical</li><li>Astute</li><li>Clever</li><li>Comprehensive</li><li>Insightful</li><li>Logical</li><li>Master</li><li>Professional</li><li>Proficient</li><li>Reasoned</li><li>Skilled,</li><li>Specialist</li><li>Thoughtful</li><li>Accomplished</li><li>Polished.</li></ul><span style="font-family:verdana;">The road to becoming an expert is solitary, hard, brutish, and hardly ever short enough. </span><div class="blogger-post-footer">Copyright:2007 © Collaboration360 Consultants (C360).
Copying, posting and reproduction in any form (without prior consent) is an infridgement of copyright.
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Please contact us at www.Collaboration360.com</div>Compass360 Consulting Grouphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14541160023041844298noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3681079422803813160.post-17356160294081813712009-09-25T04:38:00.000-07:002009-10-06T01:12:02.286-07:00The Way of Strategy (14): Defining the Expert<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_sG9giPgBG9k/Srnb4w4bMPI/AAAAAAAABok/_7OSWfHM8Yg/s1600-h/Forrest+Gump+as+the+Expert-500wi.png"> <img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 307px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_sG9giPgBG9k/Srnb4w4bMPI/AAAAAAAABok/_7OSWfHM8Yg/s400/Forrest+Gump+as+the+Expert-500wi.png" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5384576597738860786" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">Q: What is the criterion that the news media used to deem certain people to be experts (and gurus)?</span><br /><br /><br />#<br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Honouring the Worthy (Tai Gong Six Teachings-Civil Teaching Chapter 9)</span><br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">King Wen asked Tai Gong:”Among those I rule, who should be elevated, who should be placed in inferior positions? Who should be selected for employment, who to cast aside? What affairs should be banned and what affairs need control?”</span><br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">Tai Gong said:”Elevate the worthy and place the unworthy in inferior positions. Choose the sincere and trustworthy, eliminate the deceptive and artful. Prohibit violence and chaos, stop extravagance and ease. Accordingly, one who exercises kingship over the people recognizes the ‘six hazards’ and ‘seven harms’.”</span><br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">King Wen said:“I would like to know more about them.”</span><br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">Tai Gong said:”For the ‘six hazards’:</span><br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">“First, if your subordinates build large palaces and mansions, pools and terraces and amble about enjoying the pleasures of scenery and female musicians, it will ‘injure’ the King’s virtue.”</span><br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">“Second, when the people are not engaged in agriculture and sericulture but instead give rein to their tempers and loitering about, disdaining and transgressing the laws and prohibitions, not following the instructions of the officials, it harms the King’s influence.”</span><br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">“Third, when officials form cliques and parties - obfuscating the worthy and wise, obstructing the ruler from feeling the pulse of the state - it ‘injures’ the King’s authority.”</span><br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">“Fourth, when scholars are contrary-minded and conspicuously display ‘high moral standards’ - taking such behavior to be powerful expression of their disposition - and have private relationships with other feudal lords - slighting their own ruler - it ‘injures’ the King’s awesomeness.”</span><br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">“Fifth, when subordinates disdain titles and positions, are contemptuous of the administrators, and are ashamed to face hardship for their ruler, it ‘injures’ the motivation of meritorious subordinates.”</span><br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">“Sixth, when the strong clans encroach on others - seizing what they want, insulting and ridiculing the poor and weak - it ‘injures’ the work of the common people.”</span><br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-weight: bold;">“The seven harms:”</span><br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-weight: bold;">“First, men without wisdom or strategic planning ability are generously rewarded and honored with rank. Therefore, the strong and courageous who regard war lightly take their chances in the battlefield. The King must be careful not to employ them as generals.”</span><br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-weight: bold;">“Second, they have reputation but lack substance. What they say and their stand is constantly changing. They conceal the good and spread the bad. They are always seeking short-cuts. The King should be careful not to make plans with them.”</span><br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-weight: bold;">“Third, they make their appearance simple, wear ugly clothes, spouting no regard for office in order to seek fame, and <span style="font-style: italic;">talk about non-desire in order to gain profit</span>. They are ‘fakes’ and the King should be careful not to bring them near.”</span><br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-weight: bold;">“Fourth, they wear strange caps and belts and their clothes are very elaborate. <span style="font-style: italic;">They listen widely to the disputations of others and speak speciously about unrealistic ideas, displaying them as a sort of personal adornment. They dwell in poverty and live in tranquility, deprecating the customs of the world. They are cunning people </span>and the King should be careful not to favor them.”</span><br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-weight: bold;">“Fifth, with slander, obsequiousness and pandering, they seek office and rank. <span style="font-style: italic;">They are reckless, treating death lightly, out of their greed for salary and positions. They are not concerned with major affairs but move solely out of avarice. With lofty talk and specious discussion, they please the ruler. </span>The King should be careful not to employ them.”</span><br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-weight: bold;">“Sixth, they have buildings elaborately carved and inlaid. <span style="font-style: italic;">They promote artifice and flowery adornment</span><span style="font-style: italic;">, in turn interrupting agriculture.</span> You must inhibit them.”</span><br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><span style="font-weight: bold;">“<span style="font-style: italic;">Seventh, they con people, practice sorcery and witchcraft, advance unorthodox ways and circulate inauspicious sayings, befuddling good people.</span></span><span style="font-style: italic;"> </span><span style="font-weight: bold;">The King must stop them.”</span></span><br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">“Now when the people do not give their best, they are not our people. If the officers are not sincere and trustworthy, they are not our officers. </span><br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><br />- Paraphrased from Dr. Sawyer translation of the Seven Military Classics of Ancient China</span><br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 102);">#</span><br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 102);">September 20, 2009</span><br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 102); font-weight: bold;">Seeing Yourself in Their Light</span><br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 102);">By ALLEN SALKIN</span><br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 102);">THE dream used to be different.</span><br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 102);">Four years ago, noon would have found Gabrielle Bernstein on her way to lunch at the Soho House with a potential client of the public relations agency she co-owned. By night, she was throwing back Patrón tequila at Cielo, the Coral Room or another of the downtown clubs she represented.</span><br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 102);">Her occupation has changed. Last Tuesday at noon, Ms. Bernstein, 29, was perched on a meditation blanket in a yoga studio on West 13th Street, easing into 45 minutes of silent contemplation.</span><br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 102);">That night in her apartment in Greenwich Village, she anointed her hands in fragrant oil and, using a mixture of phrases gleaned from self-help books, meditation exercises and inspirational music, led seven young women seated on saffron and red pillows through nearly two hours of spiritual life-coaching.</span><br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 102);">“Hang out in the light,” she told the women, all in their 20s and early 30s, quoting from her forthcoming book, “Add More -ing to Your Life.” “Take action once a day to do something that ignites your life.”</span><br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 102);">You could call Ms. Bernstein, who no longer eats red meat or drinks, a life coach, meditation guide or New Age therapist. But the clients who pay $180 for four weekly sessions are more likely to call her guru.</span><br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 102);">“A lot of women look up to her,” said Jennifer Fragleasso, 31, who joined Ms. Bernstein’s group in January. “We need this guidance and we are searching for this guidance.”</span><br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 102);">A decade ago, young women like Ms. Bernstein might have been expected to chase the lifestyle of high-heels and pink drinks at rooftop bars of the meatpacking district. But now there is a new role model for New York’s former Carrie Bradshaws — young women who are vegetarian, well versed in self-help and New Age spirituality, and who are finding a way to make a living preaching to eager audiences, mostly female.</span><br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 102);">Ms. Bernstein is one of a circle of such figures, influenced less by the oeuvre of Candace Bushnell than that of Marianne Williamson, the spiritual lecturer who wrote “A Return to Love: Reflections on the Principles of ‘A Course in Miracles,’” and by other books of pop self-actualization like “The Secret,” “Eat, Pray, Love” and even “Skinny Bitch.”</span><br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 102);">One of the most prominent is Kris Carr, a former actress who a month after appearing in two beer commercials during the Super Bowl in 2003 was found to have cancer in her liver and lungs. She went on a voyage of self-transformation that she chronicled in a documentary, “Crazy Sexy Cancer,” which aired on TLC in 2007, and was followed by two books.</span><br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 102);">Her Web site, Crazy Sexy Life, has become a nexus for women who identify themselves as leaders of a new generation of self-empowerment. Bloggers for the site include Rory Freedman, an author of the “Skinny Bitch” diet guides; Ms. Bernstein; and Mallika Chopra, a parenting author whose father is Deepak Chopra.</span><br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 102);">“We are encouraging people to eat right, to exercise, to tap into their spirituality, to start listening to themselves, and to do it in a way that’s bold and resonates,” Ms. Carr, 38, said by phone from her home in Woodstock, N.Y.</span><br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 102);">The last few weeks in Ms. Carr’s life demonstrate her newfound stature. She celebrated her birthday and wedding anniversary in New Mexico before heading to San Francisco to speak with magazine editors at VegNews. Then it was on to Los Angeles for meetings about a television show she is developing. She ended the trip in Boston, where she gave the keynote address at a conference of the Association of Physicians Assistants in Oncology.</span><br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 102);">Other self-styled young gurus focus less on diet and more on spirituality. Before she began counseling other women, Jennifer Macaluso-Gilmore was a hand and foot model with alcohol, financial and relationship problems. After three people close to her, including her mother, died within months of one another in 1999, she wrote a one-woman show about coping, “Making the Best of It,” which attracted strong reviews. Her career picked up, she gave up drinking, and she married a man she had previously been keeping at a distance.</span><br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 102);">Soon friends were asking how she managed to turn her life around. She offered advice from some of the “600 self-help books” she said she has read. She decided to organize a class at her apartment. “Three friends showed up,” Ms. Macaluso-Gilmore said. “And a week later there were nine women, and seven years later I have seen over 700.”</span><br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 102);">She charges $100 an hour for private sessions. The core of her message, she said, is, “When you step out into the unknown anything is possible in your life.”</span><br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 102);">Ms. Macaluso-Gilmore’s meeting space in Midtown is decorated with framed collages of thank-you letters from women who have attended her sessions. “Some of them call me an oracle,” said Ms. Macaluso-Gilmore, 36. “Some call me a guru. But I’m just a girl like anyone else.”</span><br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 102);">The new wave offered up a few playful names for themselves — “the Charlie’s Angels of Wellness,” “Spiritual Cowgirls” and “Spiritual Superheroines.” It’s clear they are proffering guidance at a time when urban women like themselves are eager for it. Thomas Amelio, managing director of the New York Open Center, which has offered classes on self-transformation for 25 years, said that he has noticed far more women in their early and mid-20s signing up for classes on meditation, shamanism and Ayurvedic healing than ever before. Many started with yoga but have moved on. “They are looking for something that is functional and practical that makes life easier to deal with,” he said.</span><br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 102);">Some more established self-help and spiritualist leaders are skeptical of the Spiritual Cowgirls. Esther Hicks, who co-wrote a series of books explaining “the law of attraction” said she is dubious of those who preach a hodge-podge of philosophies.</span><br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 102);">“When they mix what we’re teaching with other stuff that doesn’t work, people get confused,” Ms. Hicks said.</span><br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 102);">Patrick Williams, the founder of the Institute for Life Coach Training, which certifies life coaches, said untrained coaches probably won’t cause any harm, but they may not do much good.</span><br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 102);">“A good coach has learned to elicit a client’s best thinking and to have the client say what they haven’t said, dream what they have not dreamed, think what they have not thought about,” Mr. Williams said. “You ask more questions than you give answers.”</span><br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 102);">But the adherents of these young female gurus continue to swear by — and even emulate — them.</span><br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 102);">Ilana Arazie, who used to produce a video blog about her dating life, Downtown Diary, discontinued it after becoming a client of Ms. Macaluso-Gilmore. She is preparing to start a new blog, Downtown Dharma, about spiritual pursuits in Manhattan. “You don’t want to be stuck in that role of being the single girl,” Ms. Arazie, 34, said. “You need to look at your life as holistic.”</span><br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 102);">Sera Beak, 33, the author of “The Red Book: A Deliciously Unorthodox Approach to Igniting Your Divine Spark,” is working on a documentary about women like herself. “We like to have a relationship and a career, but we know this internal search is a priority, too,” she said. “It’s one of the most important things you can do as young woman. You don’t have to wait until you are middle aged.”</span><br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 102);">Her pitch line for the film — “ ‘The Secret’ meets Buffy the Vampire Slayer in a dark alley, naked” — has attracted notable figures to be interviewed, including Tom Robbins, the author of “Even Cowgirls Get the Blues.”</span><br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 102);">And Meggan Watterson, 34, a former teacher of world religion at the private Collegiate School for Boys in Manhattan, is using $11,000 she has raised from the Sister Fund, a women’s foundation, and others to start an annual conference. She said she wants to bring together women like Ms. Carr, Ms. Beak and others active in the Sikh and Muslim faiths. “We want to hear the stories of how young women experience and name the divine,” the conference Web site proclaims.</span><br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 102);">At Ms. Bernstein’s session on Tuesday night, a 27-year-old client shared her fears about having her boyfriend move in with her in the coming days. “I’m afraid that him being in my space won’t make us be friends anymore,” she said.</span><br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 102);">Ms. Bernstein suggested an exercise in which the woman write her ideal version of the story of her boyfriend moving in, something along the lines of: “It’s really lovely. He shows up. There’s tons of love. The move is effortless. There’s plenty of space for all his things.”</span><br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 102);">“Write the story the way you want it to happen,” Ms. Bernstein said. “Re-read the story every night until he arrives.”</span><br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 102);">To the skeptical, this visualizing a future one hopes to make manifest is reminiscent of the simplistic power-of-positive thinking movement that began in the 19th century, part of what is called “New Thought,” and which was repackaged in recent years by the best-seller “The Secret.”</span><br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 102);">And yet, there is something worth noting about Ms. Bernstein’s vision board, a large bulletin board that runs nearly the length of her living room. It includes news clippings, journal entries and photographs that represent her and her clients’ wishes for the future.</span><br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 102);">“There is an amazing man out there for me,” someone has written. There is a postcard of Dora the Explorer. And there is a cut-out banner of the Sunday Styles section of The New York Times.</span><br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 102);">Asked about it, Ms. Bernstein said she had put it up three years ago.</span><br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 102);">“I’ve been manifesting this story,” she explained.</span><br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 102);">Correction: Sept. 20, 2009</span><br /><br /><span style="font-size:78%;"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 153);">A previous version of this article omitted part of the title of a book by Marianne Williamson. The full title is “A Return to Love: Reflections on the Principles of ‘A Course in Miracles.’”</span></span><br /><br /><span style="font-size:78%;"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 102);">http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/20/fashion/20Guru.html</span></span><br />#<div class="blogger-post-footer">Copyright:2007 © Collaboration360 Consultants (C360).
