A recent Harvard Business Review blog post by James Champy argues leadership does not change in a Web 2.0 World. Mr. Champy’s core points are that (a) leadership requires relationships and personal engagement and (b) technology does nothing to alter this requirement in leaders. Based on his points, Mr. Champy seems to suggest that the most appropriate way forward for… Read more →
When air travel to and from several European cities was curtailed due to volcanic ash, people adopted Skype and other video conferencing tools in lieu of travel. Unlike email or telephone, video conferencing is thought to be like face-to-face communication but only somewhat leaner because one is not in the same place as the person one is communicating with…. Read more →
Both AFP and Reuters are reporting a spike in video calling as air travel is halted in Europe due to volcanic eruption. According to Cisco, there has been a huge surge in demand for its telepresence facilities in Europe. Skype, too, is seeing an increase in video-calling during the past few days. Some executives who have been prevented from getting… Read more →
The blockbuster film Avatar showed us how easy it is to move from one reality into another environment where the rules are different. Where a person can be reborn into a 10 foot tall, blue, non-English speaking, dragon-creature-flying, environment-protecting militiaman. So is it all that hard to fathom that leadership inside the four walls of an organization morphs into… Read more →
In my last post, I mentioned that the best way for business leaders to understand Twitter or other social media is to begin using them. I recently saw how experimenting with social media can help business leaders appreciate its power. I had an opportunity to advise a business leader, Ms. Peg Breen, about blogging. Peg was without employment like thousands… Read more →
It has been a while since I blogged. It feels good to be back! The usefulness of Twitter continues to be debated. Last week, George Packer, a staff writer at The New Yorker, wrote that he wants to yell Stop every time he hears about Twitter. With constant updates, Twitter only adds to the overwhelming amount of information we… Read more →
This week I have run across some very interesting articles on social media and how their use is evolving. These two articles struck me as interesting because they discuss requiring people to use Facebook or Second Life in order to perform in classes or on the job. I think these use-cases highlight that we desire to use social tools… Read more →
I recently deactivated my Facebook account. Although it had been a handy tool for reconnecting with old friends, keeping up with some colleagues, and socializing with family & other loved ones, in the past few months, I began to experience a downside to the social networking site. This eventually led to the deactivation of my account. Although social networking can… Read more →
At the Academy of Management meeting earlier this month, I had the pleasure of assisting Dr. Ulrike Schultze in a session that she coordinated. The panelists at the session were respected journal editors. What was different about this session from other sessions at the annual meeting was that it was held simultaneously in Second Life and the hotel in Chicago. … Read more →
I just returned from the Academy of Management conference in Chicago where I presented a paper that Surinder and I wrote with Professor Rui Huang. Our paper was an extension of the research we have been doing on leadership in virtual worlds that I wrote about previously. This paper focused on how one’s online identity may affect virtual team… Read more →