Is Caffeine Google's Answer ?

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The challenge with being “best at” and “BIG” is how tough it is to stay ahead of the competition. Even for a firm like Google. What made you innovative in the past can become less valuable and what a maturing changing market perceives about your product can become more important. Holding onto market share isn’t the same game as creating innovative solutions that create new markets. Google is starting to consider the implications surrounding this reality.

Google's most recent secret project Caffeine was announced yesterday but users will not notice any differences between the old technology and the new; at least not for a while. The purported goal of Caffeine is to index content faster. Google claims it is trying to figure out real-time relevant search, but that’s not the entire story.

So what is the new Caffeine project all about ? User perception or in other words “Marketing”. Microsoft’s “Bing” touted its search engine enhancements, focused on a few key channels, had positive reviews and partnered with Yahoo. If Microsoft had not created a new “Bing” brand no one would have noticed the change. Remember General Motors’ Saturn ?

Remember Wolfram Alpha, which was going to change the search world and catch Google ? Wolfram Alpha says it provides users “intelligence” and Bing claims the same thing. They saw Google’s weakness and attacked it.

What this proves is that for big companies like Google, you just can’t innovate under the radar anymore. Its becoming more about the market and the user and this is where perception becomes more important than the technology, hence Caffeine.

See Google’s new Caffeine product at http://www2.sandbox.google.com. Watch Jim Boot's excellent description of the new product on the video below.

How Do You Compete ? Its All About the Organization

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The rate of change in the world is very rapid. What you or your team might have become adept at can quickly evaporate. If your organization is unable to stay on top of radical change, it will be unable to stay ahead of new or existing competitors. Staying ahead means having an organization able to learn and get better. Unfortunately, this can run counter to leaderships abilities, often based on dated beliefs and linear thinking perpetrating the status quo. Brutally confronting facts, being straight forward and having people with the accumen and ability to understand the best path is a rare combination; hence the reason applications of learning organization disciplines are uncommon today. Watch Harvard Professors David Garvin and Amy Edmondson describe how learning organizations generate and act on new knowledge enabling companies to stay ahead of change and the competition.


Welch, This Oracle Is Just What the Doctor Ordered

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Organizations and their leaders can react in different ways during tough times. With many industries experiencing tumultuous and fundamental change compounded by recession, it is more daunting then ever for leaders to understand what the best choices are for the future. From Lencioni’s Five Dysfunctions to Collin’s Good to Great , theories abound regarding the relevant paths to success.

Such uncertainty makes the advice of those who have “been there and done that” quite refreshing. Jack Welch should be the “poster child” for such enlightened and valuable counsel . As with the Oracle character from the Matrix films, he possesses the power of foresight, and his experience serves to advise and guide those attempting to overcome serious challenges. His back to basics philosophy, founded on the four pillars of mission, behaviors, candor and differentiation, is just what the doctor ordered for many leaders in today’s world. Watch Jack during this Managementv interview explain what is truly relevant to organizational success as he outlines his beliefs in the four pillars. An adoption of these rules is a good place to begin when evaluating how to move your organization forward in the best manner possible.

Game Theory and Non Zero Solutions

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Game theory is applied mathematics enabling an evaluation of strategic decisions.  Win loose or Win Win: its a choice based on our beliefs and the  perceived nature of our relationships.  As the networks of interdependence within and beyond communities and nations get more complex, the more enlightened people are forced in their own interests to find non-zero-sum solutions. That is, win-win solutions instead of win-lose solutions. In leadership the measure of success is not so much whether you won at anothers expense, but whether you got what you wanted because you enabled other people to achieve their dreams and to do what they want. Learn more about how the Non Zero solution is key to traversing enormous revolutionary change. If your relationships are not based on Non Zero sums they cannot be productive long term in this day and age. Watch Clinton's brief talk about this reality in todays world.