Copying, posting and reproduction in any form (without prior consent) is an infridgement of copyright.
Any questions on Compass AE!? Please contact us at www.Collaboration360.com</div>Compass360 Consulting Grouphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14541160023041844298noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3681079422803813160.post-84603677920665422462009-09-23T03:39:00.001-07:002009-10-06T01:12:08.472-07:00The Way of Strategy (13): What Makes An Expert<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_sG9giPgBG9k/SrnxTZgrkMI/AAAAAAAABos/U2YowagxDwk/s1600-h/Definition+of+an_expert.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 360px; height: 301px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_sG9giPgBG9k/SrnxTZgrkMI/AAAAAAAABos/U2YowagxDwk/s400/Definition+of+an_expert.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5384600145065906370" border="0" /></a><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;"><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;font-family:times new roman;" >expert</span><br /><span style="font-family:times new roman;">1. a person who has special skill or knowledge in some particular field; specialist; authority: a language expert. </span><br /><span style=";font-family:times new roman;font-size:85%;" >http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/expert</span><br /><br /><br />We at C360 Consulting Group are always amazed that the news media has a tendency of interviewing experts who claim that they are the consummate know-it all about a specific subject matter.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">Most of them are quite polished in their messages and their viewpoints. Some are extremely biased in their opinions. Our assessment tells that some of these experts are indirectly paid by larger companies to push their products and services. It is uniquely rare that there is not an expert who is not promoting their wares or someone else's product and services. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">Our gripe with some of these so-called experts is that they cannot connect their viewpoints and the current scenario with the grand picture of the masses.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">Many years ago, our old consulting mentor told us the story behind the value chain of experts, </span><span style="font-family:verdana;">The "Number One"-ranked expert is someone who gets the high profile interviews and contracts (based on his or her past historical achievements). </span><span style="font-family:verdana;"><br /><br />The "Number Two"-ranked expert is someone who sometimes does the TV news media commentary route when the "Number One" expert is not available. Invariably, he or she indirectly tells people that he/she should be number one. ...<br /><br /></span><span style="font-family:verdana;">Sometime both experts outsource the work to the other experts while they take the credit.</span><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;"><br />The </span><span style="font-family:verdana;"> "Number Three"-ranked expert is the person who rarely promotes him or her selves. Instead, this expert focuses on promoting the profession. He/she receives most of the low profile, middle to upper middle level work and grinds away with very little complaint. Internally, this professional is consistently busy and happy.<br /><br />...</span><span style="font-family:verdana;"> When people asks "who is the best?" They would always humbly, pointed to themselves. But they will always say the "Number Three"-ranked expert is the second best. ..."</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">In our global society, the strong prevails over the weak consistently. However, the smart takes from the strong. ... Most "Number Three"-ranked experts are quite smart (and wise).<br /><br />Regardless of the extremity of the competition, </span><span style="font-family:verdana;">the expert is someone who consistently maintains his or her competitive advantage by understanding how everything connects to the grand picture.<br /><br />In life, "three" is a good number.<br /><br /></span><span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);font-family:arial;font-size:85%;" >Collaboration360 Consultants</span><span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);font-family:arial;font-size:85%;" ><span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);"> (C360 Consultants). </span></span><span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);font-family:arial;font-size:85%;" >Copyright:2009 © </span><span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);font-family:arial;font-size:85%;" >All rights reserved</span><span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);font-size:85%;" >. </span><span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);font-size:85%;" ><span style="font-family:arial;"><span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">Copying, posting and reproduction in any form (without prior consent) is an infringement of copyright.</span></span></span><div class="blogger-post-footer">Copyright:2007 © Collaboration360 Consultants (C360).
Copying, posting and reproduction in any form (without prior consent) is an infridgement of copyright.
Any questions on Compass AE!? Please contact us at www.Collaboration360.com</div>Compass360 Consulting Grouphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14541160023041844298noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3681079422803813160.post-12414075399318929642009-09-19T04:39:00.001-07:002011-09-12T02:50:51.708-07:00The Way of Strategy (12): The Script (2)<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_sG9giPgBG9k/SrSHZG-G0wI/AAAAAAAABoU/iihY9qu1EM0/s1600-h/Ex_script3.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 211px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_sG9giPgBG9k/SrSHZG-G0wI/AAAAAAAABoU/iihY9qu1EM0/s400/Ex_script3.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5383076320052171522" border="0" /></a><br />note: The picture is from Coachoffice.com<br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">Sidebar: This post will appeal to the football fans.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">As a reminder, the scripting action only works when one has properly assessed the opposition.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">Q: How does one used the script to set up the opposition?</span><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">A: Some of the scripted run plays are used to set up for various play action pass. While other scripted pass plays are used to set for special run plays.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">For example, the offensive coordinator might call a quick sweep on the second play, with the flanker involved in a fake reverse motion, (then a possible flea flicker). After the QB hands off the ball to the running back. He continues with a fake weakside rollout, with a motion of a pass toward a receiver who is sprinting down the field. After the 25 plays are implemented, the offensive coordinator tells the QB to signals this play, with some technical differences where he fakes the handoff, rolls out the weakside, passes the ball to the open man.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">In the case of the pass play,, the offensive coordinator might call a short slant pass to the flanker isolated on the weakside. Later in the game, under similar situation, the QB implements the same play, fakes the pass and hands off the ball to the blocking halfback on a slow draw.<br /><br />As mentioned before, the premise of the script is to reveal the opposition's tendencies that the implementer can exploit later.<br /><br />In future posts, we will focus on transferring the assessed project data into a strategic overview and an operational script.</span><br /><br />#<br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;"><span style="font-family:arial;">Sidebar: There are many ways to set up the opposition. In Ancient China, the military professionals used stratagems that can be found in the 100 Unorthodox Strategies book. We will discuss the topic of unorthodox strategies in a future post.</span></span><div class="blogger-post-footer">Copyright:2007 © Collaboration360 Consultants (C360).
Copying, posting and reproduction in any form (without prior consent) is an infridgement of copyright.
Any questions on Compass AE!? Please contact us at www.Collaboration360.com</div>Compass360 Consulting Grouphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14541160023041844298noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3681079422803813160.post-72806778123519401322009-09-13T15:39:00.001-07:002014-08-15T23:49:36.330-07:00The Way of Strategy (11): The Script<br />
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_sG9giPgBG9k/Sq13D1OhdjI/AAAAAAAABn0/c-u1ruTGpPE/s1600-h/A1+bill_walsh.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_sG9giPgBG9k/Sq13D1OhdjI/AAAAAAAABn0/c-u1ruTGpPE/s400/A1+bill_walsh.jpg" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5381088037488916018" style="cursor: pointer; display: block; height: 300px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 227px;" /></a><br />
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<span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: 130%; font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">update on 08.16.2014 </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: 130%; font-weight: bold;"><span style="color: red;">Click</span> <span style="color: blue;"><a href="http://daoofstrategy.blogspot.com/2013/08/succeeding-through-practice-of.html">here</a></span> <span style="color: red;">for an technical update of this post.</span></span></div>
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#<br />
<span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: 130%; font-weight: bold;">Football season is here. Armchair quarterbacks rejoice</span><span style="font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: 130%; font-weight: bold;">.</span></span><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: 100%;">Beside the utilization of Chinese strategy principles as a process, one of our favorite tools is "The Script."<span style="font-weight: bold;"><br /></span> </span><br />
<span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: 100%;">"The Script" is a game preparation and implementation tool that was invented by Bill Walsh, an American head football coach of the San Francisco 49ers and Stanford University, during which time he popularized the West Coast offense. Walsh went 102–63–1 with the 49ers, winning ten of his fourteen postseason games along with six division titles, three NFC Championship titles, and three Super Bowls. He was named the NFL's Coach of the Year in 1981 and 1984.<span style="font-weight: bold;"><br /><br />The Intent of The Script</span></span><span style="font-family: verdana;"> </span><br />
<span style="font-family: verdana;">The purpose of The Script is to see exactly how the other team reacts to each offensive play at the opening stage of the game. The strategist would use this information to plan the offensive strategy for the remainder of the game.</span> <span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: 100%;">Regardless of the game situation, the disciples of the West Coast Offense are trained to stick to The Script regardless of the down, the distance and the defensive alignment, except for the fourth down.</span><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: 100%;"><span style="font-weight: bold;"> </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: 100%;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Applying the Script Before the Game</span><span style="font-family: verdana;"> </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: 100%;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Idealistically,the offensive coordinator informs the players "The Script" one or two practices before game day. On the last practice, the team rehearses "The Script." Beside </span></span><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: 100%;"><span id="iba2_siteCss">eliminating anxiety (rather than create anxiety) among the players.</span> the offense coordinator discovers whether the players are able to master those plays and decides whether to adjust the technicalities of the play.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: 100%;">Overall, it requires a great deal of experience, discipline and emotional intelligence to run "The Script" tool.</span><br />
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_sG9giPgBG9k/Sq2VguTFQWI/AAAAAAAABoE/GHZonSK2qC8/s1600-h/CallSheet_Billick.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_sG9giPgBG9k/Sq2VguTFQWI/AAAAAAAABoE/GHZonSK2qC8/s400/CallSheet_Billick.jpg" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5381121519194030434" style="cursor: pointer; display: block; height: 460px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 363px;" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: 130%;"><span style="color: #cc0000; font-weight: bold;">The Master of the Game Plan</span><span style="color: #cc0000;">Preparation and Execution Perfected </span></span><br />
<br />
<!--INFOLINKS_ON--> <img class="write_image" src="http://static.squidoo.com/resize/squidoo_images/250/draft_lens1490582module3323617photo_bill_walsh2.jpg" id="moduleImage3323617" style="color: #cc0000;" /><span style="color: #cc0000;"><br /><br />Bill Walsh, ever the innovator, conceived a plan, now routine in the NFL, to "script" in advance the offensive plays he would call early in a game.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #cc0000;">Walsh still remembers the criticism and skepticism from the NFL coaching establishment that greeted him in the 1970s when, as an offensive assistant with the Cincinnati Bengals, he started scripting plays. <span style="font-weight: bold;">All the planning could be done in the office during the week instead of on the sidelines during the frenzy of a game.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">With a script, the offensive players could devote more study time to plays that definitely would be used in the game, as opposed to studying an entire game plan that invariably included a bunch of plays that would not be called.</span></span> <span style="color: #cc0000;"><br /><br />"It got to the point where our offensive team really wanted to know those plays," Walsh recalled. "The players really appreciate the idea that you're giving them a (head) start on the game. You can sleep easier, you have more confidence going into the game, and you're more at ease.<br /><br />For the coaches, you can feel comfortable that the game is almost on automatic pilot when it starts."</span> <span style="color: #cc0000;">"You know what's going to be called and there's no reason to make a mistake," veteran tight end Shannon Sharpe said of the system in Denver, where coach Mike Shanahan scripts the first 15 offensive plays every week. "You already know if (the defense does) this, who we're going to. So that makes your job a lot easier."</span> <span style="color: #cc0000;"><br /><br />Just about every team in the NFL now uses some form of scripting. Walsh used to do 25 plays, but most teams now script about 15 plays.</span> <span style="color: #cc0000;">There are, of course, some misconceptions about scripting. While there might be a long script of plays, they are not called blindly in order.</span> <span style="color: #cc0000;">"Would you run 25 in order? No," Walsh said. "Let's say, of the 25, you'd run 18 or 19 sort of in order. If something really worked or you saw something in the defense, you'd go back to (a play).<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">To me, it was just sort of a safety net because there's so much emotion to start the game, you want to think clearly, and this, in a sense, forces you to stay with a regimen that you clinically planned prior to the game."</span></span><span style="color: #cc0000;">"<span style="font-weight: bold;">The scripting saved us because I couldn't think</span>," he said. "It was minus-35 wind chill, and there was no way I could look at a game plan or pull something out of my head. All I wanted to do was run for cover, go in where it was warm, for survival. So in that case, the plan was what saved us."</span><br />
<span style="color: #cc0000; font-family: times new roman; font-size: 85%;"><br />Excerpts from NFL Insider/NFL.com article from 2002 by Ira Miller.</span> <span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: 100%;"><span style="font-size: 85%;"><span style="color: #cc0000; font-family: times new roman;"><br />http://www.squidoo.com/billwalsh</span></span></span><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: 100%;">Questions and Answers on Walsh's Starter Script</span></b><br />
