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blog http://competia.com/thoughts-archive/ Picking up weak signals in the new digital age: HR challenges http://competia.com/picking-up-weak-signals-in-the-new-digital-age-hr-challenges/ In 1996, Ralph Stacey said “ At least 90% of textbooks on strategic management are devoted to that part of the management task which is relatively easy: the running of the organizational machine in as surprise-free a way as possible. On the contrary, the real management task is that of handling the exceptions, coping with and even using unpredicability, clashing counter-cultures. The task has to do with instability, irregularity, difference and disorder.” ( Strategic Management &amp; Organizational Dynamics). I have taught now for over 15 years to managers and senior executives, and have found little evidence in business school of training that focuses on that skill. How can one help and train corporate executives to cope with unpredictability?
One of the crucial stepping stone into making sense of the world’s unpredictability is the ability for managers and executives to be able to pick weak signals early and to know how to act.Weak signals are particularly tough to deal with. It is crucial for the credibility of a weak signal that it comes from acknowledged experts – yet most will be spotted first by those on the fringe. Hence the challenge for Human resource professionals and in particular for those involved in talent management and acquisition is twofold: first, to be able to spot and hire those professionals who will have a keen eye for those weak signals, and second, to train the organization and ensure processes exist to interpret those weak signals.
<img class="left" src="http://competia.com/assets/Uploads/_resampled/resizedimage555266-Signals4.jpg" width="555" height="266" alt="" title=""/>
This article was published in May 2013 in the Journal of <a title="NHRD" href="http://www.nationalhrd.org/" target="_blank">National Human Resource Development</a> in India. Established over 25 years ago, NHRD is autonomous, not-for-profit professionally managed organization, playing a catalyst role in grooming Leaders for Tomorrow. It has 12,500 members representing, Multinationals, Public &amp; Private organizations including Government, MSME &amp; NGOs spread across 30 chapters in India and serves as a reference point for HR Professionals in Indian Industry.
 
<h3>Four sources of information to pick-up weak signals</h3>
My definition of weak signals is quite simple: “Weak Signals are events or issues with ambiguous, possible multiple interpretations of their origin, meaning and/or implications that can have a major impact on the future”.
The key to weak signals spotting is the ability to find the outsiders who can look at your industry, company, or socio-demographic trends with a different eye. I am hopeful that with the explosion of social media, it has never been easier to tap into new pools of expertise, be part of new communities, or attend conferences without been there physically.
You will find below my pick of the four reliable sources of information 7 inspiration to spot weak signals:
 
<h4>1- Listen to the fringe by attending unusual and eclectic events</h4>
One of my favourite examples is the Burning Man festival. Situated at the heart of the Black Rock desert, this festival does not have any program, speaker or official sponsor. Yet each year, about 100,000 people gather for a week, creating a gigantic melting pot where imagination and creativity blossom and where future trends emerge ( see a video <a title="Burning Man" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1USEj8XV0Lc&amp;list=PL45314DC680515E45" target="_blank">here</a><a title="Burning Man" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1USEj8XV0Lc&amp;list=PL45314DC680515E45" target="_blank"> )</a>
Few can afford to take a week and spend it in the American desert. Thanks to the ability to mine social media for insight, I have used a simple cloud builder (<a title="Wordle" href="http://www.wordle.net" target="_blank">www.wordle.net</a> ) to summarize the keywords generally attached to the Burning man conversation: weak signals can be found in the “fine prints”.
 
<img class="left" src="http://competia.com/assets/Uploads/_resampled/resizedimage600394-Signals3.jpg" width="600" height="394" alt="" title=""/>
 
This analysis highlights some interesting signals: for example the words Northern, precursor of the current issues developing with the opening of the northern sea routes, or with the inclusion of aboriginal communities. This might feel for many companies irrelevant. Yet, this will have a lasting impact on global trade (the opening of new sea routes), shift of political power ( to Russia, Canada or Finland), price of commodities (oil...), etc. Another keyword of “free”, in relation to new business models ( so called “freemium”) which are emerging where products might be “free” but components or services expenses (think about the car sharing schemes in major cities )
 
<h4>2- Take part of these four vibrant, innovative communities</h4>
 
Communities are blossoming on social media allowing fringe experts and listeners. They offer a unique opportunity to link-up with people you’d met naturally meet. Here are a few I recommend:
<ul><li>On Twitter , a list of futurists: <a href="https://twitter.com/Competia/trend-spotting">https://twitter.com/Competia/trend-spotting</a> or <a href="https://twitter.com/rossdawson/futurists">https://twitter.com/rossdawson/futurists</a> or <a href="https://twitter.com/justindlong/futurists">https://twitter.com/justindlong/futurists</a> or <a href="https://twitter.com/LSchlehuber/futurists">https://twitter.com/LSchlehuber/futurists</a> .</li>
<li>On Google+ a series of communities: <a href="https://plus.google.com/u/0/communities/105160702685304637800">Futurism</a> , <a href="https://plus.google.com/u/0/communities/109592817409491770630">Alternative Futures</a> , <a href="https://plus.google.com/u/0/communities/110882312729920740066">Science Fiction Prototyping &amp; Creative Foresight</a> .</li>
<li>On LinkedIn, discussion groups: <a href="http://www.linkedin.com/groups?home=&amp;gid=2329237&amp;trk=anet_ug_hm">SESTI - Weak Signal Scanning</a> , <a href="http://www.linkedin.com/groups?home=&amp;gid=67379&amp;trk=anet_ug_hm">The Futurist Group</a> , HorizonWatching <a href="http://www.linkedin.com/groups?gid=1817327&amp;trk=group-name">http://www.linkedin.com/groups?gid=1817327&amp;trk=group-name</a> .</li>
<li>On the web, a glossary of <a title="Technovelgy" href="http://www.technovelgy.com/ct/ctnlistalpha.asppha.asp" target="_blank">Science Fiction Ideas, Technology and Inventions</a> , or Explore the inventions, technology and ideas of science fiction writers at <a title="Technovelgy" href="http://www.technovelgy.com/ct/ctnlistalpha.asp">Technovelgy</a> </li>
</ul> 
<h4>3- Visualize by leveraging new social technologies such as Pinterest</h4>
 <a title="Pinterest" href="http://www.pinterest.com" target="_blank">Pinterest</a> started as a digital scrapbooking tool. Members could “pin” images that touch them on a personal level and share them with a larger community. Lately, it has been used by professionals to also share insights about trends in a wide range of industries. Because the ideas are shared globally, and take the form of images, this is the ideal tool to take the pulse of what is touching the heart and imagination of the population worldwide.
 I like to use Pinterest as a way to spot weak signals. As an example, the following images have been shared in the “education” category as I write this article. I can see many weak signals emerging from this one page only. The people who pinned those images are typically not HR experts or professionals, and therefore tend to offer a new vision of what education is- or might become.
 
<img class="left" src="http://competia.com/assets/Uploads/_resampled/resizedimage600312-Signals1.jpg" width="600" height="312" alt="" title=""/>
<h4>4- Get out of your zone of comfort by reading differently</h4>
To help you to get out of your zone of comfort, I suggest that you buy a magazine you have never read before every time you are passing by the newspaper and magazine stand in a train station or an airport. By picking up an antiques, a teenager, a kit-surfing magazine and reading it cover to cover, new ideas will without doubt emerge. I have done this exercise countless times with the participants in my leadership programs around the globe, and have witnessed many “aha” moments, such as:
- An operation manager in a garbage removal company who realized how dashboards can help him get closer to his clients ( he was reading a pilot magazine)
- A chief financial officer understood why shipping wedding dresses on time and building “personal social capital” can help his B2B department as well ( he was reading a women fashion magazine)
 
<h3>Two challenges to overcome to be able to spot weak signals</h3>
 
<h4>First challenge: swim upstream</h4>
Most companies I know rely on secondary (published) data to understand their market and the future trends. They scan the media and clip relevant press releases and newspaper articles, subscribe to expensive databases to get a collection of data, buy market research reports, and listen to experts in international conferences. Those sources are typically the last ones I’d recommend to identify weak signals, as the graph below shows.
As an example, these are some of the subjects currently discussed in the media today: 3D printing, Cyborgs, Genetic engineering, Embryonic stem cell research, Robotics, mobile. These subjects are all already well documented emerging trends.
On the other hand, science-fiction authors are discussing today Artificial General Intelligence (greater-than-human), Neuro/Brain simulation and enhancement, post scarcity society, DIY science, existential technology risks, radical life-extension/”immortality” and technology singularity.
The implications for the HR professional: When you recruit a new strategy analyst, do you ask if they have an MBA or the type of books they are reading? When you analyze and map their LinkedIn network. Do you find mostly school friends, colleagues, or do they connect also wit people outside of their sphere of interest? Do you try to attract those reading science-fiction?
 
<h1/>
<h1/>
<h4>Second challenge: interpret the data</h4>
The key of the process lies in the interpretation of the signal.
<ul><li>What does it mean for my company?</li>
<li>What is the likely impact?</li>
<li>How strong a signal does it have to become to start acting on it?</li>
</ul>In a company, this “”making sense” phase can take many shapes. Some use a full fledge scenario planning exercise; others play “red teams” an exercise use during the war by the British army to review strategic plans and ensure no blindspot has developed.
When internal resources are not available, one can always rely on external consultants and their work. For example, the following WI-WE database has taken the first step into spotting potential weak signals, but also interpreting what they mean:
<img class="left" src="http://competia.com/assets/Uploads/_resampled/resizedimage548600-Signals2.jpg" width="548" height="600" alt="" title=""/>
 
<h3>Six practical tips on how to build the ability to spot weak signals in your organization</h3>
 
Tip1: Create a“”Crows Nest”: this term was developed by IBM as a reference to the crows nest situated on top of sailing ships. It is designed to be able to spot upcoming danger or weather changes. This is a good image to the process companies need to implement to scan the horizon beyond the next quarter, and have a team who will have credibility within the organization to challenge common wisdom.This “crows nest” concept has given birth in the social media age to “command centers” such as the acceleration Team at Nestle: a room dedicated to spotting signals on social media.
Tip2: Hire those with imagination: Talent development and acquisition professionals should therefore aim to identify who in the young talent they are hiring have imagination. Maybe a piece of creative writing should be part of the interview? Some companies provide candidates with a few random concepts (bionic man: apple: teacher), and ask them to write a short story, or create an impromptu improvised theatre piece.
Tip3: Open social networks to let ideas flow, and allow your employees to develop networks outside of their sphere of comfort: if your company is still today restricting access to social networks during work hours, change this policy. Those tools are as essential to the personal development of your employees as using a computer or a phone is.
Tip4: Train to develop networks: very few executives have been trained in the art – and sometimes science- of developing a network. Training should be planned, but companies could also incorporate the notion of network into the performance evaluation (with a focus on internal as well as external networks). Tip5: Create time to be creative: we all have heard of Google employees dedicating 20% of their work time to work on “ pet” projects. You need as talent management professional to ensure there is time and space for employees to flex their creativity. This can take the form of meetings without PowerPoint slides (triggering discussions rather than passive listening”), or applying reverse meeting techniques (like in an MBA class, reading the documents and the case in advance, and using meeting time for questions and discussions). Tip6: Recruit from outside: companies need to include in their workforce employees who can bring new fresh perspectives to the business. While industry knowledge is important, candidates from adjacent or even drastically different industries can bring a wealth of new ideas to a business. One of my clients in the transportation industry is hiring professionals from the customer good or the banking industry. They bring a new view on how customer relationships could be develop and how to use data analytics.
<ul> 
 
</ul><h3>Conclusions</h3>
 
Spotting weak signals requires companies to set-up the processes to spot the signals, and invest time to interpret them. The new social media tools and technologies offer an essential and unparalleled window to spot those weak signals. But above all, success depends on the ability of those companies the ability to recruit and retain those managers and senior executives who have an inquisitive mind, a wild imagination and an insatiable curiosity.
<ul> 
 
 
</ul> Tue, 11 Jun 2013 17:00:00 -0700 http://competia.com/picking-up-weak-signals-in-the-new-digital-age-hr-challenges/ Who is the most influential corporate governance tweeter in 2013 ? http://competia.com/who-is-the-most-influential-corporate-governance-tweeter-in-2013/ For the third year, this article summarizes the results of the ranking of the most influential experts on Twitter debating corporate governance issues and trends. There are quite a few new faces this year in the TOP 25, an illustration of the dynamism of this community.
 
<h3>The methodology</h3>
My list of the corporate governance experts on Twitter keeps growing (<a href="https://twitter.com/Competia/governance" target="_blank"> see here</a>). This year, I have added to that list a number of internal auditing experts as the supervisory role of boards is strenghtening, especially in the United States. As last year, some CSR experts have been included in the list: I have included them when they are specifically addressing issues of corporate governance and CSR as is the case with Fabian Pattberg ( @<a href="http://twitter.com/fabianpattberg" target="_blank">fabianpattberg</a> ). Finally, since diversity dominated many of the discussions this year, you will find a few diversity experts who have been quite influential in shaping the debate about quotas for instance.
I have included this year again both <a href="http://www.peerindex.com" target="_blank">Peerindex</a> and <a href="http://www.klout.com" target="_blank">Klout</a> rankings to score those experts. In my mind, both tools are useful, even if often incomplete. I have however decided to use Peerindex as the primary basis for the ranking: I still find this tool a better judge of real influence and less prone to manipulation. I have finally added in the last column the <a href="http://www.klout.com/">Klout</a> to score each of these tweeters if you are interested - you'll see, like last year, there are few inconsistencies. You can access the full list of 400+ experts and their ranking <a href="http://groups.peerindex.com/competia/corporate-governance-corpov" target="_blank">on Peerindex here</a> ( and you can in the meanwhile send a note to Azeem at Peerindex to keep the lists running by clicking on his profile on Twitter <a href="http://twitter.com/azeem" target="_blank">@azeem </a>).
I believe influence is very much a personal factor, and not an institutional one. I therefore only have kept in the ranking Twitter accounts representing an individual. When the Twitter accounts belong to an institution,they have been included when I can pinpoint the individual behind the tweets - and when that expert gets involved personally ( one completely non scientific measure been that they would answer my requests for clarification...).
This is why you will find in this ranking the excellent @<a href="http://twitter.com/rockcenter4corpgov" target="_blank">rockcenter4corpgov</a> but not Harvard's Law School Corp Gov program ( <a href="http://twitter.com/harvardcorpgov" target="_blank">@harvardcorpgov</a> ), CCI Compliance ( <a href="http://twitter.com/cci_compliance" target="_blank">@cci_compliance</a> ) which would have ranked 72, SEC Law ( <a href="http://twitter.com/seclaw" target="_blank">@seclaw</a> ) which would have ranked 72 or <a href="http://twitter.com/calpers" target="_blank">@calpers</a> from the California Public Employees Retirement System who would have ranked #9 . The <a href="http://twitter.com/Nacd" target="_blank">@nacd</a> account for the North American Association for Corporate Directors is making its appearance also in the person of Henry Stoebel <a href="http://twitter.com/henrystoever" target="_blank">@henrystoever</a> . 
I finally excluded those who cover a much larger range of issues than just corporate governance ( less than 5% of tweets devoted to corporate governance): for instance Nouriel Roubini ( <a href="http://twitter.com/Nouriel" target="_blank">@nouriel</a> ) who would have ranked 84 in Peerindex. Their influence gets clouded by their public work and comments. 
 
<h3>So who are the most influential corporate governance tweeters ?</h3>
<img class="left" src="http://competia.com/assets/images/_resampled/resizedimage600275-Top10.jpg" width="600" height="275" alt="" title=""/>
Here are the TOP five influencers on this topic according to Klout: 
#1: Lucy Marcus ( <a href="http://twitter.com/lucymarcus" target="_blank">@lucymarcus</a> ) comes in first position - based in the United Kingdom, she is a keen governance commentator ( and a journalist with Reuters) and academic. Her influence is partly due to the fact she is covering some larger topic on global governance and politics .
#2: Estelle Metayer (My account <a href="http://twitter.com/competia">@competia </a>) - thank you for the great discussions this year
#3: Kimberly Kerr ( <a href="http://www.twitter.com/sitatthetable" target="_blank">@sitatthetable</a> ): based in Canada, Kimberly is a champion of the issue of diversity in the boardroom.
#4: Fabian Pattberg ( <a href="http://www.twitter.com/fabianpattberg" target="_blank">@fabianpattberg</a> ): based in Germany, Fabian blogs about topics of sustainability, often linking it to the role of boards. He is often an observer of practices in corporate America.
#5: Michelle Gutman ( <a href="http://www.twitter.com/stanfordcorpgov" target="_blank">@stanfordcorpgov</a> ): Michelle, the associate director of Research Programs at the Rock Center for Corporate Governance at Stanford is on top of the research done in the world of corporate governance.
 
Congratulations are in order...
 
Here are a sample of their last tweets about Corporate Governance as I am writing this short article:
Lucy Marcus:
<blockquote>
Accounting scandal deepens at Spanish fishing firm Pescanova @Reuters http://reut.rs/15fSd5l #corpgov #spain
</blockquote>
Competia:
<blockquote>
Reading: via <a dir="ltr" href="https://twitter.com/ToGovern">@togovern</a>: Insert a "sunset clause" in the charter of all new committees, teams, and projects <a title="http://bit.ly/11Vz7gU" rel="nofollow" dir="ltr" href="http://t.co/Ir0KW0ZLRZ" target="_blank">http://bit.ly/11Vz7gU </a> <a dir="ltr" href="https://twitter.com/search?q=%23CorpGov&amp;src=hash">#CorpGov</a>
</blockquote>
Sit at the Table:
<blockquote>
 MT <a dir="ltr" href="https://twitter.com/CareerTransit">@CareerTransit</a>: How to Chair a Board effectively - Oxford 16 April... <a title="http://bit.ly/15BbRsX" rel="nofollow" dir="ltr" href="http://t.co/6yVC1uMlTt" target="_blank">http://bit.ly/15BbRsX </a> <a dir="ltr" href="https://twitter.com/search?q=%23BoardofDirectors&amp;src=hash">#BoardofDirectors</a> <a dir="ltr" href="https://twitter.com/search?q=%23corpgov&amp;src=hash">#corpgov</a>
</blockquote>
Fabian Pattberg:
<blockquote>
"Companies: what is your unique contribution to a sustainable future?" <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/sustainable-business/blog/companies-unique-contribution-sustainable-future" target="_blank">http://www.guardian.co.uk...</a>
</blockquote>
Stanford Gov:
<blockquote>
David F. Larcker and Brian Tayan examine the debate over whether to combine or separate the chairman and CEO roles. <a title="http://stnfd.biz/kdV02" rel="nofollow" dir="ltr" href="http://t.co/8rFQ2zafZO" target="_blank">http://stnfd.biz/kdV02</a>
</blockquote>
 
 
An overview of the corporate governance community on Twitter
I analyzed the profile of those who are using the #corpgov hashtag on Twitter, signalling their topic. Here are some findings from<a href="http://competia.com/www.tweetscharts.com" target="_blank"> Tweetcharts.com</a> from the last month. You will notice in the "most mentioned Users" column a number of institutions sur as @<a href="http://www.twitter.com/theBoard_co" target="_blank">theBoard_co</a> or @<a href="http://www.twitter.com/directorship" target="_blank">directorship</a> as well as the other hastags which will help you find the relevant discussions in the left column: #CEO #boardroom #csr.
<img class="left" src="http://competia.com/assets/images/_resampled/resizedimage600509-Overview2013.jpg" width="600" height="509" alt="" title=""/>
 
I also find interesting the analysis from<a href="http://twittermap.appspot.com/" target="_blank">Twittermap</a>, which outlines where those using the hastag #corpgov are coming from.
 
<h3>Activity in Twitter takes off on other platforms too</h3>
When <a href="http://www.flipboard.com">Flipboard </a>launched its new version allowing for individuals to create their own magazines, it provided a beautiful outlet for the best corporate governance related tweeps. I have created the ezine "In the Boardroom". I am happy to see it has now been featured in Flipboard's list of the top 6 recommanded magazines to read in business, providing a great visibility for those experts from our community - and highlighting how central the corporate governance discussion is becoming.
<img class="left" src="http://competia.com/assets/images/_resampled/resizedimage600450-Flipboard.PNG" width="600" height="450" alt="" title=""/>
 
<h3>The top 25 tweeters on Corporate Governance</h3>
 
This list is by no means exhaustive, so if I have forgotten you , or anyone you would recommand, feel free to add their name and content in the comments below. Please also note that the ranking and number of followers varies from day to day, so numbers and klout score might be slightly different if you check I have done my homework...
 
