Comments

Heard this the other day:

"The youngest person in the house is most likely to be the (IT) system administrator."

M

Posted by Mark Walsh at January 14, 2009 1:41 PM

Your new digital network has no inside nor outside. It still has staff though. It still has consumers, users, or customers with creative ideas and practical feedback to share. It needs a culture. Well three actually. How do you build a digital networked culture for your business? Tweet it. Use Twitter to connect your workforce as three inter-related entities. First there is the Chattering Cluster that goes 24/7 without rythm nor reason but with the good effect of bonding staff, users, consumers, and customers. Second there is the Chattering Clan that shares a passion for ideas about your products or services. Clan members cooperate to build new prototypes. Clan members tweet each other about their ideas and their progress on building working models. Third there is the Chattering Tribe that is purpose based. Tribes tweet about their core issues and cooperatively work to solve the present problems.

Posted by Richard Lipscombe at January 14, 2009 4:10 PM

Beautiful! Kids often do and say the darndest things.

Maintaining the beauty of the novel is key.

We have much to learn from them.

I love this piece. Thank you.

Posted by Judith Ellis at January 14, 2009 4:41 PM

Britain gets an occasional 'knock' on this Blog - and sometimes we deserve it. But it is great to know our government recognises and values our kids enough to try and lead, at least in one thing in the world.

Young people may be only 15% of our population but they are 100% of our future. I am always optimistic about young people.

Thank you Tom and enjoy your stay on our side of the pond - you are very welcome sir!

Posted by Trevor Gay at January 14, 2009 5:13 PM

The last thing we need are obese 4 year olds becoming digital wizards at the expense of their health & happiness! "Let's ditch recess & do a YouTube shoutout!" Digg, Twitter, et al - even Facebook are not sure survivors in 2009 - all things social is madness of the depressives! :>) The book "iBrain" points out how flawed Generation Y is as too online digital oriented - their flawed intelligence in people, emotional, spiritual, physical & other measures means, for example per iBrain: 1. they do NOT get venture capital because they can't sell their "brilliant" ideas - 2. they are taken advantage of in negotiations because they have no people skills - 3. they get killed in risk management - like poker because they can't see a 'tell' if it was biting them in their obese backsides! 4. they are poor team members because they devalue people skills. So romanticize "social learning" if you shall - the real news is that Britain continues to turn out 4 year old soccer hooligans - bravo - at least they are fit! :>)

Posted by Contraire at January 14, 2009 7:11 PM

Contraire, I agree with all (well definitely most) of what you say... Welcome to the new world of work! Unsuccessfully, I have been trying to get the message across that the old world that TP goes on and on about is about as relevant to the C21st as Detroit (even given that city's past glories as a manufacturing hub in our C20th world). The wonderful new world of work is not what TP goes on about at all - it is rather a fledgling place or state where there are huge issues that we do not yet fully comprehend let alone have slick 'workshop ready' (slide show ready) answer for or to...

Cheers, Richard.

Posted by Richard Lipscombe at January 14, 2009 8:15 PM

I may have missed something, but it appears that Richard has not read Contraire's comment carefully. Had he read it well he would have taken notice that there is a call for a return to socializing that does NOT include digital networks. This is the antithesis of what Richard has been religiously calling for here.

Bob Foster wrote a piece on his blog entitled "Are Our Kids Addicted." It included responses of kids getting the Nintendo Wii for Christmas. It was quite disturbing to me. This post may, in fact, support Contraire's comment more so.

Here is the link: http://bizmaverickblog.com/are-our-children-addicted/

Posted by Judith Ellis at January 14, 2009 8:37 PM

"Again group-crowd sourcing-learning and production and 100% customized knowledge are the keystones."

What is customized knowledge?
Is it knowledge that is only useful
to the person or group that wants it?
Would that even be knowledge?
I guess google could be thought of as
giving customized knowledge because it can
give an answer to a very specific question.
But to me, it sounds a bit like BS.

Posted by zed at January 14, 2009 9:00 PM

So, to return to a question posed a few times in the past, when are we going to have the TP Podcast? Or when will a TP lecture be available at the iTunes U? What was the Gandhi quote: "You must be the change..."?

Posted by Mark JF at January 15, 2009 3:08 AM

Thanks Richard & Judith - seems like many kids & me too may be addicted to the images of TV, phones, computers, et al. Balance seems to be key - does anyone in their right mind think that Johnny Cochrane's early demise was NOT from a decade plus of cell phone use? Digital cuts both ways especially for 4 year olds.

