Moving to Mac

Although I have been thinking about it for some time now, I have
finally taken the plunge and I have invested in a mac. The initial
outlay on the macbook is a bit more than a comparable windows PC, this
was not really my concern, it was the conversion away from the windows
operating system. I was worried that it would take me some time to
reach the skill levels I currently l have with windows and time is
scarce enough.

I was in London on Wednesday last and went into the apple store for a
look and thanks to the experience I came out with a macbook under my
arm. I think the conversion will be fine however as I have hardly
turned on my dell since.

The macbook is certainly cool, I chose a black macbook with duo core
processor, 2 Gb of memory and 180G harddrive. I couldnt wait to get
it out of the box and I had no problem getting set up initially.

I am currently trying out pages and keynote and they seem fine, I have
found that I really only use the basic features on word and powerpoint
and everything I need seems to be in the iwork versions.

I am going to transfer over my mail, contacts and critical files over
the holidays, so hopefully I will be fully up to speed on the mac by
the time I get back from the holiday.

Happy Holidays!

Facebook Rules!

I could not understand all the hype about social networking sites, with everyone going on about how important they were, how they were growing so fast, etc, etc.But then I had not tried it out at that stage.

After some good advice one day when a very wise person urged me not to comment until I tried it, I took the plunge and signed up with facebook.  

I really have one word to say in relation to my experience.  ADDICTIVE!  I had a quick look around and quickly found a few friends that I had not heard from in a long time.  All of a sudden we were emailing and meeting up for coffee.  I had added some apps and had a little site created in no time.  I must say Im not sure where superpoking was going but I tried it anyway and got a sheep hurled right back at me.  Interesting!

However on a more serious note I found a few interesting things going on.  Co-creation, I really took control and built my own little site in minutes.  Networking, I got a few friends and was up and running in no time.  Convergence, this was perhaps the most interesting part.  I downloaded a little app on my blackberry and I was updating facebook from everywhere.  And I mean everywhere!  

I think I may not have developed the same interest in the site if I had not got the little facebook icon appearing on the top corner of my blackberry screen telling me that someone somewhere in the world has sent me a mail or written on my wall.  Cool!

Probably the greatest learning for me is the only way to understand facebook, linkedin, bebo or whatever, is to stop talking and start doing.  As Kevin Kelly says if you are going to climb a mountain dont talk to someone who has not climbed one already.  Or in my case just climb a little one first!

See you on facebook!  And watch out for the sheep!

Who Moved My Cheese Open Day

We have had a great response to our recent "Who Moved My Cheese?" Gaining change skills open day programme. I have partnered with Spencer Johnson Partners to deliver the "Who Moved My Cheese?" training programmes in Ireland and the UK. We held an open programme on the 14th of this month in the Ryan Centre for Entrepreneurship for HR professionals and Department managers in order to introduce the course content. The programme will be rolled out over the coming months.

Feedback has been fantastic, with a number of participants booking sessions for their own organisation. For more details contact Rory O'Connor.

Funky Business Forever

I just picked up Ridderstrale and Nordstrom's Funky Business forever and cant wait to read it. I loved the original version and I am mad to see what is still funky and what's not!

I will post a review as soon as I am finished!

NUIG MBA class get serious!

I recently conducted an introduction to the LEGO SERIOUS PLAY methodology to the second year executive MBA class in NUI Galway. Thanks to Dr James Cunningham we got the opportunity to spend a half day with the class getting some serious play in.

The session gave the class the chance to experience the methodology and give the students a chance to use their imagination. It was the first time we had introduced the process in an educational setting and thanks to the input of James and the feedback from the class we have been able to tailor a workshop that is very suitable for an educational setting.

We looking forward to playing in univeristy again!

Luxury Brand Masterclass

I came accross a fascinating presentation on Luxury Brand Marketing on slide share by Idris Mootee:

View Upload your own

Having worked in marketing and strategy in the Luxury goods sector for 14 years, I found his presentation well researched and presented. He has really hit the nail on the head in relation to the challenges facing the industry.

If you work in or have an intrest in the Luxury goods industry it certainly worth checking out.

Herding Cats

In his book Scott Berkun, see below, talks about the myth of having a method for innovation. He used a phrase I love, and have used myself previously to try and convey complexity.

Whilst thinking of it I wondered if anyone had attempted to put this image on video. So I checked youtube and of course there was something there.

Enjoy the thrill of herding cats!