jan de man

The magic of Twitter - and some old fashioned action

A friend of mine is working on a car sharing scheme for Sweden. He's been in touch with some major players in car industry here in Sweden and things are progressing. One of the inspirations for the project is Zipcar in the US. As it turns out I'm following the co-founder of Zipcar, Robin Chase, on Twitter. 

As it turns out she on Tuesday afternoon tweeted she was in Stockholm for a conference talk. 

As it turns out, I happen to be online just then and see the tweet. 

As it turns out I email my friend who directly the next morning heads for Robin's hotel to see if he can get an appointment. 

As it turns out he happens to bump into her in the lobby. 

As it turns out my friend is able to schedule a meeting the same afternoon (yesterday). 

As it turns out he gets almost an hour with Robin and valuable inputs for his project.

Isn't this just magical? Isn't this the pure beauty and value of connecting? Is this all a result of chance? 

No way.

//jan

Youth unemployment - any ideas?

I've been invited to participate in an interesting project in a local government. The task at hand is to more or less eliminate their youth (18-24 years old) unemployment through commercial means. Anyone familiar with Swedish government culture will recognize that this in essence is a call for social innovation.

There are roughly 600 unemployed young people in this specific community. The local government has a strong group of wholly owned companies as a key resource. They have in many ways been Swedish pioneers in what could be called social business.

The trick now is to come up with a viable approach to the task. The unemployment agency, the local government and their group of companies are starting points for a dialogue about partnership for 3-5 years. I believe private business should be involved as well. And obviously the people who hopefully are to benefit from the initiative.

There are already a number of ideas being tossed around. One of them being to start a new company that allows businesses to hire young people as temps. This could be a first step to get employed and in the mean time one accumulates experience from being hired to different clients and can also participate in training when not being utilized. The company would have revenue from both government bodies and the market and hopefully be able to carve out a fairly sound (social) business model.

Do you have ideas in connection to this that you want to share? Please let me know.

//jan

What is a publisher these days?

The last couple of weeks I've reflected some on what defines a publisher in this day and age. Up until a few years ago most would probably argue that printing stuff on paper was the key thing. The digital world has obviously started to change this with the arrival of new types of products, like e-books and audio books. Increasingly, I've come to think about what the core of publishing is. It is hardly the different carriers or vessels, instead it has to be the stories. 

Publishing is about stories. Publishing is about detecting good stories, packaging them, and helping the story tellers tell their stories to as many as possible. 

Isn't this a small but neat paradox? New technology has helped us discover that it is not the technology that is the core of publishing. It is the story. We needed new technology to help us discover that we had been blinded by old technology. Once the blindness is gone one can see that publishing can use many different carriers. Even a live performance is publishing!

//jan

New context emerging

A number of weeks ago I hinted at some new plans in the making. As things have developed they are starting to look mighty interesting. It all started out with a few blokes kicking around a few ideas about future collaboration. This produced a number of potential new offerings to buyers of smart strategically oriented services such as leadership development, change processes and strategic development - all set in the context of a new world of work and organization. 

Then the idea of taking over my father's publishing company Bookhouse emerged into the process and made things very interesting. And to make a long story short we have arrived at the idea of creating a new type of platform for knowledge creation, production and distribution. Obviously there is a lot to be thought about around publishing and digitalization. But we also believe there has to be much more focus on the interactions and conversations between storytellers and readers/listeners/viewers. And if this is to happen Bookhouse as a publisher needs a clearer mission than producing specific content on paper. 

And yes, this new mission includes serving very good coffee in a very conversation friendly environment.

Anyway, crafting this new mission is part of what is going on now. And also negotiating terms with my father for the acquisition of the firm. If all goes well me and my partners will be in the publishing business at the turn of the year. Publishing from here on to be seen upon very broadly. More on that in a coming post.

//jan

Longing for time to consolidate

The down sides of being a free agent are relatively few I'd say. But the last couple of days have become quite frustrating. The reason is in essence really doubly or triply good. But it becomes frustrating and ultimately a little bad. On the one hand I have lots of interesting work to do. A variety of projects that bring in income to support me and my family. Which is good. 

New projects are incoming at a pace which is engouraging. Also good. 

