Ingenuity Arts Paperback - update

The experiment in on-demand publishing continues. Here's a quick summary. Cafe Press books had some kind of weird problem with the cover art - working on rectifying that but it does point out that when you use this route, it really is a case of you pushing the buttons and whatever comes out will do so without further human intervention. Good to know.

I've also been working with Mark Lefebvre, Book Operations Manager at Titles Bookstore McMaster University. He is in charge of their new Espresso on-demand print machine and has been great to work with. The first run looks really good and having a human being involved on the output side does make a difference. McMaster is in Canada which means shipping costs and exchange rates aren't a concern for Canadian customers. Here is a direct link to the book on their site.

Ingenuity Arts - Paperback

During the small gaps of free-time in my semi-nomadic life these past few weeks, I've been working on a book that summarizes my thinking and experience with complexity theory, new leadership and adaptive teams.

The book is very accessible, short, pocket size, and available online from Cafe Press at the Ingenuity Arts Curio Shop online. I'm learning as I go, trying out various publish-on-demand and related self-publishing opportunities that Web 2.0 has led to. Give it a read. I would be happy to hear from you.

You can preview and buy a PDF here. If you are from Canada, it will be better to buy a hard copy here.

A Suitably Grand Undertaking

Looking for something to inspire your lifework? How about this challenge from Tom Peters:

"It is the foremost task - and responsibility - of our generation to re-imagine our enterprises and institutions, public and private." (Re-Imagine, 2003)

There are the lifetimes of a generation in that gauntlet.

OCAD Launches Strategic Innovation Lab

Last night I was part of a diverse gathering of people who made their way from as far away as Barcelona to attend the launch of OCAD's new Strategic Innovation Lab (sLAB). Those in attendance included art students, senior OCAD leadership, MaRS representatives, government officials, business leaders and others who were interested in how social innovation might bring about good for others. In addition to hearing about the sLAB vision from Lenore Richards (Executive Director) and Bob Logan (Chief Scientist), participants were given a chance to be part of a workshop facilitated by Dave Gray of Xplane that enabled us to explore as a group what our vision for the future of sLAB might be.


I was part of a group that reflected visually on collaboration, leading to an exploration of 'it takes a village to raise an idea' complete with drawings. The survival or death of ideas is something that Randall Collins explores in his Sociology of Philosophies. This was a less onerous exploration and did not occupy the thousand-plus pages that Collins exploration covers.

Does thinking really matter? (YES)

Patti's post in The{App}Gap about the research activities of Gerald and Lindsay Zaltman highlights the need for leaders to better balance the 'do something now' attitude in business with a 'think deeply' wisdom that can only come from informed reflection. And if your concern is the bottom line? Well, thinking deeply will contribute more to that over time than careless and automatic reaction. She notes the role that complexity theory thought and delibration has played in helping us become more aware of harmfully simplistic solution sets that we as leaders can depend on. US financial structure anyone?

People skills, complexity and projects

I've really benefitted from reading this blog about the relationship between being a software developer, complexity theory, and people. If you are looking for ways to increase your ability to dance through the challenges of project management, and thus dance through the complexity of people as we work in groups, then this blog will be a great benefit to you.

People skills are not soft - they make a significant impact on financial and human capital bottom lines. Do you see people as components to utilize? Things to manage? Engines of innovation? Your future?

IBM Innovation in Action - online summit

Last week I had a chance to attend the IBM Innovation in Action  summit that was hosted as a webinar. Don Tapscott and an assortment of IBM strategy gurus talked on various dimensions of business innovation that impact all social enterprises. The top guy for IBM Canada delivered a session on the next 5 big things that will impact us in the next 5 years. 

Don Tapscott ran through material familiar to Wikinomics readers. I liked the virtual Exhibition Hall where you could 'walk' around and chat with various IBM people who were managing the booths.  I had a good conversation with Brian Eatock at the Enterprise of the Future booth. We talked about the future of business relationships given the range of digital communications tools available today. I suggested that the next big thing might be Customer Intelligence Management (CIM) where we learn how to better tap into the collective knowledge not only in our own networks or organizations but across the digital matrix. I think personal relationships built through face-to-face will remain critical despite the other tools available. 

In my office we did a small experiment to see who we sent the most emails to over the last six months. Turns out that a high percentage of our email communication is with people who are in close physical proximity as we work on projects, give updates, send questions or share interesting things we come across. Even outside of business, a majority of the most-called numbers tend to be with people that we cross paths with regularly. Brian and I might cross paths somewhere but for now, these kinds of virtual connections, like passing contact at real-time trade show, can only go so far without other more enriched communications encounters.

Project Management and Complexity Theory

OK. I realize this title will get a rather small segment of people excited but when this blog post and attendant article showed up today in Google Alerts, I was happy.

It is so important that we pay attention to these changes. If we can be better at converting ideas into completed and useful projects, I'm all for taking a run at the hill. Read the post at eight to late and if you are still interested, the original article is worth digging into as well.

Do you think the view in the blog post is a valid one?

Emergence and Network Building

In a recent email from the Berkana Institute, I discovered a link to a great article on the relationship of complex systems theory, emergence and social change. It's only about eight pages long and provides a great overview of very pratical ways to think through and act complexity theory applications and ideas.

If you want to read the article click here and it will take you to a PDF. If you'd like to take a look at the Berkana Institute, you can click here to get to the site and then navigate to the article that way. My leadership experience tells me that there is valuable insight in this approach, something that can increase your ingenuity index for whatever problems confront you as you attempt to change your world.