Boom

Interesting slideshare on brands and innovation in China. Several years ago, I heard Yvon Chouinard answer a question about why Patagonia manufactured apparel in China. "It isn't because it is cheaper, it is because they are much better at welding seams and working with our fabrics. And they are getting better every year."

This deck shares the same message across many industries. Those that dismiss China as being about making stuff, rather than designing stuff, do so at their peril. They are expanding their footprint in the value chain of many products and services.

trendwatching.com's MADE BETTER IN CHINA

View more presentations from trendwatching.com

Social Enterprise and Self Esteem

Excuse a somewhat curmudgeonly post. It has been sitting in my "drafts" for some time. Time to hit publish or delete...

It occurs to me that the social enterprise field (#socent for all you who are changing the world by tweeting about it) suffers from a surfeit of self esteem. I am fine with passion and enthusiasm, but I also like to see some healthy debate and critique. Even the self esteem movement recognizes this.

Sure it is important to celebrate success. But too often, this field seems to crown celebrities long before success shows up.  Too often praise gets in the way of the real hard work. Let's not celebrate what's new, but what's working.

A few suggestions:

1) You don't come first. The customer/user does. I don't care what conferences you spoke at or attended. Neither do your potential customers.

2) It isn't about "helping" others, it is about working with others to fix something that sucks.

3) Entrepreneur is an attitude. I don't introduce myself as an "American Entrepreneur." Why do you call your partner an "African Entrepreneur"? (or "microentrepreneur"). Have you asked her what she'd like you to call her?

4) Keep an eye out for how often you use the word "they."

That's probably enough for now.

Much better than a slide deck

I love the video animations that RSA Animate puts together.  Maybe it's the novelty of this medium, but I find it a very engaging way to be introduced to an idea... much prefer it to a TED talk or Slideshare.

Here are a few of my favorites... click 4 times and you can learn a lot in 45 minutes.
- Jeremy Rifkin on Empathic Civilization
- Steven Johnson on Where Good Ideas Come From 
- Sir Kenneth Robinson on Educational Reform  and
- Daniel Pink on Motivation