Learn to Adapt

The always insightful Clay Shirky in a great interview with Joshua-Michéle Ross:

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A week or so ago, I was invited to chat with the folks at Inmagic about the current and future state of knowledge management and its relationship to social media.  They recorded the conversation for a podcast. I will leave it to their fine prose to explain the call (only adding that I was a biologist once – B.S in Biology from Purdue University – and I still don’t like the sound of my own voice ;o).

After you listen to the podcast, I would love to hear your thoughts on the conversation and whether you have encountered any resistance to social media from knowledge management practitioners.

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Excuse me while I vent.

Media companies are all battling uphill (upload?) against piracy.  One of the questions I often ask them is: “What pricing and distribution model would you need to put pirates out of business?”  One scenario I ask is, “What if we blew up the current stilted distribution model (i.e., theaters – pause – DVD – pause – VOD – pause – HBO, etc.)?  What if we just say “This new movie releases Friday – how would you like to see it?”

We have already seen movement toward a more compressed distribution model in 2008 when some studios announced DVD + VOD day-and-date delivery.  But, how much longer will we have to wait to get to Theater + VOD day-and-date?  When we do, the pirates will lose some of their advantage.  Let me vent my personal gripe to illustrate:

I have an old buddy coming to visit for the Inauguration (yes – we are unbalanced enough to join the insanity down in DC).  He and I used to love to hang out, crack a few, and watch Clint Eastwood movies (mostly the spaghetti westerns, mostly TGTBTU).  So, it would be great if he and I could watch the new Clint movie, Gran Torino, while he is here.  But, of course, the only legal way to see it right now is in a theater.  There is no way that we can work that into our schedule while he is here.  Now, I would gladly pay $25 bucks to be able to rent this VOD in my home.  But I can’t.  C’mon Warner Brothers – the money is yours – just let me VOD!

Of course, if I was The Bad or The Ugly, I could watch the video right now.  All it would take is a short stroll over to Pirate Bay to download a pirated copy (kids – stop that!).  It would probably be crappy quality but since I have a PC connected to my HDTV, my buddy and I could enjoy it any time we chose.  Now, because I don’t want to do anything to upset Clint (he’s always cranky and often armed), I will not do that.  But there may be others with less of The Good that might choose piracy out of last resort.  If someone is willing to pay instead of pirate, why not let them?  Trust me – it won’t cannibalize your box office receipts.  Theater going is an event/experience.  I will still go to movies.  I may even watch something on VOD and think, “Man – that would be great on the big screen – let’s go next week!”

I’m not the only one frustrated by not being able to VOD when I want and the studios are missing a revenue opportunity. How much longer do we have to wait?

(BTW – when I was growing up, my Dad had a Gran Torino.  I don’t think the rifle is standard equipment.)

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(Thanks to Mike Fruchter‘s post on Louis Gray’s blog for pointing out this video)

Perry Belcher provides a very entertaining video on the etiquette of social media.  Though he styles it toward individuals, the ideas are just as applicable to organizations and brands.  Watch the whole video, but here is his list of seven secrets:

1. Be remarkable
2. Be fun
3. Be helpful
4. Be supportive
5. Be controversial
6. Be resourceful
7. Don’t be an asshole (i.e, don’t be a flogger)

If you like that one, you might also want to watch his How to Make Money with Social Media.  It does not go into any monetization details, but it expands the etiquette nicely into a pattern of good marketing behavior on the social Web.

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Anyone out there in organizations that are going through a bit of change these days? Oh – right. Anyone out there not dealing with change?

For those of you managing a team going through change, or just coping with change yourself, I invite you to try out our new, free online Progressing Through Change application. It will be especially interesting for all of you in the organizational development field. It focuses on the human impact of change and provides strategies to help yourself (or your team members) progress successfully through changes at work.

The application has you complete a brief questionnaire and then shows you how you seem to be progressing through the four stages of change (Denial, Opposition, Exploration, Engagement). It provides information on each of the four stages and strategies for progressing through that stage. You are also encouraged to create a personal “elevator speech” about your role in the change and to draft questions to ask your manager about the change.

For the next week or so, the application includes a “feedback” box at the bottom of the page. I would greatly appreciate you taking the time to put it through it paces and tell us what you think.

Thanks!

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