A click on my name below pulls up the fascinating current cover story of Inc. magazine on Markus Frind. Cool about it in a digital sense: 1. Simple rules - 2. $10M to him per year = $5M profit - 3. 1 hour per day of work for him - 4. He is an expert gamer - 5. His programming is so simple & elegant he needs a fraction of the servers for his "Plenty of Fish" world beating dating site.

People around the Boomers' age may have the best of both worlds - expert in people skills & as early adopters of all things digital - expert there too as life long learners.

Posted by Contraire at January 15, 2009 8:51 AM

"People around the Boomers' age may have the best of both worlds - expert in people skills & as early adopters of all things digital - expert there too as life long learners."

Great point, Contraire. I so appreciate both worlds. Thanks for the article too. Very interesting. Will share it with my brother Ellington, the Duke, who has a digital gaming company.

http://www.vai.org/News/News/2006/01_09_ITIndustryGrowingQuickly.aspx

He happens to be an ordained minister and an investment banker too. Smart compassionate single chap! Speaking of dating services, I'm trying to find him a wife. (He's gonna kill me! I have already thoroughly embarrassed him on my blog. Oh, well :-))

Posted by Judith Ellis at January 15, 2009 9:38 AM

Thanks Judith for the link - Ellington is an impressive entrepreneur. West Michigan has become another creatives community like Silicon Valley, Seattle, NYC, Austin, Boise, etc.? I need to learn high end gaming just to keep up with the fun & opportunities! Maybe Ellington will have 4 year olds to advise him as COO? :>)

Posted by Contraire at January 15, 2009 7:08 PM

Will those of us who like to sit quietly staring out the window and thinkng things through become obsolete?

Posted by Lois Gory at January 15, 2009 7:30 PM

Pleasure, Contraire. I think the company does more than gaming, if I'm not mistaken. I have emailed him your link. Thanks. By the way, any 4 year old would have to compete with Duke's very astute 10 year old. But I think they could manage. :-)

Posted by Judith Ellis at January 15, 2009 8:23 PM

Lois

Not obsolete - very important. The challenge is convincing those action oriented types that:

a) this is important
b) they can't do it themselves

Thinkers are well aware of their limitations in terms of action

Very few people are aware of their limitations in thinking.

Posted by Paulh at January 16, 2009 3:10 AM

Lois and Paulh – thanks for such astute comments. Far from obsolete, I would say more important than ever that we have the thinkers and the dreamers. I would be completely lost without people who ‘window gaze.’ The all action (apparent) achiever needs to be grounded in reality by people who engage their brain first. And I speak as one who operates on the motto ‘when all else fails read the instructions.’ Best wishes from an avowed pragmatist in need of more ‘window gazing’ time.

Posted by Trevor Gay at January 16, 2009 5:18 AM

Is the process of gazing akin to reading where moving images evolve out of gazing, creating the aha moment--action that evolve from stillness? (Philosopher types whose gazing result in writing - an action.) Is the reverse possible, stillness evolving from action? (Scientist types whose experiments result in theory – a non action.)

Window gazing for some young people fully engaged in the digital age just may be different. My guess is they are reading less and this requires gazing (Reading may largely make gazing possible, evolving out of thoughts.) But then again, this action of reading, a movement line by line, requires a kind of gazing. Does action require gazing? Action and gazing may be possible simultaneously. These are just thoughts that evolved from writing which came from a kind of gazing.

The gaze seems always present in action or stillness. Young people fully engaged in the digital age perhaps gaze differently. These thoughts for me also focus on how we lead others; the processes by which we allow others to create and innovate, without stifling thereby insisting upon a certain way of thinking or doing a thing just so long as the essential elements of both action and stillness are present; this is determined by results. Action and stillness seem essential in any age.

viagra best price uk This is being fully engaged. Can we ask for anything more of anyone?

Posted by Judith Ellis at January 16, 2009 6:34 AM

These days CEO's get younger by 12 they may be over the hill!

Posted by patrick at January 16, 2009 7:03 AM

Per Judith's post, "Young people fully engaged in the digital age perhaps gaze differently." I oftentimes fear that many are not actually "gazing" but are, in fact, glazing. An awful lot of visual imagery they're confronted with. An an "old guy" who nonetheless downloads podcasts to his Touch and now and again posts videos to youtube, I tend to believe that books and audio and lively conversation activate the brain.

Posted by Ed Di Gangi at January 16, 2009 7:48 AM

Thanks, Ed. I agree that books, audio, and lively conversation activate the brain. My point is that perhaps there may processes that cause stimulation and stillness simultaneously. The two may not be distinct processes. We may train the brain through our thoughts and how thinkingn is processed may vary.

