All posts by Alexander

Book review: The thin book of appreciative inquiry

November 11, 2002 Alexander 1 Comment

Appreciative Inquiry is an extremely effective and fun method for introducing positive change. It bases itself on the assumption that improvement can be achieved by focusing on the positive and doing more of that. Normally when we try to improve something, we do the opposite. We focus on what doesn't work, and try do less … Continue Reading ››

Science/Technology

Google sets

November 10, 2002 Alexander Leave a comment

There's a new, seriously cool feature currently being tested on Google, called Google sets. You name a couple of items and Google will attempt to expand that and find more items matching your examples.

Starting with "Bill Clinton" and "George Bush" might give you a set of american presidents while "apples", … Continue Reading ››

Leadership

All you need is… Love?

November 9, 2002 Alexander Leave a comment

I'm currently reading Tor N?rretranders' latest book "det gener?se menneske" (The generous human). It's all about how generosity and altruism can exist, in a cruel, Darwinistic, dog-eat-dog world. The answer seems to be that the the two basic mechanisms of Darwinism, natural selection and sexual selection, actually favour generous individuals.

This reminded me of … Continue Reading ››

Leadership, Quotes

Quote

November 8, 2002 Alexander Leave a comment

Given the right circumstances, from no more than dreams, determination, and the liberty to try, quite ordinary people consistently do extraordinary things. - Dee Hock

Politics, Silly

Ken MacLeod

November 7, 2002 Alexander Leave a comment

Ken MacLeod is the greatest living Trotskyist libertarian cyberpunk science-fiction humorist, and there's a great interview with him here.

I've read most of his books, and they're excellent. My favourite detail is a company that's bought the ex-soviet nuclear arsenal, and use it to rent protection to countries that don't have nuclear … Continue Reading ››

Leadership

Movie review: Startup.com

November 6, 2002 Alexander Leave a comment

The makers of this brilliant documentary got permission to follow the rise and decline of internet startup govworks.com VERY closely. We're there as the idea slowly takes form. As the first rounds of financing are secured. We cheer as the company grows, and the future looks rosy. And we're very much there as … Continue Reading ››

Speaking

Entreprenur Open Space Conference

November 5, 2002 Alexander Leave a comment

I was going to write about the excellent Open Space conference for entrepreneurs that d-i-f arranged last friday, but then I saw that Lars Pind has already said pretty much everything that I wanted to sat about it, so go there and read about it.

Book Reviews, Happy At Work, Leadership, Learning

Book review: An unused intelligence

November 4, 2002 Alexander Leave a comment

There are many different theories about learning, but not a single one of them states, that the best way to learn, is to sit passively on a chair, while a teacher talks about the subject in question. No theory ever in the history of the world has claimed it, and yet this is how schools, … Continue Reading ››

Leadership, Politics

Quote

November 3, 2002 Alexander Leave a comment

I hear people everywhere saying that the trouble with our time is that we have no great leaders any more. If we look back, we always had them. But to me it seems that there is a very profound reason why there are no great leaders anymore. It is because they are no longer needed. … Continue Reading ››

Silly

Online comic: Red meat

November 2, 2002 Alexander Leave a comment

Red meat is weird, wacky, gruesome and black. Here are a few of my favourites: Ball bearings in the butter tub, the white-hot cure for sticky valves, drool string ukulele, apocalypso facto or the ebullient egg-sac of ennui.