I'm really loving Gimundo at the moment. They are trying to spread a little happiness and positive thought in what can be, a cynical world.
This latest video reminds us what we already know but sometimes choose not to do. Its 2 mins - go on jump in! You know you want to.
There are many beautiful partnerships in this world but just take a couple of minutes out of your grinding schedule to appreciate a real super team in action. Stunning.
thanks to Oli Barrett :)
yes folks - you read that right. From Auntie - it must be true.
By 2009 more than 4 billion people in the world - out of a population of 6.3 billion - are expected to have a mobile phone connection in their lives.
Hugh usually has a card for all occasions and think this one neatly fits the bill.So where is mobile phone design heading? Will they get ever smaller, perhaps becoming part of our clothes rather than as a single unit?
Jan Chipchase, principal researcher at Nokia Design says :
"the important consideration is how people behave, not what the latest technology can do."
"Human Behaviour changes very slowly; technology very quickly"
Two thirds of the entire world population....just think about the possibilities. Does your product or service have a mobile element?
Reading the wonderful "Go put your strengths to work" by Marcus Buckingham. Apparently just 17% of the workforce believe they use all their strengths on the job.
"A strength looks like consistent, near-perfect performance"
Marcus says people don't work on their strengths because they believe certain "myths":
1. Your personality changes with age.
2. You will grow most in your areas of greatest weakness.
3. A good team member does whatever it takes to help the team.
"Truths" are :
1.as you grow, you become more of who you already are
2. you will grow the most in your areas of greatest strength
3. a good team member deliberately volunteers his strengths to the team most of the time.
A strength is combined of several ingredients:
1. Talents - can be found via personality profiles such as Myers-Briggs. Talents are innate.
2. Skills - are learned.
3. Knowledge - is learned.
More importantly, a strength is when you do it - you feel effective. Before you do it, you actively look forward to it. While you're doing it, you feel inquisitive and focused. And after you've done it, you feel fulfilled and authentic.
Some online materials including a video and an interview with the Today Progamme about how the strengths approach was being taught in schools.
lots more to come on this subject....hope you're playing to your strengths most of the time....
Caught up with DK from MediaSnackers at a recent Ch 4 youth education event In the Wild.
Great day and great presentation from DK and Ewan McIntosh about the benefits of IT for the younger generation. Thanks guys for talking to me ....
Oli has a great post on the event - it was a day of happiness or indeed how we attain happiness. Its all about beautiful partnerships apparently.
"Beautiful Partnerships. By that, he means the space between two people. Real connection, and space in which they can touch, kiss and hug each other. And on a day when several hours were given, quite rightly, to the future of technology and the web, this came as a breath of fresh air.
I like the sentiment behind most of these so called "myths" but would feel much happier if they were phrased in the positive. "Job hopping will help you to learn valuable skills and gain experience quickly".
You’ll be happier if you have a job you like.
Job-hopping will hurt you.
The glass ceiling still exists.
Office politics is about backstabbing.
Do good work, and you’ll do fine. .
You need a good resume.
People with good networks are good at networking.
From Guy Kawasaki. Worth a read
Do you know any PR people who know that social media is important and want to get up to speed, but don’t quite know where to start?
Lloyd went to the last Chinwag Live called PR Unspun (podcast here) and could see an opportunity for talking in more detail to PR folk about how to move from relating well to the press or the public to relating well to bloggers. His suggestion of Better Blogger Relations seems to work with people, so he designed a half-day workshop. The basics and then cover:
First one on this Friday (25th May). It’s £95+VAT and limited to 12 places. Please do point your favourite PR people to the booking page or buy a ticket yourself. UPDATE: Venue confirmed, it’s: CCT Venues Barbican, Aldersgate House, 135-137 Aldersgate St, London EC1A 4JA
If you like your news to be positive with just a whiff of edam - check out gimundo. I think I know what they are trying to achieve. The Dash is worth a look - either it will uplift your spirits or your dinner. Sorry :)
"Who says reporters should set the conditions when they are the ones seeking information and when the interviewee no longer needs the press to reach the public?"
Jeff Jarvis on the thoroughly modern game.
So blogging for politico's is now passe. They simply don't have the time to do the job properly ( blogging that is, not being a politician). Step forward twitter. The Guardian , that great bastion of all that is new and shiny in our online lives says he's been at it 50 times since March 10th. Hardly an addict. But times change. Who would have put money on a story about a high profile politician openly bragging about how much he twitters on?
Walking while you work can help shift those extra pounds, say scientists. But can you really work and exercise at the same time?
The answer is "NO" - even if we could. Exercising is where I get all my best and most crazy ideas and thoughts. Its the time you give your brain to go create, explore, dream and believe.
What brilliant thought or idea did you have today?
My good friend Dr Barrie Hopson is working on a new version of his book Build Your Own Rainbow especially aimed at the 50+ market.
Baby boomers hold something like 80% of the wealth of this country, more leisure time and are a unique generation that may well outlive some of their children (think about it).
a few quotes on the original BYOR:
Helps you figure out what you want, 28 May 2006
Practical, Useable, Action Oriented, 14 May 2003
Excellent for people at a life/career crossroads, 2 May 2003
So not sure where life is leading you? Want to take more control? Is 50 the new 30? All these and many more questions will be answered when Barrie and Mike Scally finally pull their fingers out and get tapping. Watch this space....
Been away to a land which time and broadband access forgot. It was wonderful. Actually been reading books ( they are the paper ones with the shiny covers - no buttons ) so no apologies for any way off scale blog posts and silly photos.
"Love is the only way to grasp another human being in the innermost core of his personality. No one can become fully aware of the very essence of another human being unless he loves him. By his love he is enabled to see the essential traits and features in the beloved person: and even more, that which is the potential in him, which is not yet actualised but yet ought to be actualised. "
V. Frankl - "Man's Search for Meaning".
Stuck in a rut? Can do job with one eye closed? want to chance direction but don't know how to do it? Then careershifters could be the site for you. Inspiration, confidence and connections for your career change.
Thanks to Oli Barrett
Been busy this week with BBC Click taking a look at how the web is changing the way we lend, borrow and trade currencies. My report can be seen on BBC News 24 on Sat and Sun morning EARLY - 6.45 ish ! But of course you can see it on Click On-line from Sat I think.......also on BBC World from today.
Some great sites featured in this weeks report: Kiva.org - Kiva lets you connect with and loan money to unique small businesses in the developing world. By choosing a business on Kiva.org, you can "sponsor a business" and help the world's working poor make great strides towards economic independence. Throughout the course of the loan (usually 6-12 months), you can receive email journal updates from the business you've sponsored. As loans are repaid, you get your loan money back.
Zopa.com - 
is the marketplace for Social Lending. People lend and borrow money with each other, sidestepping the banks and Fxaworld.com - The first user-friendly marketplace for exchanging foreign currencies and reducing the risks and costs of international transactions.
Please let me have some feedback and think about the possibility of helping people via Kiva. As The Huffington Post says :
"Kiva.org allows people the very American satisfaction of both helping someone and getting their money back."
A win - win.....
