Copenhagen meetup and interview with Eric Schwartzman, PR blogger and podcaster, Sept. 23

UPDATE: We will meet at Café André Citroên at 1900. Again, let me know if you want to be a part, we have a couple of spaces left.

Eric Schwartzman's On the Record podcast and his blog Spinfluencer are required listening/reading for communication professionals working with social media. If I had to cut back to just ten blogs, his would be one. And if I had to cut back to just ten podcasts, his would be one. They are just that good.

Danish/Oresund bloggers/podcasters/advertising & PR folks have a great opportunity to meet and chat with Eric on September 23. He's in town that night and wants to meet some of the local social media folks. And, get this, he wants to record  a "special episode of On the Record...Online" with some of us as the interviewees.

I will make reservations, almost certainly within 10 minutes walk of Rådhuspladsen, for 16 of us. 11 places are already reserved, so there's five left. But if there is a surge in demand, I will try to find a place that can take more of us (Spiseloppen?). Please reserve your spot either by leaving a comment below or emailing me.

Posted by Allan Jenkins at 11:35pm in Copenhagen, Podcasting, Social Tools | Permalink | Comments Welcome! (8)

Welcome to the world of Karl Marx

"Welcome to the world of Karl Marx" is Arie de Geus' greeting to corporate leaders. "Capital is a commodity. Human talent is not."

Here are my notes from the Don'tStop01 Business Innovation Conference we are holding here in Copenhagen. Arie de Geus was head of Shell Oil's Planning Unit for 38 years.

People have little loyalty to companies:

New MBAs stay in their jobs less than 5 years
CEOs stay about 2-3 years.
Shareholders hold their shares about a year

This isn't loyalty.

Why is this? What does it mean.

It's certainly very contrary to the view that I have of what constitutes a successful company. My view is very different... my view is based on some interesting things we learned at Shell.

In the 70s, we asked ourselves "who should be our example?" What companies should we look up to?

We made a study. We asked a team to go out into the world, and find companies that were older than Shell, more than 100 years old, who were leaders in their industry, and who still had their corporate identies intact.

27 companies met the definition.

Siemens, more than 150 years old
Dupont, more than 200 years old
Mitui, 300
Sumitomo, 400
Stora, 700 years old

What characterizes these old companies? What let's them survive. It's clearly not "cultural" because we have American, Swedish, German, and Japanese companies on the list.

We found they shared these traits:

1) Financially conservative. This is bad news for investment bankers. These companies want to keep their own money in their own pockets, and don't want someone else's money. Surviving for centuries means never having a banker pull the rug out from under you.

2) The leaders of these companies are sensitve to the world around them. Leaders were outward looking people, and are often highly active in the society around the company. Dupont has produced generations of US senators. If your leaders are out there in the world, active, they will note changes in society and keep asking "what will this mean for the company?"

3) Strong sense of cohesion and company idenity. Leaders and staff know what the company stands for, and are happy to identify with those values.

4) Management style of tolerance. Lots of space on the margins for new or different activities.

That led me to my definition of a corporation: a good firm is financially conservative, has staff that identifies with the company values, and has management that is tolerant and sensitive to the world in which they live.

That's not what they taught me in the economics department when I was in university in Rotterdam. There we were taught that  companies are institutions that produce goods and services for which other people are prepared to pay a price. The successful company combines labor, capital and land in an optimal way: Minimize cost, maximize price, maximize profit.

This is still taught.

Three definitions. Three different implications.

1. Where there is no loyal relationship to the company, it's every man for himself. It becomes the tragedy of the commons. The measure of success is maximation of  shareholder value.

2. If we accept the classic definition, the one still taught, we must accept the company as an economic machine. The measure? Efficiency and maximization of profit at short notice.

3. And my definition: human work community aimed at continuity from generation to generation. Goal is survival and self-development in a changing world. Measurement is life expectancy.

Which is the right definition? Which company would you want to work for? If you lead a company, which would you want to create?

Let's think about three things.

1) A study done at Stanford in the early 1990s showed that long-living companies produced, on average, 15 times more profits over 60 years than the stock market average. Human work community meets the goals of life expectancy, profits, and shareholder value.

2) When we look at the oldest companies, we must remember the hundreds of thousands of companies that died. The average life expectancy of a company is less than 17 years -- as low as 4 years according to a recent UK study. If you have to choose what sort of comapny you want to create, your choice is quite stark. Choose wrongly, and your company will be dead before you are.

And let's not say "oh, that's just survival of the fittest, that's the market at work." The death of a company is not gratuitous. People suffer. And if we accept that companies are like people -- they get wiser and better as they grow older -- then the death of a company is a tragic loss of knowledge and wisdom.

You may say "survival of the fittes, free markets". But I cannot believe the death of a company is gratuitous. People suffer. And don't companies get better as they get older, much as we do in life.

