What are Your Thoughts?

The late Princeton philosopher and author Walter Kaufmann coined the phrase decidophobia to describe those who would rather leave the deciding to some authority. Kaufmann opined that once a decidophobe relinquishes, they will accept anything argued by that authority. We can call it "the boss is always right" syndrome.

She's a thought leader; he's a thinker; they're the idea team. All crutches we create to stop us from contributing to the process. We all have ideas that are valuable and if you are in a leadership role, open the doors a little wider and let those ideas in because there's brilliance waiting to be seen. Maybe we all can be decidophobes?

Two hundred years ago there was no Internet. A century ago we didn't have interactive technology built into the steering wheels of cars. And unless you share it, we will never enjoy what you have been thinking about which could change the world.

Let’s do big and stop over thinking.
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Big Ideas

We all have big ideas yet often we don’t know what to do with them or we fold our hand the moment we get negative feedback. Most of this is self-inflicted conditioning.

It's common to get stuck on that fearful part rather than to keep working no matter how much resistance we face. We may not be able to visualize the final solution so we give up. We may be making it more complicated than necessary.

What If It Doesn't Work?

It can be scary to share our ideas and often we make the early decision to keep them to ourselves. Shoulda coulda woulda replaces why not and what do we have to lose.

The late Princeton philosopher and author Walter Kaufmann coined the phrase decidophobia to describe those who would rather leave the deciding to some authority. Kaufmann opined once the decidophobe has relinquished they will accept anything argued by that authority. I call it "boss is always right" syndrome.

Let Someone Else Decide?

She's a thought leader, he's a thinker, they're the idea team. All crutches we create to stop us from contributing to the process. We all have ideas that are valuable and if you are in a leadership role, open the doors a little wider and let those ideas in because there's brilliance waiting to be seen.

Two hundred years ago there was no Internet. A century ago we didn't have interactive technology built into the steering wheels of cars. And unless you share it, we will never enjoy what you have been thinking about which could change the world.

Let’s think big and stop over thinking.
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Did You Know?

There are people working on inventions we will someday feel we can’t live without but don’t even know we want or need yet. There will be channels and gadgets and toys and advancements that may give us the impression they have improved our lives. At the core of it all is our ability to connect human to human which began thousands of years ago and we've been trying to figure out how to do it properly ever since.

This may be scary, it could be a refresher, it might be exciting, but it is our reality.

Watch this.


Kneale Mann | Leadership Strategist, consultant, writer, speaker, executive coach facilitating performance growth with leaders, management, and teams.

Virtue | Shift Happens | Coldplay

The Busy Culture

The year was 1582 and changes needed to be made. There had been much discussion for many years over this critical issue and the solution had been found.

This was the year the Gregorian calendar (also known as the Christian or Western calendar) was more widely used. It featured 365 days, 5 hours, and 49 seconds which was a reduction of 10 minutes and 48 seconds from the Julian calendar to align the celebration of Easter with the Spring Equinox. It's the calendar we use today.

Some of the prominent inventions of the 16th century included; bottled beer, the graphite pencil, the pocket watch, the map projector, the knitting machine, and flush toilets. Each was created within the time constraints of the calendar we have today.

What about now?

Since the year 2000, we have seen the emergence of the iPod, the Braille glove, birth control patch, artificial liver, the virtual keyboard, and the iPhone.

In the 16th century, the average life expectancy was around 50 and in some areas of the world – like North America – it’s close to 80 today. The world’s population in 1582 was about 500 million and it’s over 7 billion today.

Why is this important?

Since our current calendar was adopted, we are living 40% longer and the population has increased 350% but each of us still has only 24 hours in each day. Yet we continue to attempt to jam more and more stuff into each of them. More meetings, more email, more tasks, more deadlines, more sales calls, more everything.

In a hundred years, they may come up with another way of measuring days, years, and centuries. There will be medical breakthroughs to give humans a longer lifespan, and our finite planet will probably have a couple more billion people living on it which gives pause to the environmental impact. But hopefully the desire to do more tomorrow than today will at some point subside.