<table style="width: 40px; height: 471px;" border="0" align="left"><tbody><tr><td>Ranking__ </td>
<td>Person behind the tweets </td>
<td>Twitter Handle </td>
<td valign="top"> </td>
<td>Peerindex score </td>
<td>Klout score </td>
<td>Number of followers </td>
</tr><tr><td>1</td>
<td>Lucy Marcus</td>
<td><a href="http://twitter.com/lucymarcus" target="_blank"> @lucymarcus </a></td>
<td valign="top"/>
<td>78</td>
<td>78</td>
<td>16,541</td>
</tr><tr><td>2</td>
<td>Estelle Métayer</td>
<td><a href="http://twitter.com/competia" target="_blank"> @competia </a></td>
<td valign="top"/>
<td>75</td>
<td>68</td>
<td>8,786</td>
</tr><tr><td>3</td>
<td>Kimberly Kerr</td>
<td><a href="http://twitter.com/sitatthetable" target="_blank">@sitatthetable</a></td>
<td valign="top"/>
<td>71</td>
<td>59</td>
<td>8,638</td>
</tr><tr><td>4</td>
<td>Fabian Pattberg</td>
<td><a href="http://twitter.com/fabianpattberg" target="_blank">@fabianpattberg </a></td>
<td valign="top"/>
<td>69</td>
<td>59</td>
<td>9,266</td>
</tr><tr><td>5</td>
<td>Michelle Gutman</td>
<td><a href="http://twitter.com/stanfordcorpgov" target="_blank">@stanfordcorpgov</a></td>
<td valign="top"/>
<td>69</td>
<td>54</td>
<td>3,389</td>
</tr><tr><td>6</td>
<td>Leon Kaye</td>
<td><a href="http://twitter.com/leonkaye" target="_blank">@leonkaye </a></td>
<td valign="top"/>
<td>69</td>
<td>63</td>
<td>4,531</td>
</tr><tr><td>7</td>
<td>Francine McKenna</td>
<td><a href="http://twitter.com/retheauditors" target="_blank"> @retheauditors </a></td>
<td valign="top"/>
<td>68</td>
<td>55</td>
<td>11,274</td>
</tr><tr><td>8</td>
<td>Adam Quinton</td>
<td><a href="http://twitter.com/adamquinton" target="_blank">@adamquinton </a></td>
<td valign="top"/>
<td>66</td>
<td>63</td>
<td>1,247</td>
</tr><tr><td>9</td>
<td>Frank Aquila</td>
<td><a href="http://twitter.com/faquila" target="_blank"> @faquila </a></td>
<td valign="top"/>
<td>66</td>
<td>53</td>
<td>3,293</td>
</tr><tr><td>10</td>
<td>Fay Feeney</td>
<td><a href="http://twitter.com/fayfeeney" target="_blank"> @fayfeeney </a></td>
<td valign="top"/>
<td>65</td>
<td>62</td>
<td>6,314</td>
</tr><tr><td>11</td>
<td>Alice Korngold</td>
<td><a href="http://twitter.com/alicekorngold" target="_blank"> @alicekorngold </a></td>
<td valign="top"/>
<td>65</td>
<td>61</td>
<td>4,505</td>
</tr><tr><td>12</td>
<td>Debra Beck</td>
<td><a href="http://twitter.com/npmaven" target="_blank"> @npmaven </a></td>
<td valign="top"/>
<td>65</td>
<td>55</td>
<td>3,566</td>
</tr><tr><td>13</td>
<td>Jayne Juvan</td>
<td><a href="http://twitter.com/jaynejuvan" target="_blank"> @jaynejuvan </a></td>
<td valign="top"/>
<td>64</td>
<td>62</td>
<td>2,177</td>
</tr><tr><td>14</td>
<td>Scott Mitchell</td>
<td><a href="http://twitter.com/mitchell360" target="_blank"> @mitchell360 </a></td>
<td valign="top"/>
<td>64</td>
<td>54</td>
<td>4,050</td>
</tr><tr><td>15</td>
<td>Norman Marks</td>
<td><a href="http://twitter.com/normanmarks" target="_blank"> @normanmarks </a></td>
<td valign="top"/>
<td>63</td>
<td>60</td>
<td>3,031</td>
</tr><tr><td>16</td>
<td>Mark Silver</td>
<td><a href="http://twitter.com/marksilver" target="_blank"> @marksilver </a></td>
<td valign="top"/>
<td>63</td>
<td>48</td>
<td>3,591</td>
</tr><tr><td>17</td>
<td>Celesa Horvath</td>
<td><a href="http://twitter.com/celesahorvath" target="_blank"> @celesahorvath </a></td>
<td valign="top"/>
<td>63</td>
<td>53</td>
<td>2,885</td>
</tr><tr><td>18</td>
<td>Jim Brashear</td>
<td><a href="http://twitter.com/jfbrashear" target="_blank"> @jfbrashear </a></td>
<td valign="top"/>
<td>63</td>
<td>52</td>
<td>1,127</td>
</tr><tr><td>19</td>
<td>Douglas Y. Park</td>
<td><a href="http://twitter.com/dougypark" target="_blank"> @dougypark </a></td>
<td valign="top"/>
<td>63</td>
<td>58</td>
<td>2,075</td>
</tr><tr><td>20</td>
<td>Oscar Jofre</td>
<td><a href="http://twitter.com/oscarjofre" target="_blank"> @oscarjofre </a></td>
<td valign="top"/>
<td>62</td>
<td>53</td>
<td>3,396</td>
</tr><tr><td>21</td>
<td>Rob Berick </td>
<td><a href="http://twitter.com/robberick" target="_blank"> @robberick </a></td>
<td valign="top"/>
<td>62</td>
<td>52</td>
<td>1,299</td>
</tr><tr><td>22</td>
<td>Sheila Ronning</td>
<td><a href="http://twitter.com/ronningsheila" target="_blank"> @ronningsheila </a></td>
<td> </td>
<td>61</td>
<td>45</td>
<td>1,224</td>
</tr><tr><td>23</td>
<td>Kelly Hoey</td>
<td><a href="http://twitter.com/jkhoey" target="_blank"> @jkhoey </a></td>
<td> </td>
<td>61</td>
<td>60</td>
<td>3,991</td>
</tr><tr><td>24</td>
<td>Pauline d'Amboise</td>
<td><a href="http://twitter.com/pdamboise" target="_blank"> @pdamboise </a></td>
<td> </td>
<td>61</td>
<td>46</td>
<td>912</td>
</tr><tr><td>25</td>
<td>Richard Leblanc</td>
<td><a href="http://twitter.com/drrleblanc" target="_blank">@drrleblanc</a></td>
<td> </td>
<td>60</td>
<td>51</td>
<td>1,414</td>
</tr><tr><td> </td>
<td> </td>
<td> </td>
<td> </td>
<td> </td>
<td> </td>
<td> </td>
</tr><tr><td> </td>
<td> </td>
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</tr></tbody></table> Tue, 23 Apr 2013 11:00:00 -0700 http://competia.com/who-is-the-most-influential-corporate-governance-tweeter-in-2013/ Is Your Board Suffering from Blindspots? http://competia.com/is-your-board-suffering-from-blindspots/ One of the most difficult habits to develop in learning to drive a car is to beware of blindspots – that area along the periphery of the car where we cannot see what’s happening. Despite the rear-view and side mirrors, there remains an annoying small area where passing vehicles or pedestrians cannot be seen. If you neglect your blindspots when changing lanes or turning, you put yourself and your car in jeopardy. Blindspots are an apt metaphor for many kinds of errors and misjudgments that boards of directors can make—mistakes that can be costly to their company. No matter how experienced, intelligent or well-educated directors might be, blindspots can create costly errors in oversight and decision-making.
As industries become increasingly complex and global competition mounts, it is more critical than ever that boards know how to steer their company well. Shareholders and the executive team count on boards to be vigilant, perceptive, and proactive in keeping mistakes at bay. So it is incumbent on board members to accept their responsibilities for identifying potential blindspots, and taking steps to avoid them.
This article will help you understand the nature of blindspots, why boards miss them, and what can be done to avoid them. As you read through this analysis, if you find yourself denying that you are susceptible to blindspots, take this as a warning sign that you are already suffering from one. That you haven't been caught out by a blindspot before is no assurance that it won't occur in future.
 This article was published by Estelle Metayer in March 2013 in the Director Journal, a publication by the Institute of Canadian Directors <a href="http://www.icd.ca" target="_blank">www.icd.ca</a>
<img class="left" src="http://competia.com/assets/Uploads/_resampled/resizedimage580335-blindspots-side-view-mirror.jpg" width="580" height="335" alt="" title=""/>
<h3>The Three Biases behind Blindspots </h3>
I have been studying board blindspots for several years, interviewing scores of board members and executives. My research has led me to examine many instances of corporate failures. The first insight I have gleaned is that blindspots are almost always the result of human shortcomings. Even the most successful executives are subject to lapses of judgement and biases in their thinking at some time in their board careers.
In my research, I’ve identified three broad “sources” of blindspots:
<ul><li>Competitive biases – Failures in judgment related to a company’s assessment of its competitors and their capabilities. </li>
<li>Historic biases – Failures in judgment related to the way the brain processes information that causes people to “anchor” their perceptions and analysis in historical data and experiences rather than on input from the present. </li>
<li>Cognitive biases – Failures in judgment related to erroneous assumptions and thinking that result in flawed decision-making. </li>
</ul>Each of these biases can impact a board’s oversight in two ways. First, boards can end up overlooking risks, be they financial, operational, or reputational. Secondly, blindspots can prevent boards from recognizing new opportunities, such as failing to spot a new trend or identify a counterintuitive market segment.
Let’s look at each type of bias in detail, along with examples illustrating the potentially catastrophic results of overlooked risks and missed opportunities.
<h3/>
<h3>Competitive Biases </h3>
Strong boards and executive teams must be skilled at maximizing the company’s competitive advantages, while keeping a keen eye on competitive threats. In today’s fast-paced global business world, competitors can leap ahead with a single technological improvement, price advantage, or even a viral ad campaign. Unknown competitors can spring up from nowhere. And as many executives know, one of the most difficult business challenges is recovering market share lost to a rival or an upstart. In this regard, boards must be watchful of three common competitive biases.
 
Believing executive evaluations of the competitors' competence 
Executive teams are often overly demeaning about their company’s competitive strengths. When they present to the board, directors may find it hard to resist their enthusiasm and often-misguided perceptions of where their company stands. Indeed, it seems that 80% of annual reports claim that the company is “the leader in the market.” But board members cannot be blind to executives who overestimate their firms’ strengths or underestimate their competitors. Nor can boards succumb to executive assumptions that mediocre competitors will always stay at the same low level of competence.
 
Failing to identify emerging competitors 
This bias relates to missing newly emerging companies at the periphery of one’s field of vision. It causes executives, and subsequently boards, to underestimate or completely overlook startups and “skunkworks” that could sidestep a company’s established dominance by using technologies that are faster, cheaper, or better. Such blindspots often emerge when new competitors are private companies, because there is so little information available about them.
 
Misjudging the industry’s boundaries 
This bias occurs when companies maintain a narrowly rigid view of their industry and fail to see how it’s changing, or how they themselves could implement profitable changes. For example, Nestle saw itself for decades as one of the world’s leading food companies, but this label amounted to a self-imposed restriction. When Nestle’s CEO redefined the company as being in the “wellness” business, it launched a brilliant strategic extension that opened up new lines of products and services for the company. In June 2012, Nestle opened the Nestle Institute of Health Sciences ( NIHS) aimed to provide scientific backup to new targeted nutritional medical products. In January this year, it announced a partnership with SAP to develop personalized medicine companies.
<blockquote>
Case Study 1: Missing a Risk by Underestimating Competitors 
Montreal-based <a href="http://www.cae.com" target="_blank">CAE</a> is a leading manufacturer of flight simulators for training pilots. At one point, CAE sold eight out of 10 simulators bought by the major airlines. CAE’s only major competitor was the French company Thomson (now part of Thales in the U.K.). With a dominant leadership position, however, CAE had little room to grow.
Arising in the U.S., meanwhile, was the under the radarFlightSafety International, which built its own simulators and operated training centres for pilots of smaller airlines that could not afford to purchase CAE $20-million simulators. In 1996, FlightSafety was acquired by prominent investor Warren Buffett in a joint venture with Boeing, which had been a major CAE client. Suddenly, CAE had an upstart competitor emerging out of nowhere—and redefining the industry not in terms of simulator units sold, but in terms of training hours leased out. As CAE lost sales to FlightSafety, it became clear that CAE’s executives and board had completely overlooked this competitive risk.
FlightSafety’s success forced CAE to shift its business model from selling flight simulator units to selling training hours. When it finally did so, CAE grew twofold, discovering that training brings in a steady supply of pilots who need to maintain their licenses and certifications. Ironically, CAE’s Competitive Intelligence team had advocated this shift in strategy for years – only to be blocked by the board, which wanted the company to maintain its “core business” of software engineering. Had the board recognized the need for this transition sooner, CAE might have been the one acquiring FlightSafety.
<img class="left" src="http://competia.com/assets/Uploads/_resampled/resizedimage540174-CAE-services.jpg" width="540" height="174" alt="" title=""/>
</blockquote>
 
<blockquote>
Case 2: Losing a strategic opportunity by misjudging industry boundaries 
This case study derives from work I did with a rail company, that defined its business solely as “the passenger transportation business.” Under this definition, the company narrowly perceived its mission as being in the business of transporting people from one location to another.
The company was missing out on the opportunity to expand the meaning of transportation services. Rather than being “just” a passenger-train company, it might have recognized that it was sitting on a goldmine— a captive audience of people locked up in a railway car for hours at a time. Reinterpreting the transportation industry in this way unlocks markets for new services such as entertainment; training taught by business schools; spa, massage, and health services; manicures and beauty salons; language learning; and many other activities busy professionals might gladly pay for during the downtime of traveling. Unfortunately, the company never followed-though with those creative ideas, as management locked-up into an existing mindset and never unleashed the potential. Other players in Europe has long since caught the idea: <a href="http://www.idtgv.com/en/" target="_blank">ID TGV</a> in France offers free concerts on its trains, and has dedicated space in its trains for “Zen cars” to allow other passengers to travel in peace. Swiss companies offer English classes aboard the trains – or even allow conferences taking place in the country to start the registration process and the event aboard their trains. 
</blockquote>
 
 
<h3>Historic Biases </h3>
Most companies have solid and impressive histories. Executives and board members can have lengthy résumés and enviable track records. The problem is, strong histories often blind people to changing trends or new realities. Top executives, board directors and the people around them can be so attached to their own mental processes that they fail to notice the flaws in their judgment and decision making in a changing world.
Psychologists call these “anchoring biases.” A mental anchor grounds us so we can think clearly and quickly. History acts as just such an anchor, providing a frame of reference through which we interpret the world and make decisions. Without flexibility in our mental processes, strong anchors can prevent us from sensing something new or learning and growing in our thinking. One of the profession that has studied decision making biases is the airline industry. In particular, research has catalogued the following historic biases:
 
<ul><li>Expectations based on past experience: Pilots must compare the information they get with what they have learned from past experiences.. For example, a pilot may compare the image of the runway he is about to land on with mental images of other runways he knows well. But if the present runway is narrower or larger than what he is used to, he can make a mistake that results in an inaccurate estimate of the plane’s flight path to the ground.</li>
<li>Expectations based on habits: If a pilot receives a tower instruction to go to “Parking Area Golf,” but is accustomed to parking her plane at “Parking Area Alpha,” mere habit may cause the pilot to go to the wrong space. This expectation explains why so many executives keep repeating the same patterns or decisions, even when their environment is clearly shifting,</li>
<li>Expectations based on anticipation: As pilots steer planes along the runway on the way to a flight, they must wait until the tower tells them they are good to move “into takeoff position.” But a pilot can already have that expectation in his mind and believe he heard the tower confirm that he is “cleared for takeoff,” and so proceed to the takeoff runway ahead of the real authorization. This type of over-anticipation has resulted in numerous accidents, including the disaster in Tenerife when a Boeing 747 taking off crashed into another 747 on the runway. Similarly, I have observed CEOs who, after having presented a strategic plan to only a lukewarm reception from the board, took the directors’ quiet reserve for a green light to take off.</li>
</ul> 
Like pilots, board directors can incur blindspots when they act from the same types of historic biases based on their past experiences, habits, or by anticipating results too quickly.
 
Unwillingness to question historical “taboos” 
This bias occurs when boards and executive teams fail to question long-standing assumptions that their companies or industries have always followed. Consider, for instance, the men’s hair cutting industry, which long lived by a self-imposed taboo against services perceived as “feminine.” Today, the top men’s hair places in the leading cities of the world offer a wide assortment of salon-style services, including manicures and pedicures, massages, and the sale of many hair and skin products.
 
Failing to challenge past assumptions 
Boards and executives may also find it difficult to break out of historical thinking patterns by not examining all their assumptions. One example of this is the postal industry in most countries, which has apparently never questioned why its pricing must remain constant year-round. While many other industries (airlines, trains, travel, entertainment, and even some types of retail) increase their prices during months of high demand, the basic price of mailing a letter or shipping a package remains constant over the year. This raises the question: why don’t shippers and postal companies charge more when demand is greater? (the key example here seems theoretical. There may be lots of reasons why this idea wouldn't work. Can we find an example from a real case where a company saw through its past assumptions?) These are actually real examples I am confronted with – if sanitized ( those unveils new business models), could be inserted here i.e. for garbage removal. I have taken it off as it seems confusing.
 
Overreliance on historic trends 
People can fall victim to a blindspot when they put too much faith in past trends and expect those patterns to continue. Investment managers make use of this common bias when they present prospective clients with impressive charts showing a constant upward historic curve in investment values, implicitly suggesting that they will achieve similar results. Boards are not immune from this bias of relying on past trends. As Claire Gaymard, president of GE France, pointed out during a recent symposium, it is ironic that in 2008, while many corporate executives considered emerging countries as presenting the largest business risks, the most important crisis affecting the corporate world was born in Wall Street.
 
Anchoring on a past reference or one historic trait 
This blindspot occurs when boards believe historical technologies or methodologies will remain forever, dictating the “way things must be done.” Consider these myopic predictions: “There is no reason anyone would want a computer in their home,” stated Ken Olson, CEO of Digital Equipment Corp. (DEC).
 
Overreliance of personal historical successes. 
This bias occurs when board members are overly enamored of their own personal thinking style. They believe their past decision-making routines are sufficient to guide their future judgments. Worse, this problem is self-reinforcing when board members have similar corporate backgrounds and experiences. This bias intensifies the bigger phenomenon of “groupthink.” Ironically, this suggests that the most experienced boards may be the most likely to make the wrong decisions in rapidly changing times.
 
<blockquote>
Case 3: Misjudging opportunities based on past personal successes 
Hewlett Packard’s former CEO Leo Apotheker was overly reliant on past successes to guide his decision making. The former CEO of software giant SAP, Apotheker took over HP in October 2010, but was dismissed 11 months later after deciding to steer HP away from its success in the hardware market towards software. HP sales had lagged during his tenure to the point that HP cut its financial projections three times in those nine months. As CNN MoneyTech reported, “Apotheker stuck to what he knows best and decided to refocus HP on higher-margin businesses like cloud computing and software. He was particularly bullish on HP's acquisition of Palm, which was made prior to his arrival at the company. He planned to let Palm's webOS software permeate the company's various hardware lines, including PCs, phones and the much-publicized TouchPad tablet. But the TouchPad was a failure, HP's phones weren't selling, and PC sales slumped globally.”
</blockquote>
 
<blockquote>
Case 4: Missing new markets based on past reference bias 
This case involves <a href="http://www.fieldturf.com" target="_blank">FieldTurf</a>, a Canadian-based company that was founded in 1988 to produce artificial surfaces for tennis courts. In 1995, a new CEO, John Gilman, took over. As a former Canadian Football League player and coach, Gilman recognized a vast future for the company in producing artificial grass for football and soccer fields throughout the U.S. and Canada. The company received a big lift in 1998 from the endorsement of Tom Osborne, legendary football coach at the University of Nebraska. The sale of FieldTurf product to that university helped launch the company’s sales to hundreds of universities, high schools, municipalities and professional stadiums.
What the company did not consider was that its expertise in artificial surfaces could apply to the entire flooring sector. Defining themselves as being only in the sports industry, past reference bias prevented the executives and directors from recognizing they could use their expertise to improve many flooring surfaces.
Indeed, FieldTurf was purchased in 2005 by Tarkett SA, a privately owned French company specializing in flooring and sports surfaces that defines itself very broadly as being in the entire flooring business. Tarkett is now one of the world’s leaders in all types of sports and landscape surfaces, including artificial turf for airports, as well as vinyl and linoleum for markets in health care, education, retail and offices. The question remains: could Fieldturf have grown into those new areas and remain independent ?
</blockquote>
 
<h3>Cognitive Biases </h3>
This category of biases results from a wide range of cognitive mistakes and misjudgments. In my research, I have catalogued more than 30 such cognitive biases that even highly experienced and educated board members can succumb to. Here are six of those I often witness in corporate settings:
 
1. Overconfidence bias – This cognitive bias occurs when boards and executives believe their decision-making could not possible be wrong. Their belief in their own correctness leads to a blindspot that causes bad choices.
2. Ostrich effect – This bias describes boards and executives who neglect or hide from what seem to be obvious truths. Rather than facing a bad situation squarely, they continue making decisions as if nothing were wrong.
3. Authority bias – This bias reflects the belief that anyone who has higher authority is automatically right, so boards and executives yield their own good judgment to that person.
4. Positive outcome bias – In this cognitive bias, decision-makers overestimate the level of good results they expect to get. When the results finally come in, the returns are rarely as positive as expected, costing the organization money, time and resources.
5. False consensus effect – This bias reflects the propensity for overestimating the degree of agreement or consensus in a group. A decision is often made to move forward on a project when, in fact, there is less than majority agreement.
6. Herd instinct – This bias results from a flawed group dynamic in which people simply agree to do what “everyone else” wants to do—creating a herd effect. It is often done to avoid conflict or to save time.
 
Many of these cognitive biases overlap. Often, several coalesce to produce one bad decision-making process. Here are two cases that illustrate how boards and companies have made errors based on such cognitive blindspots.
<blockquote>
Case 5: Overlooking risks based on overconfidence and the Ostrich Effect 
Kodak is one of the best examples of a company that had too much confidence in its brand, and hid its head in the sand as competitors muscled ahead. A January 18, 2012 article in The Economist paints a dire picture of how Kodak blundered for over a decade as Fujifilm planned a successful transition from film to digital photography, that included developing new lines of business. The article reports one former Kodak executive noting that as early as 1995 the company’s senior leaders simply denied that a Consumer Reports review – rating Fuji’s film as good as Kodak’s – could possibly be true. Later, Kodak executives failed to see how its market was changing, while Fujifilm invested in new technologies and diversified into new applications based on its expertise in film chemicals. It even launched a cosmetics business based on its expertise in collagen, which is used in cosmetics as well as film). Kodak did not develop new expertise, believing its brand-name strength would allow it to acquire outside companies or partner with them. As The Economist reported, “The problem with this approach was that without in-house expertise, Kodak lacked some key skills: the ability to vet acquisition candidates well, to integrate the companies it had purchased and to negotiate profitable partnerships.”
 
</blockquote>
 
<blockquote>
Case 6: Missed opportunity due to Herd Instinct 
The financial-services industry offers many instances of the herd instinct. This example involves wiring customers’ money from one bank to another. In the past, retail banks always focused this business on affluent customers. No one considered how many other customers might use the service – except Western Union. Seeing an enormous market in “serving the underserved,” Western Union focused on immigrant populations who needed to send money to their families back in their home countries. In the late 1990s, the company began moving away from its former reputation as a provider of communication services, especially telegrams. In 2006, the company ended its telegram and delivery services to focus only on money transfers. The company derives its profit from both transfer fees and from the investing the transferred “float” between the time the sender initiates the transfer and the receiver picks up the money. Western Union is proof that the herd instinct leads to missed opportunities.
</blockquote>
<h3/>
<h3>Can Boards Avoid Blindspots? </h3>
The key question is: Will all boards inevitably succumb to one or more of these blindspots? Or can they take action to ensure they do not fall victim to them at some time in the future?
It is not possible to guard against all blindspots. Board members are human—they make mistakes and are prone to errors. But boards can definitely work harder and smarter to discover their fallibilities. They can learn to detect the signs indicating that they are making false competitive analyses, relying on historical biases, or committing cognitive errors. Here are 10 recommendations for ways that boards can guard against blindspots:
1. Diversify. Make sure the board has access to individuals who think differently. Whether as full-time board members or observers, include iconoclasts and outside experts in your decision-making, as well as ground-level employees on the front lines of the business. When recruiting for board positions, ensure that at least 20% of the board come from outside the industry. Seek out other generations (e.g., a consumer-goods company should have at least one “Millennial” on their board), people from other regions or cultures, and individuals possessing other skill sets.. The appointment of Chelsea Clinton on the board of IAC / InteractiveCorp has been highly controversial. Some critics pointed out that family connections solely does not make a good director. However, I believe that as IAC runs sites including Match.com or Ask.com, having a “millennial” director is a smart move- especially when this director has a degree from Stanford and Oxford… and is experienced and comfortable with very senior executives. Similarly, as UBS wanted to turn-around its governance fiasco, it turned to a non-bank executive Axel Weber ( an economist, former head of the German Bundesbank), and staffed its board with directors such as Wolfgang Mayrhuber, the former CEO of Lufthansa or Helmut Panke, a PhD with physics who chaired BMW Holding board. . And of course, most companies still need to add more women to their boards to even approach parity with the number of male directors.
2. Push the boundaries of your industry. Constantly question the parameters of your business. Consider how any element of it could be modified, altered, substituted, or reconceived. If you don’t do this, an emerging competitor will. Specifically address any possible industry convergence in every board meeting.
3. Capture a larger range of competitors to study. Don’t stop at the usual competitors; ask management to include on their radar potential and emerging competitors, such as small private firms that just might become a new leader if you don’t watch them closely.
4. Set up an independent source of intelligence: More and more boards refuse to depend solely on management to provide reliable information . Building an independent intelligence process is essential.
5. Voice opinions individually. Ask every board member to speak up, even if it must be done anonymously. For example, reserve some time at the end of each board meeting and invite individual members to address any issues they thought were not fully discussed at the meeting, or any decisions they don’t agree with. This helps capture new individual ideas and avoids groupthink.
6. Challenge unchallenged assumptions. Write down all the assumptions on which management appears to be basing its strategy. Then challenge these assumptions one by one as a board exercise. Look for assumptions that hide possible cognitive biases.
7. Develop an “Alien Eye.” This term comes from Edie Weiner and Arnold Brown’s book, Future Think: How to Think Clearly in a Time of Change, which recommends that we step back and look at key events as if we were aliens who have to explain what we see to our home planet. This exercise helps reveal assumptions and biases. If difficult to do it as a board, invite into the discussions outside people who can challenge the common wisdom. For example, a CEO from another industry could question how things get done in your sector.
8. Discuss trends in detail. Build time in board meetings to talk about what longer-term trends board members should be tracking. Make sure the time horizon extends beyond five years into the “third horizon” (10 years plus). These discussions should be forthright, creative, and without critique. It may be useful to hire a facilitator. No PowerPoint slides; just talk and debate. Don’t stop at what the data tells you; extrapolate its significance into the future. Play “what if” games and foresight exercises.
9. Avoid anchoring. During board discussions, pay special attention to comparisons and analogies relating to past events, or how things are “expected” to go. These statements are often a symptom of anchoring. Make sure the management team does not systematically rely on past failures when revisiting a decision: market conditions can change. This has been the reason why in some companies, the decision to invest in alternative energy solutions (such as electric cars) has been slow- as past investments in similar pilots have failed 10 years ago, costing companies millions of dollars. Or try the counter-anchoring technique used so effectively by Steve Jobs at Apple board meetings: Postpone the early introduction of numbers and projected results in your discussions in favor of open discussions on key principles, business models and alternatives .
 10. Encourage dissent: Allocate specific time on the board agenda for dissent, or even appoint someone on the board to play devil’s advocate. Connect with dissenters after the board meeting to see how the decisions and plans might better incorporate their views. (this last sentence puzzles me: who should connect with the dissenter afterwards: the board? the chair? )
 
<h3>Improving Your Board’s Oversight </h3>
Boards have a crucial role to play in corporate success today. No matter how much experience and wisdom they have, however, directors must consciously question their thinking to avoid errors in judgment. Boards must take time to build in specific processes and tools to help them avoid blindspots. Just as drivers can never forget that their blindspot may be hiding an accident that’s about to happen, directors can never forget that every decision they make has critical consequences for the company.
 
