Authenticity Accessed Or Acquired? Re-write

It should be our intention to strive for authenticity when defining and presenting ourselves or our life's endeavors . The writings of Finn McKenty, who blogs at Lightheavyweight inform us that design also has authenticity as a purpose.

Finn McKenty extends the concern regarding authenticity to endeavors of social-engagement. Specifically using the example of the Greener Grass project, which is about connecting people with ideas designed to have a positive impact.

The source of insight that he sought was John Moore from Brand Autopsy , who provided the original link for this post on Authenticity .

Finn asks John asks a few questions in a short interview about the of role "authenticity" in branding which you can read here ...snippets below.

Greener Grass: Can authenticity be created? If so, how can companies build a culture that values authenticity, transparency and honesty?

John Moore:

"This belief that authenticity can be created is what gets companies in trouble. Authenticity comes from evolution, not from creation. No magic pill exists and no big bang will cause a company to become authentic. The honor of being authentic is earned only over time and through consistent, deliberate actions. Same goes for building a corporate culture. A company that respects its employees and treats its employees like family will be rewarded with being viewed by insiders and outsiders as an authentic company."

*** READ MORE ***

New Hits From An Unforeseen Direction

All of a sudden I am getting actual visits to my weblog. One of the premises of the web-trekking has been the concept of serendipity. I thought of it in terms of my searching for interesting website finding surprising jewels when not expecting it. Seems its can also be applied to having one's self discovered.

I am not sure as to why I am getting hits now and not before. I did add some Feedburner features to the weblog, but you have to get here before you see them so that didn't bring anybody. It would seem to be based mostly on two recent posts. IdeaBlob Best Idea Yet and International Web Star Is 15 Seconds Of Fame Off And On. My 15 seconds seems to have been extended.

There have been visits in other areas as well in the last 12 hours. This is still an ongoing experiment and trial for me but to protect others privacy I have removed an apparent identifying information.

Visitor	Last Visit	Duration	Client
Rockville Centre, NY	17 hours ago	0:01
To Pathways to New Paradigms From www.blogger.com
Los Angeles, CA	17 hours ago	0:01
To Pathways to New Paradigms: Fair Use Is Fair To Whom? From Google Search
Los Angeles, CA	18 hours ago	11:01
To Pathways to New Paradigms: IdeaBlob Best Idea Yet From www.google.com
	19 hours ago	0:01
To Pathways to New Paradigms: IdeaBlob Best Idea Yet From Google Blog Search
Los Angeles, CA	yesterday	23:02
To Pathways to New Paradigms: marketing From delicious
Woodbridge, VA	yesterday	0:08
To Pathways to New Paradigms
Madrid	1 hour ago	0:01
To Pathways to New Paradigms: Tech Bubble Burst and Blown Again From dosisdiaria.mobuzz.tv
Valle De Santullán	1 hour ago	0:01
To Pathways to New Paradigms: Tech Bubble Burst and Blown Again From dosisdiaria.mobuzz.tv
Lima	yesterday	0:22
To Pathways to New Paradigms: Tech Bubble Burst and Blown Again From dosisdiaria.mobuzz.tv
Madrid	yesterday	0:01
To Pathways to New Paradigms: Tech Bubble Burst and Blown Again From dosisdiaria.mobuzz.tv
Sant Just Desvern	2 hours ago	0:01
To Pathways to New Paradigms: Tech Bubble Burst and Blown Again From dosisdiaria.mobuzz.tv
Los Angeles, CA	2 hours ago	4:17
To Pathways to New Paradigms
Guatemala	yesterday	0:01
To Pathways to New Paradigms: Tech Bubble Burst and Blown Again From dosisdiaria.mobuzz.tv
Los Angeles, CA	yesterday	10:53
To Pathways to New Paradigms
Philadelphia, PA	yesterday	0:01
To Pathways to New Paradigms
La Grange Park, IL	9 hours ago	0:01
To Pathways to New Paradigms: A Question of Nets Malaria and Social Aid 2 From Google Search

IdeaBlob Best Idea Yet

This is the site Ideablob mentioned in the Firing Up FeedBurner post . According to that post, the del.icio.us posting of Ideablob had received 19 clicks which was just one below first place position. As of today it has received 51 clicks, more than twice of the former first place.

