Is Occupy Wall Street An Effective Change Platform?
Say what you want about the Occupy Wall Street movement, but we can surely agree it has garnered attention and sparked debate. The question is why. Why has the Occupy Wall Street movement — and the related activities it has spawned — tapped our interest and emotions? What is there to learn from this change platform? I can tell you I have questions about the movement, especially its beginnings. Were people hired to protest? Where the protestors put in place by a powerful, quietly controlling organization? Is the march on Wall Street a made-for-media event not unlike that depicted...
read moreTomorrow
Never put off until tomorrow what you can do today. How many times have we heard that refrain? How many times have we ignored it? How many times have we believed that nothing will change because of another day? If you want (or need) to do something then why not get on with it? Whether it’s energizing your company, reshaping how you do things, or simply making contact with someone you’ve been thinking about, why is it so hard to act with urgency? Certainly inertia has something to do with it. Inertia, after all, is a force more powerful than momentum. Inertia is the weight that keeps us...
read moreRed Hat At $1 Billion
Congratulations to my former employer. Open source matters. Based on the run rates of the current quarter, Red Hat will likely reach $1 billion in annual revenue in 2011. Only a handful of companies, probably less than 20 software firms, have ever hit this milestone. Red Hat will be the first open source-focused company to break the billion dollar barrier. Certainly Richard Stallman did not envision this when he created the paradigm of Free Software. Such an event may be more in tune with what Eric Raymond, Tim O’Reilly, and others had in mind when they reframed Free Software as Open...
read moreNew Software on the New Platform
Highly relevant development for companies doing process automation. From Ben Horowitz’s Blog: You would never know If you could ever be If you never try You would never see —Lupe Fiasco, All Black Everything A year ago I wrote about a very special entrepreneur, Christian Gheorghe, who escaped Communist Romania, migrated to America, and—after starting here with $27 as a limo driver and construction worker—eventually became a computer scientist and an entrepreneur. I indicated that just as he broke from an oppressive, totalitarian regime, he planned to free his customers from the...
read moreMaking Transformation Happen – Part 2
Organizing for Success Third, given the importance of transformation should organizations consider making transformation a business function? I would argue, yes. Organizing for success is key. Where can we find the best candidate to lead the transformation effort? The Office of the CEO would seem to be a natural candidate, but it’s not my choice. While the Office of the CEO sets company vision and strategy it does not have the time or operational bandwidth to physically drive the transformation agenda day in and day out. Who then? Who is best equipped to lead the cross-functional,...
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