 Wed, 20 Mar 2013 15:00:00 -0700 http://competia.com/is-your-board-suffering-from-blindspots/ Davos 2013: how to follow the World Economic Forum annual meeting on social media http://competia.com/davos-2013-how-to-follow-the-world-economic-forum-annual-meeting-on-social-media/ 
It is that time of the year again, and over 2000 executives, heads of state, NGOs, thought-leaders, social entrepreneurs and technology pioneers are getting ready to meet in Davos. If you are not one of the happy few- or have not married one!- you can still follow the event from the comfort of your home or office. I thought I’d put together a guide for you – which I will update regularly as more information is released.
<img src="http://competia.com/assets/images/_resampled/resizedimage580316-Davos-By-Estelle-Metayer.jpg" width="580" height="316" alt="" title=""/>
Here are some of the tools and sources of information I suggest:
 
<h3>Listen</h3>
During the Annual Meeting all official plenary sessions are available on webcast <a href="http://wef.ch/live" target="_blank">here</a> .
No official account on <a href="https://soundcloud.com" target="_blank">Soundcloud</a> to find the podcasts, but try your luck by searching directly on the site ( <a href="https://soundcloud.com/search?q=world%20economic%20forum" target="_blank">like this</a>)
 
<h3>Watch</h3>
Last year, pictures from participants taken with their mobiles phones could be viewed <a href="http://davos.sharypic.com/" target="_blank">here</a> on Sharypic, let’s hope this will be available this year again. If not, you can always check the official account of the Forum on Flickr ( <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/15237218@N00 " target="_blank">here</a>). A selection of the best pictures taken at the Annual Meeting will be made available free of charge under the creative commons licence. I will load pictures on <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/competia/sets/72157625980126474/" target="_blank">Competia's photostream here</a>. Photos from the Annual Meeting are also available from <a href="http://wef.ch/pics)." target="_blank">the official photographers,</a> Swiss-Image.
Videos are either available on the <a href="http://www.weforum.org" target="_blank">Forum's website</a> or Youtube ( <a href="http://www.youtube.com/worldeconomicforum" target="_blank">here</a> ) .<a href="http://www.youtube.com/worldeconomicforum"> </a>
<blockquote>
This year, there will be an additional two livestream channels featuring unique content from Davos. Feel free to embed any of the livestream video feeds using <a href="http://www3.weforum.org/docs/AM13/WEF_AM13_Livestream_Embeds.pdf" target="_blank">these instructions</a>. ( source: the World Economic Forum)
</blockquote>
 
<h3>Read</h3>
You can follow discussions from attendees on most social media platforms:
Twitter: Lots is going on Twitter during Davos. The Forum has created two Twitter lists for the participants who tweet ( about 30% of attendees have a twitter account): access those lists <a href="https://twitter.com/davos/davos2013" target="_blank">here</a> and <a href="https://twitter.com/davos/davos2013pt2" target="_blank">here</a>. In addition this year, it has <a href="https://twitter.com/davos/wefcorporate" target="_blank">listed the companies and organisations</a> attending the event. There is also a <a href="https://twitter.com/davos/wefmedia" target="_blank">special media list</a> with the accounts of the key journalists present. You can follow the The World Economic Forum on Twitter <a href="http://twitter.com/Davos" target="_blank">@Davos </a>as well as the live tweet account <a href="http://twitter.com/wef" target="_blank">@WEF</a> where key quotes get tweeted from official plenary sessions. Your magic word on twitter is #WEF , the hashtag used by all participants at the event. Occasionally, they will use #davos too. I will follow and share what strikes my interest on <a href="http://twitter.com/competia" target="_blank">Competia's twitter account</a> too.
The best tweets, pictures and videos from the Annual Meeting will be collated on <a href="http://storify.com/wef" target="_blank">Storify</a> . Make sure you follow also the communities: <a href="http://twitter.com/GlobalShapers" target="_blank">@GlobalShapers</a>, <a href="http://twitter.com/TechPioneers" target="_blank">@TechPioneers</a>, <a href="http://twitter.com/SchwabFound" target="_blank">@SchwabFound</a> and <a href="http://twitter.com/YGLVoices" target="_blank">@YGLVoices</a>.
Facebook is always very busy. You can either geeting the official feed from the WEF's page ( <a href="https://www.facebook.com/worldeconomicforum?ref=ts&amp;fref=ts" target="_blank">here)</a> or join a discussion group ( currently over 3,800 members) <a href="https://www.facebook.com/groups/2440681615/" target="_blank">here</a>
Google+: The World Economic Forum has quite an active <a href="https://plus.google.com/113290433800047414047/posts" target="_blank">Google+ feed</a>. It also has recently launched a Google+ <a href="https://plus.google.com/113290433800047414047/posts" target="_blank">community</a>, but with 52 members as I write, there might not be much happening.
Friendfeed: Frankly, this is not the best place to follow discussions, Twitter is a lot more vibrant. But in case this is your space, look <a href="http://friendfeed.com/worldeconomicforum " target="_blank">here</a>.
In China, follow in Chinese the discussions on <a href="http://u.youku.com/user_show/uid_davos" target="_blank">Youku</a> and <a href="http://u.youku.com/user_show/uid_davos" target="_blank">Sina Weibo</a>
 
<h3>Summarize</h3>
I will summarize my pick of the best tweets of Davos on Storify <a href="http://storify.com/Competia/the-best-tweets-in-davos#publicize" target="_blank">here </a>. You can also embed the Forum’s curated Twitter Wall featuring the best tweets (<a href="http://wef.ch/twitterwall">http://wef.ch/twitterwall</a>) or take the <a href="https://api.twitter.com/1/favorites.rss?screen_name=wef" target="_blank">RSS feed</a>.
I like the featured bloggers in <a href="http://www.netvibes.com/davosconversation#Featured_Bloggers" target="_blank">Netvibes</a>, a nice way to follow the most prominent bloggers and their point of view.
Reports by the World Economic Forum are available for downloads ( #pdftribute !) in Scribd <a href="http://www.scribd.com/WorldEconomicForum" target="_blank">here</a>. The organization offers also a dashboard, with Facebook, Youtube and Twitter on one page, which I find handy: <a href="http://forumblog.org/galleries/#overlay=follow-us" target="_blank">click here</a>
Finally, major media have created specific pages to address the news stemming from Davos: click here for <a href="http://www.reuters.com/subjects/davos" target="_blank">Reuters</a>, <a href="http://edition.cnn.com/SPECIALS/davos" target="_blank">CNN</a>, <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/davos" target="_blank">The Guardian</a> 's 'Davos spaces". KPMG has created <a href="http://www.weflive.com" target="_blank">The World Economic Forum Live</a> which launched on Monday, January 21st with live infographics and key discussions from the delegates. Here is the overview of current discussions below:
 
<iframe src="http://qbit.us/widget/stream?show_nav=false&amp;font=Helvetica%20Neue" width="600" height="800" frameborder="0">&amp;amp;amp;nbsp;</iframe>
<h3>Participate</h3>
As for the past years, you can ask your question on the Forum’s blog. Right now, you can ask a question to Russia's top political leaders<a href="http://forumblog.org/2012/12/what-would-you-ask-russias-top-political-leaders/" target="_blank"> here.</a>
Participants should download <a href="https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/world-economic-forum-events/id549106014" target="_blank">the official app</a>. Fans also can follow the program using their own app here.
 
Did I miss anything ? Are you blogging about the event ? use the comments to add and refine this short article. Mon, 14 Jan 2013 18:00:00 -0800 http://competia.com/davos-2013-how-to-follow-the-world-economic-forum-annual-meeting-on-social-media/ 2012, month by month http://competia.com/2012-month-by-month/ As 2012 unfolds, a look back on lessons learned, and where my work, and my clients's needs and challenges took me this year. Quite a journey...
 
<h3>January</h3>
 
Weak signals: as I prepare for my presentation as part of a panel in Davos for the <a href="http://www.weforum.org">World Economic Forum</a> " Sensing weak signals", I dive into the tools used by companies to pick up weak signals and avoid surprises.
Davos: it is hard to describe in only one paragraph what Davos is about and the lessons learned. In 2012, I learned about The Creative Workspace, Life in Megacities, the Working of the Brain, Critical Design, Human Network Dynamics, and Reshaping Healthcare. I also listened to chairmen of multinational companies discuss the challenges of their role. I indulged in art and how it can change society with photographer <a href="http://platonphoto.com/" target="_blank">Platon</a>, but also how street art projects can change societies and individuals. Here is for example <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/worldeconomicforum/6751248445/" target="_blank">Michael Wolf's work</a> "Architecture of density".
Neuromarketing “covers the intersection of neuroscience and behavior research with marketing, advertising, and product design.”. I investigate how this interaction is used by marketers, and in particular retailers, in promoting products and reshaping their advertising campaigns.
 
<h3>February</h3>
Business models: I had been reading the excellent book by Alex Osterwalder “ <a href="http://www.businessmodelgeneration.com/" target="_blank">Business Model Generation</a>”, and had a chance to meet with him and talk during the <a href="http://liftconference.com/lift13" target="_blank">Lift 2012 conference</a>. I have used his frameworks since, and in particular the ability to prototype hypothesis to speed up the innovation process. I am starting to believe that this is one of the best business book published in the past 10 years as the implications for companies is huge - as are the opportunities.
Burning man: the <a href="http://www.burningman.com/" target="_blank">burning man </a>festival is going on in February. Burning Man is an annual art event and temporary community based on radical self expression and self-reliance in the Black Rock Desert of Nevada.It also has become an illustration of the new generation values, openness to innovation, and collaborative thinking. The result of this reflexion was a short <a href="http://lesnews.ca/technologie/23012-burning-man-nouveau-berceau-de-l%E2%80%99innovation/" target="_blank">article published here</a>: "Burning Man: nouveau berceau de l'innovation" ( In French... for translation use<a href="http://translate.google.com/translate?sl=fr&amp;tl=en&amp;js=n&amp;prev=_t&amp;hl=en&amp;ie=UTF-8&amp;eotf=1&amp;u=http%3A%2F%2Flesnews.ca%2Ftechnologie%2F23012-burning-man-nouveau-berceau-de-l%25E2%2580%2599innovation%2F&amp;act=url" target="_blank"> Google Translate</a>)
Pilots and decision making: I study decision making processes in organizations, and draw a parallel with the way we train pilots to make decisions. The result of that reflexion and research was a new course for executives, but also an article <a href="http://competia.com/decision-making-it-s-all-about-taking-off-and-landing-safely/" target="_blank">here in Competia's blog</a> . .
Gamification: as companies try to replicate the excitment that gaming induces into their own product or service experience, I explore if gamification indeed works.
 
<h3>March</h3>
GenY: As I prepare a new course for the <a href="http://www.imd.org" target="_blank">IMD Business School</a>, I dive into GenY: its codes, values, and what it means for companies today ( as they employ this generation, but also as they try to market to them) . An extract of this reflexion can be found here in <a href="http://prezi.com/_pcxenfoiwx8/generation-y/" target="_blank">this Prezi presentation</a>.
B- corp: I explore the concept of this new legal structure for corporations to understand what it means in terms of governance.Not sure what shape and form this work will take yet...
Pinterest: over the past weeks, I created 36<a href="http://pinterest.com/competia/" target="_blank"> boards</a>, pinned over 600 images. I find <a href="http://www-pinterest.com" target="_blank">Pinterest</a> to be personally a fantastic bookmark tool for ideas and future reference, as well as visual resume building. I still find it difficult given the narrow reach to see real impact for B2B companies. This reflexion drives me to add Pinterest to the toolkit of tools discussed in our <a href="http://competia.com/social-media-as-a-source-of-customer-insight-and-competitive-intelligence/" target="_blank">Social Media for Competitive Intelligence course</a>.
Smart cities: the concept of the "smart city" has been introduced highlight the growing importance of <a title="Information and Communication Technologies" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Information_and_Communication_Technologies">Information and Communication Technologies</a> such as smart meters, sensors, Internet connected objects in cities. For a training course for a client, looked at what smart cities would look like and what this means for providers of services: i.e. Recycling and waste management.
 
<h3>April</h3>
The future of television: for a client, I do a complete overview of the trends in the television and media communication industry. I described how the television landscape will look like in 10 years, including balance of power, role of new competitors, and future technologies. I studied also the future of television advertising, and learnt about branded and earned content. Part of that research will be briefly discussed <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.fr/estelle-metayer/medias-modele-economique_b_1627046.html" target="_blank">in this blog post for the Huffington Post </a>/ Le Monde.
Future of retail banking: for a client, I develop a toolkit to coach and guide strategy analysts in the banking industry understand future trends that will affect them in the future.
Social media and investors relation: invited to keynote the <a href="http://www.ciri.org" target="_blank">Canadian Investors Relation</a> Conference in Montreal, we discuss how social media is challenging investors relations professional everywhere and how they should understand how to leverage social media tools and networks.
Introverts: as <a href="http://conferences.ted.com/TEDActive2013/" target="_blank">TEDActive</a> is sending me wonderful books to read, I discover <a href="http://pinterest.com/pin/81205599502626447/" target="_blank">"Quiet"</a> and somehow it hits a sensitive cord ! I can't wait to join the group of "The Young, The Wise. The Undiscovered" at the TED Active conference next February.
 
<h3>May</h3>
Strategic blindspot: this is an ongoing subject of interest and a great passion. In May, I finalize the <a href="http://competia.com/boards-and-ceos-introducing-the-strategic-blindspots-index/" target="_blank">framework</a> allowing me to assess the risk of strategic blindspots in an organization ( from the management or the board point of view). This will also take the shape of an article – which is schedule to be published in early spring 2013 in Canada.
Role of boards of NGOs in supporting and supervising strategy: for a client, set- up a framework to define what role the executive boards should play in strategy. Best practice interviews includes processes set by the United Nation, the World Food Organization, the Red Cross and the Aga Khan foundation.
Boards and SMEs: I dive into how governance can work for SMEs and how this might be different from large companies. I discover as I do so that very little has been indeed written on this subject. Some of the learning are summarized here <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.fr/estelle-metayer/conseil-administration-pme-gouvernance_b_1542021.html" target="_blank">in the article for the Huffington Post</a> / Le Monde.
Social media and politicians: I watch the French presidential electtions unfold and analyse how <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.fr/estelle-metayer/twitter-hollande-sarkozy-presidentielle_b_1478081.html" target="_blank">candidates</a> have used social media. I get the chance also to turn theory into practice as I help a friend build a profile on social media before an election.
 
<h3>June </h3>
Biomimicry: biomimicry is the examination of mature, its models and processes in order to gain and understanding to solve human or technical problems. It can also be used as an idea generation tool. One of the results of this analysis is a new training tool, but also a board in Pinterest<a href="http://pinterest.com/competia/biomimicry/" target="_blank">Your Link</a>.
Future of retail: I am not sure what shape it will take, but I have been diving into retail trends and amazed that so little has changed in this industry over the past 50 years. I am secretly hoping the Amazon will shake the existing players enough so they finally start challenging unchallenged assumptions ( see here the amazing concept developed by <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fGaVFRzTTP4" target="_blank">Tesco for example</a>)
Social capital. Senior executives and CEOs asked how they can build their social capital online. As I investigate how to assess social capital (<a href="http://www.peerindex.com" target="_blank"> Peerindex</a>, <a href="http://www.kout.com" target="_blank">Klout</a> etc...) , I am also looking for companies who have integrated this approach in their segmentation of customers. An <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.fr/estelle-metayer/capital-social-reputation_b_1842380.html" target="_blank">article</a> in French will be the result of this research ( or rather the tip,of the iceberg) published in the Huffington Post/ Le Monde.
Future of healthcare: This was a fantastic exploration of new technologies, business models and strat-ups in the healthcare sector. Part of that research was leveraged in the <a href="http://www.mcgill.ca/desautels/programs/imhl" target="_blank">International Master for Health Leadership </a>course at <a href="http://www.mcgill.ca" target="_blank">McGill</a> in June where I have ( as always) the pleasure to co-teach with <a href="http://www.mintzberg.com" target="_blank">Henry Mintzberg</a>.
 
<h3>July</h3>
Social intelligence: In July, we putting the final touches on an article for the McKinsey Quarterly with my colleagues <a href="https://twitter.com/search/users?q=martin+harrysson" target="_blank">Martin Harrysson</a> and <a href="https://twitter.com/HugoSarrazin" target="_blank">Hugo Sarrazin</a> on how social intelligence can guide decisions. The article was<a href="https://www.mckinseyquarterly.com/Strategy/Strategic_Thinking/How_social_intelligence_can_guide_decisions_3031" target="_blank"> published in November</a>: How "social intelligence" can guide decisions" and brought to light how much social media can challenged our current competitive and strategic intelligence gathering and analyzing. The course covering this subject was already launched last year for Competia and this subject is also part of IMD Business School curriculum for their <a href="http://www.imd.org/executive-education/sma/#/strategic-marketing/description-dates-fees/" target="_blank">Strategic Marketing in Action</a> program led by the amazing <a href="http://www.imd.org/about/facultystaff/michel.cfmin+harrysson" target="_blank">Stefan Michel</a>.
 
<h3>August</h3>
Role of boards and strategy: I am putting the last touch on the article cowritten with<a href="http://www.imd.org/about/facultystaff/michel.cfmin+harrysson"> Prof. Didier Cossin</a> at the IMD business school and built frameworks to define the role boatds should and can play in carving out the strategy of the organization. The article will provides a fantastic framework to define what roles board should play depending in the environment of the organization, and in the co-creation, support and supervisory.
Banksy: <a href="http://www.banksy.co.uk/" target="_blank">Banksy</a> is the pseudonym for a British graffiti artist amd political activist. I love his humor and irreverence, and also how he gets his inspiration. I read the book “Banksy, The Man behind the Wall” and love his quote "Looked at the space between the paintings" .
 
<h3>September</h3>
Video game industry: as I joined the board of director of <a href="http://www.ubisoft.com" target="_blank">Ubisoft</a>, the third largest designer of video games, I have immersed myself in the industry, its business models and creative process.
3D printing: for a client, elaborated in what 3D printing will mean for their company, but also for the future. I have to thank the<a href="http://www.thewire.ch/en/"> think-tank W.I.R.E.</a> for the introduction ...
B2B: Many of my clients are in the B2B field and find it difficult to relate to existing case studies and best practices of consumer goods companies. I am building a tresure trove of examples of great companies in the field, and how the issues of innovation, growth and disruption are playing out for those companies.
 
<h3>October</h3>
Open innovation: following a discussion at the <a href="http://www.banffforum.ca/" target="_blank">Banff Forum</a> with the amazing <a href="https://blog.mozilla.org/press/bios/todd-simpson/" target="_blank">Todd Simpson</a> ( Chief of Innovation at <a href="http://www.mozilla.com" target="_blank">Mozilla</a>), I have immersed myself into open innovation. I explored how companies have been concretely leveraging it, i.e. , from <a href="http://dailycrowdsource.com/20-resources/projects/392-harley-davidson-crowd-sourcing-for-freedom" target="_blank">Harley Davidson</a> crowdsourcing its advertising campaigns, to GE reinventing the future of aircrafts, or to <a href="http://scienceintelligence.wordpress.com/2012/12/13/open-innovation-citizen-scientists-and-crowdsourcing/" target="_blank">hubs</a> where you can hire scientists turks
Imagination: for Canadian companies to innovate, they need to have the imagination. These were the words concluding my intervention at the Banff Forum on how to forster innovation for Canadian companies. A huge discussion insued about the role Canadian board of directors should play – which included diving into the statistics on board composition and (lack of ) diversity in Canada.
Social media and the role of boards: lots has been written lately on he subject<a href="http://competia.com/when-social-media-matters-a-guide-to-the-board-of-directors-for-better-governance/" target="_blank"> since my article back in 2011</a>, and social media is slowly making its way through the official director training programs. This research ended up as course for <a href="http://www.imd.org/executive-education/hpb/#/top-management-training/description-dates-fees/" target="_blank">directors and board members at the IMD Business School</a> and also at McGill for the<a href="http://www.icd.ca//AM/Template.cfm?Section=Home2" target="_blank"> Institute of Corporate Directors</a> early November.
 
<h3>November</h3>
#MOOC: the acronym is well known for those following the movement of Massive Online Open Curriculum. Speardheaded by Stanfort, followed by Harvard amd MIT, US universities are planning to disrupt education. New players emerge such as Skype ( NASA course for kids) or <a href="http://www.weforum.org" target="_blank">Coursera</a>. Last year, I had anticipated this trend in an article <a href="http://competia.com/the-executive-education-playlist/" target="_blank">"The education playlist</a>". I am now trying to see how this could translate into executive education.
Social footprints: co-writing a two-part <a href="http://the-executive-education-playlist/" target="_blank">article for the Harvard Business Review</a> with Hugo Sarrazin and Martin Harrysson. The first part, on how companies can harness social media to gain competitive knowledge, was <a href="http://the-executive-education-playlist/" target="_blank">published</a> early December. The second part on digital footprints is in progress... Ironically, around the same time, a friend of mine became the target of nasty attempts for the press to dig into her personal life, and this has quickly been put to test.
 
<h3>December</h3>
Minecraft: this is not only the phenomenal success of the <a href="http://www.minecraft.net" target="_blank">game</a> that I am interested in, but more what it represents. An open source game, designed to help kids understand the culture and mechanisms of coding, and its potential for education
Activism: I explore both shareholder and customer activism and how companies can be prepared to respond to social media crisis.
Leadership development: a good hard look at future skills managers and senior executives would need in the next five years, and how training programs can be tailored to those needs.
 
What did YOU learn in 2012 ?
 
