Category Archives: Miscellaneous

Yet Another Reason Why the doctor is Spaceless, Faceless, and Twitter-Free

Check out this recent article by PCWorld on how your “MySpace User Data [is] For Sale”. This includes any activity or information that is attached to an account, specifically blog posts, location, photos, reviews, and status updates-among others. And I don’t care what wording they use. They can claim it’s just free access to publicly available real-time data, but if they’re making it possible for anyone to get access to data you thought would only be seen by your closest friends [because you didn’t read to the end of the usage agreement which says they own your data], then they’re selling your data, plain and simple.

So don’t be surprised if that blog post extolling the virtues of the new laptop you bought winds up on the manufacturer’s site; if your name, age, and entertainment preferences put you on top of the local satellite provider’s “call until they buy” list; or if that hot beach picture ends up in an ad promoting the services of, say, a site like Adult Friend Finder.

Your Boss Giving You a Hard Time? Have you Considered War?

You’ve played shoot your boss a hundred times. You bought White Goat so you could wipe your behind with his memos. You even altered the bar code on his car so he couldn’t get into his gated community last night. But it’s still not enough.

Your boss is an obnoxious jackass to you and you need your revenge. Cubicle Wars just aren’t enough anymore. You need more. And if you’re in San Francisco or New York, StreetWars* wants to give it to you!

Tell your boss if he’s all he says he is, that he should accept your challenge and sign up for street wars — a three week long, 24/7 assassination tournament (with water guns). If he has what it takes, you’ll see him in the finals. If not, then you’ll know who the real sharp shooter of the office is.

* Neither Sourcing Innovation nor the doctor have any affiliation with StreetWars. the doctor just thinks it would be a really cool way to settle a grudge match and find out once and for all who’s better — you or your boss. Have fun! (And remember, it’s all about the thrill of victory and the humiliation of defeat.)

Who’s Smarter? A Twitterer or a Pothead?

If you said “pothead”, congratulations! You’re right!

A recent study carried out at the Institute of Psychiatry found that excessive use of technology reduces workers’ intelligence (BBC). Specifically, those distracted by incoming e-mail and phone calls saw a 10-point fall in their IQ – more than twice that found in studies of the impact of smoking marijuana. Twitter really is making a twit out of you!

Those who are constantly breaking away from tasks to react to email or text messages suffer similar effects on the mind as losing a night’s sleep. So just imagine what a constant barrage of tweets from twits would do to you!

United Breaks Guitars: The Trilogy

For those of you who missed my post earlier this month, United Breaks Guitars, The Trilogy, is complete and available for your viewing pleasure on Youtube … and embedded below for quick access. Right now, Dave is over 9.2 Million hits! Let’s get him to 10 Million before the year is up and show United, and all the other airlines, that we don’t like it when they break our guitars, lose our luggage, or run over it with the baggage cart so it gets jammed in the automated baggage distribution system and ripped, slashed, grease covered, and torn apart. (And we like it even less when we are told “it was that way when we got it”. Yes, the latter happened to the doctor and yes that’s essentially what he was told.)

United Breaks Guitars

United Breaks Guitars, Song 2

United Breaks Guitars, Song 3: United We Stand

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Are You Relevant?

Before you answer, think about it.

Carefully.

Because you’re probably not.

That’s right, there’s a good chance that you’re not relevant.

And the worst part? Most likely, it’s not your fault.

The business landscape is changing, the old normal is coming back, and it’s no longer about better, faster, cheaper (or lean and six sigma) or closed systems. As noted in this HBR post about “The New Paradigm of Advantage”, we’re returning to a time where innovation and creativity rule, and where only the relevant companies are going to succeed.

Given that most companies are still struggling, with more going bankrupt every day, it’s pretty obvious that most companies are still not offering relevant products and services. So even though they did well in the last upturn — and let’s face it, it’s hard to fail when money is flowing like the reservoir will never empty — it’s pretty obvious that it wasn’t because they were relevant, but that their success was just a side effect of the overall buoyancy in the market.

Since only a few companies are succeeding right now, relatively speaking, it’s obvious that most companies are not relevant. And these companies are dragging you down with them.

So what can you do?

Get creative. Get innovative. And show your company what they should be doing. As per my recent post on the talent innovation imperative, these companies are not succeeding because they’re wasting their resources — namely, they’re wasting your talents. And there’s no need for it. So get busy and show them what you got. And if they don’t listen, join the majority of your colleagues who are already looking for new opportunities with relevant companies. Because YOU deserve to be relevant!