<span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: 100%;">Q: Most coaches run a 15 play script. Why did Walsh utilized a 25 play script?<br />A: </span><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: 100%;">The aim of the 15 play script is to immediately attack the tendencies and the physical weaknesses of the opposition's defense.</span> <span style="font-family: verdana;">The 25 play script focused </span><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: 100%;">on revealing the entire opposition's defensive arsenal while pinpointing their true weaknesses. We believed that Walsh liked the idea of forcing the opposition to expose their arsenal.</span><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: 100%;">Q: What was in Walsh's script?<br />A: A balance of pass plays and run plays that have never appeared in previous games. Walsh would o</span><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: 100%;">ccasionally </span><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: 100%;">throw in one or two gadget plays that the opposition has never seen before.<br /><br />We have heard one former Niners player referred "The 25 Plays" as "The 25 Lies." The story behind that statement is based on that the opposition became too focused on stopping Walsh's 25 play script that they forgot to focus on their own game.</span><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: 100%;">Retrospectively, it is also a psychological gaming tool</span><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: 100%;"> and an "informational feedback strategy" tool. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: 100%;"><br />The implementation of a 25 play script requires a person with great patience, control and strategic insight. Bill Walsh was that person.</span><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: 100%;">Rarely does anyone ever talk about </span><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: 100%;">the keys for the following:</span><br />
<ul>
<li><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: 100%;">when to stay with the script;</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: 100%;">when to leave the script; and</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: 100%;">when to return to it.</span></li>
</ul>
<span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: 100%;"></span><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: 100%;">The amateurs think that they know what "The Script" is about. However there are a few who understand its true range and the reason why it works.<br /><br />In the football business, the Script is used by many coaches. Our observations tell us that many of them do not possess the strategic training to use it properly. At the same time, some of the quarterbacks are not trained to run "The Script."<br /><br />The most difficult challenge for most football teams is to run "The Script" from a no-huddle mode. We will touch on that topic in <span style="color: blue;"><b><a href="http://daoofstrategy.blogspot.com/2013/08/succeeding-through-practice-of.html">a future post</a></b></span>.<br /><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Summary</span> </span><br />
<span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: 100%;">The key to building The Script is to properly assess the competition and the grand situation. In our future book project, we will focus on this topic <span style="font-weight: bold;"><br /></span>Being a fan of world class strategists and an implementer of Best Practices, we recommended to our clients to script their operational strategy. In future, we will touch more on "The Script."<span style="font-weight: bold;"><br /></span></span><span style="font-size: 78%;"><span style="font-size: 100%;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></span></span><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: 100%;">We believed that this set of arcane knowledge is usually given to </span><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: 100%;">those who are operating on a "need to know" basis.</span><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: 100%;">to those under the clause of "they are worthy." </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: 100%;">We at C360 usually apply our version of the script in all of our operational situations</span><span style="font-size: 100%; font-weight: bold;">. </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: 100%; font-weight: bold;"> </span><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: 100%;">If you are interested in securing an abridged version of our Compass Script, please send us a request at www.formspring.me/Compass360CG </span><br />
<span style="font-weight: bold;"><br />#<br /><span style="color: #000066;">49ers on cusp of new era - or total failure</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #000066;">Gwen Knapp, Chronicle Staff Writer</span><br />
<span style="color: #000066;">Sunday, September 13, 2009</span><br />
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<span style="color: #000066;">(09-12) 20:41 PDT -- The 49ers' seventh offensive coordinator in seven years used some interesting language late last week. "We always script the first 12 'openers,' " Jimmy Raye said, "the first third down and short, the first third and medium, the first short-yardage play."</span><br />
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<span style="color: #000066;">We always? Until late January, Raye had not been connected to the 49ers since 1977, when he served as receivers coach for a single year.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #000066;">He was gone when Bill Walsh appeared two seasons later, transforming the franchise and establishing the principle of scripting the opening plays on offense. By "we always," Raye meant all of his own offenses over the years, from Los Angeles to Tampa Bay to Washington. Like so many other coaches, he said, he must have borrowed the philosophy from Walsh and made it his own.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #000066;">Today's 49ers have no traditions worth preserving. Small remnants from the dynastic Walsh era may survive, but after six dreary seasons, the phrase "we always" can legitimately precede nothing good. (We always lose at least nine games a season. We always change offensive coordinators.)</span><br />
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<span style="color: #000066;">... The 49ers would be linked to Walsh only through the brief mentoring he provided for Singletary and the ripple effect that brought scripted openers to Raye. But they would also disengage from the last six years, leaving the threshold of Lost Franchises.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #000066; font-size: 78%;">E-mail Gwen Knapp at gknapp@sfchronicle.com.<br /><br />http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/09/13/SPHA19MBJ5.DTL</span><span style="color: #000066; font-size: 78%;">This article appeared on page B - 1 of the San Francisco Chronicle</span><span style="font-size: 78%;"><br /><br />#<span style="font-size: 100%;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"> updated on 09/01/2011</span></span></span><div class="blogger-post-footer">Copyright:2007 © Collaboration360 Consultants (C360).
Copying, posting and reproduction in any form (without prior consent) is an infridgement of copyright.
Any questions on Compass AE!? Please contact us at www.Collaboration360.com</div>Compass360 Consulting Grouphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14541160023041844298noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3681079422803813160.post-18399354385634444642009-09-09T04:38:00.000-07:002009-09-15T15:15:46.384-07:00The Way of Strategy (10): A Tangible Strategy!<span style="font-family:verdana;"><span style="font-family:arial;"><br />Building and implementing a strategy under a chaotic setting is solitary, poor, nasty, brutish and rarely ever short enough.</span><span style=";font-family:arial;font-size:85%;" ><br />- paraphrased from Thomas Hobbes</span><br /><br /></span><span style="font-family:verdana;">It is always a challenge to build a strategy that can be </span><span style="font-family:verdana;">adjusted to </span><span style="font-family:verdana;">the parameters of an uncertain setting, with the specific guidelines focused on being efficient.</span><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;"><br />Our Compass rule for operating under tentative settings is to maintain a few guidelines that enables one to be flexible while focusing on building a predictable and efficient setting by </span><span style="font-family:verdana;">using metrics and detailed analysis processes.<br /><br /></span><span style="font-family:verdana;">In competition, a good strategy is built on the theory of establishing order while creating disorder within their competitor settings. It begins by assessing the grand situation and then the different micro situations that comes with it.<br /><br /></span><span style="font-family:verdana;">Our strategic assessment process begins by identifying the variables that are in play. </span><span style="font-family:verdana;">Then determine </span><span style="font-family:verdana;">a list of general and specific tangible measures that comes with it. The next step is evaluate the </span><span style="font-family:verdana;"> tangible risks for each variable.<br /><br />The quantity of quality information and the professional experience of the strategist usually determines the quality of strategic assessment and planning.<br /><br />Through the assessment process, one can develop standards that can be used for maintaining performance and quality.</span><span style="font-family:verdana;"> "A strategy without tangible measures is a strategy that borders in the realm of illusions.</span>"<br /><br />#<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 0, 102);">Welcoming the New, Improving the Old</span><br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 102);">By SARA BECKMAN</span><br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 102);">FOR decades, companies from Cisco Systems to Staples to Bank of America have worked to embed the basic techniques of Six Sigma, the business approach that </span><span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 0, 102);">relies on measurement and analysis to make operations as efficient as possible.</span><br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 102);">More recently, in the last 5 to 10 years, they have been told they must master a new set of skills known as “design thinking.” Aiming to help companies innovate, design thinking starts with an intense focus on understanding real problems customers face in their day-to-day lives — often using techniques derived from ethnographers — and then entertains a range of possible solutions.</span><br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 102);">To many, the two skill sets don’t fit together well, and Chuck Jones, vice president for global consumer design at Whirlpool, explains why that may be so. Design thinkers, he says, are like quantum physicists, able to consider a world in which anything — like traveling at the speed of light — is theoretically possible. But a majority of people, including the Six Sigma advocates in most corporations, think more like Newtonian physicists — focused on measurement along three well-defined dimensions.</span><br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 102);">Six Sigma, a kit of analytical tools first developed in the 1980s at Motorola, has been embraced by many businesses — big and small. Joy Ulickey, a quality consultant in San Francisco, applied them in 2008 to help a midsize Sonoma winery figure out why it was having so many failed fermentations.</span><br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 102);">Through a detailed analysis of possible factors affecting fermentation, like yeast type, temperature and the rate of cycling wine through the tanks, Ms. Ulickey identified the primary problem as temperature control. Then she suggested several “countermeasures,” including hiring workers to monitor temperature or investing in newer fermentation tanks. Her work allowed the winery to save hundreds of thousands of dollars a year and improve its wine.</span><br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 102);">On a much larger scale, it is unimaginable that Intel could produce a single one of its highly complex semiconductor chips or that Procter & Gamble could deliver laundry detergent of consistent quality globally without these types of analytical techniques.</span><br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 102);">Design thinking can be equally effective, but in different ways. While in business school, Jeff Denby and Jason Kibbey concocted an online underwear company called Pact, applying design thinking to understand prospective customers and to rethink how underwear is developed and sold. They visited underwear stores and asked friends and family to send pictures of the underwear in their dresser drawers, or, for those brave enough, shots of themselves posing in their favorite boxers or panties.</span><br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 102);">They tested different approaches to marketing, including subscription programs, and different ways of developing stylish products. For example, they considered letting up-and-coming designers compete to create designs showcasing particular causes.</span><br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 102);">Today, their company, based in Berkeley, Calif., sells organic cotton underwear created by the designer Yves Béhar. The designs use graphics that highlight the work of groups like 826 National, which helps young writers, and a portion of revenue is contributed to those causes.</span><br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 102);">To survive, many businesses will have to figure out how to incorporate both approaches. Design thinking offers tools for exploring new markets and opportunities; Six Sigma skills can be applied to improve existing products. Companies that adhere strictly to one or the other risk failure. “The practices that make for success at one time can trap firms and contribute to their downfall at a later time,” says Bob Cole, a quality expert and professor emeritus at the Haas School of Business at the University of California, Berkeley.</span><br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 102);">Professor Cole uses the history of the Japanese DRAM industry to illustrate his point:</span><br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 102);">In the early 1990s, Japanese DRAM producers doggedly pursued quality improvement, investing in engineering and equipment to develop products of higher and higher quality. The market, however, was shifting from mainframes to personal computers, a shift that South Korean producers observed.</span><br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 102);">Samsung, for example, released a 128-megabyte DRAM in 2000 that was a perfect fit for vendors of low-priced PCs, and it leveraged that design into other products. By gathering valuable knowledge on emerging user needs, Samsung was able to rapidly respond to a changing market, while Japanese producers slowly left the DRAM field.</span><br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 102);">According to Michael Barry, a consulting assistant professor at the Hasso Plattner Institute of Design at Stanford and a partner at the design firm Point Forward, the Six Sigma process starts with an assumption about what is good — like higher-quality DRAM chips. Design thinking, meanwhile, inquires as to what is good — as lower-cost, higher-speed DRAM chips were for PCs and other products.</span><br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 102);">THE different world views, however, can be brought together.</span><br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 102);">At Whirlpool, Mr. Jones first proved the value of design with the introduction of the Duet washer and dryer. Duet’s novel, easy-to-use, energy-efficient design made Whirlpool a player in the front-loader market. After that success, he invited Whirlpool’s Six Sigma experts to help him improve design processes. They developed various new metrics — for how customers evaluate product quality, for example — that allowed designers and Six Sigma types to understand each other better.</span><br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 102);">Progressive Insurance has also turned design and Six Sigma techniques into reasonably comfortable bedfellows. In the early 1990s, it started emphasizing showing up at an accident scene and handling situations in real time, according to a 2004 article by Michael Hammer in The Harvard Business Review. That move reflected a designer’s way of thinking about customer needs, but the company was able to execute the idea through its ability to </span><span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 0, 102);">measure, analyze and improve its processes</span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 102);">.</span><br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 102);">Both worlds — the quantum one where designers push boundaries to surprise and delight, and the Newtonian one where workers meet deadlines and margins — are meaningful. The most successful companies will learn to build bridges between them and leverage them both.</span><br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 102);">Sara Beckman is faculty director of the Management of Technology Program at the Haas School of Business at the University of California, Berkeley.</span><br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 102);font-size:78%;" >http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/06/business/06proto.html?em</span><div class="blogger-post-footer">Copyright:2007 © Collaboration360 Consultants (C360).