I wish you all a peaceful year 2013.
 Tue, 18 Dec 2012 01:16:11 -0800 http://competia.com/2012-month-by-month/ Social media is giving companies fresh strategic insight http://competia.com/social-media-is-giving-companies-fresh-strategic-insight/ In this article, which I co-published yesterday with Martin Harrysson and Hugo Sarrazin in the <a href="https://www.mckinseyquarterly.com" target="_blank">McKinsey Quarterly</a>, we discuss how social media is opening opportunities for companies to collect and hunt fresh strategic insight from social media and how social technologies can play a surprisingly central role in how information is sourced, collected, analyzed, and distributed. Social Media is not displacing current methods of intelligence gathering, but emerges as a strong complement. As it does, social-intelligence literacy will become a critical asset for C-level executives and board members seeking the best possible basis for their decisions.
Here are some quotes from the article:
 
<blockquote>
Social technologies can play a surprisingly central role in how information is sourced, collected, analyzed, and distributed.
</blockquote>
<blockquote>
The costs of navigating without a social-intelligence map can be substantial.
</blockquote>
<blockquote>
Curating a variety of perspectives from multiple social-media sources should help internal checks and balances play out more freely and, in some cases, lead to necessary whistle-blowing.
</blockquote>
<blockquote>
Competitive Intelligence professionals must become hunters of information rather than gatherers.
</blockquote>
<blockquote>
Companies may have to seek talented people from outside the organization who are familiar with the new methods or to invest heavily in upgrading the skills of current intelligence analysts
</blockquote>
<blockquote>
More sophisticated users of social media should be able to rate the relevance of information, permitting analysts to track the ripple effects of information bursts as individuals virally propagate those they find most useful.
</blockquote>
<blockquote>
Information maps highlight particularly strong knowledge relationships within companies and may provide clues for new organizational designs that optimize intelligence.
</blockquote>
<blockquote>
The information that companies need to meet competitive challenges is moving quickly from published and proprietary sources to the open, chaotic world of social platforms.
</blockquote>
<blockquote>
Social intelligence will sharpen strategic insights, and leaders must be immersed in the new information currents.
</blockquote>
 
These new technologies allow competitive intelligence analysts to update their skills as they integrate new sources of information and new techniques. In particular, we explore four distinct ways social technologies can augment the competitive intelligence gathering process:
<ul><li>From identifying data to mapping people and conversation</li>
<li>From data gathering to engaging and tracking</li>
<li>From analysis and synthesis to structuring and mining</li>
<li>From reporting to curating and embedding</li>
</ul> 
<img class="left" src="http://competia.com/assets/Uploads/_resampled/resizedimage580540-Cycle.jpg" width="580" height="540" alt="" title=""/>
 
Case studies include <a href="http://www.ge.com" target="_blank">General Electric</a> (GE) in the Unites States, <a href="http://www.servier.com" target="_blank">Servier</a> in France, and the <a href="http://www.desjardins.com" target="_blank">Mouvement Desjardins</a> in Canada.
To <a href="https://www.mckinseyquarterly.com/How_social_intelligence_can_guide_decisions_3031" target="_blank">read to full article</a> ( signing-in might be required if you have not done so), <a href="https://www.mckinseyquarterly.com/How_social_intelligence_can_guide_decisions_3031" target="_blank">go here</a>.
 Tue, 13 Nov 2012 04:02:36 -0800 http://competia.com/social-media-is-giving-companies-fresh-strategic-insight/ The quickest way to the top of your business... http://competia.com/the-quickest-way-to-the-top-of-your-business/ On my way back from the Olympics this week, as I sat in the plane in the midsts of tired travelers and athletes, I picked up the book I bought in the airport bookstore and there it was : " The quickest way to the top of your business is to turn it upside down".
The book is <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2012/jun/01/banksy-will-ellsworth-jones-review" target="_blank">"Banksy" by Will Ellsworth Jones,</a> and the quote hit home. It reminded me once more that the best ideas and inspirations one gets is always when turning in to new territories. This sentence encapsulates everything companies have been trying to reach, any ambition the business leaders set for themselves, every objective the countless hours of strategic meetings try to achieve. Yet, it was a grafitti street artist who wrote it best.
Countless examples remind us that the companies who truly dominate their industry have been able to do so by taking a key principle that their industry have held true for years, and challenged it.
I call it&nbsp; to "challenge unchallenged assumptions", in the same vein as turning a business upside down.&nbsp; <a href="http://www.amazon.com" target="_blank">Amazon</a> has turned its industry upside down by taking out of the equation the bookstore, and continues to do it as it enpands its business model and manages to sell the same book twice ( as a new book, then as a used one once you've read it). Apple turned its industry upside down when the company found the key to online music - and was the first company to outsource part if its R&amp;D development with the app developpers.
So who is the new player who will turn the industry upside down ? I notice a number of industry that are in the bad need of disruption:
<ul>
<li> The telecom industry is likely to see new players emerging that will challenge the industry's most basic assumptions. Skype has paved the way, even if it is now dying of a slow death. </li>
<li>The banking industry will see in the next 10 years some new major payer emerging: will it be the likes of M- pesa which challenges the notion that payments have to go through a bank, or will it be a another company that will shake the root of this industry ? I could not help but notice the arrogance of well established players: at the Olympics, the Organizers's notice in the walls of the official stores" Proud to accept Only Visa" is deemed to raise some eyebrows and will likely back-fire. How long before a new player takes this industry upside down and customers and businesses alike break free of the quasi monopoly of credit card companies ? </li>
<li>How would the car industry turn its assumptions upside down ?</li>
</ul>
&nbsp;
<h3>" Look at the blank spaces"</h3>
Concretely, Banksy provides us with a few clues about how you can bring this discussion in the corporate meeting room. One of the genius moves of <a href="http://www.banksy.co.uk/" target="_blank">the artist</a> was to sneak into famous museums around the world such as the Tate his own pictures and captions. He describes the reconnaissance:
<blockquote>
"It was funny. I was going to all these galleries and I was not looking at the art. I was looking at the blank spaces between the art". Banksy
</blockquote>
&nbsp;
Hence one suggestion for your next strategic meeting: as you are mapping the industry you are in, the players, the profitable segments of customer you need to approach, why not look at the blank spaces ? Western Union has done it by serving the underserved and building a very profitable business by serving immigrants sending money home- those same people bank would not even consider for a bank account as they often are missing legal papers.
This leads me to a question to the strategic planners in the corporate world: has anyone in your company ever asked you to turn your assumptions upside down ? Are you hiring those who can help you do so? Do you welcome in your boards those directors who have the background and skillset to get you there ? Who is your Banksy ?
&nbsp;
&nbsp;
Note: Banksy, thank you- I trust you'll let me borrow this quote as the title of this short article and for the inspiration. You are welcome to comment below here ... 
&nbsp; Sat, 18 Aug 2012 02:55:00 -0700 http://competia.com/the-quickest-way-to-the-top-of-your-business/ Who is the most influential corporate governance tweeter in 2012 ? http://competia.com/who-is-the-most-influential-corporate-governance-tweeter-in-2/ Last year, I wrote a blog that summarized the most influencial experts on Twitter discussing corporate governance. One year later, let's look at what has changed and analyze how the corporate governance community is shaping up on <a href="http://www.twitter.com" target="_blank">Twitter</a>.
<h2>The methodology</h2>
I have listed the corporate governance experts already identified in my twitter list (<a href="https://twitter.com/#!/Competia/governance/corporate_governance?auto=1&amp;dm&amp;edit=1#remove" target="_blank"> see here</a>) , and added those who my colleagues are also interacting with. Unlike last year, I have then used Peerindex to score those experts. I find Peerindex a better judge of real influence and less prone to manipulation. I have added in the last column the <a href="http://www.klout.com/">Klout</a> to score each of these tweeters too - you'll see there are few inconsistencies.
As I had done last year, I have focussed on the individuals behind the tweets and the insight they share. I excluded those who cover a much larger range of issues than just corporate governance ( less than 5% of tweets devoted to corporate governance): people such as Nouriel Roubini ( <a href="http://twitter.com/Nouriel" target="_blank">@nouriel</a> ) who would have ranked 69 in Klout, or #1, or Rosabeth Kanter ( <a href="http://twitter.com/rosabethkanter" target="_blank">@rosabethkanter</a> ) who would have ranked 65 ), as the topic they are covering have a much wider range than corporate governance and the data gets clouded by their public work and comments. I also have excluded the accounts that are representing a national association and do not put forward an individual person or writer, such as the excellent <a href="http://twitter.com/Nacd" target="_blank">@nacd</a> account for the North American Association for Corporate Directors ( and would have ranked third). I excluded Harvard's Law School Corp Gov program ( <a href="http://twitter.com/harvardcorpgov" target="_blank">@harvardcorpgov</a> ) and @<a href="http://twitter.com/rockcenter4corpgov" target="_blank">rockcenter4corpgov</a> for the same reasons.
You will note some CSR experts have been included in the list: I have included them when they are specifically addressing issues of corporate governance and CSR as is the case with Fabian Pattberg ( @<a href="http://twitter.com/fabianpattberg" target="_blank">fabianpattberg</a> ) and Janet Morgan ( @<a href="http://twitter.com/jan_morgan" target="_blank">jan_morgan</a> ).
&nbsp;
<h2>So who are the most influential corporate governance tweeters ?</h2>
#1: Lucy Marcus ( <a href="http://twitter.com/lucymarcus" target="_blank">@lucymarcus</a> ) from Marcus Ventures,comes in first position ( she was second last year). Lucy is a renown writer and speaker on issues relative to corporate governance, and in particular the role of women. She is a globally renown observer of corporate boards: this explains how she has shifted her focus over the past 12 months from practitioner to commentator ( she is very much linked to Reuters' network of columnists) and academic.
#2: Estelle Metayer (My account <a href="http://twitter.com/competia">@competia&nbsp;</a> . Those hours of research are paying off !)
#3: Douglas Y. Park: ( <a href="http://twitter.com/dougYpark" target="_blank">@dougYpark</a>): Douglas is a Palo Alto business attorney and corporate governance advisor located in Silicon Valley in California. We will have the pleasure of seeing him teach at Stanford University this summer.
&nbsp;
Congratulations to Lucy and Douglas for making a difference.
&nbsp;
Here are a sample of their last tweets about Corporate Governance as I am writing this short article:
<blockquote>
Lucy Marcus: Wal-Mart investor ire could cloud annual meeting, Reuters <a href="http://reut.rs/Kwl5LB">http://reut.rs/Kwl5LB</a> #corpgov
</blockquote>
<blockquote>
Doug Y Park RT <a href="http://www.twitter.com/stanfordcorpgov">@stanfordcorpgov</a>: U.S. Chamber of Commerce wants SEC review of proxy adviser Glass, Lewis &amp; Co. <a href="http://stnfd.biz/bjcU6" target="_blank">http://stnfd.biz/bjcU6</a> via <a href="http://www.twitter.com/cnbc" target="_blank">@CNBC </a>#corpgov
</blockquote>
&nbsp;
I am noting that the influence scores of the community are much higher than last year, proof that the topic is picking up weight through the social media circles. Individual tweeps also are ranking higher.
&nbsp;
<h2>An overview of the corporate governance community on Twitter </h2>
I analyzed the profile of those who are using the #corpgov hashtag on Twitter, signalling their topic. Here are some findings from<a href="http://competia.com/www.tweetscharts.com" target="_blank"> Tweetcharts.com</a> :
<img class="left" src="http://competia.com/assets/Uploads/_resampled/ResizedImage719293-tweetcharts.png" width="719" height="293" alt="" title="" />
&nbsp;
<h2>The community is getting more international</h2>
When comparing the #corpgov community in 2012 to the one I described in 2011, the main difference in my opinion is how much more international the experts are. Voices from all over the world are raising and the conversation has turned global. In particular, here are the international #corpgov hotspots:
Italie: Following the change in law requiring Italian companies to reach a quota of women on boards, the Italian community is blossoming:inspired by elected parliamentary Alessia Mosca&nbsp; <a href="https://twitter.com/#%21/alessiamosca" class="account-group js-user-profile-link">@alessiamosca</a>,&nbsp; <a href="https://twitter.com/Valore_D" target="_blank">@Valore_D</a> is leading an association promoting the role of women in leadership positions, <a href="http://competia.com/www.twitter.com/@tommaso_arenare" target="_blank">@tommaso_arenare</a> from Egon Zehnders is devoted to placing great candidates on Italian boards. Other voices include&nbsp; <a href="https://twitter.com/NicolaCattini" target="_blank">@NicolaCattini</a> @<a href="http://hootsuite.com/dashboard#" title="AnnaZavaritt" class="_userInfoPopup _twitter">AnnaZavaritt</a> @<a href="http://hootsuite.com/dashboard#" title="paolaparimerito" class="_userInfoPopup _twitter">paolaparimerito</a> @<a href="http://hootsuite.com/dashboard#" title="mammaeconomia" class="_userInfoPopup _twitter">mammaeconomia</a> @<a href="http://hootsuite.com/dashboard#" title="stefaniaboleso" class="_userInfoPopup _twitter">stefaniaboleso</a> and @<a href="http://hootsuite.com/dashboard#" title="giuzan" class="_userInfoPopup _twitter">giuzan</a> .
Canada: Professor Richard Leblanc ( <a href="https://twitter.com/richardRLeblanc" target="_blank">@richardRLeblanc</a> ) has been very active this year, while managing a dynamic community on LinkedIn. Other accounts include <a href="https://twitter.com/company2keepinc" target="_blank">@company2keepinc</a> , <a href="https://twitter.com/sitatthetable" target="_blank">@sitatthetable</a>, and Dora Koop ( <a href="https://twitter.com/ghongovernance" target="_blank">@ghongovernance</a>) at McGill University.
Singapore: Badashruti Mitrabasu&nbsp; <a href="https://twitter.com/bedashruti" target="_blank">@bedashruti&nbsp; </a>talks about the practical aspects of Corporate Governance in Singapore.
&nbsp;
<h2>Here is the ranking of the top 25 tweeters on Corporate Governance</h2>
&nbsp;
This list is by no means exhaustive, so if I have forgotten you , or anyone you would recommand, feel free to add their name and content in the comments below... (note that the ranking and number of followers varies from day to day, so these were the numbers at the time the article was written).
&nbsp;

<table border="0" cellpadding="0" width="485">
<tbody>
<tr>
<td>
Ranking
</td>
<td valign="top">
Who is behind the tweets
</td>
<td>
Twitter 
</td>
<td>
Perindex score 
</td>
<td>
Klout score 
</td>
<td>
Number of followers
</td>
<td></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
#1
</td>
<td valign="top">
Lucy Marcus
</td>
<td>
<a href="http://www.twitter.com/lucymarcus" target="_blank">lucymarcus</a>
</td>
<td>
66
</td>
<td>
63
</td>
<td>
9318
</td>
<td></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
#2
</td>
<td valign="top">
Estelle Metayer
</td>
<td>
<a href="http://www.twitter.com/competia">competia</a>
</td>
<td>
62
</td>
<td>
59
</td>
<td>
5629
</td>
<td></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
#3
</td>
<td>
Douglas K. Park
</td>
<td>
<a href="http://www.twitter.com/dougYPark">dougYPark</a>
</td>
<td>
62
</td>
<td>
55
</td>
<td>
1827
</td>
<td></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
#4
</td>
<td valign="top">
Sit at the Table
</td>
<td>
<a href="http://www.twitter.com/sitatthetable" target="_blank">sitatthetable</a>
</td>
<td>
62
</td>
<td>
60
</td>
<td>
5665
</td>
<td></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
#5
</td>
<td valign="top">
Fabian Pattberg
</td>
<td>
f<a href="http://www.twitter.com/fabianpattberg" target="_blank">abianpattberg</a>
</td>
<td>
61
</td>
<td>
na
</td>
<td>
7172
</td>
<td></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
#6
</td>
<td valign="top">
Janet Morgan
</td>
<td>
<a href="http://www.twitter.com/jan_morgan">jan_morgan</a>
</td>
<td>
61
</td>
<td>
43
</td>
<td>
2845
</td>
<td></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
#7
</td>
<td valign="top">
Broc Romanek
</td>
<td>
<a href="http://www.twitter.com/brocromanek" target="_blank">brocromanek</a>
</td>
<td>
60
</td>
<td>
51
</td>
<td>
1936
</td>
<td></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
#8
</td>
<td>
Francine McKenna
</td>
<td>
<a href="http://www.twitter.com/retheauditors" target="_blank">retheauditors</a>
</td>
<td>
60
</td>
<td>
54
</td>
<td>
8183
</td>
<td></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
#9
</td>
<td valign="top">
James McRitchie
</td>
<td>
<a href="http://www.twitter.com/corpgovnet" target="_blank">corpgovnet</a>
</td>
<td>
60
</td>
<td>
40
</td>
<td>
1267
</td>
<td></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
#10
</td>
<td valign="top">
Leon Kaye
</td>
<td>
<a href="http://www.twitter.com/leonkaye" target="_blank">leonkaye</a>
</td>
<td>
60
</td>
<td>
55
</td>
<td>
2667
</td>
<td></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
#11
</td>
<td valign="top">
Alice Korngold
</td>
<td>
<a href="http://www.twitter.com/alicekorngold" target="_blank">alicekorngold</a>
</td>
<td>
60
</td>
<td>
48
</td>
<td>
3141
</td>
<td></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
#12
</td>
<td valign="top">
Company2keep
</td>
<td>
<a href="http://www.twitter.com/company2keepinc " target="_blank">company2keepinc&nbsp;</a>
</td>
<td>
60
</td>
<td>
48
</td>
<td>
2606
</td>
<td></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
#13
</td>
<td valign="top">
James Goldblatt
</td>
<td>
<a href="http://www.twitter.com/pegasuscorpinfo " target="_blank">pegasuscorpinfo</a>
</td>
<td>
60
</td>
<td>
43
</td>
<td>
873
</td>
<td></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
#14
</td>
<td>
Frank Aquila
</td>
<td>
<a href="http://www.twitter.com/faquila " target="_blank">faquila</a>
</td>
<td>
59
</td>
<td>
36
</td>
<td>
2858
</td>
<td></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
#15
</td>
<td>
Jayne Juvan
</td>
<td>
<a href="http://www.twitter.com/jaynejuvan" target="_blank">Jaynejuvan</a>
</td>
<td>
59
</td>
<td>
47
</td>
<td>
1680
</td>
<td></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
#16
</td>
<td valign="top">
Claude Super
</td>
<td>
<a href="http://www.twitter.com/claudesuper" target="_blank">claudesuper</a>
</td>
<td>
59
</td>
<td>
48
</td>
<td>
1680
</td>
<td></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
#17
</td>
<td valign="top">
Matt Orsagh
</td>
<td>
<a href="http://www.twitter.com/mattorsagh" target="_blank">mattorsagh</a>
</td>
<td>
59
</td>
<td>
&nbsp;
</td>
<td>
493
</td>
<td></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
#18
</td>
<td valign="top">
Richard Leblanc
</td>
<td>
<a href="http://www.twitter.com/drrleblanc" target="_blank">drrleblanc</a>
</td>
<td>
59
</td>
<td>
44
</td>
<td>
1192
</td>
<td></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
#19
</td>
<td>
Norman Marks
</td>
<td>
<a href="http://www.twitter.com/normanmarks" target="_blank">normanmarks</a>
</td>
<td>
58
</td>
<td>
43
</td>
<td>
2333
</td>
<td></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
#20
</td>
<td valign="top">
Bill George
</td>
<td>
<a href="http://www.twitter.com/bill_george" target="_blank">bill_george</a>
</td>
<td>
58
</td>
<td>
52
</td>
<td>
11743
</td>
<td></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
#21
</td>
<td>
Alex Todd
</td>
<td>
<a href="http://www.twitter.com/trustenabler" target="_blank">trustenabler</a>
</td>
<td>
58
</td>
<td>
45
</td>
<td>
1180
</td>
<td></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
#22
</td>
<td valign="top">
Fay Feeney
</td>
<td>
<a href="http://www.twitter.com/fayfeeney">fayfeeney</a>
</td>
<td>
57
</td>
<td>
47
</td>
<td>
5206
</td>
<td></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
#23
</td>
<td valign="top">
Jim Brashear
</td>
<td>
<a href="http://www.twitter.com/jfbrashear" target="_blank">jfbrashear</a>
</td>
<td>
57
</td>
<td>
38
</td>
<td>
881
</td>
<td></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
#24
</td>
<td>
Nell Minow
</td>
<td>
<a href="http://www.twitter.com/nminow" target="_blank">nminow</a>
</td>
<td>
56
</td>
<td>
47
</td>
<td>
2583
</td>
<td></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
#25
</td>
<td>
Sergio Guzman
</td>
<td>
<a href="http://www.twitter.com/sguzmanl">sguzmanl</a>
</td>
<td>
56
</td>
<td>
37
</td>
<td>
1219
</td>
<td></td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
 Sun, 03 Jun 2012 15:00:00 -0700 http://competia.com/who-is-the-most-influential-corporate-governance-tweeter-in-2/ Boards of directors: less oversight, more foresight? http://competia.com/boards-of-directors-less-oversight-more-foresight/ With the revelation of each new failure caused by&nbsp; "strategic short-sightedness," as illustrated by the recent Kodak, HP, RIM and Blockbuster failures, companies must rethink their governance systems and in particular the role of the board of directors.
This article is a translation of my original article, published <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.fr/estelle-metayer/conseils-dadministration-_b_1273658.html" target="_blank" title="Huffington Post">here</a> in the Huffington Post in France on February 15, 2012.
Indeed, for the last ten years, most of the reform initiatives of companies' governance systems have focused on reinforcing their oversight mechanisms: setting up audit and risk committees and seeking board members with extensive financial backgrounds or strong operational experience. In doing this, we wrongly assume that focusing on the past is the best way to prepare the future of our companies.
But what emerges from these crises -- missed technological breakthroughs, risks perceived too late, bifurcation of the business model -- is the striking need for boards of directors to be more involved in all phases of the company's strategy: in its design, in supporting its implementation, and in its supervision. Furthermore, many companies and entrepreneurs realize that their board is often the last safeguard against strategic blindspots.
Strategic blindspots can include risks that the company has not seen or didn't know how to integrate into its decision-making process, as well as opportunities missed by the company. These can be a new technology, a sudden change in the preferences of consumers, or a competitor who forces an industry conversion. For example, Claire Gaymard, the president of GE in France, during a symposium this month, rightly mentioned that it was ironic that in 2008, while all corporate executives were looking to emerging countries as the main threat, the most significant crisis affecting the corporate world started in Wall Street, the heart of capitalism, where people are supposed to be the most educated and informed. And in terms of missed opportunities, by redefining its market as "well-being," Nestle now encroaches on the territory of its neighbors, the pharmaceutical companies who failed to see this coming.
Blindspots are due to three main factors. First the competitive blindspots, when the industry has been defined in a way that is too limiting or when a company systematically underestimates competitors. Second, historical bias: a reference framework of managers and the company leaders that is too homogeneous (big telecommunication companies are now just waking up to the potentials of cloud, while this week, Microsoft and Google both announced their massive entry into this segment). Historical bias is also seen when companies underestimate future trends based on being overly-wedded to the past or when they are restrained by ccorporate taboos that are irrationally entrenched in their historic roots. And lastly, blindspots come from cognitive errors: poor thinking and maintaining illogical assumptions that are challenged (who said that banks were the only ones that could lend or transfer payments between individuals?)
<h3>Potential solutions are slowly emerging</h3>
As long as boards of directors remain homogeneous, they will, by definition, be biased. One of the solutions is to force diversity among board members in order to bring in the external expertise necessary for the future of the company. This diversity might be geographical, such as including on the board an independent board member who, for example, knows China well. Diversity might also be linked to bringing in new skills (such as including a board member who understands the issues related to social media) or even match more closely the segmentation of the customers. Facebook, for example, is currently in the middle of turmoil: while 58% of its users are women, no woman sits on its board of directors.
The debate on the age of board members also still remains widely ignored: while some companies took the plunge (in 2011, in the United States, more than 100 people under 30 joined the boards of directors of public companies), some nominations of younger directors produced an outcry, the most visible one being that of Chelsea Clinton who, last September, joined the board of Diller IAC, a company listed on the New York Stock Exchange.
The boards' structure must also evolve. Last month, Georges Colony, the CEO of Forrester advised attendees at <a href="http://competia.com/www.weforum.org" target="_blank" title="Davos">Davos</a> to set up a technological committee in each board of directors in order to prepare for an eventual technology disruption. Many companies, from Carrefour in France, to Telefonica en Spain, to Unicredit in Italy and Arcelor Mittal in Belgium, have set up strategic committees aimed at allowing their board to be more involved in strategic thinking. Others, such as Air France, dismantled their strategic committee in 2009. Ironically, this company is one of those that made <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/the-next-17-big-companies-that-are-at-risk-of-bankruptcy-2012-1?op=1" title="Bankrupcy">the headlines</a> in a recent analysis of potential future bankruptcies.
Strategic committee or not, the board's schedule should include unstructured time for thinking and debating about long-term trends that will affect the company. Today, it is not uncommon for boards of directors to dedicate a full day to this type of reflection each year and ban any PowerPoint presentations during the debate!
Finally, many companies bring in an independent strategic intelligence source that prevents filtering by the executive committee. This intelligence is shared increasingly on a continuing basis (for example, daily media feeds at Hydro-Quebec, in Canada) and is no longer limited to a long presentation during the board's annual meeting.
It is time for French boards of directors to catch up so that French CEOs and their teams will consider their board of directors less as a necessary evil than as a key discussion partner.
&nbsp; Tue, 28 Feb 2012 00:13:00 -0800 http://competia.com/boards-of-directors-less-oversight-more-foresight/ Davos: If you come in with your pre-conceptions, the only thing you'll fall in love with are your own assumptions and biases http://competia.com/davos-if-you-come-in-with-your-pre-conceptions-the-only-thing-you-ll-fall-in-love-with-are-your-own-assumptions-and-biases/ A recent article by Anya Schiffrin "Confessions of a Davos Wife" (see <a href="http://blogs.reuters.com/anya-schiffrin/2012/01/17/confessions-of-a-davos-spouse/" target="_blank">here</a>)&nbsp; on Reuter's website sparked my interest. Since the site seem to have censured my comment on the blog ( here goes freedom of expression... Note from author: I stand corrected: after this article was published on Competia's site, and picked up in a number of pinboards, Reuters finally allowed my comments on the blog. Thanks Reuters ! ), I thought I'd publish it here. I can use also the excuse to introduce what will go on in Davos at the <a href="http://www.weforum.org" target="_blank">World Economic Forum</a> Annual Meeting 2012 for me this year.
<img class="left" src="http://competia.com/assets/Uploads/_resampled/ResizedImage600239-Thoughtdavosbiases.jpg" width="600" height="239" alt="" title="" />
<h3>Sensing weak signals</h3>
I have been a Davos participant for over 10 years in different capacities ( from spouse to speaker...) and I treasure the immense privilege of been invited to attend - and actively participate. Over the years, I have attended amazing discussions on issues that are&nbsp; close to my professional and personal interest, ranging from corporate governance, decision making in complex environments, science's new boundaries, or how to integrate innovation into the leadership of our companies. Davos has be a key source to spot trends&nbsp;long before they are identified by the mainstream press. I heard from <a href="http://www.scobleizer.com/" target="_blank">Robert Scoble</a> <a href="http://competia.com/www.scobleizer.com"></a>about Twitter years before anyone I knew used it,&nbsp; watched <a href="http://www.google.com" target="_blank">Google</a> take-off, listened to Goldman Sachs' chairman on board governance after the crisis, heard about the origin of universe and the impact for science from Harvard Prof Sasselov, experienced life in a refugee camp, discussed peer to peer sharing and privacy with Paulo Coehlo. I listened to our world leaders, sometimes exchanged over coffee at the break, asked many questions to the<a href="http://competia.com/www.weforum.org/community/technology-pioneers" target="_blank"> technology pioneers</a> to understand which technology will hit the headlines and our companies in the future.
I would never trade those discussions for hot chocolate. I have also attended many architecture sessions - by choice. I find fascinating how architects are able to pick weak signals and incorporate them concretely in their work- from the urge for tighter communities, the adequation of the building to the new urban landscape, the need for cross generational ties. Many large corporations from GE to IBM or Veolia are struggling today with the thought process to integrate this into their products and business models. Those who have are doing well. There has been an immense respect from all participants who know well that many spouses attending often have rich professional and personal lives. From Canada, Ana Lopes who accompanies <a href="http://dontapscott.com/" target="_blank">Don Tapscott</a> just got the highest honor in the country, the <a href="http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/the-full-list-of-order-of-canada-appointees/article2286539/" target="_blank">Order of Canada</a>&nbsp;<a href="http://www.transparencyinternational.org" target="_blank"></a>. We could also mention Marissa Meyer's spouse, the co-founder of a private equity fund, Maria Seidman, a former VP Business Development for Warner Brothers, who accompanies her husband Dov Seidman, or Lyn Taliento, a "spouse" but also a partner at <a href="http://www.mckinsey.com" target="_blank">McKinsey &amp; Company</a> who does pioneering work in Haiti... Those extraordinary women and men never saw the shadow of a ski or horse sleigh in Davos, their learning agenda packed from 7am till late in the evening.
<blockquote>
To get value from Davos, you have to make it "your" Davos- pick carefully the content that interests you, reach out to those who inspire you, enjoy the serendipity encounter. If you come in with your pre-conceptions, the only thing you'll fall in love with in Davos are your own assumptions and biases.
</blockquote>
<h3> </h3>
<h3>Need to know more about what happens in Davos ?</h3>
Please find below how you can follow Davos ( I extracted many of those sources from the excellent summary by Matthias Luefkens at the WEF : see here for <a href="http://www3.weforum.org/docs/AM12/WEF_AM12_NewSocialMediaInitiatives.pdf" target="_blank">sources</a> and here for how to follow Davos on <a href="http://www3.weforum.org/docs/AM12/WEF_AM12_NewSocialMediaInitiatives.pdf" target="_blank">social media</a> ).
<ul>
<li>At the video corner there will be <a href="http://wef.ch/Gplus">"hang-outs"</a>, live video Q&amp;As on Google+ giving the general public the rare opportunity to "hang out" and interact with world leaders on the Forum's Google+ page.</li>
<li>The Social Media Corner will also feature a special <a href="http://facebook.com/worldeconomicforum" target="_blank">Facebook studio</a> where we will conduct live interviews with participants streamed live on the Forum's Facebook fan page.</li>
<li>Lots of going on on Twitter: The Forum has compiled an <a href="http://twitter.com/Davos/Davos2012" target="_blank">official Twitter list</a> including all the participants active on the microblogging service . There is also a <a href="http://twitter.com/Davos/WEFmedia" target="_blank">special media list</a> with the accounts of the key journalists present. The tweets from the official Twitter list will be displayed on the <a href="http://wef.ch/twitterwall" target="_blank">official Twitter wall</a> . The World Economic Forum on Twitter <a href="http://twitter.com/Davos" target="_blank">@Davos </a>as well as our live tweet account <a href="http://twitter.com/wef" target="_blank">@WEF</a> where key quotes get tweeted from official plenary sessions and where most of the Twitter chatter will happen. The best tweets, pictures and videos from the Annual Meeting will be collated on&nbsp; <a href="http://storify.com/wef" target="_blank">Storify</a> . hould also follow our communities: <a href="http://twitter.com/GlobalShapers" target="_blank">@GlobalShapers</a>, <a href="http://twitter.com/TechPioneers" target="_blank">@TechPioneers</a>, <a href="http://twitter.com/SchwabFound" target="_blank">@SchwabFound</a> and <a href="http://twitter.com/YGLVoices" target="_blank">@YGLVoices</a>. Chinese speakers can get updates in Chinese on <a href="http://wef.ch/weibo" target="_blank">Sina Weibo</a> .</li>
<li>Your magic word on twitter is #WEF , the hashtag used by all participants at the event</li>
<li>Pictures from participants taken with their mobiles phones can be viewed <a href="http://davos.sharypic.com/" target="_blank">here</a> on Sharypic.</li>
<li>During the Annual Meeting all official plenary sessions are available on webcast <a href="http://wef.ch/live" target="_blank">here</a> .Here is the <a href="http://wef.ch/programme" target="_blank">webcast programme</a> .</li>
<li>Finally, <a href="http://www.reuters.com/subjects/davos" target="_blank">Reuters</a>, <a href="http://edition.cnn.com/SPECIALS/davos" target="_blank">CNN</a> have created 'Davos spaces"</li>
<li>Enjoy... </li>
</ul> Fri, 20 Jan 2012 13:00:00 -0800 http://competia.com/davos-if-you-come-in-with-your-pre-conceptions-the-only-thing-you-ll-fall-in-love-with-are-your-own-assumptions-and-biases/ Decision making: It's all about taking off - and landing safely… http://competia.com/decision-making-it-s-all-about-taking-off-and-landing-safely/ Klaus Schwab from the <a href="http://www.weforum.org" target="_blank">World Economic Forum</a>, opened one of the WEF's meeting last month by saying " Complexity, velocity of global issues means decision makers are always behind". From heads of state to corporate decision makers, everyone is struggling with the same challenge: too much - too fast. There is one profession however who has studied carefully decision making, and systematically trained thousands of decision makers to allow them to make decisions in minutes, often in very uncertain conditions : the airline and airplane industry. Managers and executives could learn from them.
<img class="left" src="http://competia.com/assets/images/_resampled/resizedimage600300-Thoughtcockpit.jpg" width="600" height="300" alt="" title=""/>
 
