TomorrowToday’s Top 10 most read blog entries at the end of 2009

TomorrowToday’s blog has been up and running since September 2004. We have over 1750 posts on our blog, filed under 35 different categories. We’ve not done this before, but here are TomorrowToday’s most read blog posts as of 31 December 2009:

10.) Time Magazine – the future of work
9.) How’s this for the latest craze
8.) Tell me and I will forget show me and I may remember involve me and I will understand
7.) Navigating This Differently Connected World – exploring the impact of social software on business today
6.) ‘Weeping’ by Josh Groban, errr actually Bright Blue
5.) The Talent Reboot
4.) Good to Great to Gone
3.) Back to the Future – Rethinking Strategy
2.) Detailed Introduction to Generational Theory
1.) ‘After Shock’ – the five trends disrupting business in the next 5 years

So there they are. If there was a writing award in TomorrowToday it would certainly go to Graeme Codrington (based in the UK for now, and traveller of the world) for the most written and the most read. Correlation between the two? Me thinks so.

S+B’s Best Business Books of 2009

Booz & Co’s Strategy + Business ezine is one of my favourites, and one I always make time to read. Last week’s edition looked at the best business books of 2009, selected by their top team, and helpfully categorised.

If you want to read their reasoning, and some excellent background comments, start here. All I am going to do is list the books (and make it easy for you to buy them – choose from Amazon.com, Amazon.co.uk or Kalahari.net – for South Africa):

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10 rules for effective strategic planning PLUS one more

Strategic planning is becoming the corporate buzzword again. Over the past ten years companies have been obssessed with short-termism and strategic planning was largely ignored for tactical activities based around improving sales and cutting costs for the next quarter or year at most. Many critics of strategic planning suggested that the ideas of Michael Porter and other business gurus, who developed theories/models on strategic planning and strategic analysis in the 80’s and 90’s, were now obsolete. Companies dropped strategic planning in favour of short term returns. With the current economic downturn companies are clambering to rethink their 5 and even 10 year plans.

Last year we worked with The Scout Association to develop their ten year strategic plan and assist them in obtaining buy-in. They have a rolling 10 year plan that they revisit every year. We began working with them on their strategy a month before the global financial crash and I recall thinking how amazing it was that the Scouts had a ten year plan taking them to 2018, when most corporates didin’t even know what their plan was 12 months down the line.

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A moment of zen

Like a ray of sunshine on a cloudy day that lifts your spirits, a comment was posted on one of our archived posts here today. It’s worth highlighting, and reading. Especially if you have had one of those days when you despair at your fellow inhabitants of this planet, and wonder where everything is headed.

A brief recap…

Last year, I bought Josh Groban’s album, “Awake”. Track 12 was a cover version of an old South African protest song, “Weeping”. I was disappointed at Groban’s interpretation of the song, and wrote a reasonably empassioned response, giving the detail and history of the song. That post has received a lot of response, but today’s response, from J. Harris is the best yet. In it, he relates her experiences growing up in a racially divided America, and looks forward to the next generation, and the one after that with hope.

It is an uplifting read, and well worth your time. Read the post here, or go directly to the comment in question.

Thanks for taking the time to share your story, and make my day!

Best of the blog

If you’re drowning in the info on this blog, here would be my choice of the best posts of the last few weeks, and a good selection for you to start with:

• Suicide: A Great PR Move – the connection economy
• China’s Burning and Predictable Surprise: China has a labour shortage! – because China’s advantage isn’t going to last forever, and the cracks are starting to show
• I write what I like – a great personal reflection on South African history. You can also see: Thirty Years Later
• Business Continuity in Age of Constant Change
• Essential Vocabulary Additions for the 21st Century – a bit of fun
• Challenges facing a young work force
• Organisational DNA – its what your company is made of!

There is some really great stuff here, so take time to work through our archives. Use the categories on the right to narrow down your field of interest.

Best of the Blog

The best of the past few weeks:

• http://www.tmtd.biz/2006/01/19/my-mom-will-sort-you-out-boomers-kids-work/ – a worrying trend of parents interefring in kids’ work environments
• http://www.tmtd.biz/2006/01/18/the-power-of-the-purse/ – women in the marketplace – great case studies through this book review
• http://www.tmtd.biz/2006/01/17/talent-communities-the-latest-recruitment-concept/ – you can’t wait til you need them before starting to find talent
• http://www.tmtd.biz/2006/01/16/south-africas-prospects/ – honest reality about South Africa
• http://www.tmtd.biz/2006/01/15/an-idea-customisable-music-and-movies/ – a great idea



• http://www.tmtd.biz/2006/01/03/innovation-and-the-myth-of-rd/ – because innovation is critical, but most companies don’t have a culture that promotes it
• http://www.tmtd.biz/2005/12/29/waugh-of-the-worlds/ – leadership lessons from a cricket legend
• http://www.tmtd.biz/2005/12/20/has-google-sold-its-soul/
• http://www.tmtd.biz/2005/12/19/design-products-for-ageing-boomers/ – a lesson for cellphone manufacturers
• http://www.tmtd.biz/2005/12/11/any-bets-on-me-getting-a-new-dvd/ – a great story to follow about an out of touch industry
• http://www.tmtd.biz/2005/11/18/an-interview-with-jackie-huba/ – a great exclusive on creating customer evangelists

