Change Agents

I saw Walk The Line today, the film about Johnny Cash and June Carter. There was one poignant scene early in the film that I’d like to discuss. After happening upon a session with Elvis at Sun Records in Memphis, Cash came back around and asked Sam Phillips for an audition. At the audition, Cash […]

PSFK points to an innovative new organizer from Mr. Smith Inc., “a provider of consumer products that serve an existing function better or do something wholly new.” Here’s the whimsical product description from the manufacturer: Compact, splash-proof, and colorful, Jimi™ is the wallet re-born. Jimi™ is a real pocket wallet – as in one that […]

Douglas Rushkoff, the brainiac who brought the world “The Merchants of Cool” and “The Persuaders” on PBS’ Frontline, has written his first business book, Get Back In The Box, in which he “contextualizes the open source ethos as part of a bigger renaissance: the emergence of an authorship society.” This renaissance ethos of authorship isn’t […]

Johnnie Moore writes today about More Space, the book he co-authored with eight other bloggers. Rob’s chapter is a great polemic and rousing stuff. I think some of us bloggers have learnt to tone down our rhetoric so as not to alarm the uninitiated – and it’s fun to be reminded of the idealism that […]

Erick Schonfeld of Business 2.0 details some new wave economic theory that makes sense, even to an ad guy like me. So far in the history of capitalism, we’ve had two major ways to organize economic activity: through companies and through markets. They work in tandem, of course, but they represent two different approaches. Companies […]

Zombie Boy at Beyond Madison Avenue has an interesting rant on the word “copywriter” and its decided lack of sex appeal. Sadly, for the average person outside the ad industry, the job title “Copywriter”, brings to mind either some guy who sits at the end of a long production line of freshly published books with […]

Anil Dash has an interesting take on Google’s corporate mantra. Now, I’m as skeptical as the next person in regard to Google’s “Dont Be Evil” mantra, which makes me snicker just because, well, it seems like an awfully low bar to set for a company. It’s like saying my personal motto is “don’t kick kittens”. […]

Tom Asacker unleashed a pearl on change. There are two types of change: change within a system of beliefs; beliefs that stay the same. And change in your system of beliefs; e.g. your assumptions about the marketplace, customers, and your role. If you want to change, you have to change twice. Yes, you must change […]