Rishad Tobaccowala, CEO of Denuo and chief innovation officer for Publicis, was recently quoted in the Chicago Graduate School of Business Magazine; "Three years ago in the marketing world, did anybody actually figure out that their world would be rocked by things like iTunes, Google, MySpace and YouTube?"  The article goes on to talk about the need to "shed outmoded ways of thinking - such as three year plans - to succeed in a fast-changing world".  I've always been impressed with Rishad's ways of thinking - even when I worked with him at the Leo Burnett Company.

Being comfortable with change is a popular message.  But that's only the beginning of what it takes to compete today.  It's the ability to anticipate change and to create it for ourselves that are the hallmarks of successful firms and individuals.  Strive to keep one hand managing the present and two feet dancing in the future.

As Halliburton's headquarters transfers to Dubai (and Americans say goodbye to tax revenues, no pun intended), we witness yet another step forward in the arrival of a global economy.  Let's avoid the thorny ethical implications for now and discuss the fact that this is just one more signal that Americans need to develop our international cultural savvy and education.  If the global economy is here we need to be speaking the language of 'world'.

A colleague has an interesting and effective way to inform, entertain and educate for multi-culturalism.  She has developed a board game called, 'Around the World'. 

The game is geared for 8 years old and up, but most any American could benefit.  It introduces concepts such as the World Bank, takes you on a tour of Bangkok (which is the capitol of ?), talks about religious temples in Nepal (where they practice ?).  It's a 101 course, but good for promoting cultural diversity in simple ways and opening conversation for the whole family. 

So, before you get transferred to Sao Paulo, be sure to pick up this game.  

Last week I talked about Jeff Bezo's Cha-Cha, the new search network that allows human- assited queries via a chat function.  Jason Pontin of the NYT wrote an interesting review on Cha-Cha, Jeff Bezo's latest enterprise, and other "artificial articial intelligences" or human-assisted computer programs.  Pontin was dissatisfied with the service and claims 'networks are no more intelligent than their smartest members'.

And the same week, Larry Sanger, the sometimes disputed 'creator' of Wikipedia, is now creating a competing product called Citizendium (love the name BTW).  The competitive difference here is that Citizendium will require real names and biographies of contributors.  The hope is that this screening will sort for greater expertise and draw credentialed writers who have unique intellectual capital to share and avoid inconsistencies in citations.

These two stories illustrate the great divide between how far technology has taken us and where we yet need to go.  There is still great opportunity to improve not just search, but other technologies to become more productive, intuitive and generative.  And while crowd sourcing may bring together great minds, the problems remind us that unique creative contributions still have a market and a value.  Pontin calls it by saying, 'Computers still do some things very poorly.'  It's this great divide between what is and what is possible that is and will continue to be the great playground of the human spirit.

Would someone please tell my eyes where to look first?  Big opportunity here for someone to streamline and inject some art.

Well, here is the news magazine Slate.  Slate reporters are frequently sourced by NPR. 

 Bad news here is that you have to put up with a full screen 3-5 advertising and once you open it you need a couch and glass of wine to take the time to enjoy it.

For some time now I've been trying to find an on-line news source that I like.  I read the Wall Street Journal and the Seattle paper most everyday.  But I crave more news.  And kind of like chocolate, I need a little lots of times a day.

But since CNN started posting stories like "Baby Killed in Microwave Oven", I've been shopping. So, here are some selections I've tried and I'd like your POV as well:

Here is the news site called Digg that specializes in technology news. They have expanded into all categories.  I'm not sure I care what is 'popular' and feel like I have to sort as I read. But obviously it's a good research spot. 

When anybody anywhere can submit an idea to the global marketplace for a virtual "yea" or "neh", credentials become less important that what we actually create.

This fact has big implications on how we educate our workforce.  We will require a more thoughtful mix of conceptual AND applied skills. We are seeing this need being addressed in some forward-thinking universities. WSJ cites a recent trend in colleges promoting entrepreneurship.  According to Spors, more college graduates will choose to work for themselves rather than "flock" to corporations.     

I love the story of Marc Ecko, who when he was 20, starting selling men's urban style apparel from his Rutgers University apartment. 15 years later, Ecko Enterprises wholesale sales is over $500 million a year.  This highway from college to marketplace will be shorter and faster as more folks realize it's their talent, not their degree, that creates value.

G. Pascal Zachary's NYT article Is the Key to Creativity in Your Pillbox, or in your PC? sites two potential trends in enhancing personal creativity at work.  The first is drugs.  An ancient solution but one with lots of progressive forms.  He lists caffeine, Provigil, Cephalon and others that promote mental acuity and energy. The second trend is the optimization of information technology.  Higher order search functions that process creative solutions, collective creativity enabled by Web 2.0 applications and fantasy worlds that allow us to change our mental frames. 

Call me a Girl Scout, but the only drug on the list that I've tried is caffeine. The mental benefits I get don't stack up to the inability to type for jittering hands.  I wonder what subterranean side effects lurk behind Provigil and Cephalon?  Dry mouth, nausea, frequent urination?  So, let's just deselect the drug option and move onto the PC.

I'm interested in all the ideas listed here and would like to hear from you on how you use any of these for enhanced creative performance.  For example, Leo Burnett, a unit of Publicis Groupe uses Second Life as a place to ideate and share new thinking in an "Idea Hub".  Wiki-enabled corporate innovation sites?  Any advanced applications that allow you personalize your creative connections?

One beta site I'm watching closely is Cha-Cha. It's a search function that allows you to chat with a "guide" to help you navigate the web.  I've been looking for some specific information about teaching the Japanese language and had spent about 20 minutes floundering on Google. I chatted with the Cha-Cha guide and she found 3 citations I hadn't in about 2 minutes.  Interesting that the innovation here is a combination of a new search algorithm paired with an analog human being.

Scientists believe it will be decades before we are able to replicate the creative functions of the human brain.  Some wonder if it will be possible at all.  In the interim, we probably do best to enhance our own brains by thinking differently, living differently and believing we can be more creatively powerful than a PC.

I talk to business folks almost daily who intellectually know the personal value of creativity, but find it hard to actually do it.  When they take time to get that creative rush, they feel it is time spent away from 'real' work. Expression lives in one compartment of their brain and work lives in another.

Meet a colleague of mine, Tim Spring, who gets the back and forth benefit of creativity and work.  Tim is a savvy, street-smart, successful executive and also a singer/songwriter.  Being a musician is for him the antithesis of work, but a complementary necessity.  He's been playing music on the side for years and describes the experience as 'exercising the creative side of my brain' and it spills into 'almost indescribable ways'  and augments the way he thinks at work. 

Brain research is proving the plasticity of the brain.  When we task neurons with a range of different influences, it changes and strengthens the chemical connections that fire.  It's long been believed by neuroscientists that creative expression can improve our cognitive function. Creativity turns the brain 'on'. fMRI research is now proving it.

But Tim Spring knew it all along.  Check out his latest song in collaboration with Bob Morrison and Josh Bloom.