I am a DJ, I am what I play

Just added a new post to /Message. I am a DJ.
Music, mash-ups and the value of what evolves against what is planted. Come spin a record?

Inspired by Inspirathon

I was at emap's inspirathon yesterday, performing the role of network and communities 'champion'.
The plan was those who had submitted their ideas for consideration were invited to a venue in Mayfair to get a bit of help in a very creative atmosphere and hone their thoughts into something the company could act on - and support. And a budget is already in place to support that.
The concept was that we would come away with one winner (and the person who comes up with that winner bags £5K).
But the great thing was while we did find one winner (who did indeed bag that £5K), we also found some eye-opening thinking about markets which get too little consideration.
I'm going to be asking those attending the Mobinar I'm hosting next week to do a little more thinking in some of those niches.
There were examples of some great thinking with almost all of the ideas driven by serving communities of passion - putting communities first.
It wasn't all roses, of course. But there were some really encouraging green shoots. The seeds are being nurtured.
It's an exciting time to be in media - and particularly exciting when you're surrounded by creative people excited about what they are doing, too. It's how every day should be.
I'm going to do some thinking about how we might achieve a little of that. If you have thoughts on this, please share.

The Ideas Marketplace

In this post 'Content sucks - if that's all you sell' I discussed the lessons we might learn from the collapse of content vendors in the music business.
In considering their dilemma (and the media industry's) I thought about how digital communities have better replicated the marketplace experience than bricks and mortar stores have chosen to.
And that made me question how ideas are 'exchanged' in corporations, in particular.
The mass industrialised mindset of Corporations tends towards hierarchy and the silo effect.
And that emerges (in corporate idea-exchange models) in the propensity towards broadcast of information: Centralised, one-to-many flows. eg "I'm here today to tell you about my great idea" echoing around an aircraft hangar...
I believe ideas are improved by more intimate two-way flows - conversations and challenges.
As Alan Moore likes to say "People embrace what they create". Confucius has effectively been saying something similar for 2500 years: “Tell Me and I Will Forget; Show Me and I May Remember; Involve Me, I Will Understand.” (Confucius, 450 BC).
So I'd like to see how ideas might evolve and new ones emerge by applying the model of the marketplace, rather than that of broadcast.
A traditional marketplace does three things:
1. Allows people to buy (AND sell)
2. Allows the exchange of information
3. Entertains
How might we take those elements to create an ideas marketplace within a corporation?
I have some vague ideas about literally allowing people to set up their marketstalls in a selected venue, putting on some related entertainment, and inviting everyone to just wander in and wander around, having conversations (ie not being broadcast at) with people with ideas/information to 'sell'.
It could be how someone wants to change how your IT department works, or loves a book they've read they want to market to their peers, or has a plan for a fantastic new digital play but no one in his/her silo has wanted to know...
But this is a first draft - an early iteration.
I'm bringing the idea to the digital version of the marketplace. Let's talk?

n

Big ideas about ideas

I keep regular tabs on the musings of Doc Searls.
This recent work (Ten Ideas About Ideas) is an interesting take on how being open about your ideas will make them the best they can be.

The problem for the doc, I guess, is that the bottom-line is often shouting loudest with its 'keep it a secret' message. How else will you retain your competitive advantage, it will insist?

But that secrecy can be infectious. How many hold back on ideas within organisations, hoarding them to play their cards at the right moment, in order to score a competitive advantage politically/internally?

I'd like to think the company I work for is pretty open internally. But I also know it could be better. This blog is one of my responses to that.

Have a read of doc's ideas about ideas.

If it makes you feel just a few per cent more collaborative today, job done.