<h2>What airplane pilots could teach businesses and leaders in the "art" of decision making</h2>
 
An article published in the <a href="http://www.mckquarterly.com/" target="_blank">McKinsey Quarterly</a> triggered my thinking a couple of month ago. The author, Lowell Bryant, was highlighting the need for "just in time" decision making in companies.
<blockquote>
"Much of the art of decision making under uncertainty is getting the timing right. If you delay too much, investment costs may escalate, and losses can accumulate. However, making critical decisions too early can lead to bad choices or excessive risks"
</blockquote>
 
90% of pilot training include decision making. Professional pilots spend hundreds of hours in simulators and in the cockpit trying to tackle one key challenge: those 3 or 4 minutes where, one day in their career, they will have to make the one decision that will result in the life or death of hundreds of passengers.
The environment a pilot is navigating is not that dissimilar than the corporate environment and its many uncertainties and disruptions: a bird striking your engines, icing accumulating on the wings, an unexpected delay resulting on an aircraft been in your flightpath... as those happen, the hundreds of hours of training are coming into play.
This is how we train pilots to make the right decision.
 
<h3>Understand biases induced by the way our brain, and more specifically our senses are built.</h3>
As a pilot feels the skin of his/her back pressing against the back of the seat, he/she will assume the plane is accelerating. However, it can also be the results of a plane which nose has unexpectedly pointed towards the sky, and which is climbing sharply while loosing speed. Polits also are well aware of the Graveyard spiral: an observed loss of altitude during a coordinated constant-rate turn that has ceased stimulating the motion sensing system can create the illusion of being in a descent with the wings level. The disoriented pilot will pull back on the controls, tightening the spiral and increasing the loss of altitude. Mistakes like this have in the past led to terrible accidents, one of them been the decision made by the Air France pilots during that terrible Rio-Paris crash.
See here a documentary by the <a href="http://www.bbc.com" target="_blank">BBC</a> on the Air France Rio-Paris crash, largely due to pilot error.
 
<iframe src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/ecX1wxWjpgs" width="560" height="315" frameborder="0"/>
 
Most significantly, we now when we train pilots that biases are accentuated in the following situations:
Expectations based on experience: pilots compare the information they get with what they have learned from past experiences. For example, the image of the runway as they are about the land is compared with the image from runways they are used to. If a runway is narrower or larger than what they are used to, it can result in an inaccurate estimate of airplave height.
<img class="left" src="http://competia.com/assets/images/_resampled/resizedimage432321-Photothoughtsdecision.png" width="432" height="321" alt="" title=""/>
The recent decision by HP's CEO to exit the computer world and focus on developing software is partly driven by Leo Apoteker's experience at SAP. This logic can have unexpected consequences: it implies that the most experienced CEOs might be the ones who are most likely to make the wrong decisions.
Expectations based on anticipation: as a pilot is getting ready to take off, he/she is waiting for the final green light from the tower. Accidents have happened when the insctruction that followed " cleared into take off position" can be understood as "cleared for take-off" ( resulting a few years ago in a collision of 2 Boeing 747 in Tenerife). Similarly, we have observed CEOs who after having presented a strategic plan to a less than luke-warm board of directors, have taken the quiet reserve or lack of decision for a green light. 
Expectations based on habits: if a pilot is used to parking his/her plane on "Parking Area Alpha" and exceptionally receives the instruction to park in "Parking Area Golf", the risk exists that the pilot still goes to Alpha, even after having repeated accurately the instructions to the tower. This bias explains why so many executives keep repeating the same patterns or decisions, even when their environment is clearly shifting ( this is currently happening in the telecommunication industry).
You will find additional information about strategic biases in our article : "Strategic Blindspot Index" ( see <a href="http://competia.com/boards-and-ceos-introducing-the-strategic-blindspots-index/" target="_blank">here</a> ).
<h3> </h3>
<h3> </h3>
<h3>When under stress, revert to checklists</h3>
To allow the mind to focus on the important task of assessing the situation, checklists have been built to allow pilots to process information fast and get data he / she needs. This is due to the fact that to the best of human abilities, the mind can only process 7 pieces of short information at a time ( this is why in most countries most phone numbers have 7 digits). Offloading pilots on steps to follow in an emergency situation has been crucial to the profession. As far as I know, no such checklists have been developed for CEOs and executives ( except in extreme crisis situations).
If one looks closely at how those checklists have been developed overtime, an interesting process emerges: checklists have been crowdsourced to the entire flight community. Any incident, any accident is logged, discussed and shared in publications and training session so that the knowledge in the industry can collectively grow. No such process exists in the corporate world. Companies struggle to share knowledge internally, and certainly, no repository exists today to share failures, and debate them publicly. A few initiatives have emerged, such as the MIX ( <a href="http://www.managementexchange.com/" target="_blank">Management Insight Exchange</a>), but they have only gained limited visibility.
 
<h3>Be physically shaped for decision making </h3>
A significant percentage of human errors occur under stress. There is a code of eating behavior that guides pilots to be physicallly shaped for decision making.
In addition, the aerospace community has studied those factors carefully and are able to anticipate situations when decision making might fail ( for more, see <a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2932987/" target="_blank">here</a> ).
<blockquote>
A questionnaire concerning life changes, personality factors, and adjustmental and leadership qualities of U.S. Naval aircrewmembers involved in aircraft accidents was sent to investigating flight surgeons during 1977-78. The responses were divided into two groups: those who were causally involved in accidents and those who were not. In order to cross-validate the results, data were collected and analyzed. Results indicate that aircrewmembers in the process of deciding about staying in the service are more likely to fall into the causally involved group. So were those who had trouble with interpersonal relationships, had no sense of humor or humility concerning themselves, were immature, or had recently lost a friend or family member through death. 
</blockquote>
<h1>Source: A questionnaire study of psychological background factors in U.S. Navy aircraft accidents ( Alkov RA, Borowsky MS.)</h1>
 
I have not seen one company that has adopted a eating guide, health and fitness code (and requirement) for its executives. Few have tackled the issue of executive support and coaching to deal with stress factors. Finally, I also have never seen a "sense of humor" test as part of the recruiting toolkit...
 
<h3>Understand the role of intelligence</h3>
When flying, pilots do have an array of information they can tap into: numerous maps of existing weather and wind conditions, 3-hour forecasts, a radars, insights from the control tower, etc...
Similarly, executives can base their decisions on a flow of information and data. The competitive and strategic intelligence process is therefore a key part of their decision making process. A recent survey of North American companies ( <a href="http://www.globalintelligence.com/insights-analysis/market-intelligence-surveys/" target="_blank">2011 Global Market Intelligence Survey</a>) shows that 84% of companies have implemented a structured intelligence process in house. On average, North American companies have teams of 10 people with competitive intelligence as their primary role, which cater to 1,162 internal clients. Furthermore, nearly 70% of North American companies intend to increase their investments in competitive intelligence (also known as market intelligence) in 2012-2013.
 
<h3>Experience intensity</h3>
Flight instructors know the law of intensity: the best way to anchor learning in a student is to experience the effect of mistake emotionally. For example, we often let the student pilot stall the aircraft and go for a spin. A new pilot will never forget this experience - and hopefully recognize the signs early in the future.
Pilots wil rehearse the same crisis situation many times, each time with an added twist or new factors to learn to make decisions without anchoring to a past situation.
Similarly, role playing, business simulations and war gaming can help executive play out possible outcomes in crisis situation. The <a href="http://www.worldwithoutoil.org/" target="_blank">"World without Oil"</a> is a great example of how this might be done.
<blockquote>
WORLD WITHOUT OIL is a serious game for the public good. WWO invited people from all walks of life to contribute "collective imagination" to confront a real-world issue: the risk our unbridled thirst for oil poses to our economy, climate and quality of life. It's a milestone in the quest to use games as democratic, collaborative platforms for exploring possible futures and sparking future-changing action.
</blockquote>
 
 
<h3>Do not trust your instruments</h3>
 
Pilots learn early not to trust their instruments entirely, and only when they can triangulate the information. As instruments can lie, or break down. Again, the recent accident of the Paris-Rio Air France flight illustrated how difficult it can be to make the right decision when one instrument ( in that case a frozen speed indicator) fails. It is only by looking at the full picture that they make up their mind about the real situation.
Similarly, companies should revisit their key indicators. One way to avoid blindspots can be to systematically revisit the type of information that is collected and communicated and take some key assumptions off the equation: if my sales go up, and the number of customers as well, does it mean I attract the best ones ( or that I am failing like in the subprime case) ? What if the indicators say the opposite ? Am I monitoring the correct dashboard ?
 
<h3>Train for the situation</h3>
Pilots are trained specifically for each type of aircraft they fly. In fact, they will get additional training each time they change the type of aircraft they are flying.
Managers don't. When new CEO of HP joined from SAP, he applies to his new business the same principles as the ones what seemed to work at SAP. He divested of hardware, and directed the company towards software. I do not know business schools today which differentiate their training based on the type of company managers will work with. What about an MBA in Telecommunication management? An MBA in retail management? ( of course, it would also be interesting - and innovative- for a telecom company to hire a retail management MBA to bring in a different way of doing business....)
<h2> </h2>
<h2>Conclusions</h2>
 
Managers and executives are still largely trained today the same way they were trained 50 years ago. Little emphasis is put on decision making, which is one of the key skills in today's turbulent environment. As other professions have developed an acute understanding of the decision making process, we should, as a business community, learn from them.
 