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Please contact us at www.Collaboration360.com</div>Compass360 Consulting Grouphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14541160023041844298noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3681079422803813160.post-15793179217636659082009-09-07T10:49:00.000-07:002009-09-07T16:43:10.213-07:00The Way of Strategy (9): Penetrate and Dominate<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_sG9giPgBG9k/SqVFZJFeHtI/AAAAAAAABns/hijOABwoIe8/s1600-h/Crossing+Bridge.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 318px; height: 300px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_sG9giPgBG9k/SqVFZJFeHtI/AAAAAAAABns/hijOABwoIe8/s400/Crossing+Bridge.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5378781628201836242" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><span style=";font-family:verdana;font-size:100%;" >China's solar energy businesses assessed the grand settings of their global market terrain in terms of </span><span style=";font-family:verdana;font-size:100%;" >their competitive position, </span><span style=";font-family:verdana;font-size:100%;" >the state of predictability and the configuration of the terrain, the Compass for their strategy was defined.<br /><br />The advantage of lower operating costs enabled China to gain the control of the marketplace. Their i</span><span style=";font-family:verdana;font-size:100%;" >mmediate</span><span style=";font-family:verdana;font-size:100%;" > momentum and the timing also allowed them to advance deeply into their competitor's territory and became the </span> <span style=";font-family:verdana;font-size:100%;" >bellwether of the market-place. </span><span style=";font-family:verdana;font-size:100%;" > ...<br /><br />Once China assessed their grand picture. They positioned themselves with a complete top down strategy and implemented with extreme efficiency.<br /><br />This is a good example of what the "Dao of Competition" (warfare) is supposed to be. </span><br /><br />#<br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 102);"></span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 102);">August 25, 2009</span><br /><span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 0, 102);">China Racing Ahead of U.S. in the Drive to Go Solar</span><br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 102);">By KEITH BRADSHER</span><br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 102);">WUXI, China — President Obama wants to make the United States “the world’s leading exporter of renewable energy,” but in his seven months in office, it is China that has stepped on the gas in an effort to become the dominant player in green energy — especially in solar power, and even in the United States.</span><br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 102);">Chinese companies have already played a leading role in pushing down the price of solar panels by almost half over the last year. Shi Zhengrong, the chief executive and founder of China’s biggest solar panel manufacturer, Suntech Power Holdings, said in an interview here that Suntech, to build market share, is selling solar panels on the American market for less than the cost of the materials, assembly and shipping.</span><br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 102);">Backed by lavish government support, the Chinese are preparing to build plants to assemble their products in the United States to bypass protectionist legislation. As Japanese automakers did decades ago, Chinese solar companies are encouraging their United States executives to join industry trade groups to tamp down anti-Chinese sentiment before it takes root.</span><br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 102);">The Obama administration is determined to help the American industry. The energy and Treasury departments announced this month that they would give $2.3 billion in tax credits to clean energy equipment manufacturers. But even in the solar industry, many worry that Western companies may have fragile prospects when competing with Chinese companies that have cheap loans, electricity and labor, paying recent college graduates in engineering $7,000 a year.</span><br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 102);">“I don’t see Europe or the United States becoming major producers of solar products — they’ll be consumers,” said Thomas M. Zarrella, the chief executive of GT Solar International, a company in Merrimack, N.H., that sells specialized factory equipment to solar panel makers around the world.</span><br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 102);">Since March, Chinese governments at the national, provincial and even local level have been competing with one another to offer solar companies ever more generous subsidies, including free land, and cash for research and development. State-owned banks are flooding the industry with loans at considerably lower interest rates than available in Europe or the United States.</span><br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 102);">Suntech, based here in Wuxi, is on track this year to pass Q-Cells of Germany, to become the world’s second-largest supplier of photovoltaic cells, which would put it behind only First Solar in Tempe, Ariz.</span><br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 102);">Hot on Suntech’s heels is a growing list of Chinese corporations backed by entrepreneurs, local governments and even the Chinese military, all seeking to capitalize on an industry deemed crucial by China’s top leadership.</span><br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 102);">Dr. Shi pointed out that other governments, including in the United States, also assist clean energy industries, including with factory construction incentives.</span><br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 102);">China’s commitment to solar energy is unlikely to make a difference soon to global warming. China’s energy consumption is growing faster than any other country’s, though the United States consumes more today. Beijing’s aim is to generate 20,000 megawatts of solar energy by 2020 — or less than half the capacity of coal-fired power plants that are built in China each year.</span><br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 102);">Solar energy remains far more expensive to generate than energy from coal, oil, natural gas or even wind. But in addition to heavy Chinese investment and low Chinese costs, the global economic downturn and a decline in European subsidies to buy panels have lowered prices.</span><br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 102);">The American economic stimulus plan requires any project receiving money to use steel and other construction materials, including solar panels, from countries that have signed the World Trade Organization’s agreement on free trade in government procurement. China has not.</span><br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 102);">In response to this, and to reduce shipping costs, Suntech plans to announce in the next month or two that it will build a solar panel assembly plant in the United States, said Steven Chan, its president for global sales and marketing.</span><br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 102);">“It’ll be to facilitate sales — ‘buy American’ and things like that,” Mr. Chan said, adding that the factory would have 75 to 150 workers and be located in Phoenix, or somewhere in Texas.</span><br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 102);">But 90 percent of the workers at the $30 million factory will be blue-collar laborers, welding together panels from solar wafers made in China, Dr. Shi said.</span><br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 102);">Yingli Solar, another large Chinese manufacturer, said on Thursday that it also had a “preliminary plan” to assemble panels in the United States.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 0, 102);">Western rivals, meanwhile, are struggling. Q-Cells of Germany announced last week that it would lay off 500 of its 2,600 employees because of declining sales. It and two other German companies, Conergy and SolarWorld, are particularly indignant that German subsidies were the main source of demand for solar panels until recently.</span><br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 102);">“Politicians might ask whether this is still the right way to do this, German taxpayers paying for Asian products,” said Markus Wieser, a Q-Cells spokesman.</span><br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 102);">But organizing resistance to Chinese exports could be difficult, particularly as Chinese discounting makes green energy more affordable.</span><br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 102);">Even with Suntech acknowledging that it sells below the marginal cost of producing each additional solar panel — that is, the cost after administrative and development costs are subtracted — any antidumping case, in the United States, for example, would have to show that American companies were losing money as a result.</span><br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 102);">First Solar — the solar leader, in Tempe — using a different technology from many solar panel manufacturers, is actually profitable, while the new tax credits now becoming available may help other companies.</span><br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 102);">Even organizing a united American response to Chinese exports could be difficult. Suntech has encouraged executives at its United States operations to take the top posts at the two main American industry groups, partly to make sure that these groups do not rally opposition to imports, Dr. Shi said.</span><br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 102);">The efforts of Detroit automakers to win protection from Japanese competition in the 1980s were weakened by the presence of Honda in their main trade group; they expelled Honda in 1992.</span><br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 102);">Some analysts are less pessimistic about the prospects for solar panel manufacturers in the West. Joonki Song, a partner at Photon Consulting in Boston, said that while large Chinese solar panel manufacturers are gaining market share, smaller ones have been struggling.</span><br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 102);">Mr. Zarrella of GT Solar said that Western providers of factory equipment for solar panel manufacturers would remain competitive, and Dr. Shi said that German equipment providers “have made a lot of money, tons of money.”</span><br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 102);">The Chinese government is requiring that 80 percent of the equipment for China’s first municipal power plant to use solar energy, to be built in Dunhuang in northwestern China next year, be made in China.</span><br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 102);">Dr. Shi said his company would try to prevent similar rules in any future projects.</span> <span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 102);">The reason is clear: almost 98 percent of Suntech’s production goes overseas.<br /><br /></span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 102);"></span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 102);">Copyright 2009 The New York Times Company</span> <span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 102);font-size:78%;" ><br />http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/25/business/energy-environment/25solar.html</span><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_sG9giPgBG9k/SqU7AOLeIvI/AAAAAAAABnk/-h0J6Q_xOt0/s1600-h/20090825-biz-webSOLAR_full+China%27s+Solar+Share+NYT.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 372px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_sG9giPgBG9k/SqU7AOLeIvI/AAAAAAAABnk/-h0J6Q_xOt0/s400/20090825-biz-webSOLAR_full+China%27s+Solar+Share+NYT.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5378770204956173042" border="0" /></a><div class="blogger-post-footer">Copyright:2007 © Collaboration360 Consultants (C360).
Copying, posting and reproduction in any form (without prior consent) is an infridgement of copyright.
Any questions on Compass AE!? Please contact us at www.Collaboration360.com</div>Compass360 Consulting Grouphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14541160023041844298noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3681079422803813160.post-1682720094257909822009-09-01T04:38:00.001-07:002009-09-07T11:05:04.889-07:00The Cardinal View: Is "Good Enough" good enough?<span style="font-family:verdana;">A standard that states "Good enough", would last for a limited time line. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">To compete properly in an information-driven economy where the copycats outnumbered the innovators (many millions to one), the innovator must develop patentable stuff that forces the opposition to spend a great deal of time and resources to duplicate the same features. The economic settings sometime determines the importance of quality. (Another two strategic options are: the establishment of alliances with trusted competitors and having a good team of intellectual property lawyers watching the possibility of patents.)</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">Concurrently, the innovators must understand the risk/benefits of going beyond the "Good Enough" standard. This requires one to have a grand picture of their marketing terrain.<br /><br />A grand picture that enables you to maximize profits, minimize costs and exploit opportunities. Do you assess the grand picture, before building a plan?<br /><br />Without a complete understanding what is the grand picture, how does one make a right strategic move.</span><span style=";font-family:verdana;font-size:100%;" ><br /><br /></span><span style=";font-family:verdana;font-size:100%;" >Sidebar: While the masses would rather have their stuff with a "good enough" standard, are you one of the few people who prefer excellence?</span><br /><br /><br />#<br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">The Good Enough Revolution: When Cheap and Simple Is Just Fine</span><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 0, 102);">In 2001, Jonathan Kaplan and Ariel Braunstein noticed a quirk in the camera market. All the growth was in expensive digital cameras, but the best-selling units by far were still cheap, disposable film models. </span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 102);">That year, a whopping 181 million disposables were sold in the US, compared with around 7 million digital cameras. Spotting an opportunity, Kaplan and Braunstein formed a company called Pure Digital Technologies and set out to see if they could mix the rich chocolate of digital imaging with the mass-market peanut butter of throwaway point-and-shoots. They called their brainchild the Single Use Digital Camera and cobranded it with retailers, mostly pharmacies like CVS.</span><br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 102);">The concept looked promising, but it turned out to be fatally flawed. The problem, says Simon Fleming-Wood, a member of Pure Digital's founding management team, was that the business model relied on people returning the $20 cameras to stores in order to get prints and a CD. The retailers were supposed to send the used boxes back to Pure Digital, which would refurbish them, reducing the number of new units it had to manufacture. But customers didn't return the cameras fast enough. Some were content to view their pictures on the tiny 1.4-inch LCD and held on to the device, thinking they'd take it in later to get prints. Others figured out how to hack the camera so it would download to a PC, eliminating the need to return the thing altogether.</span><br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 102);">Brisk sales combined with a lack of speedy returns destroyed the company's thin margins, and the camera failed. But the experience taught Kaplan and Braunstein a lesson: Customers would sacrifice lots of quality for a cheap, convenient device. To keep the price down, Pure Digital had made significant trade-offs. It used inexpensive lenses and other components and limited the number of image-processing chips. The pictures were OK but not great. Yet Pure Digital sold 3 million cameras anyway.</span><br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 102);">Kaplan and Braunstein also learned something important about camera retailing in general. The market had long been split into two main segments: point-and-shoots (including disposables) and single-lens reflex cameras, which use interchangeable lenses and other high-end accessories. Not surprisingly, the vast majority of cameras sold then—as now—were the handy point-and-shoots; SLRs tended to attract only serious hobbyists and professionals.</span><br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 102);">Oddly, though, there was no point-and-shoot analogue in video cameras—and that's where the pair saw their next opportunity. Home videocams were almost without exception expensive, complicated devices loaded with features like image stabilization, night-vision mode, and onboard color correction. And even with tools like Apple's iMovie, it was a hassle to get footage off the cameras and onto a computer for editing and sharing. In terms of complexity and price, the camcorder market resembled the SLR market, but with no low-end alternative. Kaplan and Braunstein suspected that there might be a place for a much cheaper, simpler video camera. So they decided to make one.</span><br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 102);">After some trial and error, Pure Digital released what it called the Flip Ultra in 2007. The stripped-down camcorder—like the Single Use Digital Camera—had lots of downsides. It captured relatively low-quality 640 x 480 footage at a time when Sony, Panasonic, and Canon were launching camcorders capable of recording in 1080 hi-def. It had a minuscule viewing screen, no color-adjustment features, and only the most rudimentary controls. It didn't even have an optical zoom. But it was small (slightly bigger than a pack of smokes), inexpensive ($150, compared with $800 for a midpriced Sony), and so simple to operate—from recording to uploading—that pretty much anyone could figure it out in roughly 6.7 seconds.</span><br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 102);">Within a few months, Pure Digital could barely keep up with orders. Customers found that the Flip was the perfect way to get homebrew videos onto the suddenly flourishing YouTube, and the camera became a megahit, selling more than 1 million units in its first year. Today—just two years later—the Flip Ultra and its subsequent revisions are the best-selling video cameras in the US, commanding 17 percent of the camcorder market. Sony and Canon are now scrambling to catch up.</span><br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 102);">The Flip's success stunned the industry, but it shouldn't have. It's just the latest triumph of what might be called Good Enough tech. Cheap, fast, simple tools are suddenly everywhere. We get our breaking news from blogs, we make spotty long-distance calls on Skype, we watch video on small computer screens rather than TVs, and more and more of us are carrying around dinky, low-power netbook computers that are just good enough to meet our surfing and emailing needs. The low end has never been riding higher.</span><br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 102);">So what happened? Well, in short, technology happened. The world has sped up, become more connected and a whole lot busier. As a result, what consumers want from the products and services they buy is fundamentally changing. We now favor flexibility over high fidelity, convenience over features, quick and dirty over slow and polished. Having it here and now is more important than having it perfect. These changes run so deep and wide, they're actually altering what we mean when we describe a product as "high-quality."</span><br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 102);">And it's happening everywhere. As more sectors connect to the digital world, from medicine to the military, they too are seeing the rise of Good Enough tools like the Flip. Suddenly what seemed perfect is anything but, and products that appear mediocre at first glance are often the perfect fit.</span><br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 102);">The good news is that this trend is ideally suited to the times. As the worst recession in 75 years rolls on, it's the light and nimble products that are having all the impact—exactly the type of thing that lean startups and small-scale enterprises are best at. And from impact can come big sales. "When the economy went south before Christmas last year, we worried that sales would be affected," says Pure Digital's Fleming-Wood. "But we sold a ton of cameras. In fact, we exceeded the goals we had set before the economy soured." And this year? Sales, he says, are up 200 percent. (Another payoff: In May, networking giant Cisco acquired Pure Digital for $590 million.)