Let me share with you an infographic from those smart guys over at Frugaldad.
The problem in a nutshell: patents are a 19th century solution to 21st century problems. Click to continue
tell bolder stories
By Patrick Gant
Let me share with you an infographic from those smart guys over at Frugaldad.
The problem in a nutshell: patents are a 19th century solution to 21st century problems. Click to continue
By Patrick Gant
Speaking to students at Carleton University and Algonquin College recently, I noticed how many people in my audience were fact-checking and googling the sources and writers I was recommending in my presentation, all on-the-fly.
We all do this so often now that we take it for granted. It’s a great way to build a discussion and collaborate.
It’s also the first place that people go to find out more about people. That’s not just limited to speakers and the sources that they talk about in a presentation.
The space we loosely think of as “online” is everywhere now. Online is about everyone. People learn a lot more about you now, faster than ever.
What remains in your control is your material: how you shape it, how you share it and who you want to reach with it. True, some call this content. I’m not keen on that word, because it’s become synonymous with generic, commoditized writing that, of the most part, just isn’t that good.
Go beyond content
Your material is what you use to construct your platform online. What articles have you prepared? Which books or films or albums have you reviewed and talked about online? What do you tweet about? What do you like on Facebook? How do you treat people online? What do you share? How well do you express your ideas in the places where you post—even if it’s not related to your work? All these things add up to form a impression of how people see you—and of whether they want to do business with you.
Your material builds your platform. Your platform is today’s business card, portfolio and personal bio…all-in-one.
By Patrick Gant
By Patrick Gant
Just finished reading Stewart Fraser’s Global Financial Centres report 2010 (PDF), which looks at what attracts people to locate in various international financial centres across the world.
My attention is particularly drawn to Asia, where Hong Kong and Singapore continue to cement their third- and fourth-place rankings as world financial centres (click on chart at the bottom of this article to view full sized). Not only are they credited for having rebounded faster from the recession than their counterparts in London and New York, they also get better marks (Singapore in particular) for the quality of the people they have on-hand.
Look a little deeper and you can see what’s behind that: a steadfast focus on innovation and education.
The old maxim is true: money goes where it’s most welcome, but it applies to people, too. Smart people go where they’re given the budget and resources to take great ideas and do amazing things with them.
(Chart: Global Financial Centres report 2010)
By Patrick Gant
Making the choice to innovate and be creative in your business and in the products or services you offer—it’s a smart move that can can help differentiate in a competitive market. But does it mean you have to balloon your R&D budget or go on an acquisition spree to make it happen? Not necessarily.
Apple has been rolling out game-changing products in steady succession, while keeping their R&D spending at $4.6 billion, or roughly 10% of earnings over the last four years. And as Steve Cheney points out, that’s at odds with the strategy of some of its competitors.
Example: between 2007 and 2010, Microsoft spent a whopping $31 billion—700% that of Apple—on research and development.
Real innovation starts by thinking long and hard about your customers’ problems, about how solutions to those problems are being unmet, and then finding better ways to solve those problems in ways that benefit your customers…first.
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