The are no illusions as to the impact of this weblog on the world of Web 2.o, so if it is the best used site for this weblog it is because of its own usefulness and popularity. I can only imagine what it is doing at other sites. It also supports Barger's point .

1. A true weblog is a log of all the URLs you want to save or share. (So del.icio.us is actually better for blogging than blogger.com.)

It also not only provides funding for business oriented entrepreneurial efforts but social-entrepreneurial efforts as well as the following post from Entrepreneurial Mind demonstrates.

The Entrepreneurial Mind: Social Enterprise Latest Ideablob Winner

A social enterprise is the latest monthly $10,000 Ideablob winner.

Marci Bossow Schankweiler of North Wales, PA is President and founder of Crossing the Finish Line (CFL), a Blue Bell, PA-based non-profit organization that provides excursions for young adult cancer patients and their families. Schankweiler founded CFL after her first husband passed away from cancer at the age of 30. She plans to use the prize money to help fund a home for cancer patients near Orlando, FL.

Vote for Andy

This also came from Entrepreneurial Mind

One of our students here at Belmont is a finalist for this round of ideablob.com voting. If you haven't been to the site, think of it as a monthly American Idol for business ideas with voting taking place at the website.

Andy Tabar is one of our student practicing entrepreneurs trying to build his web-based business. It is easy to vote. Just go to the ideablob.com website and register. After you have go back to the main page for ideablob.com and vote for Andy's entry "Expand my global tech company" idea. Please go to ideablob.com and vote for Andy!!

So, since I am getting a number of hits on this I am going to post Entrepreneurial Mind post on del.icio.us to see if I can't get at least a couple of vote for Andy. Supposedly voting is open to January 7 though it may be too late.

But it is not really that simple

New Therapy for Stroke Patients

Also looks like a great idea.

Idea Description

Utilizing newest neuro-science/mind-body medicine/quantum physics, I would present a non-invasive, cutting-edge complementary therapy for stroke patients.
Data destroyed by stroke, exists in other areas of the brain in different forms. By contacting parts of the brain previously less directly employed, but still connected to stored data, we reach out to old functions by recognition of past action, impression, perception and emotion. Once accessed, new pathways are created to retrieve information.
Stimulation by light/touch/smell/laughter/nature/art/music..allows the brain to access alternative routes leading to the back doors of lost information affording a more rapid return to function.

This idea appears to have more votes. I have to wonder though to what degree has this "technology" been tested so that the question of licensing can be better addressed. If it is viable, should IdeaBlob be the source of funding or are there more relevant sources of funding out there? Being even an "armchair-virtual" venture capitalist is not all that easy.

Define Who You Are For Yourself Before Defining For Others

A previous post dealt with having, "your organization's portrayal or public face firmly established in the mind of all of your members." What that is can be based on one of two foundations either:

• What You Love
• or
• Who You Are

Sam Davidson gives his perspective on advise from Penelope Trunk of Brazen Careerist.

CoolPeopleCare | Penelope's Advice: Do What You Are
Should you do what you love or do what you are? What if both of those change?

Penelope Trunk, whom I had the pleasure of meeting a few weeks ago in Madison,has just written what I think is her best piece. She trashes the common career advice of, "Do what you love." She takes to task the impossibility and unfeasibility of this advice, claiming that:

"Often, the thing we should do for our career is something we would only do if we were getting a reward. If you tell yourself that your job has to be something you'd do even if you didn't get paid, you'll be looking for a long time. Maybe forever. So why set that standard? The reward for doing a job is contributing to something larger than you are, participating in society, and being valued in the form of money."

Sam continues his philosophical musings.

CoolPeopleCare | But What If I Love Entrepreneurship?