</span><br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 102);">To some, it looks like the crapification of everything. But it's really an improvement. And businesses need to get used to it, because the Good Enough revolution has only just begun.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 0, 102);">Speaking at an Online publishers conference in London last October, New York University new-media studies professor Clay Shirky had a mantra to offer the assembled producers and editors: "Don't believe the myth of quality."</span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 102);"> When it comes to the future of media on the Web, Shirky sternly warned, resist the reflex to focus on high production values. "We're getting to the point where the Internet can support high-quality content, and it's as if what we've had so far has all been nice—a kind of placeholder—but now the professionals are coming," Shirky said. "That's not true." To reinforce his point, he pointed to the MP3. The music industry initially laughed off the format, he explained, because compared with the CD it sounded terrible. What record labels and retailers failed to recognize was that although MP3 provided relatively low audio quality, it had a number of offsetting positive qualities.</span><br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 102);">Shirky's point is crucial. By reducing the size of audio files, MP3s allowed us to get music into our computers—and, more important, onto the Internet—at a manageable size. This in turn let us listen to, manage, and manipulate tracks on our PCs, carry thousands of songs in our pockets, purchase songs from our living rooms, and share tracks with friends and even strangers. And as it turned out, those benefits actually mattered a lot more to music lovers than the single measure of quality we had previously applied to recorded music—fidelity. It wasn't long before record labels were wringing their hands over declining CD sales.</span><br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 102);">"There comes a point at which improving upon the thing that was important in the past is a bad move," Shirky said in a recent interview. </span><span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 0, 102);">"It's actually feeding competitive advantage to outsiders by not recognizing the value of other qualities." In other words, companies that focus on traditional measures of quality—fidelity, resolution, features—can become myopic and fail to address other, now essential attributes like convenience and shareability. And that means someone else can come along and drink their milk shake.</span><br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 102);">To a degree, the MP3 follows the classic pattern of a disruptive technology, as outlined by Clayton Christensen in his 1997 book The Innovator's Dilemma. Disruptive technologies, Christensen explains, often enter at the bottom of the market, where they are ignored by established players. These technologies then grow in power and sophistication to the point where they eclipse the old systems.</span><br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 102);">That is certainly part of what happens with Good Enough tech: MP3s entered at the bottom of the market, were ignored, and then turned the music business upside down. But oddly, audio quality never really readjusted upward. Sure, software engineers have cooked up new encoding algorithms that produce fuller sound without drastically increasing file sizes. And with recent increases in bandwidth and the advent of giant hard drives, it's now even possible to maintain, share, and carry vast libraries of uncompressed files. But better-sounding options have hardly gained any ground on the lo-fi MP3. The big advance—the one that had all the impact—was the move to easier-to-manage bits. Compared with that, improved sound quality just doesn't move the needle.</span><br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 102);">#</span><br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 102);">Of course, there are those who appreciate the richer sound of uncompressed files, CDs, or even vinyl records (regarded by some audiophiles as the highest-fi format available). But most of us don't give it a second thought. In fact, there's evidence that consumers are simply adapting to the MP3's thin sound. Jonathan Berger, a professor of music at Stanford University, recently completed a six-year study of his students. Every year he asked new arrivals in his class to listen to the same musical excerpts played in a variety of digital formats—from standard MP3s to high-fidelity uncompressed files—and rate their preferences. Every year, he reports, more and more students preferred the sound of MP3s, particularly for rock music. They've grown accustomed to what Berger calls the percussive sizzle—aka distortion—found in compressed music. To them, that's what music is supposed to sound like.</span><br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 102);">What has happened with the MP3 format and other Good Enough technologies is that the qualities we value have simply changed. And the change is so profound that the old measures have almost lost their meaning. Call it the MP3 effect.</span><br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 102);">We've seen it again and again. Consider, for example, the rise of cloud computing. For years, software was something you bought and installed on your hard drive. A lot of it was made by Microsoft, which solidified its dominance by releasing ever more powerful, feature-laden updates. But with the advent of services like Gmail and Zoho Writer, many users are now turning to the Web for basic tasks like word processing, spreadsheets, and email. These cloud apps have inherent limits: They run through a browser window and can't directly access your local hard drive or processor. They lack features. Their performance depends on the strength of your Internet connection. Nevertheless, tens of millions of people use Gmail, while Zoho Writer boasts 1.8 million users and is growing at a rate of 100,000 subscribers a month. Microsoft, of course, is now jumping into the cloud as fast as it can. Redmond says that Office 2010 will be largely cloud-based. Not to be outdone, Google recently announced a mostly cloud-based operating system that will work in tandem with the company's Chrome browser.</span><br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 102);">Web tools are succeeding because they're Good Enough. They do most of what we need from a word processor or a spreadsheet or an email program or even an OS. But, like the MP3, they also offer other advantages. You can access them from any computer. If your hard drive crashes, you don't lose your work. And they are incredibly cheap—free in the case of simple tools or just a few dollars a month per user in the case of business apps.</span><br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 102);">Compare these qualities with those of the MP3 and the Flip, and a clear pattern emerges. The attributes that now matter most all fall under the rubric of accessibility. Thanks to the speed and connectivity of the digital age, we've stopped fussing over pixel counts, sample rates, and feature lists. Instead, we're now focused on three things: ease of use, continuous availability, and low price. Is it simple to get what we want out of the technology? Is it available everywhere, all the time—or as close to that ideal as possible? And is it so cheap that we don't have to think about price? Products that benefit from the MP3 effect capitalize on one or more of these qualities. And they'll happily sacrifice power and features to do so.</span><br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 102);">#</span><br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 102);">By traditional military standards, the MQ-1 Predator isn't much of a plane. Its top speed is a mere 135 miles per hour. It has an altitude ceiling of 25,000 feet. It carries only two 100-pound Hellfire missiles. It has a propeller. By comparison, an A-10 can travel 420 mph, cruise at 45,000 feet, and carry up to 16,000 pounds of bombs—not to mention a 30-mm gatling gun. An F-16 can reach a blistering 1,500 mph (Mach 2), climb to more than 50,000 feet, and back up its 20-mm multibarrel canon with six missiles.</span><br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 102);">All three of these aircraft are used for surveillance and close air support. But more and more, the military is relying on the unmanned Predator. In the past two years, it has logged more than 250,000 flight hours, nearly all of them in combat. It has been deployed to the Balkans, Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Iraq.</span><br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 102);">Why, if manned planes are so superior, is the Predator saturating the combat market? Because military aircraft are experiencing their own version of the MP3 effect.</span><br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 102);">Over the past few decades, the armed services—like many industries—have been radically changed by the Internet and other modern communications technologies. Now that the military can digitize and share information quickly, engagements are conducted differently: Greater emphasis is being put on "situational awareness," the ability of remote commanders to know what's happening on a battlefield at all times. This in turn has altered what the military looks for in a plane, much the same way small digital files changed what music fans value in a recording.</span><br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 102);">There is at least one measure by which the Predator has piloted aircraft handily beat: the ability to maintain a constant presence in the air. That's because the drones are relatively cheap to build, can fly for more than 20 hours straight, and don't require pilots who need sleep, food, and bathroom breaks (and who might die if the plane is shot down). In Afghanistan and Iraq, a Predator is available pretty much anytime the military needs one. Accessibility, in other words, has become a dominant aircraft value—prized as much as, and sometimes more than, speed, altitude, and armament.</span><br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 102);">"Sustaining the sorts of operations we conduct with the Predator used to be virtually impossible," says Eric Mathewson, director of the Air Force Unmanned Aircraft Systems Task Force. "The idea of putting an aircraft over an area of interest 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, was simply unsustainable."</span><br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 102);">Piloted aircraft are still valuable, he's quick to add, but because the Predator can linger, it has enabled a new type of strategy—remotely guided surgical strikes with fewer troops and armaments. It's a lesson that surprised the Air Force and other services, Mathewson says, but one that has been learned definitively. "We're now looking at aircraft capabilities for the future that are even more persistent," he says. "We're exploring airships again, which could stay airborne for up to five years."</span><br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 102);">The impact of the Predator illustrates the potential of the MP3 effect to transform almost any market. In fact, Good Enough tech is already gaining a foothold in two other huge industries: the legal profession and health care.</span><br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 102);">Richard Granat is a pioneer in a field called elawyering. It shouldn't be confused with Web sites that merely offer legal documents for downloading, Granat explains. Elawyering involves actual lawyers, and clients who use these services get help sorting through legal issues.</span><br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 102);">Granat, who runs his own law firm and cochairs the American Bar Association's task force on elawyering, has designed and marketed a number of Web tools that walk people through common legal procedures. He created a child-support calculator, for example, which assists couples going through relatively amicable divorces. There's also a tool to help people decide whether they need Chapter 7 or Chapter 13 bankruptcy. These widgets then generate legal forms, which may be reviewed by a licensed attorney who can make suggestions or offer advice over the phone.</span><br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 102);">It turns out to be a remarkably efficient way of offering what Granat calls legal transaction services—tasks that are document intensive. For everything from wills to adoptions to shareholder agreements, elawyering has numerous advantages. It's cheaper, for example; a no-fault divorce, Granat says, might run a fifth of what seeing an attorney would cost. It's also faster—customers can access the tools anytime and never have to interrupt their day to meet with someone in a distant office. Simply put, elawyering makes certain legal services more accessible.</span><br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 102);">There are trade-offs, of course. "The relationship has less richness than what you'd get from sitting in a lawyer's office," Granat says. "And if you have an issue that's more complex, then you still need to see a lawyer face-to-face." In other words, it's a lower-fidelity experience.</span><br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 102);">But for most simple legal interactions, elawyering is, well, Good Enough. It gets the job done, even if it doesn't let you ask every question or address every contingency. And not surprisingly, it's on the rise. "Elawyering will be mainstream in three years," Granat says. "I predict that in five years, if you're a small firm and don't offer this kind of Web service, you're not going to make it."</span><br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 102);">#</span><br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 102);">In the case of health care, the Good Enough mindset can be seen in a new initiative by Kaiser Permanente. The largest not-for-profit medical organization in the country, Kaiser has long relied on a simple strategy of building complete, self-sustaining hospitals—employing 50 doctors or more—in each region it serves. "It's an efficient model," says Michele Flanagin, Kaiser's vice president of delivery systems strategy. "It offers one-stop shopping: pharmacy and radiology and everything you want from health care in one building." But that approach forces patients who don't live near a hospital to drive a long way for even the most routine doctor's appointment.</span><br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 102);">As it happens, though, Kaiser has become one of the most technologically advanced health care providers in the country, digitizing everything from patient records and doctors' notes to lab data and prescriptions and putting it all online. The system is networked, so patients can email their doctor, check lab results, and make appointments from their PC or mobile Web device. Getting a referral doesn't mean carrying medical records from one doctor to another, as it does at many hospitals.</span><br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 102);">In 2007, Flanagin and her colleagues wondered what would happen if, instead of building a hospital in a new area, Kaiser just leased space in a strip mall, set up a high tech office, and hired two doctors to staff it. Thanks to the digitization of records, patients could go to this "microclinic" for most of their needs and seamlessly transition to a hospital farther away when necessary. So Flanagin and her team began a series of trials to see what such an office could do. They cut everything they could out of the clinics: no pharmacy, no radiology. They even explored cutting the receptionist in favor of an ATM-like kiosk where patients would check in with their Kaiser card.</span><br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 102);">What they found is that the system performed very well. Two doctors working out of a microclinic could meet 80 percent of a typical patient's needs. With a hi-def video conferencing add-on, members could even link to a nearby hospital for a quick consult with a specialist. Patients would still need to travel to a full-size facility for major trauma, surgery, or access to expensive diagnostic equipment, but those are situations that arise infrequently.</span><br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 102); font-weight: bold;">If that 80 percent number rings a bell, it's because of the famous Pareto principle, also known as the 80/20 rule. And it happens to be a recurring theme in Good Enough products. You can think of it this way: 20 percent of the effort, features, or investment often delivers 80 percent of the value to consumers. That means you can drastically simplify a product or service in order to make it more accessible and still keep 80 percent of what users want—making it Good Enough—which is exactly what Kaiser did.</span><br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 102);">Flanagin believes these clinics will enable Kaiser to add thousands of new members. And they'll do it for less. The per-member cost at a microclinic is roughly half that of a full Kaiser hospital. The first microclinic is set to open in Hawaii early next year. Medical care is now poised for its own manifestation of the MP3 effect.</span><br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 102);">The phenomenon certainly won't stop with hospitals, lawyers, and military campaigns. As more and more industries move their business online, they too will find success in Good Enough tools that focus on maximizing accessibility. It's a reflection of our new value system. We've changed. To benefit from the MP3 effect, companies will have to change as well.</span><br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 102);">No one understands this better than the folks at Pure Digital Technologies. Two years ago, the Flip Ultra nailed all three of those accessibility traits: It was significantly less expensive than other digital video cameras—so much so, it almost seemed an impulse buy in comparison. It was much easier to use, not only for shooting video but also for uploading clips to the Internet. And its pocketable size and Web-sharing abilities made video available anytime, anywhere. The Flip hit the Good Enough trifecta.</span><br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 102);">When asked why he thinks the Flip has succeeded where more powerful videocams—and even new Flip knockoffs from the likes of Sony—have failed, Pure Digital's Fleming-Wood has an interesting answer: "I think it's because we have a better product." What's odd is that executives at Sony and Canon would likely say the same thing—after all, their models have far more features and often produce sharper images. But Fleming-Wood is using a different definition of "better." He now defines quality entirely in terms of ease of use—how easy it is to shoot and share the video. "The one thing everyone wants to do with their footage is show it to someone else," he says.</span><br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 102);">Even so, it's easy to imagine that feature creep will one day seep into the Flip. After all, the company recently released models that record in HD, so why not image stabilization or a bigger LCD—or hey, how about a touchscreen! "We will always prioritize accessibility over features," Fleming-Wood insists. The increase in pixel count, he says, is simply the result of Moore's law advances in chip speed and storage capacity, not a signal that Pure Digital is changing its focus. Once HD components became available that would not drastically raise the price of the camera or make it harder to use, "it made no sense not to go HD," Fleming-Wood says. He points out that Pure Digital has yet to include other features like an optical zoom or image stabilization, adding that he knows people love the Flip because of how simple it makes recording and sharing video. "We will never sacrifice that."</span><br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 102);">When he thinks about how the Flip line will improve in the future, Fleming-Wood envisions adding features that will make the video even easier to share. "Well, we could add Wi-Fi or cell connectivity, so if you were filming your kid's soccer game, you could be uploading the footage to the Web in real time so Grandma could watch from home," he says with a daydreamer's enthusiasm. To do something that ambitious, of course, might require sacrificing some of that HD image quality. No problem, as long as it's Good Enough.</span><br /><br />Senior editor Robert Capps (rcapps@wired.com) wrote about Judd Apatow in issue 15.06.<br /><br /><span style="font-size:78%;">http://www.wired.com/gadgets/miscellaneous/magazine/17-09/ff_goodenough?currentPage=all</span><div class="blogger-post-footer">Copyright:2007 © Collaboration360 Consultants (C360).
