E L S U A ~ A KM Blog Thinking Outside The Inbox by Luis Suarez

The Power of Collaborative Innovation by John Chambers

How many times have you heard, or read, various articles or news items, where it is described, with plenty of details, how the management line of the corporate world seems to be the main group of people fearing (Or, at least, being rather weary on) the wider adoption of social software both inside and outside of the firewall by the knowledge workers they manage on a regular basis? Probably far too many! Probably, right?

Well, despite all of that, which is always a good sign, by the way, to be honest, that we are heading in the right direction (Just like it happened with e-mail, or with Instant Messaging, or even the Internet itself in the late 90s), sometimes it is eventually rather refreshing to see quite the opposite; a high level executive, as high as you can probably go, not only talking about it in a very coherent and comprehensive manner, but embracing it fully as the way the enterprise world is going to operate very soon on a wider scale, if not happening already altogether, influencing not only what we do for business but also ourselves as a society.

That’s the case of this recent video interview where John Chambers, CEO of Cisco Systems, spends a little bit under five minutes sharing some great insights around the topic of Enterprise 2.0 and Social Computing and its wider impact in the corporate world as well as ourselves, trying to answer (Very successfully in my opinion!) these questions:

• "What does the Annual Meeting theme "The Power of Collaborative Innovation" mean to your Business?
• In which new ways are people and organisations collaborating?
  How important is this for effective competition in your industry?
• Do you think we are seeing a significant shift in the way the public and private sectors can collaborate?
  What are the implications for business?
• In what ways is Cisco using new communications channels, such as blogging and social networking Web sites, to read internal and external audiences?
  Have these channels forced a rethink of your communications strategy?"

I am not sure whether you have seen the interview itself or not, but I can certainly tell you it would be worth while your time going through it. It would make you think. It would help you understand that there is a long road ahead of us all still, but also, much importantly, we are already on our way to achieve that new wave of interactions that will make use be part of that group of winners… (Yes, those great companies we all aim to work for at some point in time!)

Oh, if after having watched the video you would still want to have some further insights on this topic, I would strongly encourage you all to have a look into the excellent blog post that Jay Deragon has put together under "How Will Your Company Gain Experience?", where he also links to the same video, but adds plenty great tips and advice on how business can engage with this new wave of Collaborative Innovation.

Are you ready?

Tags: Enterprise 2.0, Social Software, Social Networking, Social Computing, Social Media, Collaboration, Communities, Learning, Knowledge Sharing, KM, Knowledge Management, Remote Collaboration, Innovation, Collaborative Innovation, Networking, Social Networks, Social Networks, Networking, Conversations, Dialogue, Connections, Relationships, Productivity, Communication, John Chambers, CEO, Cisco, Cisco Systems, Management, Managers, Fear, Weariness, Jay Deragon, Society, Knowledge Workers

Giving up on Work e-mail – Status Report on Week 51 (SNBC – Connect, Collaborate, Innovate)

And we are back at it again, folks. Time for that weekly progress report on giving up e-mail at work where I am getting really, really, close to the one year anniversary of such remarkable quest: reducing my incoming e-mail count consistently over the last few months and, instead, use more and more social software tools to get the job done!

So here we are again, and, by the looks of it, it seems that the numbers for last week are back to the usual average I have been getting for a good number of months as well. But let’s get to the report itself so that you have an opportunity to check it out and see what’s changed from the previous week itself:

As you would be able to see, the number of incoming e-mails went up again to the usual average: 30 e-mails a week, but what seems to be most interesting is the fact that both at the beginning of the week and at the end the peaks of incoming e-mails are rather low, which is starting to make me think that’s probably when people are doing most of the work (i.e. Monday / Tuesday) or preparing for the weekend (i.e. Friday). And somehow mid-week is when the number of e-mails seems to be the highest. Interesting fact, eh? Well, let’s see what happens this week and see if that new trend confirms itself or not. I will keep you all posted!

For now though, I thought I would share with you a couple of interesting links, which I am sure you are going to enjoy quite a bit.