Let's exchange emails and book a meeting to discuss.
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Kneale Mann | Leadership Strategist, consultant, writer, speaker, executive coach facilitating performance growth with leaders, management, and teams.

antiqwatch

What if it Doesn't Work?

We all have big ideas yet often we don’t know what to do with them or we fold our hand the moment we get negative feedback. Most of this is self-inflicted conditioning.

It's common to get stuck on that fearful part rather than to keep working no matter how much resistance we face. We may not be able to visualize the final solution so we give up. We may be making it more complicated than necessary.

Share it. Like it.

It can be scary to share our ideas and often we make the early decision to keep them to ourselves. Shoulda coulda woulda replaces why not and what do we have to lose.

The late Princeton philosopher and author Walter Kaufmann coined the phrase decidophobia to describe those who would rather leave the deciding to some authority. Kaufmann opined once the decidophobe has relinquished they will accept anything argued by that authority. I call it "boss is always right" syndrome.

Let someone else decide?

She's a thought leader, he's a thinker, they're the idea team. All crutches we create to stop us from contributing to the process. We all have ideas that are valuable and if you are in a leadership role, open the doors a little wider and let those ideas in because there's brilliance waiting to be seen.

Two hundred years ago there was no Internet. A century ago we didn't have interactive technology built into the steering wheels of cars. And unless you share it, we will never enjoy what you have been thinking about which could change the world.

Let’s think big and stop over thinking.
__________________________________________________________________
Kneale Mann | Leadership and Culture strategist, writer, speaker, executive coach engaging leaders, collaborative teams, and strong business results.

istock

Planting Our Big Ideas

We all have big ideas yet often we don’t know what to do with them or we fold our hand the moment we get negative feedback. Most of this is self-inflicted conditioning.

It's common to get stuck on that fearful part rather than to keep working no matter how much resistance we face. We may not be able to visualize the final solution so we give up. We may be making it more complicated than necessary.

What If It Doesn't Work?

It can be scary to share our ideas and often we make the early decision to keep them to ourselves. Shoulda coulda woulda replaces why not and what do we have to lose.

The late Princeton philosopher and author Walter Kaufmann coined the phrase decidophobia to describe those who would rather leave the deciding to some authority. Kaufmann opined once the decidophobe has relinquished they will accept anything argued by that authority. I call it "boss is always right" syndrome.

Let Someone Else Decide?

She's a thought leader, he's a thinker, they're the idea team. All crutches we create to stop us from contributing to the process. We all have ideas that are valuable and if you are in a leadership role, open the doors a little wider and let those ideas in because there's brilliance waiting to be seen.

Two hundred years ago there was no Internet. A century ago we didn't have interactive technology built into the steering wheels of cars. And unless you share it, we will never enjoy what you have been thinking about which could change the world.

Let’s think big and stop over thinking.

Kneale Mann

gbengaawomodu

Your Idea Could Save a Life

That may sound like a provocative notion but think about all those ideas that are rolling around in your mind. Yesterday we discussed thinking big versus doing big.

Sebastian Thrun is a professor of Computer Science and Electrical Engineering at Stanford University, where he also serves as the Director of the Stanford AI Lab. His research focuses on robotics and artificial intelligence.

He led the development of the robotic vehicle Stanley which won the 2005 DARPA Grand Challenge. Stanley is now on exhibit at the Smithsonian. Sebastian has been working toward a time when we no longer drive our cars. You may think this TEDTalk is about technology and gadgets. It is about a far more important idea.

It's also really freakin' cool! [video]


Kneale Mann

visual credit: TED

All of This is Gone

Imagine you woke up tomorrow and there was no Internet, the smartphone had not been invented and there is no email. The only way to contact someone over long distances was with paper, pen and post.

Teleconferencing would not be an option so connecting to similar thinking people around the world would be a challenge. Gone are all the rest of the conveniences and technology you rely on every day.

Would your ability to solve problem, execute ideas or work with others diminish? Could you still accomplish great things without the tools?

knealemann
work with me: contact

Give to Movember.

image credit: istock

Imagine. Invent. Integrate.

We all love clever stuff. But something happens when clever meets ingenuity. Like this piece entitled "The Dreaded Stairs" which was released last year.

This is not posted here to endorse any site or product, it's here to make you think.