Copying, posting and reproduction in any form (without prior consent) is an infridgement of copyright.
Any questions on Compass AE!? Please contact us at www.Collaboration360.com</div>Compass360 Consulting Grouphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14541160023041844298noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3681079422803813160.post-38718400422558000222009-08-30T04:38:00.000-07:002009-08-29T16:27:37.225-07:00The Dao of Strategic Assessment (37): Assessing the Grand Picture<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_sG9giPgBG9k/SpEDTApVR-I/AAAAAAAABm8/XUi0U0QQ6Ls/s1600-h/Golden+Compass.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 359px; height: 181px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_sG9giPgBG9k/SpEDTApVR-I/AAAAAAAABm8/XUi0U0QQ6Ls/s320/Golden+Compass.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5373079455555471330" border="0" /></a><span style="font-family:verdana;"><span style="font-family:verdana;">To properly compete in the global economy, the successful strategist and his/her project team usually </span>know what are their objectives. They assess their grand settings in order to determine what are their possibility of success. The assessment also acts as a compass for the strategist (and the team) to decide what circumstances work for them. The next step is the development of a grand strategic overview that is consisted of a goal, a set of strategic guidelines based on our PACE format, a listing of PACE-specific objectives.<br /><br />Our process of delineating the goal is based on our interpretation of Sunzi (Sun Tzu) concepts and principles where we focus on the importance of the competitive position.<br /><br /></span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_sG9giPgBG9k/SpEAea0-cyI/AAAAAAAABm0/fozP7ZrL4DY/s1600-h/Connecting-the-dots_id273899_size485.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 311px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_sG9giPgBG9k/SpEAea0-cyI/AAAAAAAABm0/fozP7ZrL4DY/s400/Connecting-the-dots_id273899_size485.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5373076353027306274" border="0" /></a><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">Once certain situations appears, the strategist and his/her team uses the strategic overview as a guide to connect the dots and reap rewards.<br /><br />Our Compass AE process allows the strategic team to connect the dots by establishing a strategic overview that focuses on priorities, approaches and circumstances. It also depict the technical connections from the initial milestone to the concluding milestone.<br /><br />If you are interested in knowing more about this, please </span><span style=";font-family:verdana;font-size:100%;" >contact us at service[aatt]collaboration360[ddott].com. </span><div class="blogger-post-footer">Copyright:2007 © Collaboration360 Consultants (C360).
Copying, posting and reproduction in any form (without prior consent) is an infridgement of copyright.
Any questions on Compass AE!? Please contact us at www.Collaboration360.com</div>Compass360 Consulting Grouphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14541160023041844298noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3681079422803813160.post-31234995282683680212009-08-26T04:38:00.000-07:002010-01-12T00:13:04.866-08:00The Dao of Strategic Assessment (36): The Importance of Proper Strategic Assessment<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_sG9giPgBG9k/SpboOsiFUNI/AAAAAAAABnc/koUmYqwCyPg/s1600-h/Piles+of+Cash.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 272px; height: 299px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_sG9giPgBG9k/SpboOsiFUNI/AAAAAAAABnc/koUmYqwCyPg/s400/Piles+of+Cash.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5374738544483193042" border="0" /></a><span style="font-family:verdana;">The purpose of strategic assessment is to understand the strategic valuation of one's current and future position. Regardless of the data, the emotional state can sometimes alter one's normal decision-making process.</span><br /><br /><span style=";font-family:verdana;font-size:100%;" >C360 assesses the grand picture by focusing on the fundamentals, the technicalities, the various cycles and the global effect</span>. <span style="font-family:verdana;"></span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">The front runners are those who succeed by complying with the seasonal cycle of the global marketplace .</span> <span style="font-family:verdana;">They have the strategic skill to know the entrance point and the exit point many degrees before the termination of the cycle.</span><br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 102); font-weight: bold;font-family:times new roman;" >"Even in the good times, you need to be conservative, totally focused and not expand beyond your means. The good times can never last forever. Things come in cycles always." --- The Unknown Strategist</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">One succeeds by consciously assessing the grand picture- knowing what is currently happening and what is the next occurrence, then implementing one's Tangible Vision before the cycle is over.</span><br /><br /><span style=";font-family:verdana;font-size:100%;" >If you need another view on your assessment of your grand picture, contact us at service[aatt]collaboration360[ddott].com. ... </span><br /><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;"></span>________________________________<br />August 21, 2009<br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Rise of the Super-Rich Hits a Sobering Wall </span><br />By DAVID LEONHARDT and GERALDINE FABRIKANT<br /><br />The rich have been getting richer for so long that the trend has come to seem almost permanent.<br /><br />They began to pull away from everyone else in the 1970s. By 2006, income was more concentrated at the top than it had been since the late 1920s. The recent news about resurgent Wall Street pay has seemed to suggest that not even the Great Recession could reverse the rise in income inequality.<br /><br />But economists say — and data is beginning to show — that a significant change may in fact be under way. The rich, as a group, are no longer getting richer. Over the last two years, they have become poorer. And many may not return to their old levels of wealth and income anytime soon.<br /><br />For every investment banker whose pay has recovered to its prerecession levels, there are several who have lost their jobs — as well as many wealthy investors who have lost millions. As a result, economists and other analysts say, a 30-year period in which the super-rich became both wealthier and more numerous may now be ending.<br /><br />The relative struggles of the rich may elicit little sympathy from less well-off families who are dealing with the effects of the worst recession in a generation. But the change does raise several broader economic questions. Among them is whether harder times for the rich will ultimately benefit the middle class and the poor, given that the huge recent increase in top incomes coincided with slow income growth for almost every other group. In blunter terms, the question is whether the better metaphor for the economy is a rising tide that can lift all boats — or a zero-sum game.<br /><br />Just how much poorer the rich will become remains unclear. It will be determined by, among other things, whether the stock market continues its recent rally and what new laws Congress passes in the wake of the financial crisis. At the very least, though, the rich seem unlikely to return to the trajectory they were on.<br /><br />Last year, the number of Americans with a net worth of at least $30 million dropped 24 percent, according to CapGemini and Merrill Lynch Wealth Management. Monthly income from stock dividends, which is concentrated among the affluent, has fallen more than 20 percent since last summer, the biggest such decline since the government began keeping records in 1959.<br /><br />Bill Gates, Warren E. Buffett, the heirs to the Wal-Mart Stores fortune and the founders of Google each lost billions last year, according to Forbes magazine. <span style="font-weight: bold;">In one stark example, John McAfee, an entrepreneur who founded the antivirus software company that bears his name, is now worth about $4 million, from a peak of more than $100 million. Mr. McAfee will soon auction off his last big property because he needs cash to pay his bills after having been caught off guard by the simultaneous crash in real estate and stocks. </span><br /><br />“I had no clue,” he said, “that there would be this tandem collapse.”<br /><br />Some of the clearest signs of the reversal of fortunes can be found in data on spending by the wealthy. An index that tracks the price of art, the Mei Moses index, has dropped 32 percent in the last six months. The New York Yankees failed to sell many of the most expensive tickets in their new stadium and had to drop the price. In one ZIP code in Vail, Colo., only five homes sold for more than $2 million in the first half of this year, down from 34 in the first half of 2007, according to MDA Dataquick. In Bronxville, an affluent New York suburb, the decline was to two, from 17, according to Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage.<br /><br />“We had a period of roughly 50 years, from 1929 to 1979, when the income distribution tended to flatten,” said Neal Soss, the chief economist at Credit Suisse. “Since the early ’80s, incomes have tended to get less equal. And I think we’ve entered a phase now where society will move to a more equal distribution.”<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">No More ’50s and ’60s </span><br /><br />Few economists expect the country to return to the relatively flat income distribution of the 1950s and 1960s. Indeed, they say that inequality is likely to remain significantly greater than it was for most of the 20th century. The Obama administration has not proposed completely rewriting the rules for Wall Street or raising the top income-tax rate to anywhere near 70 percent, its level as recently as 1980. Market forces that have increased inequality, like globalization, are also not going away.<br /><br />But economists say that the rich will probably not recover their losses immediately, as they did in the wake of the dot-com crash earlier this decade. That quick recovery came courtesy of a new bubble in stocks, which in 2007 were more expensive by some measures than they had been at any other point save the bull markets of the 1920s or 1990s. This time, analysts say, Wall Street seems unlikely to return soon to the extreme levels of borrowing that made such a bubble possible.<br /><br />Any major shift in the financial status of the rich could have big implications. A drop in their income and wealth would complicate life for elite universities, museums and other institutions that received lavish donations in recent decades. Governments — federal and state — could struggle, too, because they rely heavily on the taxes paid by the affluent.<br /><br />Perhaps the broadest question is what a hit to the wealthy would mean for the middle class and the poor. The best-known data on the rich comes from an analysis of Internal Revenue Service returns by Thomas Piketty and Emmanuel Saez, two economists. Their work shows that in the late 1970s, the cutoff to qualify for the highest-earning one ten-thousandth of households was roughly $2 million, in inflation-adjusted, pretax terms. By 2007, it had jumped to $11.5 million.<br /><br />The gains for the merely affluent were also big, if not quite huge. The cutoff to be in the top 1 percent doubled since the late 1970s, to roughly $400,000.<br /><br />By contrast, pay at the median — which was about $50,000 in 2007 — rose less than 20 percent, Census data shows. Near the bottom of the income distribution, the increase was about 12 percent.<br /><br />Some economists say they believe that the contrasting trends are unrelated. If anything, these economists say, any problems the wealthy have will trickle down, in the form of less charitable giving and less consumer spending. Over the last century, the worst years for the rich were the early 1930s, the heart of the Great Depression.<br /><br />Other economists say the recent explosion of incomes at the top did hurt everyone else, by concentrating economic and political power among a relatively small group.<br /><br />“I think incredibly high incomes can have a pernicious effect on the polity and the economy,” said Lawrence Katz, a Harvard economist. Much of the growth of high-end incomes stemmed from market forces, like technological innovation, Mr. Katz said. But a significant amount also stemmed from the wealthy’s newfound ability to win favorable government contracts, low tax rates and weak financial regulation, he added.<br /><br />The I.R.S. has not yet released its data for 2008 or 2009. But Mr. Saez, a professor at the University of California, Berkeley, said he believed that the rich had become poorer. Asked to speculate where the cutoff for the top one ten-thousandth of households was now, he said from $6 million to $8 million.<br /><br />For the number to return to $11 million quickly, he said, would probably require a large financial bubble.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Making More Money </span><br /><br />The United States economy experienced two such bubbles in recent years — one in stocks, the other in real estate — and both helped the rich become richer. Mr. McAfee, whose tattoos and tinted hair suggest an independent streak, is an extreme but telling example. For two decades, at almost every step of his career, he figured out a way to make more money.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">In the late 1980s, he founded McAfee Associates, the antivirus software company. It gave away its software, unlike its rivals, but charged fees to those who wanted any kind of technical support. That decision helped make it a huge success. The company went public in 1992, in the early years of one of biggest stock market booms in history. </span> <span style="font-weight: bold;"> But Mr. McAfee is, by his own description, an atypical businessman — easily bored and given to serial obsessions. As a young man, he traveled through Mexico, India and Nepal and, more recently, he wrote a book called, “Into the Heart of Truth: The Spirit of Relational Yoga.” Two years after McAfee Associates went public, he was bored again. </span> <span style="font-weight: bold;"> So he sold his remaining stake, bringing his gains to about $100 million. In the coming years, he started new projects and made more investments. Almost inevitably, they paid off. </span><br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0); font-weight: bold;">“History told me that you just keep working, and it is easy to make more money,”</span> he said, sitting in the kitchen of his adobe-style house in the southwest corner of New Mexico.<span style="font-weight: bold;"> With low tax rates, he added, the rich could keep much of what they made. </span><br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0); font-weight: bold;">One of the starkest patterns in the data on inequality is the extent to which the incomes of the very rich are tied to the stock market. They have risen most rapidly during the biggest bull markets: in the 1920s and the 20 years starting in 1987. </span><br />“We are coming from an abnormal period where a tremendous amount of wealth was created largely by selling assets back and forth,” said Mohamed A. El-Erian, chief executive of Pimco, one of the country’s largest bond traders, and the former manager of Harvard’s endowment.<br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">/// Almost everyone knows the general strategic rules. However, a few knows the exception to those rules. Do you? </span><br /><br />Some of this wealth was based on real economic gains, like those from the computer revolution. But much of it was not, Mr. El-Erian said. “You had wealth creation that could not be tied to the underlying economy,” he added, “and the benefits were very skewed: they went to the assets of the rich. It was financial engineering.”<br /><br />But if the rich have done well in bubbles, they have taken enormous hits to their wealth during busts. A recent study by two Northwestern University economists found that the incomes of the affluent tend to fall more, in percentage terms, in recessions than the incomes of the middle class. The incomes of the very affluent — the top one ten-thousandth — fall the most.<br /><br />Over the last several years, Mr. McAfee began to put a large chunk of his fortune into real estate, often in remote locations. He bought the house in New Mexico as a playground for himself and fellow aerotrekkers, people who fly unlicensed, open-cockpit planes. On a 157-acre spread, he built a general store, a 35-seat movie theater and a cafe, and he bought vintage cars for his visitors to use.<br /><br />He continued to invest in financial markets, sometimes borrowing money to increase the potential returns. He typically chose his investments based on suggestions from his financial advisers. One of their recommendations was to put millions of dollars into bonds tied to Lehman Brothers.