Benjamin Franklin spent his mornings naked.
Practise strategic substance abuse, especially with coffee!
Read more on Creativity Unleashed
Rise and shine: the daily routines of history’s most creative minds
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The CMO Guide to Repeatable Business Innovation
See on Scoop.it – Innovation Unlimited – Ethann Castell
Most business leaders know that innovation is important in the same way that an umpire understands why a player can’t run straight to second base. It’s an accepted parameter that if ignored, would fundamentally change the game.
See on blogs.salesforce.com
Verizon Expands San Fran Innovation Center
See on Scoop.it – Innovation Unlimited – Ethann Castell
The carrier cuts the ribbon for its newly expanded Verizon Innovation Center, showcasing its networking technology and collaborative efforts with its partner ecosystem.
See on www.pcmag.com
Innovation Cubed: The Robot That Builds Itself
MIT research scientist John Romanishin was told his project design for a modular robot could never be done. Twice….
See on Innovation Unlimited
Free one-way ticket to Mars
Fly to Mars, for free!
Whether it’s wishful thinking on a large-scale, or a serious effort to colonise the red planet, the Mars One project is certainly a case of dreaming big and then trying to turn that dream into a reality. The catch is that there’s no return flight!
Key communication lessons from the best start-up pitches
Pitching is no longer just important for start-ups
While pitching In today’s time-poor and information-overloaded world, getting attention, and getting your point across in a succinct manner, are valuable skills for every business person.
Critique of the best start-up pitches
Business Insider Australia has a great critique on some of the best start-up pitches from a variety of different sources. Most of the featured pitches have been quite successful, such as zocodc which has been valued at $750 million.
Key Communication Strategies
The various pitches have been analysed and boiled down to several key communication strategies, which are listed below.
The first two points are highly applicable to almost any business presentation or interaction, while the rest of the points may need to be tailored slightly for non-pitch situations.
- If you don’t grab people within the first minute, they’re going to start checking their email.
- Tell the story through the problem. It needs to be a story about problems and solutions.
- Have a concrete business plan and drive home how you’re going to make money.
- Know your material, and keep the energy up.
- When pitching directly to an investor, make sure you say what you’re going to do with the money.
- Finish strongly and sum up why someone should invest in the company.
These are great strategies to help us all get our points across better.
Free online Enterprise Architecture course
Enterprise Architecture is still something of a mystical term for many people. Yes, we all know it’s important but perhaps without full understanding exactly what it is. Generally one of the best ways to learn about Enterprise Architecture has been to take training in a methodology such as TOGAF. But there haven’t been many other options for those without the time or money to undertake this type training, or for those who only want to dip their toe in the water and sample Enterprise Architecture without necessary specialising in it.
We all know that there’s pretty much an app for everything. But nowadays we can almost also say that there’s a MOOC for that. OpenStudy is one of the latest MOOC providers to emerge and they have a number of interesting courses starting nest week. One of the best courses looks to be the Introduction to Enterprise Architecture course starting tomorrow. So if you’ve been wanting to learn more about Enterprise Architecture then this might just be what you’ve been waiting for.
I’m not affiliated with this course in any way, nor with Enterprise Architects who are providing the training.
Do we still need system administrators in the cloud?
The short answer is maybe. The longer answer is a bit more complicated. Learn more in my latest blog post for Thoughts On Cloud
How to stay on top of the cloud
Information overload
I sometimes struggle to keep up with the latest on cloud computing. The technology industry tends to move and change quite quickly and it is important to keep abreast of news and trends. But there is just so much information available today that I could easily spend my whole week just reading the latest news, leaving no time to work or earn an income. And that’s not an option.
You could just bury your head in the sand
One solution is to not try to keep up at all. To take the approach that if something is important enough then you’ll hear about it somehow. In today’s information-overloaded society, there is some merit in this line of thinking. Instead of spending all your spare time reading industry magazines and news sites, spend it with your family, friends, and doing the hobbies you love. Of course the downside to this approach is that you might miss out on the best projects and opportunities because you fall too far behind the curve.
The middle ground
My approach is to take a middle path and try to identify a select few information sources to follow – the ones that provide the biggest bang for their buck.
Staying on top of the cloud
The cloud computing landscape is moving fast and changing quickly, and it’s more than a little challenging to keep abreast of. In my latest cloud article for IBM’s ThoughtOnCloud blog, I describe the information sources I use to try to stay on top of the cloud.
The cloud landscape in Australia
Recently I gave a presentation to the IBM ThoughtsOnCloud team about the state of cloud computing in Australia. Here are the slides for anyone who is interested.