Should I do what I love or do what I am? But what if I want to make my passion my profession?

Yesterday, I highlighted Penelope Trunk's recent condemnation of the career advice, "Do what you love." In its place she suggests that people "Do what they are." I agreed.

But I soon began to think about entrepreneurs. Many people embrace the notion of entrepreneurship in order to do what they love. They start jobs and companies in order to turn their passion into their profession.

So are they being misguided? Should they be steered away from trying to base a business on something they love?

Or should every entrepreneurship course be prefaced with Penelope's advice, steering budding starters away from basing a concept on a love and instead basing it on who they are?

Or, by only changing one word in a tired maxim, is Penelope really just saying the same thing?

The Businesspundit questions the ability of some of his generation's ability to meet the challenges of being an entrepreneur.The Businesspundit: Not Built For Business: Are We The Greatest Generation?

David Brooks calls the years when members of my generation wander in their 20s "the odyssey years." We move between careers, get our traveling itch done and experiment with startups. Ben Casnocha, an entrepreneur who hasn't even reached his "odyssey years" yet, encourages exploration but not without setting goals-no doodling on Taco Cabana bags and Twinkie wrappers, people. In the August issue of Maxim, Mark Cuban championed an even more daring quest in a feature on "CEO Secrets."

As this post is already getting long enough, I am going to make additional comments at another post.

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Simply the Best: Maeda’s the Man at RISD

From Fast Company can also be found at Kottke.org

Simply the Best: Maeda's the Man at RISD

• John Maeda, MIT Media Lab guru, artist, designer, computer scientist, author – in short, a guy who comes about as close as it gets to being a Renaissance Man, circa 2007 --- was just named the new president of the Rhode Island School of Design, one of the most prestigious design schools in the world. It's a great day for RISD – but also for the design world in general.
  

This is the TEDBlog post on John Maeda

TED | TEDBlog: John Maeda named next president of RISD

• Technology has outpaced humanity, I wouldn't say tenfold, I'd say a millionfold. ... Meanwhile, we're still trying to figure out, what is this stuff for? I think that arts have to advance the culture of knowledge around technology. It hasn't happened yet, but it has to happen.

Design seems to becoming an integral part of not only web 2.0 but the larger economy as well. There is some evidence that I am being too optimistic but the way I am beginning to see design is similar to the way I am beginning to see marketing. Which is no longer as a secondary, stand alone function but a function that permeates other functions of the organization. So then, is one aspect of marketing design that it effectively communicates a truth about you and your organization? I am going to have to do some more thinking about where design and marketing conjoin and where they don't. John Maeda makes the fact that there is a relationship between design and web 2.0 obvious and the nature of that relationship continuously creative and surprising.

Resolving To Learn More About Web 2.0

New Year is the time for resolutions. I find that best kind of resolutions to undertake are those you were going to do or are doing anyway even if it wasn't the end of the year. I resolve to continue learning more, especially regarding web 2.0. Below are some of the web 2.0 tools with which I would like to get more familiar. This gets added on to the list of web 2.0 tools and other areas of interest I was going to learn in 2007.

SquidBlog » Blog Archive » Two years later, the SquidUpdate

• Quick, What's Squidoo?

  
  Squidoo makes it really really (really!) easy to share your favorite stuff online, discover great recommendations, earn a little dough and even give to charity. All for free. What's your passion (insert: hobby, job, favorite music, holiday wishlist, pet stories, marketing tips, sports heroes, and so on)? Don't get addicted, we dare you.

Seth's Blog: For scholars who just can't wait

• We built a new front door that makes it easy for you to build a scholarly page, filled with details, facts and more on Squidoo. And of course it will be indexed all over the web...
  

This is another one that I want to learn in 2008.

Wiki - Free Wiki Websites - Wetpaint

• New! Just Add Wetpaint!

  
  Learn about Just Add Wetpaint, the turnkey professional services solution offered by Wetpaint to build your robust brand-centric community online.

