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

Worth a new look

This is one of TED's most popular videos. I watch it once in a while. You should to. Especially if you have kids in school. And then ask yourself if you think your kids' schools are giving them the right education.

If you're up for more you can also check this clip on Dan Pink's blog.

//jan

Hur jättarna går under

"Whether you prevail or fail, endure or die, depends more on what you do to yourself than on what the world does to you." – Jim Collins i How the Mighty Fall

Den 27e november håller jag och några nätverkskollegor ett seminarium om en ny spännande bok från Bookhouse Publishing.  Boken heter på svenska Hur jättarna går under och är skriven av Jim Collins som skrev bästsäljaren Good to Great för knappt 10 år sedan.

Det är lätt att tro att boken bara är en angelägenhet för höga chefer i näringslivet. Inget kunde vara mera fel. Dels är den skriven så den är tillgänglig för alla. Dels är det så att det är vi alla - chefer och medarbetare - som bidrar till om en kultur blir framgångsrik eller går under. Och vi kan alla ha vardaglig nytta av att veta mer om vad det är som bidrar till det ena eller andra utfallet. Chefer behöver jaga medarbetare med fel beteenden - och tvärtom. Alla har en roll och ett ansvar.

Jag är också helt säker på att bokens teser är lika relevanta i alla typer av sektorer och branscher - även om studien är inriktad på företag. Det är ju ändå så att människor är människor och jag har svårt att se att vi beter oss så väldigt olika i en kommersiell eller icke-kommersiell miljö. 

Mer information om seminariet och anmälan här.

Här hittar du också några intressanta filmklipp med författaren.

//jan

Improv Everywhere - Lunch Musical

Jim Collins interviewed by Bookhouse Publishing

As part of the launch of the Swedish version of How the Mighty Fall Jim Collins agreed to be interviewed by the Swedish publisher Bookhouse Publishing. You can find the clips here. About 13 minutes in total.

If you're in Stockholm Nov 27 I'll be running a seminar on the book with my good friend Mikael Brander. More info here shortly.

//jan

Itay Talgam at TED Global - Perspectives on Leadership

I'm in awe over this presentation. What a gem!

//jan

Trains + Twitter = awesome

Yesterday I was in south Sweden and about to take the train home to Stockholm. Standing at Lund's station I checked Twitter to see what was going on. One of the first things I saw was at tweet from @johanhedberg that his train just was coming in to the same station. We actually never have met in person and this was a very freaky chance to meet him. This didn't work out though. His train arrived at one platform and mine left from another within a few minutes. Still, a virtual wave was given and I was feeling a little overwhelmed by the whole thing.

I got on my train and enjoyed a meal. Roughly an hour later I get a message from @saltakvarn. "I just got on the train to Stockholm at Alvesta, which train are you on?". Turns out we are sitting 8 rows from each other in the same car. Wow. So Johan and I have an improvised Tweet-up and had a wonderfully inspiring conversation for an hour or so. 

Just as we were rounding off to go do some work, @matspertoft showed up. He had seen Johan's tweets. And Johan knew he was probably on the same train. I've met him earlier, but were not following each other on Twitter. So, the conversation expanded and continued for a while more. I obviously started to follow Mats and he now follows me. Also sent Mats the cool TED-video with Ken Robinson about creativity in school. Mats is the spokesperson for the Green Party in school issues and it turned out he had never seen Sir Ken.

So, as far as Twitter and train experiences goes this one was out there. A true intersection of people, ideas and events.

//jan

Three days with Alan

Last week was a bit surreal. Alan Webber was in Stockholm for three days to launch his book Rules of Thumb in Swedish. (Read more about Tumregler here.) In the course of his visit he did 7 interviews, 5 meetings, one leadership seminar, one guest lecture at Berghs and three dinners. And before his visit he produced 2 columns for online media.

Bookhouse has collected some of the media coverage here (check the right column).

It was a great three days for me also. Hanging out with Alan is very easy end inspiring. He is wise and very generous with his time and thinking. Also he is genuinely curious! 

Extra thanks to Alf Rehn for making a great contribution as moderator for the leadership seminar. Just perfect.

//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