I hope it does.



Does this give you any ideas for a different way around a current challenge?

@knealemann
Helping you integrate all you do with all you do.

Integration Happens Every Day

The Power of Horses

Today’s automobile stems from a steam powered vehicle introduced by Ferdinand Verbiest who was member of a Jesuit mission in China in 1672.

There is currently a car for every eleven people on the planet, We burn 600 million gallons of fuel each year.

Print and Save

Johannes Gutenberg is credited with introducing the printing press in 1439.

Despite the rabid move to online and mobile, we have somehow quintupled our paper consumption since attempting to create a paperless society.

Play The Hits

Despite numerous disputes over many decades, Guglielmo Marconi was credited with introducing a radio telegraph system in 1896. Thomas Edison, David E. Hughes and Nikola Tesla were influential as well.

There are now more than 45,000 commercial radio stations in the world covering ever format imaginable. Satellite radio has opened the floodgates wide enough to feature such niche programming choices as uncensored comedy, extreme sports and polka.

Laptops and Memory Sticks

In 1968, Douglas Englebart hosted what was later called The Mother of All Demos as he outlined how individuals were going to be able to create and transmit content through word processing, hypertext and video conferencing technologies.

Since it was introduced last weekend, Apple sold close to a million units of their latest portable device. News stories on the iPad flooded both the blogosphere and traditional news agencies as if they had just invented the wheel.

A Series of Tubes

In 1958, the United States government developed the Advanced Research Projects Agency in response to their then Cold War adversary the Soviet Union’s space program. The ARPAnet gave the U.S. a technological edge in electronic intelligence.

Now more than 1.7 Billion people in the world have Internet access and over 76% of North Americans are online.

All That You Do

Forty years ago, a word was created to describe the creative way in which companies and individuals promote, sell and communicate their products and services while understanding the needs and desires of a target audience.

The word Marketing was an American invention and is the same translated in to any other language. Today it represents every aspect of business and culture and is no longer limited to advertising or promotion.

Did You Get My Voicemail?

Originated from the Greek term “far voice”, the telephone was another controversial invention because many had their hand in its early progress. Canadian Alexander Graham Bell, American Thomas Edison and various other inventors around world had their part in developing this historic gadget.

And just this week, more text messages were sent via cellar telephone than there are people walking the earth.

Watch Your Thumbs!

Dating back as far as 1973, messages were transmitted electronically through an intricate encoded system wired through a series of computer servers all over the United States.

And if you are running a company, email is just a part of everyday life today.

Human Networking

Thirty years ago, there was no Facebook or LinkedIn, no one was tweeting or friending and the idea that you would actually meet a complete stranger you had only previously met online was laughable.

The chance to connect with people from every possible crevice of the world who share similar ideas and work remotely on projects and build businesses through the social web was an old idea that has become a new buzz.

Acceptance and Belief

All too often our lens is pointed at the advancements in our own personal lives. Those which were invented before we were born seem to be accepted without question.

None of these and thousands of other inventions matter without two important elements – our ability to create and share.

Perhaps before discarding something new, we should give it a little time to see if it’s worth keeping?

@knealemann
strategy. marketing. social media.

photo credits: apple

Interruption | Integration | Improvement

"Your mind has a lot to talk about and it knows you can't pretend you're not at home."
Linda Solegato

In 1957, a woman is seen leaving her house, driving to work and though shocking did not speak on a phone during her entire trip.


Some 231 years earlier, witnesses claim a tall dark haired man traveled from his place of residence to the grocery store where he worked and got there without the use of motorized transportation.

"What great thing would you attempt
if you knew you could not fail?"
Robert H. Schuller

Less than 20 years ago, people all over the world were quickly discovering the ability to send electronic messages to each other over great distances on their computer.

And just this week, there were more stories written about the Apple iPad than the food shortage in Africa.

"Great minds have purpose, others have wishes."
Washington Irving

According to rumor, there was a time when the U.S. Patent Office was going to close. The claim at the time was all inventions needed were already invented. That claim seems rather preposterous now.

Every invention that has ever seen the light of day was something we had to integrate into our lives.

Got an idea?