<a href="http://competia.com/about/" target="_blank">Estelle Métayer</a> brings vast experience and fresh perspective to the ever-changing world of Competitive and Strategic Intelligence. A noted expert, her intuitive, precise research provides managers, CEOs, and board members with the right tools to effectively build and hone their competitive intelligence and strategic planning - to avoid blind spots, capitalize on strengths and excel. Estelle is also a commercial pilot and Certified Flight Instructor.
 Mon, 05 Dec 2011 15:00:00 -0800 http://competia.com/decision-making-it-s-all-about-taking-off-and-landing-safely/ "Because I Dare" - Women on Boards http://competia.com/because-i-dare-women-on-boards-2/ As women flooded the "Women on Boards Bootcamp" sessions at the <a href="http://www.Womens-forum.com" target="_blank">Women's Forum</a> which took place in Deauville this week, I could not help but reflect that the pool of women candidates willing to sit on boards was indeed rich, diverse, and experienced."Because I dare" could best summarize the discussions - and the general mood: women need to take a much more aggressive approach if they want to set foot in the boardroom. They need to gain self confidence to seek out those board positions, leverage their relevant experiences in governance, and stop to be simply waiting for the opportunities to be presented to them.
<img class="left" src="http://competia.com/assets/images/_resampled/ResizedImage587294-Thoughtwomanboardroom.jpg" width="587" height="294" alt="" title="" />
Three main themes emerged from the discussion:
&nbsp;
<h3>The landscape is slowly structuring</h3>
Recruitment firms such as <a href="http://www.spencerstuart.com//global" target="_blank">Spencer Stuart</a> are setting the tone and aiming to place on European and US boards women candidates, provided that they fill one of two criteria: they either have to be currently in a position as the CEO or business unit president with P &amp;L experience, or have held a position as the CFO of a public company.
Associations are aiming to strengthen the formal and informal networks. For example, the <a href="http://www.womencorporatedirectors/" target="_blank">Women Corporate Directors</a> association appears to now be the major player worldwide. Unlike the <a href="http://www.nacdonline.org/" target="_blank">National Association of Corporate Directors</a> in the United States, which has built its own glass ceiling by allowing only women currently on boards to throw in their hat in the arena and provide their profile into their database, the WCD opens up its doors to would-be directors, and through 38 chapters is now actively building the network
Strong women advocates and role models are emerging: Veronique Morali, for example, chairman of Fimalac Developpement, the parent company of the international financial services organization, Fitch Group and is currently sitting on the boards of Havas, Publicis group, Coca-Cola Enterprises and LCF Rothschild group. She founded <a href="http://www.terrafemina.com/">www.terrafemina.com</a> with an objective of promoting the voice of women in business. Viviane Reding, vice president of the European Commission, has threatened to enforce quotas in the European boardrooms if companies do not act.
There is an increasing awareness that women need to help each other: women already on boards can suggest female candidates when board positions vacancies open up.
&nbsp;
<h3>Talented pools are slowly emerging</h3>
Latin American family companies will be able to provide their daughters, grand-daughters and nieces, often educated in the United States, who are currently sitting on the boards of the family-owned companies. This second or third generation has often inherited companies that were ill governed. When the economic crisis stroke, they have built solid experience in change management and difficult turnarounds.
International executives are likely to be uniquely positioned to capture the few opportunities available. Indeed, in France for example, most recent women appointments on boards of French companies have been filled by international executives. One reason offered is that French women shy away from the quota system and are reluctant to accept a position: " I do not want to be a quota", thus loosing the opportunity to be a player.
&nbsp;
<h3>Richness of opportunities are still been overlooked</h3>
What was missing from the discussion was the richness of the opportunities. As recruiters are grooming and courting the&nbsp; Fortune 500 public companies, there are countless startups, family companies, foundations where the strategic and growth challenges and rich and varied - and where the room of action for a woman executive is broader. "Women naturally think about CAC 40 companies, but that isn't the right strategy," added Veronique Morali.
Susan Stautberg, the co-founder of the Women Corporate Directors suggested women anchor with organizations such as the International Finance Corporation ( IFC). The organization is uniquely positioned as it finances over 250 companies a year, and has to fill an equivalent number of seats ach year - roughly the equivalent of the entire number of board members rotating in all the US Fortune500 boards each year ( According to Julie Hembrock Daum, managing Spencer Stuart's North American Board and CEO Practice, only 272 board positions opened up last year)
I missed the discussion on non profit boards - probably as those were underrepresented in the audience. Social entrepreneurs, foundations offer very rich opportunities to combine the skill set of executives and the ability to tackle the worlds crucial challenges- a more rewarding task that most of the corporate missions.
&nbsp;
<h3>There is still much room for improvement</h3>
The audit committee is viewed as the golden key to the boardroom door- the role as a board member who is part of the audit committee is often more time consuming and seem to be harder to staff. I was however taken aback by what seems to be ill placed advice: Molly Ashby, chairman and CEO of Solera Capital suggested women joined their local school board audit committee as a way to "learn the ropes" and enhance the resume of a board candidate. Having sat through many nominating committees discussions, I strongly suspect this type of experience will not get a candidate very far on the road to public or private boards...
It seems to me there are many other avenues for women candidates to board positions to differentiate themselves. Expertise in social media, new technologies for example, will be required as companies slowly will seek to understand the profound impact the technology will have on their business.
&nbsp;
Estelle Metayer is hired by boards as they tackle and identify their strategic blindspots. An Adjunct professor with <a href="http://people.mcgill.ca/estelle.metayer/" target="_blank">McGill University</a>, and a guest lecturer at IMD in Switzerland in many of their leadership programs, she teaches in the certification program for directors with the Institute of Canadian Directors in Canada. Her international career spans three continents, from the Netherlands to Canada, including Poland, the United Kingdom and South Africa. She began her career with the ING Bank in emerging markets and <a href="http://www.mckinsey.com/" target="_blank">McKinsey &amp; Company</a>. She sat in the boards of <a href="http://cwy-jcm.com//" target="_blank">World Youth Canada</a> and the <a href="http://www.grandsballets.com/en/" target="_blank">Grands Ballets Canadiens.</a>
&nbsp;
<h3>Do you have any experience you wish to share ? </h3> Tue, 18 Oct 2011 14:00:00 -0700 http://competia.com/because-i-dare-women-on-boards-2/ Boards and CEOs: Introducing the "Strategic Blindspots Index"© http://competia.com/boards-and-ceos-introducing-the-strategic-blindspots-index/ As industries become increasingly complex, it is more difficult than ever to govern companies. As an executive or a board member, you are often responsible for identifying where the company might have underestimated a strategic risk, or where you are failing to see a strategic opportunity. Competia has developed over the past few years a systematic approach to enable management teams to examine your company's strategy and lead discussions around potential "blindspots" - untapped opportunities and overlooked risks. We are now introducing the "Strategic Blindspots Index"&copy;, a systematic method to assess the risk of a strategic blindspot developing, and a way to compare a company's risk profile with industry peers.
<img class="leftAlone" src="http://competia.com/assets/images/_resampled/ResizedImage600300-Thoughtblindspotindex.jpg" width="600" height="300" alt="" title="" />
&nbsp;
&nbsp;
&nbsp;
<h3>What is The "Strategic Blindspots Index"&copy; ?</h3>
The "Strategic Blindspots Index"&copy; evaluates each company - either from the board or the executive office point of view - as regards to the likelihood of strategic blindspots developing.
Strategic blindspots risks are evaluated in the following areas:
Strategic biases: biases likely to develop as management or the board of directoris misjudges industry boundaries, thus poorly identifying emerging ocmpetitor, or developing a misguided view of competitors' competence.
Historic biases: biases relating to the frame of reference of both the board and management, and to natural anchoring that might create an inaccurate assumption of the future.
Corporate biases: unchallenged assumptions that hinder the decision making process, as well as corporate taboos.
Myopia: the degree to which the company's management and board are projecting themselves in the future. We also test how much time is dedicated to discussing the future outcomes.
Decision making biases: biases that might develop in a group during the decision making process, including cognitive biases.
&nbsp;
<h3>How does it work ? </h3>
Companies will be first ranked two ways on an index of 100 in order to calibrate how likely the risk of a strategic blindspot developing exists. Secondly, companies will also be provided with a "Blindspot profile", which will provide them with guidance and tools to allow them to act and adjust their processes or board procedures.
&nbsp; Mon, 03 Oct 2011 15:00:00 -0700 http://competia.com/boards-and-ceos-introducing-the-strategic-blindspots-index/ When Social Media Matters: a Guide to the Board of Directors for better Governance http://competia.com/when-social-media-matters-a-guide-to-the-board-of-directors-for-better-governance/ In 2009, the &nbsp;Deloitte Ethics and Workplace Survey explored attitudes about social networking and pointed out the significance of social media for board of directors. 58 percent of executives felt that the reputational risk associated with social networking should be a board room issue. Yet, &nbsp;only 17 percent of executives said that they currently had programs in place to monitor and mitigate reputational risks that may arise with social network usage. Boards have since largely left it to management to figure out its social media strategy. When informally asked in a boardroom, Competia found that less than 5% of directors admit having ever used and participated in social media. Mistrust is widespread and the issue of privacy is of utmost concern. The implications of social media for the board far outreach reputation risk. As the use of social media is rapidly spreading and challenging every single company business model and strategy, it is time for directors to understand the implications for corporate governance.
<img class="center" src="http://competia.com/assets/images/_resampled/ResizedImage600300-Fotolia9710807L.jpg" title="Social Media matters for Directors" width="600" height="300" alt="" />
<h2>Why boards should understand social media</h2>
<h3> </h3>
<h3>Reason #1: To manage reputation risk better</h3>
As executives, employees and board members blurr the boundary between their professional life and their personal life on social media, the reputation risk is growing for companies. In the 2009 Deloitte Ethics and Workplace Survey nearly three-quarters of the employees interviewed agreed that using social networks make it easier to damage a company's reputation.
In July of last year, the SEC announced its recognition of corporate blogs as public disclosure:
<blockquote>
"...company disclosure should be more readily available to investors in a variety of locations and formats to facilitate investor access to that information". "<a href="http://www.sec.gov/rules/interp/2008/34-58288.pdf">Guidance on the use of Company Websites</a>"&nbsp;issued last August outlines the boundaries for sharing information as well as holding companies and their employees liable for the information that they post on blogs, networks, communities, and discussion forums."
</blockquote>
&nbsp;
<a href="http://www.bp.com" target="_blank">BP</a> has learned this lesson the hard way. During the crisis of the oil spill, BP's unofficial site has reached 165,000+ followers (<a href="http://twitter.com/#!/BPGlobalPR" target="_blank">see here</a> ) and had become the main source of information for shareholders, surpassing by tenfold the official account (<a href="http://twitter.com/#!/BP_America" target="_blank">see here</a> with 30,000 followers). To this day, the gap has not been filled.
&nbsp;
<h3>Reason #2: As a channel of communication to the public and to shareholder</h3>
Companies globally already have started leveraging social media, and in particular Twitter, to announce new nominations and changes in the board of directors. Although the corporate world is still lagging behind non for profit organization, this trend is likely to continue. 
The National Investors Relations Institute ( <a href="http://www.niri.org/">www.niri.org</a> ) recently held a Webinar entitled "Trends in Technology and Disclosure." Three IRO's from Microvision, BGC Partners Inc., and Sun Microsystems each discussed how they have integrated social media tools such as corporate blogs, implemented notice and access releases and enriched investor communication portals to enhance and increase interaction with shareholders ( <a href="http://www.q4blog.com/2009/04/16/successful-integration-of-social-media-tools-in-ir-websites/" target="_blank">see more here</a> )
<h3> </h3>
<h3>Reason #3: To manage directors Liability</h3>
Social Media tools can be used during a crisis to federate protesters, and gather information that can be used in litigation, putting board members in a liability suit situation.
Whether justified or not, claims can be hugely damaging&nbsp; - not to mention the time board members must invest dealing with the situation. Nestle has learned its lesson in 2010 ( see <a href="http://www.1goodreason.com/blog/blog/2010/05/19/nestles-social-media-meltdown-case-study/" target="_blank">Nestle Social Media Mewltdown- A Case Study</a> ) when an iniative by Greenpeace led to an unprecedenced boardroom crisis - peaking when intruders literally dropped in the shareholder's meeting (<a href="http://www.greenpeace.org/international/en/news/features/Activists-drop-in-to-Nestle-shareholder-meeting/" target="_blank">see here</a> ). The Kit Kat <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VaJjPRwExO8" target="_blank">video</a> that launched the campaign ( and sequels) have now been viewed over 1 million times.
<img class="center" src="http://competia.com/assets/images/_resampled/ResizedImage471314-nestle-agm-banner.JPG" width="471" height="314" alt="" title="" />
<h3>Source: Greenpeace.com </h3>
<h3> </h3>
<h3>Reason #4: To protect against insider trading claims</h3>
Information posted on Facebook, in a blog or any other social media could results in a sudden change in price or buy activity resulting in an <a href="http://www.sec.gov/" target="_blank">SEC</a> investigation. On the on the Martindale-Hubbell Connected network for legal professionals, Virgina Henschel, Rob Robinson, Mike Mintz and Steven Weinberger share how Disney got caught into the social spider web:
<blockquote>
On May 26 of this year, the SEC filed a complaint against an administrative assistant at The Walt Disney Company and her boyfriend, who sent numerous hedge funds anonymous letters offering to provide the funds with inside information about Disney's quarterly earnings in exchange for a fee. They were busted by the FBI when they sold the information to an undercover FBI agent posing as an investment manager.
When the administrative assistant thought she was going to get away with her crime, she posted the following status update on her Facebook account: I go shopping, shopping, shopping.
As a result, the defendant's Facebook status is being used against her by the SEC, to prove a mindset and motivation to do the crime.
</blockquote>
&nbsp;
<h3>Reason #5: As a source of independent intelligence</h3>
In oder to avoid solely relying on market and strategic information been provided by management, and therefore subject to biases, boards are starting to build independant source of intelligence to feed their discussions. Social media offers unfiltered access to feedback from customers and stakeholders about the company and offers therefore an aditional source of insights.
Yoram Wind, professor at the Wharton Scool, quoted in the article "Rethinking the Board"
<blockquote>
To make informed decisions, boards would need to have independent sources of information, with their own budgets for conducting studies, and gathering information (...) to gain independent insights about the health of the business.
</blockquote>
Social media is by definition unfiltered - and is not easily manipulated. It offers therefore an additional tremendous source of information about the company.
&nbsp;
<h3>Reason #6: To avoid blindspots</h3>
As new business models emerge that leverage social media and challenge conventional players, the board need to understand the risks posed by potential new competitors who know how to harness the power of social media. Directors should relentlessly investigate emerging new players - especially those coming from adjacent industries, and challenge all their assumptions about existing industry boundaries. Examples abound:
<ul>
<li><a href="http://www.facebook.com" target="_blank">Facebook</a> has the potential to challenge the banking industry with peer to peer lending and "internal" currency ( <a href="http://www.finextra.com/news/fullstory.aspx?newsitemid=21187" target="_blank">read more here</a> )</li>
<li><a href="https://www.google.com/voice" target="_blank">Google Voice</a> is directly competing with telecommunication players, offering free long distance calls ( <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Google_Voice" target="_blank">read more here</a> )</li>
</ul>
&nbsp;
<h2>Steps the board should take to get up to speed</h2>
I am certainly not advocating the individual board members to start blogging, although individual members might want to experiment privately. However, here are a few steps I suggest the board considers to start harnesting social media:
&nbsp;
<h3>1.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Get an outside expert</h3>
Hire an outside expert to come and demystify social media during a board meeting. Specific points to be addressed should include:
<ul>
<li>how the company's specific target market uses social media; </li>
<li>a comparative analysis of what competitors are doing ; </li>
<li>research on reach and future trends in social media; criteria to use; </li>
<li>the difference between inbound and outbound social media; </li>
<li>a measure of ROI </li>
<li>the role of contingency plans</li>
</ul>
&nbsp;
<h3>2.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Ask management to analyze and discuss the impact social media could have for the company</h3>
In particular, focus on emerging competitors, potential changes in the value chain, and customer relationships shifts. As corporate board member&nbsp; Julie Hill points out in "Boardroom Relevance":
<blockquote>
&nbsp; "Social media must be as much about listening as talking.&nbsp; What customers tell us may be reason to review our policies, not just our products.&nbsp; Selling the right products may be a marketing issue, but doing the right thing is a Boardroom responsibility."&nbsp;&nbsp; -Quoted in <a href="http://www.boardmember.com/">www.boardmember.com</a>
</blockquote>
&nbsp;
<h3>3.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Make sure the company occupies the space</h3>
Similar to the web, where owning one's domain names&nbsp; has been key to secure a strategic space in the mind of clients and consumers, management should have secured by now the names on all social media pertaining to the company, its brands and key products.
For example, Egon Zehnder, one of the world's largest recruiting agency, does not have the ownership of its Twitter "handle" (<a href="http://twitter.com/#!/Egon_Zehnder" target="_blank">@egon_zehnder</a>&nbsp; or <a href="http://twitter.com/#!/EgonZehnders" target="_blank">@egonzehnders</a> ) associated with its corporate name. It is in my mind opening a loophole for the future. Competitors <a href="http://competia.com/www.heidrick.com/" target="_blank">Heidrick &amp; Struggles</a> and <a href="http://competia.com/www.kornferry.com/" target="_blank">Korn Ferry</a> have secured their corporate names ( <a href="http://twitter.com/#!/HSIItweets" target="_blank">see here</a> and <a href="http://twitter.com/#!/Korn_Ferry" target="_blank">here</a> ).
&nbsp;
<h2>Key questions boards should be asking management about social media</h2>
<h3> </h3>
<h3>Do we have a social media policy for employees ?</h3>
<ul>
<li>Is this policy part of the employment contract? </li>
<li>Does it define how the employee engages in social media, whether in their own name or in the company name? </li>
<li>Is it made clear who owns the intellectual property ( see recent article Lawyers, Guns and Twitter- <a href="http://www.searchenginejournal.com/lawyers-guns-and-twitter-who-owns-your-twitter-account/10612/" target="_blank">Who owns your Twitter account</a> illustrating how the BBC lost 60000 twitter followers to ITV ( <a href="http://wallblog.co.uk/2011/07/25/how-the-bbc-lost-60000-twitter-followers/" target="_blank">see here</a> ) </li>
<li>Are employees getting coaching and training ?</li>
</ul>
<h3>&nbsp;</h3>
<h3>Are we listening ?</h3>
<ul>
<li>Which sources are we listening ? Does it i include review sites, blogs, Twitter and Facebook, as well consumers forum ? Does it include <a href="http://competia.com/www.linkedin.com" target="_blank">LinkedIn</a>&nbsp; and <a href="https://plus.google.com/ " target="_blank">Google+</a> ?</li>
<li>Who is listening ?</li>
<li>When are we listening ? My clients in the media industry found that their digital experts needed to come into the office after hours - when their clients watch shows and share comments. Similarly, P<a href="http://competia.com/www.pg.com" target="_blank">rocter &amp; Gamble</a> founds during the Pampers crisis last year that employees in charge of monitoring social media&nbsp; could not effectively monitor social media during work hours: worried mothers discussed potential diaper rashes in the evening, after kids go to bed at night ( see more about this story <a href="http://socialmediainfluence.com/2010/05/10/pampers-takes-on-mommy-bloggers-and-wins/" target="_blank">here</a>&nbsp; </li>
</ul>
&nbsp;
<img class="right" src="http://competia.com/assets/images/_resampled/ResizedImage549353-PAMPERSB-WSJ-100514.jpg" width="549" height="353" alt="" title="" />
<ul>
</ul>
&nbsp;
<h3> </h3>
<h3>Do we have a response plan in case of digital crisis ?</h3>
<ul>
<li>Is there a contingency plan when a crisis hits ?</li>
<li>Who is managing it ?</li>
</ul>
&nbsp;
<h3>Who is in charge of social media in the organization ? &nbsp;</h3>
<ul>
<li>Is it handled by pyblic relations, and then focused on communication on a corporate level ?</li>
<li>Is it under the responsibility of customer insights, or marketing, suggesting a more significant focus on - and interaction with customers ?</li>
<li>Where does social media fit in our risk profile? To whom does it report?</li>
</ul>
&nbsp;
<h3>What results do you get when googling the names of key executives ?</h3>
<ul>
<li>Does this information portraying differ from the official biography ? Putting yourself in the shoes of &nbsp;your stakeholders or customers, the messages portraying in the first page of results might be as important as the ones displayed in the official biography on the website. </li>
<li>Is the message consistent across platforms ? For example, how is the social profile comparing with the professional one ? There are now a few great tools to obtain the social media profile of executives online: <a href="http://www.123people.com">123people</a>.com or <a href="http://www.123people.com">Pipl</a> , <a href="http://www.socialmention.com/">Social Mention</a> are great integrators of the data.</li>
</ul>
<h3> </h3>
<h3>Do we have a whistle blowing process via social media?</h3>
&nbsp;
<h2>In conclusion</h2>
The risks - and missed opportunities - of ignoring social media is significant across all industries, and for companies of all sizes. The question really is not whether boards should know about social media, but how they can afford NOT to know about it. 
&nbsp;
<h2>Additional resources: </h2>
&nbsp;
<h3>Twitter lists:</h3>
<ul>
<li><a href="http://www.peerindex.com/competia/group/corporate_governance">http://www.peerindex.com/competia/group/corporate_governance</a> </li>
<li><a href="http://www.peerindex.com/lucymarcus/group/corporate_governance">http://www.peerindex.com/lucymarcus/group/corporate_governance</a> </li>
<li><a href="http://twitter.com/#%21/dougchia/corpgov-tweets">http://twitter.com/#!/dougchia/corpgov-tweets</a> </li>
</ul>
&nbsp;
Further reading:
Into the Fray: A View from the Board of Directors about social media&nbsp; <a href="http://ow.ly/6ghpW" target="_blank">http://ow.ly/6ghpW</a>&nbsp; by @deloitte
The Board, Governance &amp; Social Media <a href="http://ow.ly/6glhu">http://ow.ly/6glhu</a>
About social media, investor relations and web disclosure #corpgov h<a href="ttp://ow.ly/6ghxW" target="_blank">ttp://ow.ly/6ghxW</a>
Corporate Blogs and 'Tweets' Must Keep #SEC in Mind <a href="http://ow.ly/6ghLI">http://ow.ly/6ghLI</a>
Lawyers, Guns, and Twitter - Who Owns Your Twitter Account via @sejournal <a href="http://ow.ly/6ggdk">http://ow.ly/6ggdk</a>
NASDAQ releases new board iPad app to go w/ its Directors' Desk program RT @boardroominside #corpgov <a href="http://ow.ly/6iQ3F">http://ow.ly/6iQ3F</a>
Insider Trading 2011: How Technology and Social Networks Have 'Friended' Access to Confidential Info <a href="http://ow.ly/6miWC" target="_blank">http://ow.ly/6miWC</a>&nbsp;
Rethinking the Board ( pdf) <a href="http://ow.ly/6pBmR" target="_blank">http://ow.ly/6pBmR</a> 
&nbsp;
&nbsp;
&nbsp; Thu, 08 Sep 2011 14:00:00 -0700 http://competia.com/when-social-media-matters-a-guide-to-the-board-of-directors-for-better-governance/ McKinsey, I am thankful http://competia.com/mckinsey-i-am-thankful/ As many <a href="http://www.mckinsey.com" target="_blank">Mckinsey</a> alumni and members of the global business community, I have been following with much interest and awe the developments of the Mckinsey saga, and its shocking revelations. As accusations of two consultants trading inside information about their clients were brought forward, the media frenzy that ensued seems to bring the perfect storm for the consulting firm.
I have followed the debates - both in traditional media and in social media. I read appalling pieces of journalism, noted the apparent lack of reaction from Mckinsey in the public sphere - apart from stepping up the amount of publications- and noticed a surprising vacuum and lack of reactions from the McKinsey alumni community.
It is not my place to debate here about the individual consultants involved. The justice system will find out what happened and, if responsible, people should bear the consequences of their acts. What bothered me was the complete disconnect between what I was reading, and the McKinsey I know, the people I worked with. I started wondering why I was taking this issue so personally. After all, why should I care so much about a company who employed me almost 20 years ago?
I think it basically comes down to this: I am thankful
I am thankful because to this day, the values and strong principles I learn at Mckinsey are still deeply part of my personal and professional ethics. Those principles are still shaping the way I work, every day. Here are a few of those principles:
&nbsp;
<ul>
<li>"You must be invited in by the managers of client organizations who must want to establish an effective relationship" (dixit Marvin Bower, in the book cited below)</li>
<li>Client first - If you cannot add value, step out</li>
<li>Obligation to dissent: one of the most lost value in companies, sources of so many blindspots. </li>
<li>"Do not disrupt the organization more than is necessary to make the improvement needed" (Marvin Bower)</li>
<li>Client confidentiality - McKinsey consultants are known for not even disclosing the name of the client they are working with. To this day, I do not disclose names of clients who I am consulting with</li>
<li>Mastering problem-solving skills and the power of analytics</li>
<li>Never discuss personal details about an individual working at a client company. Our consulting engagements are with the companies, and we are not here to judge the capabilities of individual managers or executives, even if the CEO asks.</li>
</ul>
&nbsp;
In fact, I digged back my copy of <a href="http://www.mckinsey.com/en/About_us/History/Marvin_Bower.aspx" target="_blank">Marvin Bower</a>'s book, "Perspective on McKinsey" which is handed out to each new recruit at McKinsey on their first week. Marvin Bower is the visionary who shaped the firm's value and code of conduct in the early years and transformed McKinsey from an engineering consulting company to a professional firm. Note that the mere fact I still have this book after eight moves, four of those across continents, is already a symbol of its significance to me. In this book, Martin lays out a few principles of what it is to be a professional and the responsibilities it creates:
&nbsp;
<blockquote>
<ul>
<li>To put client interests ahead of Firm interests</li>
<li>To serve the client competently, i.e.&nbsp; better than the situation calls and better then client managers typically expect</li>
<li>To adhere to high ethical standards in everything we do</li>
<li>To preserve the confidence of clients and client personnel</li>
<li>To maintain an independent position, being ready to differ with client managers and telling them the truth as we see it even though it may adversely affect Firm income or endanger continuance of the relationship</li>
</ul>
</blockquote>
&nbsp;
In conclusion, if I may leave with a final quote from<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_W._Gardner" target="_blank"> John W. Gardner</a>, former president of the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of teaching:
&nbsp;
<blockquote>
"What could be more satisfying than to be engaged in work in which every capacity or talent one may have is needed, very lesson one may have learned is used and every value one cares about is furthered?"
</blockquote>
&nbsp;
So to all those who have shaped, and are still shaping McKinsey's values, thank-you.
&nbsp; Tue, 31 May 2011 15:00:00 -0700 http://competia.com/mckinsey-i-am-thankful/ The Executive Education Playlist http://competia.com/the-executive-education-playlist/ As digital convergence, peer to peer, and global word of mouth is shaking industry from media to telecommunications or even banking, there is little evidence that Executive Management Education is evolving at the same rate. There seems to be a the discontinuity between trends going on in adjacent industries, and the way executive education is taught. As curiosity built, I had numerous discussions with renowned universities and business schools about the future of executive education, in particular around management education. Have those organizations integrated into their strategic thinking the recent developments in technology and society? Are they (we) willing to question why the majority of executive training hours still happen in a classroom? Who are likely to be the new players in this field? 
<img class="left" src="http://competia.com/assets/Uploads/_resampled/ResizedImage500300-Thoughteducationplaylist.jpg" width="500" height="300" alt="" title="" /> 
<h2>The parallel with the media industry</h2>
One cannot help but compare Executive Management Education with other industries that have recently been shaken in their most basic principles by changes in consumer behavior and technology. In particular, I find many parallels with the media and publishing industry.
<ul class="unIndentedList">
<li> Similar to journalists, professors see their job as an art, more than a science</li>
<li> In the publishing world, newspapers traditionally rely on carefully selected full-time journalists, and occasionally sourced content from freelancers when subjects required a specific expertise. In Executive Management Education, the majority of courses are taught by tenured professors, with the occasional help from guest speakers, adjunct professors, or professors of practice when the expertise is lacking.</li>
<li> Newspapers editors play a key role: they select the content to be developed, set up the investigative work plan, edit the final product. In universities and business schools, the management committee and program directors defines course or programs to be offered, the research schedule, and consistency of the teaching material. </li>
<li> There is no systematic measurement system: universities do not grade or assess quantitatively which professors are performing, and rely heavily on the feedback from the course participants. In publishing, the editor judges of the quality of the content, and in a less linear manner, circulation and letters to the editors do the rest.</li>
</ul>
&nbsp;
<h2>Time to review traditional measures or performance ?</h2>
In the business schools I spoke to, over 90% of professors have PhDs - this is probably the only profession where people get training on the content rather than the skill - most executive education professors have never been formally training in how to teach, build a lesson plan or even measure learning.
The measure of a professor performance is still based on the amount of publishing done. When probed for what publishing means in our days, the unique vocal answer is still almost unanimously "traditional journals". Yet, In a recent article in the economist, the author quotes Mark Thomas:
<blockquote>
"Journals really only do one thing now -- help us to make tenure and promotion decisions. Nobody reads the journals themselves much anymore, but where a paper hits is critical for promotion decisions. That's where the pecking order is established. The sciences are trying to break out of this, to some extent, but econ is a long ways from doing that"
The Economist, March 23, 2011- "What good are economics journals? "
</blockquote>
&nbsp;
<h2>Is the fate of the media industry going to replicate for education?</h2>
I can envision how the world of Executive Management Education might be shaken up the same way the world of newspapers and magazine has been.
In the publishing world, print has lost the monopoly of the customer relationship - new players have emerged. <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/" target="_blank">The Huffington Post</a> for example is shaking the world of publishing, allowing professional journalists and experts alike to publish and enrich the coverage of events. The quality of the articles might have on averaged decreased, but also has increased in diversity and timeliness. With <a href="http://www.flipboard.com" target="_blank">Flipboard</a>, one can aggregate content and create a daily newspaper by selecting specific journalists, or content they want to hear about.
I cannot help but wonder what a similar shake-up will do the education industry when the business schools and universities will loose that monopoly over the relation and face to face contact with students.
&nbsp;
<iframe src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/wRBaIhMev9w" width="425" height="349" frameborder="0"></iframe>
&nbsp;
<h2>Towards an Executive Education Playlist</h2>
In a world when <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Curation" target="_blank">curation</a> is the new buzz word, what would it look like in education?
Today, we do mix songs from different albums when downloading songs from itunes and are no longer limited by the choice of songs a singer has decided to add on his/her album. We make our own playlists, by mixing content that fits our preferences and needs based on content we know well, but also recommendations from friends - or even unknown similar souls through the Genius system. Why not apply this to business education and allow executives to create a playlist for education as well?
A potential participant for the executive MBA should be able to design his or her MBA by picking courses based on the reputation and skill of the professor, but also the geographical location of the institution providing it. For example, he/she could choose:
<ul>
<li>a course on innovation from <a href="http://www.imd.org/about/facultystaff/fischer.cfm" target="_blank">Bill Fisher</a> at IMD in Switzerland, </li>
<li>a course on strategy from <a href="http://www.insead.edu/facultyresearch/faculty/profiles/rmauborgne/" target="_blank">Renee Mauborgne at Insead</a>, </li>
<li>a course on technology from the <a href="http://www.isb.edu/isb/index.shtml" target="_blank">India School of Business</a> and </li>
<li>an organizational course on leadership from <a href="http://people.mcgill.ca/henry.mintzberg/" target="_blank">Henry Mintzberg at McGill</a> - while effectively get a real global recognized Executive MBA diploma.</li>
</ul>
&nbsp;
To support the decision, one could check what past participants have said about the course, combine this insight with recommendations made by people who share the same interest, follow up peer ratings. A system similar to <a href="http://www.ratemyteachers.com" target="_blank">ratemyteachers.com</a> could exist.&nbsp; In fact, one could envision how "similar" training that might complement training already selected could be recommended, very much in the same line as what Amazon does.
&nbsp;
<h2>Who will be the curators ?</h2>
I understand from my discussions that existing players - business schools, universities- would resist- after all, a professor from a well know Business School mentioned that no-one is going to take the risk to shake the industry as none of the professors will expect to be here in 20 years when the shake will have taken place.
&nbsp;
<ul class="unIndentedList">
<li> So who will be the new players? </li>
<li> Will <a href="http://www.skolkovo.ru/" target="_blank">Skolkovo School of Management</a> , the new business school created by Russia's leading oligarchs which just inaugurated a a $250 million high-tech campus complex be a player ?</li>
<li> Will they be new entrants, non-traditional players, who know how to curate content - maybe <a href="http://www.amazon.com" target="_blank">Amazon</a>? </li>
<li> Will they be companies and firms branching out of their usual field - a public <a href="http://www.mckinsey.com/mgi/" target="_blank">McKinsey Institute</a>? A <a href="http://www.deloitte.com" target="_blank">Deloitte</a> Academy ? We have seen already Jack Welch using his personal brand to offer and MBA.</li>
<li> Will one institution take the lead? If <a href="http://www.hbs.edu/" target="_blank">Harvard Business School</a> does it, will all follow?</li>
</ul>
&nbsp;
<h2>What are the dangers of the Education Playlist ?</h2>
Two challenges would have to be addressed in this future of education:
<ul>
<li>How will research be conducted and financed ? If professors and lecturers are independant individuals braught together by the education curator, who will invest the time and effort to finance long-term research in management ? The answer might lay in the observation of the media industry. As the entire media industry is currently struggling to understand how investigative journalism will be financed, models are starting to emerge and might provide us a sign of what might lay in the Management Education Future.</li>
<li>How will the pieces fit together ? In business schools and universities, a great deal of energy is spent in ensuring that the program and the individual pieces fit together and provide a seamless learning experience. How would this be replicated as the Education Playlist prevails ?</li>
</ul>
&nbsp;
<h3>What do YOU think ? </h3>
&nbsp; Tue, 24 May 2011 15:00:00 -0700 http://competia.com/the-executive-education-playlist/ The official (and unofficial) voices of Davos http://competia.com/the-official-and-unofficial-voices-of-davos/ The World Economic Forum Meeting 2001 in Davos will start on January 25th, and for the many who did not get an invitation, there is hope: the discussions, insights and questions will be available in many places, many platforms... Here is a short guide to be able to get the most from this unbelievable event (note: even if you ARE at Davos, this is also a good way to get the most of the experience and compare notes...)
This article will be updated as new sources of information pop up, so come back regularly for the updates...
<img class="left" src="http://competia.com/assets/Uploads/_resampled/ResizedImage599326-Thoughtdavos2.jpg" width="599" height="326" alt="" title="" />
&nbsp;
<h2>Your first stop: get the World Economic Forum's official feeds</h2>
The WEF has always been a precursor in social media, and is offering multiple places where you can get the pulse of the event.
On Twitter, <a href="http://www.twitter.com/davos" target="_blank">@wef</a> and <a href="http://www.twitter.com/davos">@davos</a> are the official feeds from the social media staff at the Forum. Meet the minds behind the tweets: Matthias Luefkens, Adrian Monk , Samantha Tonkin, Nicole Tapscott and Anna Sims will keep you updated about key events, but also the beginning of the life streaming sessions. Some of those official voices also have a private twitter account so follow them there also: <a href="http://www.twitter.com/amonck" target="_blank">@amonk</a>; <a href="http://www.twitter.com/luefkens">@luefkens</a> <a href="http://www.twitter.com/wef_anna" target="_blank">@wef_anna</a> . Finally, the Forum also has a dedicated blog (<a href="http://www.forumblog.org/">http://www.forumblog.org</a>) where.ou can read posts from selected participants.
The World Economic Forum aggregatea all media portals and partner blogs about the Annual Meeting on Netvibes <a href="http://wef.ch/netvibes">http://wef.ch/netvibes</a>, just Please send your blog details if you want to be included. On the Forum blog
On january 19th, ou will be able to find the official <a href="http://twitter.com/#%21/search?q=%23WEF" title="#WEF">#WEF</a> Twitter list <a href="http://wef.ch/tweeps" target="_blank" title="http://www.twitter.com/davos/WEF2011/">http://wef.ch/tweeps</a> .
Davos will not only host the corporate gurus and heads of state, it is also the forum for, among others, entrepreneurs, technology pioneers and social entrepreneurs. These groups also have dedicated feeds: <a href="http://www.twitter.com/hildeschwab" target="_blank">@hildeschwab</a> or <a href="mailto:@schwabfound">@schwabfound</a> for &nbsp;the Schwab Foundation for social entrepreneurs, <a href="http://www.twitter.com/tecpioneers" target="_blank">@tecpioneers</a> for the Technology Pioneers, and <a href="http://www.twitter.com/yglvoices">@YGLvoices</a> for the the Young Global Leaders, a fun and charismatic group of future world leaders identified by the WEF.
<img class="left" src="http://competia.com/assets/Uploads/_resampled/ResizedImage484268-IMG7619.JPG" width="484" height="268" alt="" title="" />
Davos is not just about CEOs: here are the five Global Change Makers of 2010, extraordinary young people who make a difference
Where else to go ? Interviews can be found on Youtube at the Forum's <a href="http://www.youtube.com/worldeconomicforum" target="_blank">dedicated page</a>, images can be found on the WEF's <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/worldeconomicforum" target="_blank">photostream</a> on <a href="http://www.flickr.com/">Flickr</a> and documents and reportscan be loaded from <a href="http://competia.com/www.scribd.comcforum" target="_blank">Scribd</a> .If you are using Flickr to share your photos you are invited to join the <a href="http://www.flickr.com/groups/davos/" target="_blank">Davos Flickr group</a> where we would like to share pictures taken by the participants.
All press conferences and key plenary sessions will be streamed ive on Livestream <a href="http://livestream.com/worldeconomicforum" target="_blank">here</a>.
<h2> Get behind the scene... WEF's &nbsp;executives private Twitter accounts </h2>
Meet Robert Greenhill <a href="http://www.twitter.com/robertgreenhill" target="_blank">@robertgreenhill</a> , the Managing Director and Chief Business Officer, Adrian Monck <a href="http://www.twitter.com/amonck" target="_blank">@amonck</a> , Managing Director and Head of Media, Zahidi <a href="http://www.twitter.com/robertgreenhill" target="_blank">@zahidi </a>Director, constituents, &nbsp;Piers Cumberlege <a href="http://www.twitter.com/pierscumberlege" target="_blank">@pierscumberlege</a> , Head of Partnerships, Alois Zwinggi, the WEF's Managing Director in Charge of Human resources @azwinggi and the newly appointed CTO Brian Behlendorf <a href="http://www.twitter.com/robertgreenhill" target="_blank">@brianbehlendorf</a>, While those professionals write about davos, they also share their interests: Robert tweets about the place of Canada&nbsp; in the world, Adrian covers journalism, Piers follows events in the world, Brian has a keen interest in technology as the founder of Apache and a member of the board of Mozilla...
For a full list of the WEF's staff on Twitter, please refer here <a href="http://twitter.com/#%21/davos/wefstaff/members" target="_blank">for the list</a> of staff Twitter accounts the organization is maintaining.
&nbsp;
<h2>Follow the hastags</h2>
The easiest way on Twitter to follow the comments about the sessions is to follow the following hashtag on twitter: #WEF (<a href="http://twitter.com/#%21/search/%23wef">click here for the lattest</a>). You can also try <a href="http://twitter.com/#%21/search/%23davos">#davos</a>, or #YGL which tends to be uses quite a bit- interesting enough, they are quite complementary sdo I guess you'll have to follow them all...
<img class="left" src="http://competia.com/assets/Uploads/_resampled/ResizedImage316369-Thoughtdavos1.png" width="316" height="369" alt="" title="" />
&nbsp;
<h2>Leverage the media covering the event </h2>
Most world media will dedicate part of their website to Davos. Here is a short list of the dedicated feeds, sites and tweeters (by no means exhaustive - if you wish to add others, just add them in the comments below...).
A better list of 150+ journalist who will cover Davos can also be found <a href="http://twitter.com/#!/davos/wefmedia/members" target="_blank">here</a>
<table border="0" cellpadding="0" width="650" style="border: 0pt solid #8d916e;">
<tbody>
<tr>
<td valign="top"></td>
<td valign="top"></td>
<td valign="top"></td>
<td valign="top"></td>
<td valign="top"></td>
<td valign="top"></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
Media&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
</td>
<td valign="top"> </td>
<td valign="top">&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; </td>
<td valign="top"> </td>
<td valign="top">
How they are covering the event 
</td>
<td> </td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
CNN
&nbsp;
</td>
<td valign="top">
&nbsp;
</td>
<td valign="top">
&nbsp;
</td>
<td valign="top">
&nbsp;
</td>
<td valign="top">
<ul>
<li>
<a href="http://articles.cnn.com/keyword/world-economic-forum" target="_blank">CNN's blogCNN's twitter </a>
</li>
<li>
CNN's twitter <a href="http://www.twitter.com/CNNdavos" target="_blank">@CNNDavos</a> (this account is currently locked)
</li>
</ul>
</td>
<td> </td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
The Wall Street Journal
</td>
<td valign="top">
&nbsp;
</td>
<td valign="top">
&nbsp;
</td>
<td valign="top">
&nbsp;
</td>
<td>
<ul>
<li>
WSJ's list of <a href="http://www.livemint.com/articles/keywords.aspx?kw=World%20Economic%20Forum" target="_blank">articles</a>
</li>
</ul>
</td>
<td> </td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
Reuters
</td>
<td valign="top">
&nbsp;
</td>
<td valign="top">
&nbsp;
</td>
<td valign="top">
&nbsp;
</td>
<td valign="top">
<ul>
<li>
<a href="http://blogs.reuters.com/davos/" target="_blank">Reuter's blog</a>
</li>
</ul>
</td>
<td> </td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
Times
</td>
<td valign="top">
&nbsp;
</td>
<td valign="top">
&nbsp;
</td>
<td valign="top">
&nbsp;
</td>
<td valign="top">
<ul>
<li>
Times's Twitter account <a href="http://www.twitter.com/timesdavos" target="_blank">@timesdavos</a>
</li>
</ul>
</td>
<td> </td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
CNBC
</td>
<td valign="top">
&nbsp;
</td>
<td valign="top">
&nbsp;
</td>
<td valign="top">
&nbsp;
</td>
<td valign="top">
<ul>
<li>
CNBC Davos <a href="http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/cnbc-davos-pulse/id413519473?mt=8" target="_blank">app on itunes</a>. Note this is the first app for iphone and the ipad I have found for Davos yet (apart from the official one) !
</li>
</ul>
</td>
<td> </td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
Times of India
</td>
<td></td>
<td></td>
<td></td>
<td>
<ul>
<li>
<a href="http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/topic/World-Economic-Forum" target="_blank">Times of India Davos Page</a>
</li>
</ul>
</td>
<td></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
Financial Times
</td>
<td valign="top">
&nbsp;
</td>
<td valign="top">
&nbsp;
</td>
<td valign="top">
&nbsp;
</td>
<td valign="top">
<ul>
<li>
FT's Twitter <a href="http://www.twitter.com/ftdavos" target="_blank">@FTDavos</a>
</li>
</ul>
</td>
<td>
&nbsp;
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
Telegraph
</td>
<td valign="top">
&nbsp;
</td>
<td valign="top">
&nbsp;
</td>
<td valign="top">
&nbsp;
</td>
<td valign="top">
<ul>
<li>
Telegraph's twitter <a href="http://www.twitter.com/telegraphdavos" target="_blank">@telegraphdavos</a>
</li>
</ul>
</td>
<td> </td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
BBC
</td>
<td valign="top">
&nbsp;
</td>
<td valign="top">
&nbsp;
</td>
<td valign="top">
&nbsp;
</td>
<td>
<ul>
<li>
BBC's Twitter <a href="http://www.twitter.com/BBC_davos" target="_blank">@BBC_davos</a>
</li>
</ul>
</td>
<td> </td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
Bloomberg
</td>
<td valign="top">
&nbsp;
</td>
<td valign="top">
&nbsp;
</td>
<td valign="top">
&nbsp;
</td>
<td valign="top">
<ul>
<li>
Official twitter for "The Pulse <a href="http://www.twitter.com/catherwoodnews" target="_blank">here</a>
</li>
</ul>
</td>
<td> </td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
&nbsp;
<h2>Discover the "unofficial" voices</h2>
As the event approaches, many unofficial "Davos Tweeters" are appearing. I find <a href="http://twitter.com/wefodavos" target="_blank">@WEFdavos</a> , <a href="http://twitter.com/davospulse" target="_blank">@davospulse</a> and <a href="http://twitter.com/davos_2011" target="_blank">@davos_2011</a> to cover the events well. <a href="http://twitter.com/davosfringe" target="_blank">Davosfringe</a> covers the unofficial event in Davos.
<img class="left" src="http://competia.com/assets/Uploads/_resampled/ResizedImage554334-IMG7577.JPG" width="554" height="334" alt="" title="" />
Food for thought: Brunch on Sunday morning in Davos- time for participants to reflect
&nbsp;
<h2>Don't forget to follow the individual participants!</h2>
I like to follow a few participants as they report on their experience at Davos. Who knows, you could maybe catch a glimpse of Evan Williams notebook, and guess what Twitter would come up with next ...
<img class="left" src="http://competia.com/assets/Uploads/_resampled/ResizedImage558374-IMGP1422.JPG" width="558" height="374" alt="" title="" />
Evan Williams taking notes at the World Economic Forum Meeting in 2010
&nbsp;Here is my pick:
<ul>
<li>Companies:WIPRO has dedicated a whole section on its corporate website to Davos: <a href="http://www.wipro.com/davos/" target="_blank">click here</a></li>
<li>Authors: Paulo Coehlo,&nbsp; <a href="http://www.twitter.com/paulocoehlo" target="_blank">@paulocoehlo</a>, Don Tapscott, author of Macrowikinomics&nbsp; <a href="http://www.twitter.com/dtapscott" target="_blank">@dtapscott</a></li>
<li>CEOs who tweet: check Jim Quigley CEO of Deloitte<a href="http://twitter.com/deloitteceo">@deloitteceo</a> , Vineet Nayar, CEO of HCL tech <a href="http://twitter.com/vineetnayar" target="_blank">@vineetnayar</a>, Anand Mahindra , Vice-Chairman and Managing Director of of Mahindra &amp; Mahindra <a href="http://twitter.com/deloitteceo" target="_blank">@anandmahindra.</a> There are of course multiple account for the star CEOs who come to Davos ( Eric Schmidt, Bill Gates etc... ) but I do not find that they tweet themselves, so are a lot less interesting to follow...</li>
</ul>
I am keeping a list of all the participants I have made their presence known publicly <a href="http://twitter.com/#%21/list/Competia/davos-2011-20">here</a> (this list includes participants and also those who report on Davos).
<h2>Download the apps for your smart phone </h2>
Although they are very few of them yet, the following apps can help you follow what is going on:
<ul>
<li>World Economic Forum's official fan app for the iphone and ipad <a href="http://itunes.apple.com/fr/app/world-economic-forum-official/id413141767?mt=8" target="_blank">here</a></li>
<li>World Economic Forum's official participants' app for the iphone and ipad <a href="http://appshopper.com/business/world-economic-forum-meetings" target="_blank">here</a></li>
<li>Davos/Klosters guide: Need to feel like you are in Davos ? This <a href="http://www.davos.ch/en/winter/stay/mobile-portal-guide/iphone-app.html" target="_blank">iphone app</a> will provide you with the maps and guide to restaurants ...</li>
<li>CNBC Davos Pulse app <a href="http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/cnbc-davos-pulse/id413519473?mt=8" target="_blank">here</a></li>
</ul>
<h2> Check in</h2>
Foursquare: the Congress Centre and the key hotels have been added to foursquare <a href="http://foursquare.com/wef" target="_blank">here</a>&nbsp; to allow participants to check-in on this geo-location social network. To check in simply scan the QR code below.&nbsp;
<img class="center" src="http://competia.com/assets/Uploads/Thoughtdavos4.png" width="102" height="102" alt="" title="" />
Facebook: Live interviews with selected participants that will be streamed on the <a href="http://www.facebook.com/worldeconomicforum" target="_blank">Forum's Facebook page</a>. Through facebook, the organization will tap into the collective wisdom of the online population through the use of "pulses", quick polls on Facebook. The pulses allow us to capture the opinion of several thousand Facebook users in a matter of minutes.
When participants are on facebook, they can check-in at the Congress Centre on <a href="hhttp://wef.ch/CongressCenter" target="_blank">Facebook Places</a> or by using the QR code below.
<img class="center" src="http://competia.com/assets/Uploads/Thoughtdavos4.png" width="102" height="102" alt="" title="" />
&nbsp;
&nbsp;
&nbsp; Wed, 19 Jan 2011 08:38:00 -0800 http://competia.com/the-official-and-unofficial-voices-of-davos/ Who is the most influential corporate governance tweeter in 2011 ? http://competia.com/who-is-the-most-influential-corporate-governance-tweeter-in-201/ Having read the excellent analysis by my colleague AquteIntel about "the Most Influential Competitive Intelligence tweeter in 2010" ( <a href="http://www.aqute.com/competitive-intelligence-blog/who-is-the-most-influential-competitive-intelligence-tweeter.html" target="_blank">read here</a> ), I was curious, and inspired to analyze how the corporate governance world is shaping up on <a href="http://www.twitter.com" target="_blank">Twitter</a>.
<h2>The methodology</h2>
I have listed the corporate governance experts already identified in my twitter list ( <a href="http://twitter.com/#!/Competia/governance" target="_blank">see here</a>) , and added those who my colleagues are also interacting with. I have then used the much talked-about <a href="http://www.klout.com/">Klout</a> to score each of these tweeters.
I have excluded from the ranking Twitter accounts that solely broadcast about their publication, or their associations. I have focussed on the individuals behind the tweets and the insight they share. I also excluded those who cover a much larger range of issues than just corporate governance: people such as Nouriel Roubini ( <a href="http://twitter.com/Nouriel" target="_blank">@nouriel</a> ) who would have ranked 69 in Klout, or #1, or David Gergens ( <a href="http://twitter.com/gergensvoice" target="_blank">@gergensvoice</a> )who would have ranked 56 ), as the topic they are covering have a much wider range than corporate governance and the data gets clouded by their public work and comments.
<h2>So who are the most influential corporate governance tweeters ?</h2>
Rosabeth Kanter&nbsp; ( <a href="http://twitter.com/rosabethkanter" target="_blank">@rosabethkanter</a> ) from Harvard comes first, followed closely by Lucy Marcus ( <a href="http://twitter.com/lucymarcus" target="_blank">@lucymarcus</a> ) from Marcus Ventures, a renown writer and speaker on issues relative to corporate governance, and in particular the role of women. Congratulations to these two women, who with different styles and backgrounds, are both making a difference.
Here is Lucy's profile&nbsp; (on <a href="http://about.me/lucymarcus" target="_blank">about.me</a>)
<img class="left" src="http://competia.com/assets/Uploads/_resampled/ResizedImage600313-Thoughtcorpgov1.png" width="600" height="313" alt="" title="" />
Here are a sample of their last tweets as I am writing this short article:
<blockquote>
Rosabeth Kanter: Powerlessness Corrupts. Provokes territoriality, rage. Why orgns need empowerment <a href="http://bit.ly/bweMql" target="_blank">http://bit.ly/bweMql</a>
</blockquote>
<blockquote>
Lucy Marcus: Of course RT @<a href="http://twitter.com/85broads">85broads</a>: <a href="http://huff.to/g3N7Qc" target="_blank">http://huff.to/g3N7Qc</a> Huffpost - Beyond Optics: Why Board Diversity Really Matters by @<a href="http://twitter.com/lucymarcus">lucymarcus</a>
</blockquote>
Strangely enough, you'll notice that quantity does not trump quality or the nature of interactions these professionals have with each other. Steven Bowman&nbsp; for example <a href="http://twitter.com/consciousgovern" target="_blank">@consciousgovern</a> , has 2686 followers, but not as much influence as Alex Todd&nbsp; <a href="http://twitter.com/trustenabler" target="_blank">@trustenabler</a>&nbsp; (612 followers) )who is very focused on the subject of corporate governance.This is one of the reasons why I like <a href="http://www.klout.com" target="_blank">Klout</a>, as it is hard to manipulate the data: one cannot boost its influence ranking simply by adding more people to the list one follows, hoping for a reciprocal link.
&nbsp;
<h2>Here is the ranking of the top 25 tweeters on Corporate Governance</h2>
&nbsp;
This list is by no means exhaustive, and needs to be beefed up, so if I have forgotten you - or anyone who would recommand, feel free to add their name and content in the comments below... (note that the ranking and number of followers varies from day to day, so these were the numbers at the time the article was written - then revised to include comments from the community of corporate governance tweeters...)

