I thought it would be neat to see what 90,000 words from the Flat Army book looked like in Wordle. Afterwards, I thought it might be neat to share with you as well. Click the graphic to see it in a larger format. Given what you know about the book, do any of these words surprise you? Related Posts:Announcing the Full Book Cover Jacket of Flat ArmyFlat Army: Chapter 9 OverviewFlat Army: Chapter 5 OverviewFlat Army: Chapter 6 OverviewFlat Army: Chapter 7 Overview

The title of Chapter 1 is "The Mona Lisa is so Small". This 90 second video snippet sees me (Dan Pontefract) describe the background to Chapter 1 of the book Flat Army: Creating a Connected and Engaged Organization.   Related Posts:Flat Army: Chapter 2 OverviewFlat Army: Chapter 4 OverviewFlat Army: Chapter 3 OverviewFlat Army: An Overview of the BookFlat Army: Chapter 5 Overview

The best way to soak up the open road isn't behind the wheel, it's on a bike. The post Saddle Up With This Gear for Long-Distance Bike Trekking appeared first on WIRED.

Previously I’ve discussed the benefits and uses of micro-blogging, badging and virtual worlds inside an organization. It’s time to tackle video sharing. There are a few ways in which you can bring a YouTube like experience to your employees. You could use YouTube of course, but your security people might get a little wobbly in the knees on that one. There are other stand-alone cloud-based services that you might want to investigate such as Fuse and MediaCore. If you have implemented or are thinking of implementing a human capital talent suite, options like SuccessFactors and Kenexa have some built-in video sharing options for you. Of course collaboration platforms like Jive or Confluence come with it as well. Come to think of it, you don’t really have an excuse not to have a video sharing option available to your employees. If the pinata is there, you might as well take a swing at it. Once you have video sharing in place, what are some of the effective ways in which you can utilize it within your organization? 1) Social Learning Well well well. You knew it had to be on the list, right? What better way to use video sharing than to promote it as a learning tool amongst your employees. I’m not talking about professional learning videos you pay for from external vendors which you then might upload to the system. I’m referring to user (employee) generated videos that are created on whatever topic is imaginable. There is much going on within your organization — and via the brilliant minds of your team members — that can be recorded through the use of webams, screen captures or other camera modes. It can easily be uploaded and shared to increase the collective intelligence of all. That is social learning. 2) Executive Communications Are you bored reading long emails from your C-Suite articulating the need to cut back on operational expenditures like travel or learning? What if the C-Suite used the video sharing platform to convey those same thoughts? Would the message be interpreted differently, perhaps more positively? If your video sharing platform has built-in comments or a discussion board it also provides the opportunity for an actual dialogue to ensue with those aforementioned C-Suite members. Monologues are often interpreted as hierarchical let alone email missives; a kinder and more collaborative way in which to convey news of this sort could be through a simple webcam created video fro the desk of the C-suite. 3) Corporate Communications Outside of Executive Comunications via the C-Suite or senior management personnel there is additonal employee communication that needs to be shared as well. How is this done today? My guess is it’s usually done via email with the odd dose of intranet bulletins coupled by really infrequent face-to-face town halls. What if videos were used to compliment some of the aformentioned modalities? Imagine if short webcam recorded bulletins were issued to employees via their personal profile page or email itself? This video-based sharing can easily help the interpretation of corporate communications and it might even be done in such a way such that humour is used as well. 4) Curated Learning If employee generated videos might be termed social learning — as depicted from number one in the list above — there is an opportunity to use the video sharing application to curate and post videos from people outside of your organization. There is much knowledge ‘out there’ so why limit yourself to professional learning organizations or employees? TED, for example, has many short videos you can embed into your platform. Of course this brings up the point about curation. I’ve written about the act of curation before and yes, it’s so important it’s in the Flat Army book as well. Why aren’t you (or perhaps members of your learning team) curating other user generated videos outside of your organization? Why aren’t they being posted to your video site? There is much free — and global — video content out there and it’s my opinion that it can be curated and repurposed for your own employees. 5) Employee Recognition One final yet impressive manner in which to take advantage of a video sharing system is through the recognition of employees. Imagine Sandeep has rung up his best sales quarter ever. Sure, an email might be nice but if a very short video was created by the Head of Sales and shared with the entire organization, it can have a significant impact on both Sandeep and his colleagues. Imagine Jillian has won a prestigious award and her business unit’s Vice President records a short video congratulating her on such an accomplishment. Wow! That would be both engaging and impressive. In summary, it’s my belief we’re under utilizing videos inside our organizations. There are many benefits to adding it as part of your company culture including the 5 I list above.   Related Posts:6 Use Cases for Enterprise Micro-BloggingWhy Don’t You Have an Internal YouTube Video Sharing…Waiting For SuperExecutive: Why Executives Should Get on theVirtual Worlds in an Organization are not a Time Waster (andFlat Army Book Trailer (one minute)

