laden with information!

So what’s the big deal about 12 noon on January 1, 2011 that is set to rock our planet?

 This is the supposed time and date by which the amount of information in the world is set to double in a 12 hour period. So between midnight Dec. 31, 2010 and noon January 1, 2011, the world, and Atlas shouldering it, will quiver, quake, moan and groan under the weight of  DOUBLE the amount of information that populated the world the day before. Holy cow! What on earth (literally) are we to make of it all or even do with it? We are overloaded  and overwhelmed now!

Another scary factoid is that it is considered common knowledge in the publishing industry that, except in rare cases of tightly written briefs, most written material is composed of about 90% filler. Yes, you heard me- FILLER information. In other words, 10% of most written material is essence leaving a whopping 90% as filler, verbosity, hot-air, pomposity, make-it-look-like-they- know- their-stuff and customers-expect a big-fat-book-for their-money  FILLER.

So not only do we need to know how to sort through all those piles and files of information to find the golden nuggets, we need to be able to find what we need , when we need it, and make sense of what we find.

In the coming month I will share with you every day, right here on this blog, a series of thinking tools, techniques and strategies that will give you hope and a leg up on the coming information onslaught.

Stay tuned and hold on for the ride!

What fascinates me in the whole process mentioned below is the power of the meme; the sound-bite meaning-laden concept which serves a dual purpose.  In physics it is now said that energy is both a particle and a wave at any given time, but not both at once.  I sense that a meme is similar. Based on some event or mere proclamation, at one point in time an emergent meme stakes a claim in the cultural landscape proclaiming its arrival and existence. “I’m here! It’s my turn now! Look at me! I’m the new New!”   And , we of swivel-necked short attention spans turn our heads en -masse and collectively jump on the bandwagon. This is now facilitated by traditional and social media networks that spread memes globally at lightning speed, for better or worse.

 Many memes simply arise, but they can also be planted on purpose. It is even considered successful marketing if your meme (which becomes known as a key word phrase) wins Read More→

‘C’ mindset invites us to challenge  the staus quo, ‘what is’,  in the Spirit of ‘search and discover’ rather than ‘search and destroy’.

We know from science and life that it is easier to move an object that is already moving than one standing still. And it’s usually easier to move an object that is tipped on edge than one standing flat on the ground. Since creativity is about ‘mental movement’ one of the ways to get that is to escape the status quo by pushing against it. How we do that is to tip it on it’s edge, not in direct confrontation that would be like pushing it flat, but by nudging it out of balance by looking at it in a different way. Or gain movement by changing the surrounding circumstances that caused that thing to be the way it is. This happens to us all the time in the real world, like what’s happening now to print media and news coverage in the age of the internet and social networks. They are being forced to reinvent themselves, or die. Smart organizations would have seen this coming and used Mindset C to prepare in advance.

When we know how to take advantage of Creative Mindset C we can role play situations in advance- ask ‘what if’ questions and play a provocative ‘devil’s advocate’ role.

The trick is NOT to degenerate, especially under pressure, to what I refer to as ‘search and destroy’- a kind of ‘out to getcha’ attitude that is rarely constructive. Rather, you choose a creative focus either because of perceived need or for advance planning purposes, and doggedly seek alternatives, new ways to deliver the same or similar products, hunt for new applications or markets, find gaps that R & D can help you fulfil over time and so on. This is more of a ‘search and discover’ process, which should yield constructive, even if not yet fully developed, options for staying engaged in a changing marketplace. And it’s fun!

Think of 3 issues you are facing in your enterprise: maybe technical gadgetry, methods of marketing, hiring trusted virtual staff, etc. Poke and probe like a cat playing with a mouse, looking for weak spots, areas of strength to leverage, placing the issue in a new circumstance to generate a stronger position and whatever else comes up. As a result, you may decide to make some changes to abandon or shore up your position, or not…but at least you’ll have a deeper knowledge of factors involved for when you must make a move.