<br /><br />For a while, Mr. McAfee’s good run, like that of many of the American wealthy, seemed to continue. In the wake of the dot-com crash, stocks started rising again, while house prices just continued to rise. Outside’s Go magazine and National Geographic Adventure ran articles on his New Mexico property, leading to him to believe that “this was the hottest property on the planet,” he said.<br /><br />But then things began to change.<br /><br />In 2007, Mr. McAfee sold a 10,000-square-foot home in Colorado with a view of Pike’s Peak. He had spent $25 million to buy the property and build the house. He received $5.7 million for it. When Lehman collapsed last fall, its bonds became virtually worthless. Mr. McAfee’s stock investments cost him millions more.<br /><br />One day, he realized, as he said, “Whoa, my cash is gone.”<br /><br />His remaining net worth of about $4 million makes him vastly wealthier than most Americans, of course. But he has nonetheless found himself needing cash and desperately trying to reduce his monthly expenses.<br /><br />He has sold a 10-passenger Cessna jet and now flies coach. This week his oceanfront estate in Hawaii sold for $1.5 million, with only a handful of bidders at the auction. He plans to spend much of his time in Belize, in part because of more favorable taxes there.<br /><br />Next week, his New Mexico property will be the subject of a no-floor auction, meaning that Mr. McAfee has promised to accept the top bid, no matter how low it is.<br /><br />“I am trying to face up to the reality here that the auction may bring next to nothing,” he said.<br /><br />In the past, when his stock investments did poorly, he sold real estate and replenished his cash. This time, that has not been an option.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Stock Market Mystery </span><br /><br />The possibility that the stock market will quickly recover from its collapse, as it did earlier this decade, is perhaps the biggest uncertainty about the financial condition of the wealthy. Since March, the Standard & Poor’s 500-stock index has risen 49 percent.<br /><br />Yet Wall Street still has a long way to go before reaching its previous peaks. The S.& P. 500 remains 35 percent below its 2007 high. Aggregate compensation for the financial sector fell 14 percent from 2007 to 2008, according to the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association — far less than profits or revenue fell, but a decline nonetheless.<br /><br />“The difference this time,” predicted Byron R. Wein, a former chief investment strategist at Morgan Stanley, who started working on Wall Street in 1965, “is that the high-water mark that people reached in 2007 is not going to be exceeded for a very long time.”<br /><br />Without a financial bubble, there will simply be less money available for Wall Street to pay itself or for corporate chief executives to pay themselves. Some companies — like Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan Chase, which face less competition now and have been helped by the government’s attempts to prop up credit markets — will still hand out enormous paychecks. Over all, though, there will be fewer such checks, analysts say. Roger Freeman, an analyst at Barclays Capital, said he thought that overall Wall Street compensation would, at most, increase moderately over the next couple of years.<br /><br />Beyond the stock market, government policy may have the biggest effect on top incomes. Mr. Katz, the Harvard economist, argues that without policy changes, top incomes may indeed approach their old highs in the coming years. Historically, government policy, like the New Deal, has had more lasting effects on the rich than financial busts, he said.<br /><br />One looming policy issue today is what steps Congress and the administration will take to re-regulate financial markets. A second issue is taxes.<br /><br />In the three decades after World War II, when the incomes of the rich grew more slowly than those of the middle class, the top marginal rate ranged from 70 to 91 percent. Mr. Piketty, one of the economists who analyzed the I.R.S. data, argues that these high rates did not affect merely post-tax income. They also helped hold down the pretax incomes of the wealthy, he says, by giving them less incentive to make many millions of dollars.<br /><br />Since 1980, tax rates on the affluent have fallen more than rates on any other group; this year, the top marginal rate is 35 percent. President Obama has proposed raising it to 39 percent and has said he would consider a surtax on families making more than $1 million a year, which could push the top rate above 40 percent.<br /><br />What any policy changes will mean for the nonwealthy remains unclear. There have certainly been periods when the rich, the middle class and the poor all have done well (like the late 1990s), as well as periods when all have done poorly (like the last year). For much of the 1950s, ’60s and ’70s, both the middle class and the wealthy received raises that outpaced inflation.<br /><br />Yet there is also a reason to think that the incomes of the wealthy could potentially have a bigger impact on others than in the past: as a share of the economy, they are vastly larger than they once were.<br /><br />In 2007, the top one ten-thousandth of households took home 6 percent of the nation’s income, up from 0.9 percent in 1977. It was the highest such level since at least 1913, the first year for which the I.R.S. has data.<br /><br />The top 1 percent of earners took home 23.5 percent of income, up from 9 percent three decades earlier.<br /><br /><span style="font-size:78%;">http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/21/business/economy/21inequality.html </span><div class="blogger-post-footer">Copyright:2007 © Collaboration360 Consultants (C360).
Copying, posting and reproduction in any form (without prior consent) is an infridgement of copyright.
Any questions on Compass AE!? Please contact us at www.Collaboration360.com</div>Compass360 Consulting Grouphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14541160023041844298noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3681079422803813160.post-49011117495168129592009-08-23T11:33:00.000-07:002009-08-25T13:10:43.687-07:00The Dao of Strategic Assessment (35): The Return of Yahoo !?<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_sG9giPgBG9k/SpGPejOTTzI/AAAAAAAABnE/Enh_jR1Ki7o/s1600-h/Money-Logo.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 215px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_sG9giPgBG9k/SpGPejOTTzI/AAAAAAAABnE/Enh_jR1Ki7o/s320/Money-Logo.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5373233585443786546" border="0" /></a><br /><span style=";font-family:verdana;font-size:100%;" >Making presumptions and using technology as a general solution does not always work for everyone. In business as in life, even parity does not exist.<br /><br />Compared to Google, Yahoo has limited resources. In order to compete effectively, they had to manage their time and energy effectively. They assessed what the general client base wanted and positioned themselves with a plan based on their assessment. </span><br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 102);font-family:arial;" >Having paid heed to the advantages of my plans, the general must create situations (strategic advantage) which will contribute to their accomplishment. By 'situations' I mean that he should act expediently in accordance with what is advantageous and so control the balance. - Art of War 1 (Griffith Translation)</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">Google has a general philosophy of "Technology is everything and the users make the individual choice of what they want to use." Overall, Google has the resources to overwhelm any competitor and feel no urgency to change. They will stay with their belief of a general technology-driven solution that enables the users to make their choice.</span><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_sG9giPgBG9k/SpGegVAdp_I/AAAAAAAABnM/KSKMl5noZIg/s1600-h/20090823-web-DIGI_full+%28NYT%29.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 320px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_sG9giPgBG9k/SpGegVAdp_I/AAAAAAAABnM/KSKMl5noZIg/s320/20090823-web-DIGI_full+%28NYT%29.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5373250108661802994" border="0" /></a><span style="font-family:verdana;"><br />Currently web statistics show that Yahoo is ahead of Google in the arena of financial information. Whether they can beat Google on the long run is debatable.<br /><br />It is a contest where one's killer app can be duplicated in less than nine months.<br /></span><br /><span style=";font-family:verdana;font-size:100%;" >Following are three questions for the readers:<br /></span><ul><li><span style=";font-family:verdana;font-size:100%;" >Do you assess before you plan? </span></li><li><span style=";font-family:verdana;font-size:100%;" >What is your approach for assessing?</span></li><li><span style=";font-family:verdana;font-size:100%;" >Based on your assessment, how do you define your goal?</span></li></ul><span style="font-family:verdana;">We will touch on these three questions at a later post.</span><br /><br />#<br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 102);">August 23, 2009</span><br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 102);">Digital Domain</span><br /><span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 0, 102);">Where Yahoo Leaves Google in the Dust</span><br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 102);">By RANDALL STROSS</span><br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 102);">GOOGLE has an outsize image as the deft master of information. Its superior technology seems to pitilessly grind up its rivals. But Google’s domination in search has proved hard for it to match in some information domains. When serving financial news and information, for example, <span style="font-weight: bold;">Yahoo draws 17.5 times the traffic of Google, according to comScore Media Metrix.</span></span><br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 102);"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Yahoo Finance, which has occupied the top spot in the category for 19 consecutive months, drew 21.7 million unique United States visitors in July;</span> Google Finance drew only 1.2 million unique visitors, placing it 17th in comScore’s rankings for the category, one slot above a site called FreePressRelease.com.</span><br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 102);"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Yahoo understands that information about money — a user’s own money — presents some tricky psychological issues.</span> James Pitaro, vice president of Yahoo’s audience group, said, <span style="font-weight: bold;">“In our research with users, we found that the more information that was displayed on the page, the greater the anxiety.”</span></span><br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 102);">He said <span style="font-weight: bold;">Yahoo deliberately adopted what he calls “the Apple model — simplicity in design; a clean, simple look, not overburdening our users with too much information on the page.”</span></span><br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 102);">Google seems to pay no heed to such psychology. <span style="font-weight: bold;">Google</span> Finance, which was introduced in 2006 and shed its “beta” label earlier this year, hews to its <span style="font-weight: bold;">original strategy: offer the best data and charts. And when that doesn’t work, offer still more data and charts.</span></span><br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 102); font-weight: bold;">Yahoo Finance is organized into sections: investing; news and opinion; personal finance; customized portfolio tracking; and “Tech Ticker,” short video features that have supplied an average of 450,000 streams a day in recent months, Yahoo says. When you click on a link to a news story accompanied by a Tech Ticker video, it starts automatically and seems intended to insert a warm human presence on the page. The video player is on one side of the page and is stationary; the visitor scrolls down on the other side to read news articles.</span><br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 102);">“It’s made for multitasking,” Mr. Pitaro said.</span><br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 102);">About 5 percent of the finance site’s information is original, he said, though his group is looking at ways to increase that to about 10 percent, matching the proportion on Yahoo Sports.</span><br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 102);">Mr. Pitaro credited Yahoo’s home page with sending traffic to Yahoo Finance.</span><br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 102);">“We have a great relationship with the front-page team to identify topics we should cover,” he said. An example of a “featured” story found last week on Yahoo’s front page: “Where Rich Singles Live,” accompanied by a picture of an attractive young woman smiling at the camera while pulling papers out of a briefcase. A click whisked the interested reader to Yahoo Finance.</span><br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 102);">Google does not use the mostly empty home page of the mothership to let visitors know that it has a finance site — some may not even know it exists. (To reach it, a user must click on the word “more” at the top of the home page.) <span style="font-weight: bold;">But Google’s finance site offers something rather basic that Yahoo doesn’t: free real-time price quotations obtained directly from the New York Stock Exchange and Nasdaq.</span></span><br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 102);">Over at Yahoo, the price quotations come from the BATS Exchange, an electronic equity exchange. A Yahoo spokeswoman said that in terms of accuracy and speed, its data “are very close to that from the larger exchanges, and for the average investor, the differences would hardly be noticeable.” (In my side-by-side comparison, the BATS quote on Yahoo for “YHOO” usually lagged Nasdaq’s on Google by a minute.)</span><br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 102);">If Yahoo customers would like the quotations directly from the two largest United States exchanges, they must pay Yahoo $10.95 or $13.95 a month for the privilege of getting the same data that Google offers free.</span><br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 102);"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Among all visitors to Yahoo Finance who are referred by another site, 47.8 percent came from another Yahoo property, according to comScore’s data for July</span>. Only 28.8 percent of Google Finance visitors came from another Google property. (As for MSN Money, which holds third place, 72.7 percent came from other Microsoft sites.)</span><br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 102);">Compare the total United States traffic on all Google sites with the total on all of Yahoo’s and you’ll see that Google edged past Yahoo last year to take the overall lead. Since then, Google has stayed on top, though with only a slim advantage, according to comScore. So finance is an important category that allows Yahoo to remain neck-and-neck with Google over all.</span><br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 102);"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Yahoo Finance is not just coasting, either: it enjoyed 12 percent growth in traffic from July 2008 to July 2009,</span> while Google Finance’s traffic grew by only 3 percent.</span><br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 102);">GOOGLE has not adopted the features that Yahoo uses to create a more appealing look and feel for a finance site. While Google also provides news and portfolio tracking, it doesn’t have its own videos or columnists.</span><br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 102);">Invited to show off features that differentiated Google’s site from Yahoo’s, Ayan Mandal, a Google product manager, pointed to new charting tools, called “Technicals. Added this summer, they allow users to analyze stock prices over time with 12 technical formulas.</span><br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 102);">It seems unlikely, however, that Google’s new tools — whose metrics include one called the Fast Stochastic Oscillator — will do as much for building traffic as a fluffy news story or a short video featuring talking heads. <span style="font-weight: bold;">Yahoo understands that a free finance site prospers by drawing less from the world of mathematics and more from the world of entertainment, informing just enough to satisfy users without setting off an anxiety attack.</span></span><br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 102);">Randall Stross is an author based in Silicon Valley and a professor of business at San Jose State University. E-mail: stross@nytimes.com.<br /><br /><span style="font-size:78%;">http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/23/business/23digi.html?hpw<br /><br /></span></span><div class="blogger-post-footer">Copyright:2007 © Collaboration360 Consultants (C360).