Will it be an interruption, an integration or an improvement?

@knealemann
strategy. marketing. social media. communications.

image credit: i.zdnet

New Ain’t New No More

Archeologists found the earliest evidence of dentist drills dating back 9,000 years in Pakistan. These primitive hand drills were the earliest found implements which performed cavity repair. Dentists now employ motorized drills that spin at half a million RPM and can solve virtually any dental issue.

The cute portable music playing device that revolutionized music consumption was first introduced in 1997. The iPod is one of the most influential inventions in decades. Sony owned the portable cassette market, Apple is the overwhelming leader in mp3 players.


Beer was first invented in the 6th millennium BC in Egypt and Mesopotamia. Today, beer is a $300 Billion a year industry and it is consumed in almost every country on earth.

In the 1960’s, computers were behemoth mechanical creatures that filled rooms to perform basic mathematical problems. The computer installed on the Saturn V rocket which propelled the crew toward the first moon landing was slower than the later model known as the 286. The portable computer was first mass produced in the 1980’s. Today it is a mind that can carry out complex audio and visual tasks simultaneously.

An instrument we use every day was named after the Latin term fura or pitchfork. Forks have been used since 2nd century Rome.



In the last decade, scientists all over the world have finally mapped the human genome - the entire gene pool of human makeup.

As close as historians can guess, the first wheelbarrow dates back to around 400BC in ancient Greece. Medieval Europe and China have had their stake in its evolution. It is almost inconceivable that a home owner would not own one today.


What we now know as the Internet was first conceived in the mid 1950’s as a way for U.S. government officials to share and send information over long distances. It was known as the Arpanet. Although near impossible to predict, in 2009 there are hundreds of millions of websites, social media communities and you can do or find anything you can possibly fathom, online.




As soon as something is invented, creative minds get to work on improving it. Once we are introduced to something new in our lives, we somehow seem to find a need for it or seamlessly adapt to its existence.

Got any ideas?

@knealemann

photo credits:
thomasedison.com | kscience.co.uk | wikimedia.org | apple.com

Get Board. Get Broke. Get Creative.

Charles Brace Darrow
1889–1967

A heater salesman who lost his job during the Great Depression, Darrow is known for introducing the world to the board game Monopoly. For years there was dispute over who was the actual inventor.

Darrow sold the concept to Parker Brothers. It was an evolution from The Landlord's Game which was invented by Elizabeth Magie Phillips. Credit should also go to Charles Todd who introduced the game to Darrow.

Monopoly is one of the most popular board games in history and it was launched during one of the worst economic times ever.

If necessity is the mother of invention, perhaps it’s time we got resourceful.

Maybe we turn off the news and focus on solutions. It makes you wonder what ideas may be brewing right now that will emerge from this time.

What are you working on?
What have you always wanted to try?

@knealemann

Managing Insanity and Expectations

“The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results.” - Benjamin Franklin

The man who invented bifocals, the odometer, the lightning rod, and hundreds of other items was the personification of doing things a different way every time and certainly never giving up.

If you switch the Franklin quote around slightly you can claim that another definition of insanity is doing different things expecting the same results.

It happens in business all the time. A company is formed and the founders want to revolutionize their industry by introducing new concepts and ideas without realizing - good or bad - that they won’t see the same results as those in their industry.

If it is your wish to thrive in a mainstream don’t take any chances watered down scenario, then put away the spice rack. If you want to shake things up and take chances, go for it! But you can’t have both.

I once worked for a guy who wanted us to constantly do different things but couldn’t understand why we weren’t instantly embraced by the masses. As I’ve said before – if you live on the edge, don’t expect a crowd.

It's interesting to discuss new ideas while embracing integrated media solutions with people. There is a certain point in the conversation when eyes begin to glaze over. Asimov said “the only constant is change” which most of us embrace – in theory. Few want to accept that the way it is won’t always be the way it is.

In the case of social media, online marketing, advertising, radio, television, content, entertainment, production, and ideas – nothing will ever be the same. And you can say that every single day.

But if you manage your expectations, integrate everything, and understand that the definition of sanity is to embrace different things in different ways, then you can have some fun.

And I hope you find other like minded people like you.

km