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Glenn Beck is subbing for Paula Zahn on CNN this week. In the first 13 minutes of tonight’s broadcast he must have said 10 or more times that he is a “proud conservative” (whatever that means) – commenting on what’s “right” in the American Justice system and on the “moral values” of middle eastern religions.

Who the heck at CNN thought that it would be a good idea to have an outspoken “conservative” to be a prime time news host?

Ah…maybe Harris was right – too many people in this country believe in “rapture” and that is what is selling ads.

At the end of the day, it is a sad story for democracies across the world to have people who should be limited to doing op-ed pieces and special programs present the daily news on major networks like CNN.

Maybe it’s time to go back online for relatively “unbiased” news sources…if those still exist.

It is so funny to see how Google Maps provides directions to my home town…

Click on the map or this link to get the directions (http://tinyurl.com/2bz25m)

I especially like step #13 – Swim across the Atlantic Ocean

Here is another cool project I am working on – organizing an Enterprise 2.0 RAVE in NYC on May21-22 with the great team at Longworth Venture Partners .

If you are a practitioner looking at deploying web 2.0 tools in your enterprise or actively strugling with pilot projects to try to do that, you should not miss this event. And if you do plan on going, use the link below to get a $250 discount for the RAVE. Seating will be limited and we already have two registrants!

The paint is still wet, so if something does not work correctly let us know.

See you there.

[Tags: future of work enterprise 2.0 web 2.0 wiki tag blog]

Reading Jim’s post and reflecting on two conversations I had this morning – one with a relatively senior person at a major financial institution who told me that the biggest barrier to adoption for enterprise 2.0 tools in his company may be the fear of a flatter organization, another one with a sales rep from one of the two largest enterprise software companies who was trying to convince me that they now cater to companies like ours, with 2 people, a goldfish, and a virtual network of freelancers – got me thinking about the long term prognosis for large companies in general and the fate of large enterprise software companies in the face of an increasingly “atomized” workplace, or as FAST company said in a recent article – a world of a billion single-person enterprises.

I know…as Larry Keeley says, we always overestimate the amount of change in the short term, but we also underestimate the amount of the change in the long term. I wonder how many large enterprise software companies are thinking about this future…or how many large companies in general for that matter.

WARNING – big changes ahead…

[Tags: future of work organization 2.0 enterprise software hierarchy enterprise 2.0]

I wrote about the recent disturbing public attacks that Kathy Sierra had to endure on her blog and others over at the Future of Communities blog.

I wanted to use this personal blog to wish her well and tell her that many people hope that she writes again in the near future!

I just got back from the Community 2.0 conference, for which I organized and managed the program. We had almost 70 speakers, moderators and provocateurs – but as expected, some of the most interesting ideas and thoughts did not come from the stage but from the rich discussions and interactions on the future of communities that everyone was having from morning to night.

In hindsight the Community 2.0 moniker was a good one. Many attendees who had been been part of the first business community wave – the one a decade or more ago, which did not materialize – were seeing signs that this wave was much more real, and based on vastly different motivations. An informal poll showed that more than 60% of the audience was already involved with running and integrating communities as part of their business. As one attendee said during a “panel from the audience” session – when a competitor starts competing by leveraging communities, you have no choice but to respond by leveraging communities yourself. At this point the effects of successful community management are game-changing, not level-setting.

I will post additional feedback from the conference on the Future of Communities blog as well as summarize what is happening with the new community association on the CMMC blog. I will also return to a more regular blogging schedule on this blog, with many fresh thoughts on marketing and innovation.

[Tags: community2.0 community 2.0 business communities]

The Ridiculous Business Jargon Dictionary has some interesting definitions for those of us who are not all that familiar with corporate speak (via lifehack.org). Here are some favorites:

Assmosis [v.] The apparent absorption of success that comes from sucking up.

Blamestorming [v.] Meeting to discuss a failure and find a scapegoat.

Bouncebackability [adj.] The ability to reverse a losing situation and then succeed.

Head shunting [v.] The secret hiring of a head hunter to persuade an ineffectual employee to take a position at another firm. Nicely eliminates the mess of having to fire someone.

Prairie dogging [v.] The simultaneous pop-up of several heads when something interesting is happening around cubicles.

Presenteeism [n.] The practice of working ridiculously long hours.

Zerotasking [v.] Doing nothing.

My friend Pito tagged me – so now I am supposed to reveal 5 thinks about myself that you might not know…

So here we go:

• My first job after graduating from engineering school was selling wine
• I volunteer as a mountain ambassador during weekends
• I am an avid reader of everything related to current events, business, politics, science, but also science fiction
• Religious extremism (and I am not just talking about the turban-variety) is slowly but surely moving me from being religiously agnostic to a die-hard atheist
• I am actually a very shy person

So now I get to tag 5 other unlucky people:

• John Hagel
• Mary Schmidt
• Isabel Walcot Hilborn
• John Winsor
• Lois Kelly

Tag, you’re it!

First off – Happy New Year everyone!

As a friend wished for me – may peace break into your house and may thieves come to steal your debts!

We will soon return to regular blogging!

This is what happens when you have a government in place which rules by instilling fear in its population and disregards basic human rights and privacy laws in the name of security… abuse of power spreads like fungus.

Considering that I have a son who is an American of mixed heritage, this video pushed me to tears. I truly hope that someone at UCLA security will be held accountable and get severely punished for this humiliating act of torture!

A quick Google news search on this incident also shows our deep ignorance about foreign countries and cultures. From reading many accounts you might as well conclude that Iranians=Arabs=muslims (=terrorist). Well, first off Iranians are not Arabs and on top of that this guy was a Baha’i – who are some of the most peaceful people around!

[update] This cop has a history of violence…and here too.

[Tags: human rights abuse of power ucla fear]