‘Democracy’ is listed at number ten in the AFR Boss list of 41 Big Ideas.
This is democracy in the sense of participation and shared contribution toward the development of products, services and ideas. This really is an idea to watch as we see it already in play through more and more form of open source development on the web. By open source, I don’t just mean application development, but whole bodies of knowledge (wikipedia), shared creative sources (creative commons). Even marketing is becoming democratic with the resurgence of ‘choose your own adventure’ style campaigns relying on consumers electing content and designing campaigns via SMS and web interaction. This was well covered in a Time magazine article earlier this year.

Back to the workplace, the relevance of this for communicators is that participation requires engagement and access to information. Giving employees the resources and opportunity to participate requires the commitment to see the process through. Treat employee contributions superficially is a fast path to destroying trust and leadership credibility.

In the previous post, we see where communication came in on the list!

Links
www.wikipedia.com
www.creativecommons.org

Boss Magazine (Australian Financial Review) published a list of 41 big ideas for leaders to watch.

Great news for communication and engagement, with these themes occuring in several forms throughout the list:

• Motivation comes in at number one.
• Creativity and renovation are number two. Interesting use of ‘renovation’ in which everything old can be something new (the authors considerately provide a number of examples in their choice of items for the list.)
• Happiness is number three.
• Crowds and teams an emergent number four.

Drum roll.

Communicating with staff comes in at number seven.

While this is definitely not news for communication professionals, it is good advice for leaders and for employees.

Why 41 Ideas? That’s something that kept me reading to the end with no answer. Perhaps the restaurant where the article theme was broached?

Links:
www.afrboss.com.au

A new magazine has been on my reading shelf for a few weeks. Fast Thinking looks strikingly similar to Fast Company at first glance. This is a smart choice as it will appeal to the some of the same readership.

Overall the magazine has an interesting blend of ideas, and appears to be an original voice in our local market. Meaning Business wishes them every success. Fast Thinking is published in conjunction with the InnovationXchange Network, an organisation promoting Australian innovation.

The premier issue includes an article by Lia Timson on brand rescue – handling a crisis and managing reputations, including advice from David Donohoe, deputy president of PRIA. The changing nature of media monitoring to include blogs, podcasting and RSS is noted.

Links:
www.fastthinking.com.au
www.ixc.com.au
www.fastcompany.com

June is IABC International Conference time. This year’s event was held in Canada.

Highlights from the conference are available on the official blog, In Session. This includes a number of podcasts from presenters and other materials.

In past years IABC NSW has arranged a Best Of event in the months following. Stay tuned for details.