We are still learning a great many things about the brain and it may be a matter of HOW we do WHAT we do WHEN we do it that matters most--not merely what we do. In other words, kids that are learning technologies may indeed simply incorporate this kind of learning into their very learning process. For many, it may even help.

Perhaps we need not isolate one learning process to elevate another, if the thought is that they are indeed different processes. There need not be substitutions, if we are wise in our parenting, teaching and mentoring.

Posted by Judith Ellis at January 16, 2009 9:15 AM

Patrick - "Wisdom is the principle thing," especially in leadership.

Posted by Judith Ellis at January 16, 2009 9:18 AM

Ed - By the way, you have made a most excellent distinction between gazing and glazing. I think the latter is perhaps happening more than former. But with kids we can influence this. No?

Posted by Judith Ellis at January 16, 2009 9:35 AM

viagra price

Judith, yes, I think we can influence the degree to which our kids gaze rather than glaze. However, as the father of a son who turned eighteen yesterday, let me tell you it requires an active effort!

Posted by Ed Di Gangi at January 16, 2009 9:45 AM

This is a great comment on how quick kids learn and how they open the envelope of what's possible with technology. I just hope they also learn how to take care of themselves and improve their own sustainability better than we did. There's so much burnout, so much obesity, and so much lethargy in the workforce today because of the lack of education on sustainable high performance. With Physical Education programs getting cut, and a lack of dialogue around developing the mindset as well as the health of our kids I sometimes fear they will be worse then us.

Posted by Scott Peltin at January 16, 2009 10:09 AM

Ed - My mother raised 12 rather productive professional kids alone and believe me I think we can appreciate how she did so. She simply was not controlled by what other mothers were doing, what some teachers were advocating, and not everything our pastors and elders were preaching, though she never would verbally let us know these things, insisting instead that we honor them, honor their positions if nothing else. Being respectful was key, even when voicing heated opposition. I was not always successful as a kid, not being able to bite my tongue.

Regarding effort, there is nothing worth anything in life without an effort and we better start giving the effort if we expect our kids to gaze rather than glaze. My mother simply cut the TV off after that hour a day and we had to find other things to do like form our own sports team and theater troupe, and read. Parents are the weaklings here, not the kids. It's as if they are pressured by peers the most; often times kids become their parents' peers. How can "no" be spoken with authorty then? My mother, by the way, NEVER raised her voice and we each had a very special relationship with her. On this day, the day of my birth, I honor my mother on my blog.

Perhaps if we begin with consistent effort, Scott's point about sustainability will then be more than possible.

Posted by Judith Ellis at January 16, 2009 12:33 PM

Contraire,
Thank you for the link to http://compete.com/.
Most interesting.
John (Shakespeare's Debtor. (Aren't we all?))

Posted by Shakespeare's Debtor at January 17, 2009 1:07 AM

Forgive slight deviation but I've just read 'Dropping Almonds' by Bach Anon - brilliant - best book I've read for ages. Reinforces my belief in front line staff and how management can abuse employees through downright dishonesty and complete lack of integrity. The book yells out a message for managers to work within an explicit ethical framework.

Posted by Trevor Gay at January 17, 2009 5:10 AM

Luke 2:41-50

41 His parents went to Jerusalem every year at the Feast of the Passover.
42 And when He was twelve years old, they went up to Jerusalem according to the custom of the feast.
43 When they had finished the days, as they returned, the Boy Jesus lingered behind in Jerusalem. And Joseph and His mother did not know it;
44 but supposing Him to have been in the company, they went a day's journey, and sought Him among their relatives and acquaintances.
45 So when they did not find Him, they returned to Jerusalem, seeking Him.
46 Now so it was that after three days they found Him in the temple, sitting in the midst of the teachers, both listening to them and asking them questions.
47 And all who heard Him were astonished at His understanding and answers.
48 So when they saw Him, they were amazed; and His mother said to Him, "Son, why have You done this to us? Look, Your father and I have sought You anxiously."
49 And He said to them, "Why did you seek Me? Did you not know that I must be about My Father’s business?"
50 But they did not understand the statement
which He spoke to them.

The most beautiful thing about this story is that at the age of 12 Christ actually had the wisdom to lead.

All who heard him, including the learned priests and scholars, were amazed; his parents did not undestand.

Children leading is not unusual.

Are we listening?

Posted by Judith Ellis at January 17, 2009 8:51 AM