At the same time I have this entrepreneurial thing that is in the making which brings together so much of what I've done in recent years with old and new ideas and old and new business partners. That is even awesome. 

The frustrating bit is that this entrepreneurial thing is coming together in my head and in practice, but I'm so locked up in deliveries that I can't get my shit together and produce a business plan. The business plan is the necessary next step. It is what I need to move ahead with ideas, partners, etc. It is what I really want to do now, but delivery gets in the way. This is not good.

I'm already using as much of my spare time as I allow myself. Not good.

Luxury problem you might say. I agree. But also the curse of being a free agent with an entrepreneurial drive. This happens once in a while. No way around it, only deal with it. And I find that just expressing the frustration is the best way for me to deal with it.

Thanks for "listening" to my gripe.

//jan

Tales from Berlin, part 1

I spent of couple of days in Berlin last week with some network collegues. It was an awesome experience in several ways. Berlin in itself is a wonderful city. A lot had happened since my list visit, 14 years ago. Lots of new amazing buildings. A vibrant creative community. The contrast between the old West and East is still there, but has faded some. On top of this, nice and warm weather. Made hanging out at cafés and bars even easier...

My friends and I gave ourselves the task to observe and explore the city. We roamed around different parts of the city. And we met people. Two meetings stand out afterwards - meeting Felcitas at Active Philanthropy and meeting Wiebke at The Hub Berlin.

More on these visits and my "take homes" from Berlin in my next post.

//jan

Alan Webber in Stockholm Sep 30

If this hot news hasn't reached you I'd like to inform you that I'm involved in setting up a cool event with Alan Webber, author of Rules of Thumb, here in Stockholm on September 30.

The occasion is that Bookhouse Publishing is releasing the Swedish translation called Tumregler. There will be a launch reception at 17.30 on Sep 30, but the big event is the leadership seminar at 15.00 - 17.30.

Just follow this link to Bookhouse's web site for more information and to reserve a space at the events.

Alan is also in Stockholm on Oct 1. Please let me know if you'd like to book him for other events on that day.

//jan

Why, oh why?

Why can't organizations be more humane?

Why are we humans unwilling to adapt to the feedback the planet is giving us?

Why do so many people accept to live without exploring their full potential?

Why is poverty so wide-spread when we have more than enough for everyone?

Why are greedy, self-centered managers allowed to be promoted?

Why is school so out of tune of the developments in the world?

Why do book publishers think so conservatively about their customers?

Why is service so bad in so many places?

Why is creativity genuinely not sought after in most organizations?

Why don't we ask why more often?

--

Asking why is a good way to find opportunity and new energy to create and change stuff.

//jan

30/9-1/10 -- Alan Webber i Stockholm

Jag är och min nätverkskollega Mikael Brander planerar med Bookhouse Publishing ett antal aktiviteter med Alan Webber 30/9 - 1/10. Hoppa in på den här sidan för mer info och intresseanmälan.

Det här kommer bli grymt bra och kul!

//jan

Two tracks getting integrated

Work after summer vacation has me on two different tracks. One is the "business as usual" track with my ongoing consulting work - designing leadership seminars, running workshops, facilitating change processes. The other track is business development, of which I have hinted a little here on the blog. This has always been part of my work strategy. I don't profit maximize consulting, instead I try to strike a balance between that kind of work and more entrepreneurial stuff. 

I've always been a somewhat reluctant consultant, and I've never really had the passion to become "the world's best consultant in area XXX". No 10,000 hours here (read Outliers).

What does drive me is developing new projects, concepts and businesses. Always small scale, always networked. I guess what makes me like these processes so much is that I get to work with smart people that CHOSE for themselves to get involved. Like I do myself. This creates a totally different dynamic, a dynamic that I have yet to experience in my client work.

My current business development "portfolio" is probably the most exciting in many many years. One super exciting leadership develpment product in the making, one awesome seminar and a small company with amazing potential that me and a couple of friends are setting up to buy. And they are all magically connected - through people and content. I would love to say more, but it'll have to wait a little.

The beauty of these three projects is that they allow me to integrate my two tracks. And the common denominator is the exploration of and practical experimentation in a new world of work and organization. Now, here I believe I've put in my 10,000 hours. I just haven't looked at it that way before.

I'm hoping this autumn marks a whole new level of work for me. Yes, yes.

//jan