3) Finally, we are in an age of fundamental change. Capital is now a commodity; it is no longer a scarce production input. This is enormously significant: in the last 50 years, we have had near constant GNP growth, and we have saved 20% to 30% of this a year. Our world is simply awash with capital. Capital is no longer dominant.

In fact, capital is a commodity -- the capital market is a buyer's market, not a seller's market. So if you are choosing what business to create, why on earth would you structure it to maximize the return to the supplier of capital, the shareholders? That is very short sighted.

No, today, labor -- human talent -- is the scarce production factor. And if you would succeed you must have a management style that makes the most of that human talent. 

Corporate leaders: you live in the world of Karl Marx. Your core asset, the asset that is the value of your company, goes out the door every day. I really wonder how you sleep at night, because you have no idea if they will come back. So you better create the conditions so that they do.

Technorati: business innovation, dontstop01, Arie de Geus

Posted by Allan Jenkins at 11:35am in Business, Conferences, Copenhagen, Corporate Governance, Corporate Management, Management | Permalink | Comments Welcome! (5)

“Don’t Stop” Business Innovation Conference asks Desirable Roasted Coffee to blog (and I said “yes”)

I love all my clients, of course, but I have particular affection for the Copenhagen Institute for Futures Studies.

My other clients are typical businesses: the halls are buzzing with folks rushing around to the next meeting, wrapping up from the last meeting, whacking out emails about that meeting, slapping their foreheads as they read the minutes from that other meeting they were too busy to attend.

Now, I don't want for a moment to imply that people at my other clients aren't "gettin' it done" -- they most certainly are -- but over at CIFS, you tend to see people just sitting quietly reading books. Staring dreamily out of the window. Writing books.

Because what they do is peer into the mists of the future and report back what they think they see. And not just for some ivory tower purpose; no, no -- their job is guiding businesses (including some of my other clients) into the future.

Pretty cool job, when you think about it -- being paid to think. As Seth Godin et al note in the Big Moo, most of us run around all day frantically putting out fires and responding to other people. Just having an hour or two a day to think, to imagine, to wonder what if, would be immeasurably valuable for both ourselves and our companies. So imagine having that for a job!

So when CIFS asked me to blog and podcast from their upcoming Don't Stop Thinking About Tomorrow conference, I didn't need a second invitation.

I'll contributing to the Don't Stop blog leading up to the conference, too. Client Gitte Larsen posted her interview with speaker Adam Morgan, director of eatbigfish. Here's a taste:

"Why is it important continually to think about tomorrow?

Adam Morgan: There are probably obvious answers to that, but my interest is in challengers. I think one of the things that characterizes continuously successful challengers rather than those who fade away after a while, is that they are very restless people, naturally, and they are continually looking and searching for new opportunities to reframe the way they engage consumers on the respective markets. I think that restlessness and hunger are some of the things that certainly characterize continued success..."

Indeed, I believe that restlessness and hunger are two of the very few motivators for innovation -- whether you are a corporation or a home gardener.

Technorati: dontstop01, CIFS, Copenhagen, Denmark, futures studies, Adam Morgan, eatbigfish, Copenhagen Institute for Futures Studies

Posted by Allan Jenkins at 06:18pm in Conferences, Copenhagen, Denmark, Desirable Roasted Coffee, Management, Politics, Society | Permalink | Comments Welcome! (2)

Copenhagen bloggers gather for brunch; end up shouting

Update: Neville writes about us and publishes photos.
Update: Jacob and Jon publish photos.
Update: Henriette posts.

You get a bunch of opinionated bloggers together, and there's going to be words. Loud words.

Friend Neville Hobson was in town this weekend, & while Copenhagen is reeling under the worst snow/ice storm in a couple of years, missing a chance to trade ideas with Neville is pretty much unthinkable. A big chunk of the serious Danish blogosphere thought the same -- Froda & Bindslev, Jacob Bøtter, Trine-Maria Kristensen, and Henriette Weber were also there  -- so we spent Saturday afternoon at brunch together.

Loud, opinionated, shouted (in enthusiasm) idea-rich conversation plus scrambled eggs and coffee? That's a sweet deal.

Neville pulled out a sinister little recording device and made us each cough out some sort of contribution to For Immediate Release. But we all did our part to boost Shel and Neville's ratings.

Some of the others brought cameras, and Neville had a mike. I'll post the links when they are published.

Good to have seen you all!

Technorati Tags: copenhagen geeks

Posted by Allan Jenkins at 02:19am in Bloggers, Copenhagen, Denmark, Desirable Roasted Coffee | Permalink | Comments Welcome! (5)

Copenhagen Geek Dinner: tomorrow night

Copenhagen Geek Dinner tomorrow night... about 30 of us: journalists, programmers, designers -- but mostly polymaths with a great touch of geek.

"If truth-in-advertising laws were enforced, "sushi" would be called "cold dead fish".

