The Wall Street Journal had an interesting article (subscription required) a few days ago talking about the trend in "management by data." In a nutshell, large corporations have figured out that if you analyze the behavior of your customers you can leverage that information into better performance.
The dark side, according to the article, is […]
I sent out a few links to articles and blog posts I had written on web site redesign issues recently and thought I would share them here as well.
Things to Think about Before a Web Site Redesign
Three questions you should answer before a web site redesign.
Avoid “Me Too” Web Site Benchmarking
Too many web site design […]
Read & discuss at david@highcontext.com (C. David Gammel)'s blog.
Jason at the Signals v. Noise blog has an interesting post about how much he dislikes plans. I particularly like the point he makes about plans becoming “blinders.”Opportunities are spontaneous, but when you’re sticking to your five year plan you…
Over the months of inactivity ? well, inactivity at The Green Kangaroo ? I?ve accumulated a score of ?things about which I should post? ? interesting books, exploration of virtual worlds and gaming, things ALA. By inclination ? and usually necessity ? I keep moving forward, and there is always a new question, a new insight. Still, I have a compulsion to tie the pieces of my life together. All those paths that criss-cross through greenroo space have relationships and consequences.
A couple months ago, for a retreat on technology and libraries, I gave some thought to my twin passions: libraries and associations. Over a long career ? really — I have come to think about them and their importance is some very similar ways.
Optimisim. Both libraries and associations are inherently and unavoidably optimistic. The world can be made a better place. You can shape your life. We ? individually and collectively — have agency.
Persistence. Memory and mission. Identity. Focus. Purpose. Associations enable persistence of effort ? across time, across individual participation. Amidst ?radical decentralization? they provide persistent identity.
Discovery. In their different ways, libraries and associations aggregate and organize for discovery. Each contrives to take you outside your comfort zone, outside the familiar, outside of the ?like me.? They bridge ? geography, interests, backgrounds, time.
Context. The social construction of meaning, of knowledge is fundamental to and a consequence of libraries and associations. New information and creation have context. In perhaps different ways, both are containers for our responses to destabilization in our mental models, our social environments. Both libraries and associations are significantly about the individual ? in the context of the collective.
Conversation. Discourse. Deliberation. Interaction with the artifacts of culture. Social construction of meaning also implies conversation — interaction, the push and tug of differing conceptions, the struggle for agreement or common understanding. Conversation is vital for discovery in a multicultural world. Our stories live in libraries. They live in associations.
Both libraries and associations are institutions. They are complex systems. As they face ever-changing technology, social and economic structures, they must respond to fundamental questions. What do we adopt ? and on what basis, with what consequences? What does ?user-centered? design look like ? for what users and how do we get there? Do we take an active or reactive policy stance ? and how do we bring together competing interests and values? Above all, what is our narrative ? and how do we build it collaboratively?
Over the past weeks, as I?ve followed the discussion ? in blogs, at conferences and meetings ? on ?improving ALA,? it has become important to me to talk about why this association, which has been a thread connecting disparate parts of my life as both a librarian and an association executive, is important. These concepts ? optimism, persistence, discovery, context and conversation ? have shaped my views. They are my starting point ? or perhaps my ending point, to which other experiences and conversations have led me.
Listen closely to how they pronounce it…
What makes a great leader? Rather than list attributes and traits, perhaps a better place to start is with values. Leadership is about people, who we are as well as what we do. At a recent ULI CEO Leadership Roundtable…
Research conducted by Peer Insight, LLC show that businesses who focus on designing systems to create and maintain a compelling customer experience also deliver better profits than businesses who focus on operational excellence.
Looking at the chart above:
Customer experience (cX) leaders are companies that deliver value through the experiences they create around their products and services […]
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