Best of our blog for the past fortnight

• What if leadership can’t be taught? – from the leadership guru himself, Keith Coats
• They should pay me to watch their movie – getting great interest on some other blogsites



• Democracy comes to China – Pop Idols show rocks the red dragon
• Colour doesn’t matter: Manage for Age, and not Race – Generations are important (and I like this one, too, because I found an archived webpage on the official Internet archive site – nice)
• The Talent Myth – Malcolm Gladwell – a great post about talent – one of our best ever, actually
• Beyond the Algorithm – a great post from Barrie, our creative juicer
• Posters on the ceiling – can I say so myself… a moment of inspiration
• Knowing what you’re good at – the ongoing saga of Jacques Kallis inspires a thought about promotions of leaders

Best of….

My selection of the best posts of the past few weeks:

• The Three C’s of the Connection Economy Women, by Ang – because taking women seriously is not optional
• Dealing with BYTs in the office – lessons from parenthood, by Graeme and Mark Tittley – a great book review about a hot issue
• www.TomorrowConnecting.biz, by Mike – a new blog from TomorrowToday
• Millennials are not just in our homes!, by Vicky – because the Millennials are growing up quickly, and we need to be ready for them
• Where do you get your news from?, by Graeme – because its important to know where to go for information
• Why lawyers shouldn’t be marketers, by Mike – Lego goes nuts
• What next? A mini-lawnmower?, by Mike – how a story can get out of hand – Gillette also gets out of control
• Connection Economy Tools, by Graeme – a look at three important systems needed for success in the connection economy
• Microsoft, Mini-Microsoft and the Talent Exodus, by Mike – how Microsoft is losing talented people
• To meet or not to meet, by Raymond – a look a the internal workings of a virtual organisation

This is not a pipe – a note about pictures

We add images to the posts on this blog because we believe that the 21^st century is not just about words/text, but also about images/pictures. Our minds process these in different ways, and adds to the message the associated words bring to us. We’re sometimes asked about the images on this blogsite. So, let me tell you how it works, if you’re interested…

• When someone writes a post, they add a graphic to it (if they know how to, and have one selected), or suggest a graphic to Graeme (who manages the blog), or they simply add the post and wait to see what Graeme selects a graphic.
• Graeme then reads the post, and makes a decision about what type of image might be suitable.
• He then goes to Google Images and does a search to try and find an appropriate image.
• We do not copy the pictures to our website, rather we simply create links to original artwork on the original sites on which they appear. You can see the original by right clicking on any picture, and looking at the properties.
• If the post is about a specific company, we usually put the company’s logo on our site. Some companies have complained about this, saying that we are misusing their intellectual property. We disagree. We’re gaining no value from the logo, and the content links back to them (we always link to their websites, where we can). Interestingly, it is only companies we have complained about that have complained about our use of their logo.

If you have any suggestions about images, just let Graeme know: graeme@tomorrowtoday.biz.

PS – if the title of this post, and the associated image doesn’t make sense to you, just google “This is not a pipe” (click here if you’re lazy).

Top posts of the last few days

Every now and again, I look back over our blog and select a few posts that have caught my attention. Anyone could do this – just list the best posts and give a reason why. It helps those people drowning in data to find a shallow end to paddle around in….

Here are mine:
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My favourite blogs of the past fortnight

A bluffer’s guide to keeping up to date with the TmTd blogsite.

Check these out (and know why):

• The problem with HR doing leadership development – because Keith is right about this. 100% right – leaders should be responsible for leadership formation, and until HR professionals are given real leadership responsibilities in organisations, they should stick to their compliance and IR functions.
• File swapping now illegal (at least in the USA) – because this is the next blow in the entertainment world’s slugging match with its own customers. Stoopid!
• The difference between knowledge and skills workers – because I think its important to know what economy you’re working in, and what that actually means.
• The Sequel to my Story (and the first part: If I Ruled the World) – because this is the funniest set of experiences, and makes you want to cry if you weren’t laughing so much (read them in order for maximum effect)
• Conversations vs Information and Our need to contain, control and understand – because these two entries helped to define our view of blogging. And because it was interesting that mainly Boomers responded to Keith’s (a boomer) first entry, and mainly Xers responded to Barrie’s (Xer) entry. Its the same conversation from two different generations, and its fun to compare them, and learn from both.
• Empty Nest Syndrome or Empty Country Syndrome – because I think more and more Boomers will go through this.
• The great HRDA vlog – because its our first vlog – a little gratuitous, but hey…
• Professional or not? – because there is a lot we can learn from the world of sport, and because of Mike’s comment.

My favourite blogs of the past few days

Just in case you don’t have time to read everything on this blog site, here is my pick of the best entries (and comments) of the past few days:

And one very old post:

If you like this small sampling, then come back for the rest of them, too.