Finding the How

Have you ever dropped an idea because you don’t think you had the money, time, expertise, or network? I was working on a project with a colleague this week and remembered the story of Britta Riley. I posted her story last year but thought it was worth another look.

Riley solved the issue of growing food in her cramped New York apartment. The result is now a global organization called The Windowfarms Project which was built through leadership, teamwork, open source, community, social media, and determined people.

Don't discard that idea you're working on just yet.


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Kneale Mann | Leadership and Culture strategist, writer, speaker, executive coach engaging leaders, collaborative teams, and strong business results.

TED | Britta Riley

When a Community Creates an Idea

How often do you drop an idea because you don’t think you have the money, time, expertise, business savvy, marketing acumen, or network?

Here’s how Britta Riley solved the issue of growing food in her cramped New York apartment. The result is a global organization called The Windowfarms Project which was built through teamwork, open source, social media, and determined people.


Kneale Mann

TED | Britta Riley

Google Buzz or Beta?

Last week, CBC's Doc Zone aired a documentary feature entitled Google World.

It is a brief flash at life at world headquarters where think tanks and creative minds meld. It's a human experiment forever in beta.

The film describes life at Google as a neverending co-creative place to work.


Collaborative teams embrace emerging technologies and encourage ideas. Everyone walks around with laptops creating and devising. Sounds cool.

In the documentary, Google CEO Eric Schmidt talks about the importance of trust. No argument here, we have to trust these companies with our information.

The question remains, do have a choice? It's okay, it's in beta.

The company is busy. It introduced Wave last year and their purchase of Aardvark last week. And let's not forget all the others.

Google Buzz has been introduced as the company’s latest leap in to the social web but it has been anything but smooth. Last week, the news cycle was jammed with stories of Google Buzz and its privacy issues.

The company was quick to respond with claims that they figured we wanted it this way and they are working on the problem.

Google is a company that gives us the impression they are always working on the problem, always in beta and experimentation. They want our input through their collaborative products and we are to trust them, right?

As a publically traded company employing thousands of the best and brightest, you’d think they would iron out these hiccups before rushing to market. It was a simple mistake, right? Sure, it's in beta.

The Search is ON.

The company is in a heated battle with Microsoft, Facebook and Yahoo for digital supremacy. Strange things happen when greed creeps in to design and collaboration.

I use Google products and I like them but to say that privacy is a top priority would be among the biggest of all understatements. Do we really know who has our stuff? No worries, it's in beta.

A company that houses zettabytes worth of personal information in thousands of acres of secured server farms all over the world claims it was caught off guard on this little privacy glitch on Google Buzz.

And we believe them, right?

(editor's note: this blog post is in beta)

@knealemann
strategy. marketing. social media.

photo credit: google earth