Copying, posting and reproduction in any form (without prior consent) is an infridgement of copyright.
Any questions on Compass AE!? Please contact us at www.Collaboration360.com</div>Compass360 Consulting Grouphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14541160023041844298noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3681079422803813160.post-65046887264884926012009-08-19T21:39:00.000-07:002009-08-22T15:21:57.656-07:00Strategic Valuation<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_sG9giPgBG9k/SozHSO918dI/AAAAAAAABms/Ac6KqQbWtZc/s1600-h/US+Cash+and+Euros+-+Money+3+%28XL%29.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 225px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_sG9giPgBG9k/SozHSO918dI/AAAAAAAABms/Ac6KqQbWtZc/s320/US+Cash+and+Euros+-+Money+3+%28XL%29.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5371887571615216082" border="0" /></a><span style="font-family:arial;">We recently added a new strategic valuation module to our Compass AE process. Compass Implementers can now connect the outcome metrics</span> <span style="font-family:arial;">from a Compass-driven project to the following:</span> <ul><li><span style="font-family:arial;">the project revenue metrics (ROI);</span></li><li><span style="font-family:arial;">the revenue impact to the market;</span></li><li><span style="font-family:arial;">the company's quarterly revenue; and<br /></span></li><li><span style="font-family:arial;"> the market share.</span></li></ul><span style="font-family:arial;">Can your strategic project team establish a projected set of numbers that is exactly close to the actual sales numbers?<br /><br />If one wants the macro view of their situation, should he or she like to know the numbers that are behind it?<br /><br />The key to proper competitive positioning is to make successful strategic decisions. Without the numbers, how can he or she make the right decisions?<br /><br />We will discuss the specifics of this matter at a later post. If you are interested in knowing more about strategic valuation. please contact us at service[aatt]collaboration360.com.<br /></span><div class="blogger-post-footer">Copyright:2007 © Collaboration360 Consultants (C360).
Copying, posting and reproduction in any form (without prior consent) is an infridgement of copyright.
Any questions on Compass AE!? Please contact us at www.Collaboration360.com</div>Compass360 Consulting Grouphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14541160023041844298noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3681079422803813160.post-56172090675025979422009-08-12T05:55:00.000-07:002009-08-12T14:03:15.448-07:00The Art of War: Divide and Conquer<span style="font-family:verdana;"><br />The illusion in each and every organization is total solidarity. A constant message of political unity sometimes means that there is always some degree of division within the union and that the leaders are striving to fix it. <br /><br />When the division is on top of the tier, one can only expect negative consequences.<br /><br />The organization that lacks the common vision is a house that will crumble from within.<br /></span><br /><br />#<br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 102);">August 9, 2009</span><br /><span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 0, 102);">Feuding Kills a Top Militant, Pakistan Says</span><br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 102);">By ISMAIL KHAN and SABRINA TAVERNISE</span><br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 102);">PESHAWAR, Pakistan — Pakistani officials said they had received information on Saturday that a ranking militant commander had been killed in a power struggle over who would take control of the Pakistani Taliban.</span><br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 102); font-weight: bold;">A Pakistani government official and an intelligence official said Hakimullah Mehsud, a young and aggressive aide to the former Taliban leader, had been shot dead in a fight with Waliur Rehman, another commander who was seeking to become the leader, during a meeting in a remote mountain region near the Afghan border.</span><br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 102);">Reports of Hakimullah Mehsud’s death could not be independently verified Saturday. If they are true, it would be the second major loss for the Pakistani Taliban in just a week, after reports that its supreme leader, Baitullah Mehsud, had been killed in an American airstrike on Wednesday. The killing would also solidify the belief among American and Pakistani intelligence officials that a power struggle has been brewing within the Pakistani Taliban, which is made up of many different tribes and factions that had been brought together under Baitullah Mehsud’s leadership.</span><br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 102);">Earlier on Saturday, Hakimullah Mehsud talked to the BBC by telephone to claim that Baitullah was still alive. But in the evening, reports surfaced about the gunfight and Hakimullah’s possible death.</span><br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 102); font-weight: bold;">Terrorism experts said a power struggle within the Pakistani Taliban could give Al Qaeda, which is also based in northwestern Pakistan, a greater role in shaping the group’s direction.</span><br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 102);">American and Pakistani officials say that the two groups have become deeply enmeshed in recent years, with the Taliban helped by Al Qaeda’s international reach and stream of financing from the Persian Gulf region.</span><br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 102);">Officials in Washington could not confirm on Saturday the reports of Hakimullah Mehsud’s death, which were also carried by the Pakistani news network Dawn TV. But an American counterterrorism official said the infighting could provide an opportunity for the United States and Pakistan to exploit the rivalries that were likely to emerge.</span><br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 102);">One of those opportunities, from the American point of view, would be the ability to focus its fleet of drone aircraft on attacking militant leaders who were involved in the Afghan war, or on Qaeda leaders planning attacks against the West. That has been a source of tension between the Americans and Pakistani officials, who had viewed the Mehsuds as the most urgent threat.</span><br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 102);">Still, the United States considered Hakimullah Mehsud an important enough figure that at least one earlier airstrike had been aimed at killing him, American and Pakistani officials say.</span><br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 102);">One Pakistani official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said the fighting could create an opening for the Haqqanis, another group that has close ties to Al Qaeda, to intervene in resolving the leadership issue. Sirajuddin Haqqani is the point man in Pakistan for the leader of the Afghan Taliban, Mullah Muhammad Omar.</span><br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 102);">Details of the fighting were spotty on Saturday. The Pakistani interior minister, Rehman Malik, confirmed reports of a shootout at a meeting in South Waziristan and said one of the commanders had been killed but did not say who it was.</span><br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 102);">“The infighting was between Waliur Rehman and Hakimullah Mehsud,” Mr. Malik told Reuters. “We have information that one of them has been killed. Who was killed we will be able to say later after confirming.”</span><br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 102);">Reports received by government officials on Saturday indicated that Mr. Rehman and Mr. Mehsud — a member of Baitullah’s tribe but not a close relative — argued over succession at a tribal meeting at Sara Rogha in South Waziristan. </span><span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 0, 102);">A shootout ensued, killing Mr. Mehsud and wounding Mr. Rehman</span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 102);">, officials said.</span><br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 102);">A senior government official in Peshawar said Baitullah Mehsud’s father-in-law, who had been at the meeting, was now in the custody of an opposing faction.</span><br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 102);">Beyond being a succession struggle, the infighting may also represent a deeper conflict over the goals and direction of the Pakistani Taliban. A resident of the area who spoke by telephone on Saturday said foreign militants favored Mr. Rehman while local Mehsuds wanted Hakimullah to be their new leader.</span><br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 102);">The alliance between Al Qaeda and Pakistani Taliban leaders goes back years in Pakistan’s lawless tribal areas, where local Pakistani militants helped ferry Arab operatives back and forth across the border from Afghanistan. More recently it has surfaced in the attacks on Pakistan’s major cities, far from the war-torn western tribal areas.</span><br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 102);">“They are interconnected,” a Karachi counterterrorism official said, referring to Al Qaeda and the Taliban. “They depend on each other.”</span><br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 102);">Clear evidence of that alliance, counterterrorism officials say, was the 2008 bombing of the Marriott Hotel in Islamabad. The bomber was an Afghan, trained by Taliban fighters in Mohmand Agency, part of the tribal area where the Mehsuds operate. But it was a Qaeda operative of Kenyan origin, Usama al-Kinni, who planned and financed the attack.</span><br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 102);">In an added complication with serious implications for security in Pakistan, the handlers and facilitators in that attack were from Punjab, Pakistan’s most populous and strategic province, which itself has been the target of a series of suicide bombings and commando-style attacks since March.</span><br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 102);">Police officials investigating those attacks said that a poisonous mix of Al Qaeda and local Punjabi groups were responsible, and that the groups were operating out of a sanctuary provided to them by Baitullah Mehsud.</span><br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 102);">Specifically, investigators said they had unearthed a series of small cells, whose leaders report to a Qaeda operative of Egyptian origin, Sheik Issa.</span><br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 102);">One of the suspects arrested by Lahore investigators, a would-be suicide bomber in his 20s who claimed to have worked as a cook in Baitullah Mehsud’s mountain base in South Waziristan, said the Arabs were clearly above the local Taliban fighters in hierarchy, and commanded gestures of respect from senior Taliban leaders wherever they went.</span><br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 102);">Unlike Baitullah Mehsud, who lived openly in his area, Arabs live in hiding in Pakistan, rarely moving around, and depending on local residents for cover. The foreign militants are respected because they are seen as men who gave up lives of luxury to fight in austerity.</span><br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 102);">Most Qaeda operatives live in North Waziristan, home of the Wazir tribes, whose two leaders, Hafiz Gul Bahadur and Mulvi Nazeer, give them cover.</span><br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 102);">Still, Al Qaeda’s No. 2 leader, Ayman al-Zawahri, is believed to have visited Mr. Mehsud’s area in South Waziristan last year, said Mahmood Shah, a retired brigadier who used to be the ranking Pakistani commander in the region.</span><br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 102);">A Taliban fighter interviewed Saturday by telephone from Waziristan said that Qaeda Arabs remained separate, with their own facilities, meetings and leaders, but that they shared resources — human and financial — when the need arose.</span><br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 102);">“When we need something, they take care of us, and when they need something, we help them,” explained the fighter, who said he had recently ferried 14 Arabs from one area of Waziristan to another.</span><br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 102);">The Taliban fighter said the Arabs preferred to be assisted by militants from Punjab, who, unlike Pashtuns, the ethnic group that makes up the Taliban, can move unnoticed in central Pakistan.</span><br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 102);">Pakistani security forces captured several militants of Saudi origin in May in Mohmand Agency, and the diary of one contained a warning: “Don’t speak in Arabic unless absolutely necessary. Speak Pashto whenever possible.”</span><br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 102);">Ismail Khan reported from Peshawar, and Sabrina Tavernise from Karachi, Pakistan. Pir Zubair Shah contributed reporting from Islamabad, and Mark Mazzetti and Eric Schmitt from Washington.</span><br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 102);">Copyright 2009 The New York Times Company</span><br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 102);font-size:78%;" >http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/09/world/asia/09pstan.html?hp</span><div class="blogger-post-footer">Copyright:2007 © Collaboration360 Consultants (C360).
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