I didn't want the week to close out without saying a few words about an incredible presentation I saw on Thursday by Swedish economist and business author Kjell Nordstrom.
One of the best things abut working at Vodafone is the quality guest speakers we get at our company events. Kjell's presentation at our people managers conference this week was a real highlight for me - so much so that I actually bought a copy of his book through Amazon whilst he was halfway through his presentation. When I told him this afterwards he seemed genuinley pleased.
Co-author of "Funky Business" and "Karaoke Capitalism", Kjell gave a whirlwind tour through some of the key ideas from both books that had most of us on the edge of our seats. His originality, passion and sheer enthusiasm - for his subject, and for the future, was genuinely inspiring. Like most of the best economic ideas, his conclusions are based on acute social observations that seem obvious with the benefit of hindsight.
He discussed how social and technological change has provided unprecedented freedom - the freedom to know, go, do and be pretty much anything we choose - and that these freedoms are a key challenge that enterprises have to learn to enjoy if they are to successfully manage their people, and ultimately be successful.
The feminisation of economic activity, social 'singledom', the breakdown of nation states for 'the world of cities' and American dominance over innovation - were all given the 'Funky Business' treatment. Most insightful to me, was his belief that successful businesses need to either become 'Fit' (ready to create continual temporary monopolies by adapting quickly to market conditions) or 'Sexy' (use the power of emotion and attraction to attract custom).
Aside from ordering both books I've found a couple of other related bits and pieces online. The website accompanying Funky Business has more details on Kjell and co-author Jonas Ridderstrale. If you register with the Funky Tribe community site an MP3 version of the first chapter of Funky Business is available to download for free. Amazon also have made available a short slide presentation read by Kjell introducing some highligts from Funky Business. I really encourage you to check them out.
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