The Learning Layer – Review

The Learning Layer: Building the next level of intellect in your organization, begins with some solid insights on how learning is the key to performing in the networked workplace. Learning has been the traditional realm of HR while most systems are supported by IT. This means that HR supports the people who produce the tacit [...]

Working Smarter 2010

The Working Smarter Fieldbook (June 2010 version) is now out. This is a collaborative effort by all of us at the Internet Time Alliance and was spearheaded by Jay Cross. Our intention is get the conversation focused on what’s important for business, including the training & learning department – working smarter. Learning is just a [...]

Trust Agents – review

Trust Agents by Chris Brogan & Julien Smith could also be called the Miss Manners Guide to Social Media. For long-time bloggers and heavy social media users there is not a lot that’s new here but it’s still an interesting read. What I really like about the book are the various recommendations on how to [...]

Create you own blog – review

I have to admit that I enjoyed reading through Create your own blog by Tris Hussey. The subtitle, 6 easy projects to start blogging like a pro, did not attract me initially but the book is well written, covers a lot of ground and is quite helpful. The first three chapters cover the basics and [...]

The Social Network Business Plan – Review

The Social Network Business Plan: 18 strategies that will create great Wealth by David Silver The central premise of this book is how to build “recommender networks“. “The next great wave of online communities will focus on specific interests such as health, travel, improvement of government services, wealth, beauty, neighbourhood watches, hobbies, protecting one’s estate, [...]

A linchpin culture

Here is Seth Godin being interviewed by Hugh Macleod: In a sta­ble envi­ron­ment, we worship the effi­cient fac­tory. Henry Ford or even David Gef­fen… feed the machine, keep it run­ning smoothly, pay as little as you can, make as much as you can. In our post-industrial world, though, fac­tory worship is a non star­ter. Cheap [...]

Success depends on who we work with

Here’s a description from Connected: The surprising power of our social networks and how they shape our lives, in which sociologist, Brian Uzzi, describes how creative teams (musical productions) function: Uzzi found that teams made up of individuals who had never before worked together fared poorly, greatly increasing the chance of a flop. These networks [...]

Social Media Marketing – Review

My own interest in social media is from the perspective of learning and workplace performance but the lines are getting fuzzy between marketing, communications, learning and training, so Social Media Marketing may be suitable for a wider audience than just marketing. This is one of the latest books in the for Dummies series produced by [...]

Simplexity – review

In Simplexity Jeffrey Kluger writes an easy-reading book on “why simple things become complex and how complex things can be made simple”. First of all, this is not a book for anyone looking for a deep examination of complexity theory. Kluger is a writer for Time, not an academic or researcher. This makes Simplexity a [...]

Work Smarter – informal learning in the cloud

Just picked up my copy of Jay Cross’ latest book, Work Smarter, which sells through Lulu for a reasonable $19.99. As Jay says, this is not a traditional book. It’s an unbook and not meant to be read linearly, though you can if you want. It covers a wide variety of topics, as you can [...]