<table border="0" cellpadding="0" width="485">
<tbody>
<tr>
<td>
Ranking
</td>
<td valign="top">
Who is behind the tweets
</td>
<td>
Twitter &nbsp; &nbsp; 
</td>
<td valign="top"></td>
<td>
Klout score
</td>
<td>
Followers
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
#1
</td>
<td valign="top">
Rosabeth Kanter
</td>
<td>
<a href="http://www.twitter.com/rosabethkanter" target="_blank">rosabethkanter</a>
</td>
<td valign="top"></td>
<td>
58
</td>
<td>
8490
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
#2
</td>
<td valign="top">
Lucy Marcus
</td>
<td>
<a href="http://www.twitter.com/lucymarcus" target="_blank">lucymarcus</a>
</td>
<td valign="top"></td>
<td>
57
</td>
<td>
1482
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
#3
</td>
<td>
Matt Kelly
</td>
<td>
<a href="http://www.twitter.com/complianceweek" target="_blank">complianceweek</a>
</td>
<td valign="top"></td>
<td>
53
</td>
<td>
3300
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
#4
</td>
<td valign="top">
Norman Marks
</td>
<td>
<a href="http://www.twitter.com/normanmarks" target="_blank">normanmarks</a>
</td>
<td valign="top"></td>
<td>
49
</td>
<td>
972
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
#5
</td>
<td valign="top">
Estelle Metayer
</td>
<td>
<a href="http://www.twitter.com/competia">competia</a>
</td>
<td valign="top"></td>
<td>
48
</td>
<td>
1186
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
#6
</td>
<td valign="top">
Fay Feeney
</td>
<td>
<a href="http://www.twitter.com/fayfeeney">fayfeeney</a>
</td>
<td valign="top"></td>
<td>
48
</td>
<td>
3025
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
#7
</td>
<td valign="top">
Debra Beck
</td>
<td>
<a href="http://www.twitter.com/npmaven" target="_blank">Npmaven</a>
</td>
<td valign="top"></td>
<td>
45
</td>
<td>
1513
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
#8
</td>
<td valign="top">
Frank Aquila
</td>
<td>
<a href="http://www.twitter.com/faquila" target="_blank">faquila</a>
</td>
<td valign="top"></td>
<td>
44
</td>
<td>
1841
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
#9
</td>
<td>
Nell Minow
</td>
<td>
<a href="http://www.twitter.com/nminow" target="_blank">nminow</a>
</td>
<td valign="top"></td>
<td>
44
</td>
<td>
1156
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
#10
</td>
<td valign="top">
Alex Todd
</td>
<td>
<a href="http://www.twitter.com/trustenabler" target="_blank">Trustenabler</a>
</td>
<td valign="top"></td>
<td>
44
</td>
<td>
612
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
#11
</td>
<td valign="top">
Jayne Juvan
</td>
<td>
<a href="http://www.twitter.com/jaynejuvan" target="_blank">Jaynejuvan</a>
</td>
<td valign="top"></td>
<td>
42
</td>
<td>
887
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
#12
</td>
<td valign="top">
Ciaran O'Kelly
</td>
<td>
<a href="http://www.twitter.com/ctokelly" target="_blank">Ctokelly</a>
</td>
<td valign="top"></td>
<td>
42
</td>
<td>
540
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
#13
</td>
<td valign="top">
Douglas Park
</td>
<td>
<a href="http://www.twitter.com/dougYPark">dougYPark</a>
</td>
<td valign="top"></td>
<td>
42
</td>
<td>
1078
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
#14
</td>
<td valign="top">
Gayle Gifford
</td>
<td>
<a href="http://www.twitter.com/gaylegifford" target="_blank">Gaylegifford</a>
</td>
<td valign="top"></td>
<td>
40
</td>
<td>
1044
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
#15
</td>
<td>
Doug Chia
</td>
<td>
<a href="http://www.twitter.com/dougchia" target="_blank">dougchia</a>
</td>
<td valign="top"></td>
<td>
38
</td>
<td>
811
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
#16
</td>
<td>
Broc Romanek
</td>
<td>
<a href="http://www.twitter.com/brocromanek" target="_blank">brocromanek</a>
</td>
<td valign="top"></td>
<td>
38
</td>
<td>
837
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
#17
</td>
<td valign="top">
Bob Arciniaga
</td>
<td>
<a href="http://www.twitter.com/advisory_board" target="_blank">Advisory_board</a>
</td>
<td valign="top"></td>
<td>
36
</td>
<td>
2738
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
#18
</td>
<td>
Cathy Lada
</td>
<td>
<a href="http://www.twitter.com/NACD" target="_blank">NACD</a>
</td>
<td>
&nbsp;
</td>
<td>
35
</td>
<td>
513
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
#19
</td>
<td valign="top">
Alice Korngold
</td>
<td>
<a href="http://www.twitter.com/alicekorngold" target="_blank">Alicekorngold</a>
</td>
<td valign="top"></td>
<td>
33
</td>
<td>
1147
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
#20
</td>
<td valign="top">
Urmi Ashar
</td>
<td>
<a href="http://www.twitter.com/nacdthreerivers" target="_blank">nacdthreerivers</a>
</td>
<td valign="top"></td>
<td>
30
</td>
<td>
199
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
#21
</td>
<td>
james McRitchie
</td>
<td>
<a href="http://www.twitter.com/corpgovnet" target="_blank">corpgovnet</a>
</td>
<td valign="top"></td>
<td>
30
</td>
<td>
504
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
#22
</td>
<td valign="top">
Stephen Davis
</td>
<td>
<a href="http://www.twitter.com/Smdavisyalegov" target="_blank">Smdavisyalegov</a>
</td>
<td valign="top"></td>
<td>
26
</td>
<td>
122
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
#23
</td>
<td>
Rick E. Hansen
</td>
<td>
<a href="http://www.twitter.com/rickehansen" target="_blank">Rickehansen</a>
</td>
<td valign="top"></td>
<td>
21
</td>
<td>
338
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
#24
</td>
<td valign="top">
Robert AG Monks
</td>
<td>
<a href="http://www.twitter.com/bobmonksnews" target="_blank">bobmonksnews</a>
</td>
<td valign="top"></td>
<td>
21
</td>
<td>
404
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
#25
</td>
<td valign="top">
Steven Bowman
</td>
<td>
<a href="http://www.twitter.com/Consciousgovern" target="_blank">Consciousgovern</a>
</td>
<td valign="top"></td>
<td>
19
</td>
<td>
2686
</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
 Wed, 12 Jan 2011 15:00:00 -0800 http://competia.com/who-is-the-most-influential-corporate-governance-tweeter-in-201/ Management at its Best: Learnings and Insights from Indian companies Best Practices http://competia.com/management-at-its-best-learnings-and-insights-from-indian-companies-best-practices/ In the next few days, I will be fortunate to attend the World Economic Forum's Summit in India (see the <a href="http://www.weforum.org/en/events/IndiaEconomicSummit2010/index.htm" target="_blank">Indian Economic Summit </a>here ) . I will bring back to you some of the learnings and insights gained from interactions and discussions with Indian leaders and CEOs. You can also get timely updates from . You can also find a list of participants tweeting at the event <a href="http://twitter.com/#!/wef/ies2010/members" target="_blank">here</a> .
When available, I have added the twitter feed from those leaders so that you can also follow their accounts of insights and lessons learned...
Here is a sample of the impressive list of speakers and moderators:
&bull; Gita Gopinath , Professor of Economics, Harvard University, USA &bull; Pranab Mukherjee , Minister of Finance of India &bull; Rajat M. Nag , Managing Director-General, Asian Development Bank, Manila &bull; Hari S. Bhartia , Co-Chairman and Managing Director, Jubilant Bhartia Group; President, Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), India &bull; Jon Fredrik Baksaas * President and Chief Executive Officer, Telenor Group, Norway &bull; Ajit Gulabchand , Chairman and Managing Director, Hindustan Construction Company, India &bull; Ellen Kullman , Chair of the Board and Chief Executive Officer, DuPont, USA; Co-Chair of the India Economic Summit &bull; Raghunath A. Mashelkar , President, Global Research Alliance and Bhatnagar Fellow, National Chemical Laboratory, India &bull; Pawan Munjal , Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, Hero Group, Indi &bull; Dennis Nally , Chairman, PricewaterhouseCoopers International, USA &bull; Peter Gartenberg , President, SAP (India), India &bull; Rajiv Lall , Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, Infrastructure Development Finance Company (IDFC), India &bull; Ravi Sharma , Chief Executive Officer, Adani Power, India &bull; Tulsi R. Tanti , Chairman and Managing Director, Suzlon Energy, India &bull;Ramesh Subrahmanian , Senior Vice-President and President, Asia Pacific Human Health, Merck &amp; Co., Singapore &bull; Antonio Helio Waszyk , Chairman and Managing Director, Nestl&eacute; India, India &bull; Ashwin Naik , Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer, Vaatsalya Corporate Office, India &bull; Montek Singh Ahluwalia , Deputy Chairman, Planning Commission, India &bull; Sanjeev Chadha , Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, PepsiCo India, India &bull; Ajit Gulabchand , Chairman and Managing Director, Hindustan Construction Company, India &bull; Harish Manwani , President, Asia, Africa, Central and Eastern Europe, Unilever, Singapore &bull; Om Prakash Bhatt , Chairman, State Bank of India, India &bull; Elizabeth Comstock * Senior Vice-President and Chief Marketing Officer, General Electric Company, USA &bull; Ellen Kullman , Chair of the Board and Chief Executive Officer, DuPont, USA &bull; Arvind Mayaram , Additional Secretary and Financial Adviser, Ministry of Rural Development of India, India &bull; Sriram Raghavan , Chief Executive Officer, Comat Technologies, India (<a href="http://www.twitter.com/sriramraghavan" target="_blank">his Twitter feed @sriramraghavan here</a>) &bull; Ben J. Verwaayen , Chief Executive Officer, Alcatel-Lucent, France; Member of the Foundation Board of the World Economic Forum &bull; Niren Chaudhary , Managing Director, India, Yum! Restaurants, India &bull; Sanjay Gupta , Chief Operating Officer, Star India, India &bull; Jack Modzelewski , President, Client Relations and Senior Partner, Fleishman-Hillard, USA &bull; Atul Singh , President and Chief Executive Officer, India and South West Asia, Coca-Cola India, India &bull; Arun Tadanki , Managing Director, Yahoo! India, India &bull; Richard A. Boucher , Deputy Secretary-General, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), Paris &bull; C. V. Madhukar , Director, PRS Legislative Research, India; Young Global Leader; Regional Agenda Council on India (his <a href="http://www.twitter.com/cvmhadhukar" target="_blank">Twitter feed @cvmhadhukar here </a>) &bull; Mallika Sarabhai , Director, Darpana Academy of Performing Arts, India; Regional Agenda Council on India &bull; Ankur Bhatia , Executive Director, Bird Group, India &bull; Ajit Gulabchand , Chairman and Managing Director, Hindustan Construction Company, India &bull; Ashwin Mahalingam , Assistant Professor, Department of Civil Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology Madras, India &bull; Bill Peacock , Regional Managing Director, South Asia, Halcrow Group, India &bull; Sanjeev Sanyal , Founder and Managing Trustee, Sustainable Planet Institute, India &bull; Dino Touthang , Chief Executive Officer, Habitat for Humanity, India &bull; Firdose A. Vandrevala , Chairman and Managing Director, Hirco Developments, India &bull; Peter Van Loan , Minister of International Trade of Canada &bull; Luis A. Moreno , President, Inter-American Development Bank, Washington DC &bull; Anand Sharma , Minister of Commerce and Industry of India &bull; Alberto Vallarino Clement , Minister of Economy and Finance of Panama &bull; Jitesh Gadhia , Senior Managing Director, Blackstone Group, United Kingdom &bull; Suhas Gopinath , Chief Executive Officer and Chairman, Globals ITeS, India ( <a href="http://www.twitter.com/suhasgopinah" target="_blank">his twitter feed @suhasgopinah here</a>) &bull; Arun Jaitley , Leader of Opposition, Rajya Sabha, Parliament of India, India &bull; Naveen Jindal , Member of Parliament, India and Vice-Chairman, Jindal Vijayanagar Steel, India; Young Global Leader &bull; Dennis Nally , Chairman, PricewaterhouseCoopers International, USA; Co-Chair of the India Economic Summit &bull; Oyun Sanjaasuren , Member of Parliament, Mongolia; Young Global Leader &bull; R. S. Sharma , Chairman and Managing Director, Oil and Natural Gas Corporation, India &bull; Aisha De Sequeira , Managing Director and Head, Investment Banking, India, Morgan Stanley, India &bull; Ana Dutra , Chief Executive Officer, Leadership and Talent Consulting, Executive Vice-President, Korn/Ferry International, USA &bull; Dennis Nally, Chairman, PricewaterhouseCoopers International, USA &bull; Vineet Nayar , Vice-Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, HCL Technologies, India ( <a href="http://www.twitter.com/vineetnayar" target="_blank">his twitter feed @vineetnayar here</a>) &bull; Suresh Vaswani , Joint Chief Executive Officer, IT Business, and Member of the Board, Wipro, India &bull; Jon Baker , President, Sealed Air Asia, Sealed Air Corporation, USA &bull; Kevin Eikerman , Managing Director, Archer Daniels Midland Co. (ADM), India &bull; Adi B. Godrej , Chairman, The Godrej Group, Godrej Industries, India &bull; Mikael Hagstr&ouml;m , President, EMEA and Asia Pacific, SAS, USA &bull; Baba N. Kalyani , Chairman and Managing Director, Bharat Forge, India &bull; Malini Mehra , Founder and Chief Executive Officer, Centre for Social Markets (CSM), India &bull;&nbsp;Raj Jain , President and Chief Executive Officer, Wal-Mart, India &bull;&nbsp;Jerry Steiner , Executive Vice-President, Monsanto Company, USA &bull; Robert Nemmara Subbaraman , Managing Director and Chief Economist, Asia ex-Japan and Head of Asia ex-Japan Economics, Nomura International (Hong Kong), Hong Kong SAR &bull; Neeraj Bharadwaj , Managing Director, Accel India Growth Management Company, India &bull; Madhu Kannan , Chief Executive Officer, Bombay Stock Exchange, India &bull; Ronald Kent , Group Executive Vice-President, Head of International Listings, NYSE Euronext, United Kingdom &bull; Joseph Massey&nbsp; Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, MCX Stock Exchange Limited, India &bull; Sanjay Nayar , Chief Executive Officer, KKR India Advisors, India &bull; Ravi Pandit , Chairman and Group Chief Executive Officer, KPIT Cummins Infosystems, India &bull; Pradeep K. Dhoot * President and Vice-Chairman, Videocon Industries, India &bull; Pawan Munjal , Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, Hero Group, India &bull; Jim Quigley , Global Chief Executive Officer, Deloitte, USA ( <a href="http://www.twitter.com/deloitte" target="_blank">Deloitte Twitter feed @deloitte here</a>&nbsp; will report) &bull; Jyotiraditya M. Scindia , Minister of State for Commerce and Industry of India; Member of Parliament, India &bull; Rajesh Subramaniam&nbsp; Senior Vice-President, International Marketing, FedEx Services, USA Mon, 15 Nov 2010 23:06:00 -0800 http://competia.com/management-at-its-best-learnings-and-insights-from-indian-companies-best-practices/ Tapping into the Invisible Web for Competitive Intelligence http://competia.com/tapping-into-the-invisible-web-for-competitive-intelligence/ Did you know that over 70% of the Web cannot be accessed by search engines ? As the world is now almost exclusively using Google to access content on the Web, few research professionals realize that this tool - among other search engines- will not give them access to the data they need. The Invisible Web, however, included a wealth of structured, validated data that is crucial for Competitive Intelligence Professionals. This short note will outline some of the principles underlining the Invisible Web, as well as tools that will help you access it.
<img class="center" src="http://competia.com/assets/Uploads/_resampled/ResizedImage571386-Thoughtinvisibleweb4.jpg" title="Rights reserved by foxypar4 http://www.flickr.com/photos/foxypar4/2124673642/" width="571" height="386" alt="" />
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/foxypar4/2124673642/" target="_blank"> </a>
<blockquote>
The Deep Web (also called Deepnet, the invisible Web, DarkNet dark Web or the hidden Web) refers to World Wide Web content that is not part of the Surface Web, which is indexed by standard search engines
Wikipedia
</blockquote>
<h2>Why is there an " Invisible Web" ?</h2>
The are several types of information the search engine cannot tap into. To simplify, I will provide here a few examples that are most relevant to Competitive Intelligence Professionals:
<h1>Dynamically generated pages</h1>
A number of pages can be generated based on the criteria the searcher has provided. This is the case for example of requests made on sites that provide statistical data. Search engines cannot make requests for specific searches and therefore cannot access the data that is generated.&nbsp;
An example of a site built this way is the <a href="http://data.worldbank.org">World Bank Statistics</a>.&nbsp;
<h1>Excluded pages</h1>
Some site owners prefer to avoid having their webpages appearing in search engines. They can structure their webpage therefore by including meta tags that will cause search engines to avoid the page. This could be a problem when you are researching specific technologies or companies who voluntarily want to stay "under the radar".
<h1>Searchable databases</h1>
Much of the world structured data has been organized in databases that are fully accessible but require the user to use a keyword to locate the information he / she needs. Here are a few examples:
<ul>
<li>Articles: Newspapers like the&nbsp;<a href="http://www.ft.com">Financial Times</a> that offer their full archives freely to users</li>
<li><a href="http://www.epo.org">European Patent</a>s : as a researcher, you can access the list of patents deposited in the European Patent Offices</li>
<li>Incorporation documents: when researching a private company, you can browse the list of States websites giving you access to the i<a href="http://strategis.ic.gc.ca/cgi-bin/sc_mrksv/corpdir/dataOnline/search.cgi" target="_blank">ncorporation documents</a> of those companies, allowing you to access details about ownership, board composition etc...</li>
<li>Financial information: you can browse the <a href="http://www.sec.gov/edgar.shtml" target="_blank">SEC Filing</a> to access financial data about US companies</li>
</ul>
However, when a search engine will try to index that content, it will fail and be blocked by the search form on that site - the search engine does not create keywords... As a result, unless the information has been provided page by page by the content owner to the search engine ( for example, the publications by academics for Google, now accessible though <a href="http://scholar.google.com" target="_blank">Google Scholar</a>), none of the content will ever appear in a search engine.
Here is a good summary by <a href="http://www.emeraldinsight.com/">Emerald Insight</a>
<img class="left" src="http://competia.com/assets/Uploads/_resampled/ResizedImage497331-Thoughtinvisibleweb2.jpg" width="497" height="331" alt="" title="" />
<h2>What does it mean for the Competitive Intelligence Professional ?</h2>
Understanding the "Invisible Web" concept is one of the key skills of the Competitive intelligence professional for several reasons:
<ul>
<li>Access to structured data: our research shows that over 70% of the data needed for competitive analysis is kept in structured databases such as the ones listed above. It is therefore crucial to know how to tap into those sources.&nbsp;</li>
<li>Ability to listen to weak signals: for those tracking weak signals, or new technologies, it is important to understand that a generic search engine will not return many relevant results. Drop Google and dive into the Invisible Web.</li>
</ul>
<div> </div>
<div> </div>
<h2>Meet the "pathfinders"</h2>
When there is a market, there is a product: "Pathfinders" have emerged to allow researchers to be able to track the path to those databases they so badly need. As few of those pathfinders have a business model, you can expect those sites to be sometimes shabby and disorganized.
Here is a sample of pathfinders I use:
<ul>
<li><a href="http://www.completeplanet.com">Complete Planet</a>: CompletePlanet gives you access to over 70,000 databases. They are all organized into categories so it is easy to browse to what you are interested in. The site does not seem to have been spammed yet, so it is quite relevant. One word of caution: I have noticed that the number of 70,000 databases has not changed in the past year, so I am not sure how updated that list is getting ...</li>
<li><a href="http://infomine.ucr.edu">Infomine</a>: Infomine is a scholarly Internet resource Collection. Databases have been organized by large categories ( Bio and Medical Sciences; Government; Business and economics etc...)</li>
<li><a href="http://www.alacrawiki.com" target="_blank">Alacrawiki</a>: for those familiar with&nbsp;<a href="http://www.wikipedia.com">Wikipedia</a>, the format will be reinsuring. Alacrawiki is the collective work of experts who provide you with the best resources to research an industry. The search for the industry can be confusing: make sure you use broad keywords &nbsp;to access specific industries. For example, check &nbsp;<a href="http://www.alacrawiki.com/index.php?title=Non-Food_Retail">Alacrawiki-retail</a>&nbsp;or&nbsp;<a href="http://www.alacrawiki.com/index.php?title=Oil_%26_Gas">Alacrawiki-oil</a>&nbsp;for the Retail or the Oil industry.</li>
<li><a href="http://www.closerlooksearch.com">CloserLook</a>&nbsp;: with Closerlook, Goatechnologies, based out of Montreal, has developed an engine that searches the Invisible Web for any public database including corporate data. One can search for a private company in the United States (the site covers today only North America) and access all incorporation documents, law suits pending, patents and trademarks, list of officers etc... Each search costs $0.99.</li>
</ul>
<img class="left" src="http://competia.com/assets/Uploads/_resampled/ResizedImage536363-Thoughtinvisibleweb3.png" width="536" height="363" alt="" title="" />
<h2>Gold nuggets</h2>
Occasionally, one finds some fascinating sources of information on the Invisible Web. Here are a few examples of interesting sources of information:
<ul>
<li><a href="http://www.flightaware.com">Flightaware</a>&nbsp;will give you access to all the flight plans or a specific aircraft. The site was built to allow you to track commercial flights, but you can also enter any tail number and track a private aircraft or a helicopter (of course, you'd have to know that tail number - check the <a href="http://competia.com/Database for registered aircraft">Federal Administration Registry</a>&nbsp;by searching by company name to get those). This is certainly useful when tracking a flight you are taking, but some of our clients have used it to track competitors - a mining company tracked helicopters to check prospections, a corporate office tracked the corporate jet of a competitor to anticipate mergers and acquisitions).</li>
<li><a href="http://www.123people.com">123people</a>&nbsp;will search the Invisible Web to find a person's profile. It will for example track that person's Wish List on Amazon, a great way to understand better a person's interest (what is more personal than your reading list ?)</li>
<li><a href="http://fundedresearch.cos.com/">The Database of Federally Funded Research</a>&nbsp;will give you access to any research done in the United States by private labs, universities, companies, that has received a tax incentive...</li>
<li><a href="http://www.marketresearch.com">Market Research.com</a> : this site aggregates a large number of market research reports published in English. I love the fact you can search with text within each market research report and therefore check how relevant a particular report is to you. In particular, the site will tell you how often your keyword appears with a specific report, and on what pages. Searching and accessing the executive summary is free, but requires a registration.</li>
<li><a href="http://www.findarticles" target="_blank">FindArticles.com</a> a (mostly) free database of previously published articles. Covers a large number of publications worldwide.</li>
</ul>
&nbsp;
<h2>What will the future hold ?</h2>
Here are my predictions for the future of the "Invisible Web"
<ul>
<li>New search engines will appear that will find the way to index the Invisible Web database. I am screening for example the initiative by&nbsp;<a href="http://www.deeppeep.org">Deeppeep</a>&nbsp;or <a href="http://www.deepdyve.com">DeepDyve</a>&nbsp;trying to specialize in Web Forms</li>
<li>Google will continue to strive and index part of the Invisible Web. After Google Scholar mentioned above, the tool is trying to index Patents ( see&nbsp;<a href="http://www.google.com/patents">Google Patents</a>&nbsp;) and other areas will follow</li>
<li>Experts will further use social media to identify and point out those databases. Alacrawiki has been a good start, but we have yet to see a more complete aggregator or curator for those sources of information</li>
<li>The size of the Invisible Web will continue to grow - maybe one day making the generic, mega search engines such as Google obsolete for researchers</li>
</ul>
I find this cartoon published a few years ago by the New York Times illustrates well what the (wishful) future holds:
<img class="left" src="http://competia.com/assets/Uploads/_resampled/ResizedImage600495-Thoughtinvisibleweb1.png" width="600" height="495" alt="" title="" />
<div> </div>
<div> </div>
<div> </div>
<div>Over to you: Are you using specific databases from the Invisible Web ? Please share you best-ofs here</div>
&nbsp; Tue, 09 Nov 2010 15:00:00 -0800 http://competia.com/tapping-into-the-invisible-web-for-competitive-intelligence/