These questions, will perhaps create the personal insights that matter to, guide us through our goals in 2010

What is the first insight you remember?

What is your best insight?

What made it great?

What was the problem that was solved?

Can you connect the dots that led to this insight?

What is your second best insight?

Again why? What did it solve?

What is your dumbest insight? Why?

When all else fails, to whom or what do you turn for inspiration?

What is your ideal creative activity?

via Creativity Central – Creativity Central – 10 Steps to an Insight Resume.

1. There is always a new beginning.

“Every new beginning comes from some other beginning’s end.”
Seneca

“When one door of happiness closes, another opens; but often we look so long at the closed door that we do not see the one which has been opened for us.”
Helen Keller

2. Just get started.

“A journey of a thousand miles must begin with a single step.”
Lao Tzu

“So many fail because they don’t get started – they don’t go. They don’t overcome inertia. They don’t begin.”
W. Clement Stone

“The secret of getting ahead is getting started. The secret of getting started is breaking your complex overwhelming tasks into small manageable tasks, and then starting on the first one.”
Mark Twain

3. The beginning doesn’t have to be perfect.

“Beginnings are always messy”
John Galsworth

“All great deeds and all great thoughts have a ridiculous beginning. Great works are often born on a street corner or in a restaurant’s revolving door.”
Albert Camus

The Power of Beginning: Three Thoughts from the Last 2400 Years.

“There is no practical obstacle whatever now to the creation of an efficient index to all human knowledge, ideas and achievements, to the creation, that is, of a complete planetary memory for all mankind…the whole human memory can be, and probably in a short time will be, made accessible to every individual. And what is also of very great importance in this uncertain world where destruction becomes continually more frequent and unpredictable, is this, that…it need not be concentrated in any single one place.” – HG Wells talking about the Microfilm

It could be said today as well after so many years since this quote. It is always interesting to revisit Future gazing statements of the past and contemplate.

In the current context, there is always the issue of standards, competing formats, devices and in the case of DVD even regions and languages to grapple with. In a sense, information access is still a story of have and have nots. I wonder what would Mr Wells think now if he were to revisit his statement..

Who has a major role to play when it comes to long term commitment to innovation ? more...

Beyond words, how does the CEO walk the talk in communicating seriousness to colleagues about flexing innovation muscle?

“I am only one, but still I am one. I cannot do everything, but still I can do something; and because I cannot do everything, I will not refuse to do something that I can do.” HELEN KELLER

A new approach to management more...

We can’t predict the future, but we can think more about the sort of future we want, and how it could be achieved.

Absolute power corrupts. So does Absolute information.

There are enough examples of breach of policy and that there needs to be oversight to ensure things remain in control.

There is already enough about information collection practices that is worrying. Should the customer not have a way of knowing what Google, Facebook, or any other provider has collected?

Should the customer not be aware of the data sharing practices of an organisation ? Specifically who has it been shared with and for how long ?

If the information is likely to be misused or is being misused, what is the recourse of the individual ? After all a “free” service does not mean that information can be freely used or there is no recourse.

The damage caused to an individual can be irreparable by an “inadvertent” mistake of the company.

Social Responsibility

• The Age of Responsibility – Scott Osman
• Corporate Social Responsibility – Can Designers Change the World – Rebecca Collings 

Mobile

• Indian Mobile Youth: By 2012, one in 5 of world’s mobile youth will live in India – Graham Brown
• Gartner Reveals Eight Mobile Technologies to Watch in 2009 and 2010 - Gartner
• Mobile Internet Skyrockets In Emerging Markets – Tricia Duryee
• Vodafone research on what women expect from mobile phones 

Trends, Future , Organisations

• The Once and Future e-book: On Reading in the Digital Age – John Siracusa
• The Structure of Trends 

• Where is Home for the Global Firm? – Q&A with Mihir Desai
• The Business Case for Giving Away Your Best Work for FREE! – Tom Peters
• Thoughts on 21st Century Content Economics – Gerd Leonhard
• News You Can Endow – David Swensen
• The Future of Content in the Age of Information Overload – Maki
• Deepak Chopra Leads Me on a Journey Into Consciousness – Allison Kugel
• An Invitation to Quantum Activism – Dr Amit Goswami
• New Models of Economic Development 

This is the last of a four part series of posts. These posts contain a small selection of links on topics that are of interest to me at a personal or professional level. These links were part of conversations with very learned people I had the pleasure of meeting on Twitter. Thank you to all who shared these links. The initial intent was to write posts on each of the topics discussed. But since posts would take longer to write, I have listed them here for reference for all who may be interested.

In due course, commentary on some of the issues mentioned in these posts would also be published.