Here An example of a website created with the wetpaint wiki maker.

Victoria City Style Council

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Organizational Permeability: Breaking Down The Walls Between You And "Them" And You And "Us"

This weblog is going back to its initial purpose of finding articles and weblinks that help to create personal beneficial paradigm shifts. One of the more important areas to learn from has been marketing. As with so many other topics of interest, the definition of marketing has become "New" again and seems to continue to expand. My main source of insight and inspiration has been Seth Godin but others also contribute to my education. My take on the following isn't really "marketing", its more communication and collaboration. Each of the following links though provides some important insights as to how to best nurture both both internally and externally whatever organizational aspect you are trying to enhance.

Seth's Blog: Meatballs and permeability

When your organization starts freely sharing internal data (like rolodexes and schedules and cost info) and allows easy use of motivated outsiders, things get faster and cheaper and smarter. That's one of the side effects of organizing around the new marketing as opposed to organizing around the factory.

This strikes me as creating not only an organization knowledge base but an organizational identity as well.

The Entrepreneurial Mind: Is Web Changing the Nature of Customer Relationships?

The TaxingTennessee blog has a post about an interesting analysis at the Lunch Over IP blog based on Doc Searls' The Cluetrain Manifesto. (Lots of links, I know, but this whole blog thing is supposed to be a conversation after all).

It is arguably not only a conversation but one that is as open as possible. There are limits to be sure but increasing communication within in organization up and down the organizational levels and beyond the organizational limits seems to be a requirement for organizations to grow and thrive.

ROI? Not With Those Ads You Won't...

If you haven't been around forever, you don't have as much money as a companies like Coke or Pepsi (who bombard consumers with brand messages so hard and consistently that it's a wonder the subconscious hasn't caved under attack), distinguishing yourself, making people care, and making them remember who you are can be tough. Before you agree to pony up thousands for a pretty face, a catchy tune or just the services of one more run of the mill advertising firm, make sure you think about how effective your portrayal of your brand message is within the already over crowded space that is the consumer's mind.

This suggests that you already have your organization's portrayal or public face firmly established in the mind of all of your members. Knowledge is power is a well known adage and all too often managers develop their power by denying others knowledge. Even when knowledge is shared, if its the wrong knowledge in the wrong market its not going to do anybody any good.

Seth's Blog: Your ads are not for you

Here's the puzzling math of advertising, offline and on:

• Everybody doesn't read, remember or click on your ads.
• Nobody isn't the right answer either.

In other words, you don't get 100% attention when you buy an ad. In fact, you don't get 50% attention or even 1%. If you're very very good and very lucky, it might be .1% but it's more likely to be one in 10,000. Which is exactly the right number, it turns out, to make advertising work.

I am beginning to believe more in "niche" marketing. You don't have to beat out Britney Spears for Google hits your just need to get your message in front of those who need to see it as stated below.

Seth's Blog: Frequency, Frequency, Frequency and the paradox of the Net

I think there are two strategies that are shaping up online.
The first: burn your permission. Every time you have something to sell, either buy enough ads on popular sites to achieve frequency, or just burn out your core base by repeating your message over and over again. At least you'll make enough money to be able to rebuild your audience later.

The second: go easy on the frequency and embrace your audience. Give them what they want (interesting, new stuff) instead of what you need (frequency). Play for the long run.

My natural inclination is to go for the second though I realize there are times when the first is more appropriate, but I would tend to error towards the long term if left to my own devises. You can target your audience, and you can create two way dialogues.

Seth's Blog: The joy of the commons

Garr Reynolds shows us the joy of the commons. Basically, he's written a book (the book) about presentations and PowerPoint and put entirely too much effort into it. It appears that it has taken him tens of thousands of hours, tweaking endless invisible details to bring us this piece of work.Because the market is crowded, he overdelivered. Dramatically. And it shows. I've built a page about his book and his work. I can't imagine someone who gives presentations not being positively impacted by this book. Well worth it.

In the end, it is not only what you say but also how you say it.

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