Posted by Allan Jenkins at 01:08pm in Bloggers, Copenhagen, Expatriate Life, Food | Permalink | Comments Welcome! (0) | TrackBack (0)

Copenhagen Geek Dinner

Via Hugh "gapingvoid" McLeod comes news of a Copenhagen Geek Dinner on October 28.  Did I say news? I meant excellent news. The only cloud on the horizon? I suspect we won't be trying Stormhoek.

Posted by Allan Jenkins at 05:56pm in Bloggers, Copenhagen, Denmark, Desirable Roasted Coffee | Permalink | Comments Welcome! (2) | TrackBack (0)

Reboot: We Don't Have the Tools is OUT as an Excuse

Yesterday and today were given over to the Reboot, a European meet-up of the mash-up of society and communication and technology (with a fairly strong tilt to technology). Two days of bang bang bang sessions punctuated networking, getting acquainted and getting to grips (sort of) with where micromedia is leading us.

I didn't blog directly, but many others did (not all results will be about the conference but pick around). I do better waiting for the serendipity to happen.

I'll post highlights as I get my head around them. Here's the first in a series:

We don't have the tools is OUT as an excuse

Dina Mehta's presentation used as its case example the South-East Asia Earthquake and Tsunami Blog Dina helped organize. Incredible. The team used free (or nearly so) collaborative tools (Skype, IM, IRC) to put together a blog that attracted 1 million visits in the first week. And as the contributions and comments to the blog began (quickly) to become unwieldy, they created sub-blogs, and then a wiki to categorize the information.

The team was flat, without titles, with immense passion and, apparently little recourse to sleep. What's key here is that drive and brains and a willingness to collaborate, not expensive tools and committees, created this site.

Posted by Allan Jenkins at 11:05pm in Bloggers, Blogging, Blogging for Benjamins, Blogging for the Sheer Hell of It, Citizen Journalism, Communication, Copenhagen, Reboot 7.0, Technology | Permalink | Comments Welcome! (0) | TrackBack (2)

Reboot: It's Spring and a Young Man's Fancy Turns to.....

At the height of the dot-com frenzy, in 1998, 1999 and 2000, spring in Copenhagen meant Reboot, the annual tech hypefest that drew crowds to its seminars, and even bigger crowds to its awards show and raucous -- the only word for it -- after-party.

We listened raptly to Justin Hall, though no one now quite knows why, and hung on Ann's every word.  And proceeded to be raucous until  the early AM.

If you were a client of web services, you received about a dozen invitations to be the guest of vendors, and if you were in an agency, you were there even if you were an intern hired that morning. The soberest of newspapers gave the event coverage usually reserved for the big events of real industries.

Thank God no one had camera-phones.

The bubble burst, of course, and that was that.

Last Friday,  enjoying conviviality in Copenhagen's Café Europa, either my friend or I asked "What happened to Reboot?" To which the other answered "Dead... gone".

But were we wrong.

Reboot 7.0 has been announced, with a vengeance. With a fine line-up of speakers, a good price, a two-day format, none of the glitz but all of the grit.

I was probably going to hit IABC's International Conference in DC, but I think I will use my conference budget on Reboot.

Posted by Allan Jenkins at 11:31am in Communication, Copenhagen, IABC, Technology | Permalink | Comments Welcome! (2) | TrackBack (0)

IABC Creates New Scandinavia Chapter

IABC has created a Scandinavian chapter, gathering 35 IABC members from Norway, Sweden, and Denmark under one banner. Provisional Chairman is Anne Bove-Nielsen of Denmark. I've known Anne a few years; her energy and professional rank are good news for this effort.

Those of you with maps might be wondering how a chapter spread over three countries, three languages, and an area the size of the US east of the Mississippi might function. Actually, this is a common problem when companies or organizations try to do business in the region, and the answer is fortitude and the willingness to spend 5 hours on a plane for a 1 hour meeting.

Now I have to eat some crow: David Kistle said he would be able to announce a Danish chapter, and I rolled my eyes. But by expanding the catchment area to include three countries, it got done. And, as I said, we'll join any chapter that gets organized.

Here's the announcement!

I hope you are all well! I'm pleased to inform you all that the IABC International Executive Board has given unanimous approval to the motion to establish IABC Scandinavia as a Developmental Chapter.  So we are now official! 

One of our first tasks is to establish chapter bylaws, so enclosed please find a proposed draft for your approval. Please come back to me ASAP on this.

 

I have just attended a conference call with the European Board - and we are looking at the possibility of having a member event in early July in Copenhagen - I find that very exciting. As soon as I have more information on this I'll come back to you!

 

Best regards

Anne Bove-Nielsen

What's great for folks like me, who like an ultra-convenient life, is that I was able to join a "chapter" without being asked the first question about whether I would or wouldn't.

Posted by Allan Jenkins at 08:41am in Copenhagen, Denmark, IABC, IABC Scandinavia | Permalink | Comments Welcome! (4) | TrackBack (0)