A few days ago, David Christopher (From Oracle‘s Social Networking & Business Collaboration) sent across, through Twitter, a quick tweet sharing a new video he has been working on with Frank Bradley, where they are showing an "insight into the Social Networking & Business collaboration team in Oracle, the strategy and how we are bringing Web 2.0 into the business environment". Rather interesting and relevant stuff for those folks interested in Social Networking within the corporate world and a completely different perception from what we were exposed to at the Enterprise 2.0 conference (Link points to 2009′s event, by the way!) in Boston last June.

I won’t be saying much more about the videos themselves, other than point you to the couple of different takes that were made for it: Take I and Take II (Tried to embed the videos themselves over here, but, unfortunately, they messed up the blog post, so you would have to click on the links, I am afraid), as well as one single gem that shows up on both videos, which is one of their key objectives: Reduce email by 50%! Yes, by 50%!! I have been able to reduce my e-mail count by over 85% so far and I can imagine they would be doing something similar pretty soon. They are already making some really good progress!

So … who said again I am all by myself on this one? Oh, want to have another interesting bonus link? Check out what Hutch Carpenter and Jennifer Leggio have been doing lately under "One Thing Social Software Needs: The Guaranteed Delivery Button". Yes, indeed, slowly, but steadily, we are getting there!

Tags: Enterprise 2.0, Social Software, Social Networking, Social Computing, Social Media, Collaboration, Communities, Learning, Knowledge Sharing, KM, Knowledge Management, Remote Collaboration, Innovation, IBM, Networking, Social Networks, Social Networks, Networking, Conversations, Dialogue, Connections, Relationships, e-mail, email, Productivity, Communication, Re-purposing E-mail, No-Email, Challenge Your Inbox, Progress Reports, Thinking Outside the Inbox, Information Overload, David Christopher, DavidChris, Frank Bradley, Oracle, SNBC, Social Networking & Business Collaboration, Enterprise 2.0 Conference, Enterprise2conf, E2conf, Boston, Hutch Carpenter, ConnectBeam, Jennifer Leggio, Twitter

On Humanising Titans

After a pretty intensive and eventful weekend, from which things have started to settle in quite a bit already, I thought it would be a good time to reflect on something I witnessed on Sunday morning, local Canary time, which will be rather difficult, if not impossible to forget. Or, at least, I hope not!

This is an entry that doesn’t have anything to do with the topics I get to blog about over here on a regular basis, yet, somehow I feel it touches on some of the key points I am hoping are getting through to folks who may eventually bump into this blog, as regular visitors or casual Web surfers.

As most of you folks know already, over the last few years I have developed quite an avid interest around the fascinating world of tennis, and that mainly because of two main reasons: Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer. Yes, indeed, yesterday morning, Canary time, we witnessed one of those epic battles amongst two titans that surpasses perhaps any rivalry from our current times, at least, in the sports world!

Yesterday was just another proof of it! However, we also saw something else. Something rather unique and compelling that speaks about what these giants are capable of or, better said, made of: feelings. Emotions that would melt everyone even in the toughest situations. Just like you and me, they showed they are also human. Both Roger and Rafa demonstrated that they do have a common passion, a common sense to achieve a very specific goal: be on top and demonstrate their leadership in all courts / fronts!

And that’s just what they both did yesterday! They showed how insanely human their tremendous leadership has been all along and while, I am sure, most of us were sharing a tear or two, they have both won our respect for each of them, and for the game itself. Going to always remember them for that! In case you haven’t seen the finals of the Australian Open, I would strongly encourage you all to catch up with it! It will be worth while your time. I am certain!

Now, can you imagine the corporate world of the 21st century, the one we all feel social software is slowly, but steadily, humanising and shaking itself inside out, behaving in such powerful way? Can you imagine your business re-gaining that human side of things? Those feelings? Those emotions?

Congratulations, champs! It’s been an amazing thrill watching you and I am already looking forward to the next one! … Whatever the result. You have shown us all it doesn’t matter just as much anymore!

Tags: Tennis, Rafael Nadal, Roger Federer, Australian Open, Australia Open, Finals, Championships, Leadership, Human Being, Feelings, Emotions, Leadership 2.0, Life, Human Spirit, Enterprise 2.0, Social Software, Social Networking, Social Computing, Social Media, Collaboration, Communities, Learning, Knowledge Sharing, KM, Knowledge Management, Social Networks, Networking, Relationships