catalyzing innovation

While perusing LinkedIn Today, we were intrigued by a notion posited by none other than Reid Hoffman, Cofounder and Chairman of LinkedIn. In the executive summary of his presentation “The Start-Up of You”, Hoffman encourages people to adopt a mindset of “permanent beta.” We were both drawn to this concept like moths to a flame, and curiously repelled.

Did you happen to watch the Republican Response to the State of the Union this past Tuesday? Would you believe that there is an instructive lesson for practitioners of applied collaboration to be gleaned from that now slightly ill-famed speech? No, really. There is.

Illustrated by Melissa Segall

Today at Transcribe we explored the yearly question related to resolutions – what does it take to sustain change?

Whether at an individual level or an organizational level the levers are very much the same:

One of the recent Inauguration events (Beyoncé using a pre-recorded track while performing the national anthem) spurred a discussion on the concept of preparedness versus on-the-fly improvisation. In the midst of this discussion, we recalled Les Vygotsky's "Zone of Proximal Development," a widely used model by educators which refers to the point where one can effectively stretch his abilities and increase his capabilities.

In December, CN supported TEDxKids and TEDxSMU in sunny Dallas, TX. It was great weekend as lots of speakers who have been on the main TED stage came to Dallas to spread their ideas centered on this year's tagline: "re:THiNK." On Friday November 30, over 500 middle school kids had the opportunity to attend a 1/2 day TEDx event, listen to talks tailored for their age group, and experience all of the sponsor exhibits.

Your votes are in! Here are our top ten posts of 2012!

How long is 150 years? Sure, it’s a decent span of time. But consider that only in the last 150 years, two very important decisions were made:

• Slavery was abolished in the United States in 1865. (147 years ago!)

• Women were given the right to vote in 1920. (92 years ago!)

How about 40 years? Now we’re talking within our own lifetime! Consider that only in the last 40 years, these decisions were made:

There is a moment before stepping out in front of a group of people who have come together to tackle a problem that requires all of your attention and ability when you have a decision to make. You can choose to approach the unknown as palpable ambiguity or malleable possibility. During this Friday’s Transcribe, we here at Collective Next discussed how we attempt to balance the necessary tight rope walk of preventing the bottom from dropping out and blowing the roof off of any situation.

In last Friday's Transcribe, we discussed how a session is like a good book, you are engaged from start to finish, you experience each twist and turn side by side with the main characters, and it leaves you thinking in ways you had not considered before.

The votes are in! The top three Transcribe posts so far are:

1. "A Model of Interaction Transcribed"

2. "BS Transcribed"