The Power of Idea Acceptance

For us in change management consultancy, one of the big challenges is to overcome "resistance to change", or get people to accept and implement new ideas.  There are thousands of books written on the subject, usually referred to as change management.

In the book "Too Many Bosses, Too Few Leaders" by Rajeev Peshawaria, the author discusses an interesting idea about how to increase effectiveness when leading the implementation of new ideas in organizations.  He suggests that effectiveness follows the following equation:

E = Q x A

Where E if Effectiveness, Q is Quality and A is Acceptance.   

Sometimes, we only focus on the "acceptance" part of the equation, and fail to question if the quality of the idea was good enough to begin with.   If the quality of the idea increases, then  the acceptance itself may also increase, so the quality component is the leverage point to increase effectiveness.

There is a review by Matt May of the book that you can read here.

How Will We Read? The Future of the Book Industry

We all know that the traditional book business model is in decline.  Self publishing, electronic books, portable electronic readers like the Kindle have been the rising trends for the last years.   So, what does the future holds for the book industry?

C.M. Rubin interviews David Prichard, CEO of Ingram Content Group, where he shares his opinions about what's next for the book industry.   You can read all about it here.

The Long Tail Revisited

Chris Anderson wrote an article in Wired six years ago  introducing the concept of "The Long Tail", which is still as valid as it ever was.

The main idea behind his original work was to question the way companies were pursuing profit.   Instead of focusing solely on creating a few blockbuster products that appealed to the masses, he suggested to focus also on creating and making available a large variety of products, that appealed to different market niches.

In some businesses, it turns out that the total sales of  "non blockbuster" products is larger than blockbuster sales, an apparent contradiction to the Pareto Principle.   Although creating and ensuring availability for a large variety of products seems like a very difficult and costly proposition in the physical world,  the online world simplifies scaling significantly, reducing the efforts and costs involved.

If you haven't read Chris Anderson's book, also named The Long Tail, please do.

Free Change Management Resources Website

A friend who works in management consulting referred this change management website to me some days ago.  It has several useful things for people into change management, from exercises to implementation advice.

The 50/50 Fundraiser

In some cities in Canada, a different type of fundraiser is held.   Out of the total money donated, 50% goes to the fundraiser cause, and 50% is raffled among the people who donated.  Those who donate the most, have more probabilities of winning the raffle.

I don't know how effective this scheme is to raise funds, but it seems an interesting and "out of the box" solution.   I guess there could be some that have moral issues about it, since there its an event with private and public benefits involved, leading to possible conflicts.

The 20 Most Life-Altering Concepts

Barry Davenport discussed twenty lessons to apply in your life.   

And although many of these lessons are learned by living and making mistakes, always remember the famous Alfred Sheinwold quote: "Learn all you can from the mistakes of others.  You won't have time to make them all yourself. 

The Decision to Trust

A new book by Bob Hurley has come out called the The Decision to Trust, where he discusses the many different points of view about trust.  He also explains his Decision to Trust Model (DTM), which focuses on:

-How trustors, or those who trust others, can make effective trusting decisions
-How trustees, or those who are trusted, can become more trustworthy
-How to create an environment where trust can flourish

Seems like a great read, and it's endorsed by the Trusted Advisor himself, Charles Green.