The title of Chapter 2 is "How’d We Get So Rigid?" This 93 second video snippet sees me (Dan Pontefract) describe the background to Chapter 2 of the book Flat Army: Creating a Connected and Engaged Organization. It’s got a lot to do with evil, and hierarchy, and a couple of rigid thinking men. Related Posts:Flat Army: Chapter 4 OverviewFlat Army: Chapter 3 OverviewFlat Army: Chapter 5 OverviewFlat Army: Chapter 6 OverviewFlat Army: Chapter 10 Overview

Ian MacLellan scales up mountains alongside New England climbers to get some stunning photos. The post Inside the Beautiful (And Precarious) World of Ice Climbing appeared first on WIRED.

If ever you doubted the power of the human condition or the effect open leadership can have, watch this story of Conner and Cayden Long. Recipients of the Sports Illustrated SportsKid of the Year award for 2012, these two young brothers will not only melt your heart, they will instantly define for you the type of inspirational and ‘flat’ leadership we need in our organizations today. Related Posts:Niall Ferguson: Did He Miss the Learning ‘App’?Announcing the Full Book Cover Jacket of Flat ArmyAnnouncing the Front Cover of Flat ArmyAn 8 Year-Old Does Social LearningWhose Your Brian Reid?

As the first Earth probe nears Pluto, a photographer takes an exclusive look at what it took to get the mission off the ground. The post Photos: How NASA Set New Horizons on Its Path to Pluto appeared first on WIRED.

Late last year I was at a dinner with a Board I won’t mention by name. There were roughly 50 people at the event. Tables were pre-assigned and I found myself sitting across from a chap in his mid-50′s whose professional job was an accountant. He worked at a rather large firm as a partner. And no, I won’t insert any accountant jokes at this time. About halfway through the meal, the conversation at the table of 10 shifted to social media. Other than Denise (my better half) no one really had any idea of my background or my natural propensity for all things social. Can you see where this is going? Somehow, the chatter gravitated to Facebook. Our accountant friend chimed in and said, "The partners and I decided this year to ban Facebook. It’s a distraction and too much of a time waster for our associates." At that precise moment, I received a kick to the shins from Denise. I glanced over and read her lips, "Don’t you dare Dan." But, the damage was done and I was going in for the kill. "Dear sir," I grinned from ear to ear. "I find your decision ludicrous. Do you really believe Facebook — or any social media for that matter — is a time waster?" I received a look of death. But I continued, "If Facebook is a time waster, what about lunch breaks or your fitness room?" He did not look pleased. "And surely there are still people who are smoking in your firm, don’t they go outside for ‘smoke breaks’?" I cheekily asked. And then I went in for the kill. "Here’s another thing to consider," I slyly pondered. "Do you provide mobile phones for your associates?" Our accountant friend sternly said, "yes we do." My eyes lit up. "Well, don’t you think your associates are still using Facebook through their mobile phones now that you’ve blocked it from your network?" And that’s when Denise changed the subject to Habitat for Humanity … or was it Justin Bieber? It doesn’t matter. The point? To anyone that is contemplating a ban on Facebook or any other social media site inside your organization’s firewall. Don’t do it. Wake up. Invite yourself to the 21st century. Enjoy this phenomenon called collaboration. By banning Facebook and other social media sites you are instituting a draconian if not Orwellian culture of disengagement. You are also preventing the natural act of social business to manifest. Don’t you occasionally receive personal photos or jokes via email? Is there a difference? Social is the new normal; you are the antithesis of collaboration. You think business is conducted in a cubicle. Good luck if you do ban it. I’ll be laughing at you through one of my status updates posted at 10:30am on a Wednesday. Related Posts:I Unfriended You On Facebook. Are We Still Friends?The Remarkable Leadership Story of Conner & Cayden LongI Don’t Do GolfInterlocutors of 2012 (the goats are better for it)I’m Not Scared of Email; I Developed a System called…

As we ride through the desert, Mathur explains how he and his company hope to break Asian rubber monopoly using gene sequencing and an unassuming desert plant. It's a long story, and about halfway in, as a way of describing this grand plan, he tells me about his parents. The post The Superplant That May Finally Topple the Rubber Monopoly appeared first on WIRED.