Business

Open Leadership webcast with Charlene Li

Join us March 17 at 2 p.m. for a discussion with Charlene Li, author of New York Times bestselling Open Leadership and co-author of the critically acclaimed Groundswell, for the latest in our Open Your World webcast series. Li will share her research and explain how social technology is transforming how many leaders lead. Hear stories and examples of how open leadership and transparency are effectively revolutionizing organizations and optimizing both human and organizational potential. » Read more

1 CommentPosted 10 Mar 2011 by ChrisMorse (Red Hat)

Of the community, not above the community

Since I've recently been on one of my Tom Sawyer rants again about the lack of humility I see in many community efforts, I thought I'd share a story that might help you visualize the role your organization could play in the communities it belongs to. » Read more

0 CommentsPosted 7 Mar 2011 by Chris Grams

Who's really innovative?

If you were compiling a list of the world's most innovative companies, which businesses would top your list? No one would be surprised if you picked Google, Apple, or Amazon, but what about Wal-Mart? (Huh?) Or PG&E (a utility, for crying out loud)? Surely there must be some mistake! Or how 'bout the Chinese data equipment maker Huawei (umm, who are they)? While a few of these companies might not have made it onto your top 10 list, all of them were featured in Fast Company's 2010 ranking of innovation all-stars.

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0 CommentsPosted 3 Mar 2011 by Gary Hamel

Recap: A Practically Radical webcast with Bill Taylor and Polly LaBarre

Bill Taylor, the co-founder and editor of Fast Company magazine, joined us for today's edition of our Open Your World Forum series to talk about his new book, Practically Radical. Bill was joined by Polly LaBarre, the co-author of his earlier book, Mavericks at Work: Why the Most Original Minds in Business Win. Polly was also a part of the original Fast Company team and served as senior editor for nearly a decade. Like Mavericks, Practically Radical is already a Wall Street Journal bestseller. » Read more

2 CommentsPosted 1 Mar 2011 by Ruth Suehle (Red Hat)

This one goes out to the fence painters

I’m always looking for interesting new communities to highlight here on opensource.com. Over the past year, I’ve covered everything from Wikipedia to OpenIDEO to The White House and am, frankly, overwhelmed by the sheer quantity of new community-building efforts going on out there.

Seems like every day I get an email or see something on Twitter or Facebook about a new community that sounds interesting and innovative. I’ve found some amazing people and visionary ideas. I hope to continue to highlight the best of these new communities here on the business channel. » Read more

2 CommentsPosted 1 Mar 2011 by Chris Grams

What is your management model?

One enduring change in the management lexicon brought about by the dotcom revolution was the term business model—how a firm makes money. The concept had been in existence for decades, but the competition between "old" and "new" economy firms, with very different business models, helped to demonstrate its importance as a way of thinking about the basic choices firms make when it comes to their sources of revenue, their cost structure, and their make-or-buy options.

In the post-dotcom era, firms have continued to experiment with new business models, with some success. But genuinely new business models are hard to come by, and they aren’t as easily defended as they once were. Firms are therefore on the lookout for new forms of competitive advantage—they are looking for sources of distinctiveness that are enduring and hard to copy.

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4 CommentsPosted 28 Feb 2011 by Julian Birkinshaw

Making community software sustainable

Revolution is easy. Nation building is hard.

At Gettysburg Abraham Lincoln dated this nation's founding to the Declaration of Independence. We celebrate July 4 as our national day.

Personally, though, I'm a fan of June 21. That's the day, in 1788, when New Hampshire ratified the Constitution. As it was the ninth state to do this, it was on that day that our form of government was truly established. (For those keeping score at home, that's 11 score years and, as of now, a little less than eight months.)

For Libre Office, September 29 is their Independence Day. That was the date, last year when The Document Foundation was created to fork the code base of OpenOffice.org from its corporate owner, Oracle. » Read more

0 CommentsPosted 24 Feb 2011 by Dana Blankenhorn

Open Your World webcast with Bill Taylor, co-founder of Fast Company

A Game Plan for Game Changers: Practically Radical webcast with Bill Taylor and Polly LaBarre » Read more

0 CommentsPosted 24 Feb 2011 by Ruth Suehle (Red Hat)

How does open source affect company culture?

An open source company is naturally a company that produces open source code for others to consume. But how does the notion of producing software code in the open affect company culture? » Read more

12 CommentsPosted 23 Feb 2011 by Marten Mickos

Twenty questions I ask myself every day

On weekdays when I am at home, and not travelling, I get up early, get connected to the rest of the organisation through mails and calls, do  an hour of yoga, and then drive to the office, arriving there around 10:00 a.m. I usually work until 8:00 p.m. and then head home to my family.

During the day, I try to avoid the traps that are so easy to fall into as a CEO. The most dangerous one is thinking you should know the answers to all questions that arise. This is ridiculous, of course. How can I possibly know the answers to questions that have to do with customers, relationships, technologies, solutions, countries, and offices that I have no direct involvement with?

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2 CommentsPosted 18 Feb 2011 by Vineet Nayar