Monthly Archives: December 2004

THE GREEN MOVEMENT: A MANIFESTO

The neocons seem to have identified some new and somewhat unlikely enemies. There is a whole movement to introduce conservative values into the education system, both by forcing teachers to feed creationist religious propaganda to schoolchildren, and by removing and … Continue reading

Posted in Collapse Watch | 11 Comments

BUYING GREEN

Last week I wrote about the need for botanic (meat-free, dairy-free, cruelty-free) products to go mainstream. There have been some interesting developments on this front: Organic vs. Local: Jim Minich, in an article Beyond Organic in Counterpunch, educates readers on … Continue reading

Posted in Collapse Watch | 4 Comments

OUR PERVERSE PLEASURE IN OTHERS’ MISFORTUNE

Schadenfreude. It’s a German word that literally means “joy from damage”. It refers to the perverse pleasure we take in observing or hearing about the misfortunes of others. That pleasure seems to be enhanced by talking about it with others … Continue reading

Posted in Our Culture / Ourselves | 9 Comments

CPS: DAVE POLLARD’S CREATIVE PROBLEM-SOLVING PROCESS

In previous articles I’ve described the Innovation Process of gurus like Clay Christensen and Peter Drucker (and my own), and a process for tapping the Wisdom of Crowds. Since then, I’ve talked to several business leaders about these processes, and … Continue reading

Posted in Working Smarter | 15 Comments

FUNDING INNOVATION: PULL BEATS PUSH

In the current New Yorker James Surowiecki (author of Wisdom of Crowds) describes a novel approach to funding research to develop vaccines and treatments for third world diseases like malaria, tuberculosis and AIDS. The traditional funding approach is what Surowiecki … Continue reading

Posted in Working Smarter | 2 Comments

RED HERRING’S TOP TEN TECH TRENDS FOR 2005

Red Herring has published its list of the top ten technology trends to watch for 2005: Moore’s Law yields to innovation: The long history of processor speed doubling every 18 months without changing price looks to be coming to an … Continue reading

Posted in Working Smarter | 2 Comments

THE THREE PRINCIPLES

Grandfather and Young Owl stood overlooking the canyon, their arms resting on the wooden railing. “You know”, Grandfather said, “that in Chumash legend, each of the four seasons has a unique set of associations.” He described the four quadrants, sketching … Continue reading

Posted in Collapse Watch | 3 Comments

GETTING THINGS DONE: BREAKING PROJECTS DOWN INTO SHORT TASKS

Three weeks after implementing a simplified version of the workflow management system in David Allen’s book Getting Things Done, I’m finding it works extremely well: I’m better organized, waste less time, have less stress, and don’t miss any deadlines. I’ve … Continue reading

Posted in Working Smarter | 6 Comments

WANTED: ENTREPRENEURS TO DEVELOP CHEAPER, BETTER-TASTING BOTANIC FOODS

If you’re like me, you at least take a serious, and guilty, look in the Organic and Vegetarian section of your grocery store, but may be put off by the significantly higher cost of these products compared to less pure, … Continue reading

Posted in Working Smarter | 2 Comments

THE TYRANNY OF STRUCTURELESSNESS

Several of my key solutions to making our world better — Natural Enterprises, True Collaboration and Model Intentional Communities most notably — rely on the ability of groups of people to self-manage more effectively than large hierarchical organizations are, or … Continue reading

Posted in Working Smarter | 11 Comments