by Sören Stamer September 07, 2007 at 12:34 AM

Sich selbst in einem Video zu sehen, fühlt sich seltsam an. Noch immer. Die Gewöhnung lässt bei mir noch auf sich warten. Dennoch sehe ich in Videos im Unternehmenskontext mittlerweile ein sehr wertvolles Werkzeug.

Ein Video-Interview hat nämlich schon seinem Wesen nach einen besonderen Wert: Es zwingt mich meine Gedanken direkt und unmittelbar auf den Punkt zu bringen (siehe auch "Über die allmähliche Verfertigung der Gedanken beim Reden"). Und gleichzeitig gibt es mir nachträglich die Gelegenheit mich bei dieser Übung auch noch kritisch zu beobachten und dabei meinen blinden Fleck zu verkleinern ("Nuscheln wird als Stilmittel deutlich überschätzt"). Wirklich erhellend!

Das Ergebnis des letzten Experimentes dieser Art ist gerade unter den Creative Commons Lizenzbedingungen online gegangen. Ulrike Reinhard und Lutz Berger haben meinen Kollegen Henrik Schürmann und mich letzte Woche zum Change Management bei CoreMedia interviewt und das Ergebnis zu einem ansprechenden Video-Format zusammen geschnitten.

Hintergrund des Interviews ist die SCOPE 07 - The Future of Learning Conference. Da das Thema "Kollektives Lernen" CoreMedia bewegt und vielen bei uns sehr am Herzen liegt, haben wir uns entschlossen die Konferenz als Sponsor zu unterstützen und uns gleichzeitig inhaltlich einzubringen. Wir sind gespannt.

Herzlichen Dank an Ulrike Reinhard und Lutz Berger. Das war bereits im Vorfeld der eigentlichen Konferenz eine sehr schöne (Lern-)Erfahrung.

by Sören Stamer August 20, 2007 at 12:44 AM

I wish I was a student or a PhD student again. It seems to be the best time ever to think about the future of enterprises and our whole economy. So, it couldn't be more interesting to study Business Administration, Economics or related disciplines.

The paradigm shift labeled "Web 2.0" reached the shore of conventional enterprises mainly build upon hierarchies. Digital Natives enter conventional enterprises and the fun begins. They demand to work in the new paradigm and cause change. So, it would be good to be able to answer one important question: Why should any enterprise make intensive use of social software and transform itself into an Enterprise 2.0?

Well, I have been thinking about this for a while now and did what I had to do: I started to transform CoreMedia into an Enterprise 2.0.

The change management was all about changing the corporate culture. At the beginning, the use of social software was only a minor point. By now, it has emerged to a central aspect.

Through my own experience I came to the conclusion that the main aspect of Enterprise 2.0 is raising the order of connectivity between all stakeholders. And here is my hypothesis: With more and better connections between employees, managers, partners, customers and to the rest of the world, an enterprise will be more aware of its environment. It will be more agile and more creative. It will be more competitive and, therefore, stays longer alive. Well, at least on average.

I really like to put this hypothesis to a test through a study. I expect to find evidence that the rate of innovation and the customer orientation raises along with the order of connectivity.

And I expect to see some evidence "being connected" means "staying alive" in a networked economy and society.

Anyone interested in making this topic the topic of her/his thesis? Please contact me directly or through this blog.

by Sören Stamer July 19, 2007 at 07:32 PM

I like French movies, Champagne, Paris (the city), the lovely accent of French women speaking foreign languages. I like Le Grand Bleu, Nikita and French kisses. I like Cannes, Bordeaux wines, Luc Besson, Jean Reno and Sophie Marceau. And I like French cheese too.

What I really don't like is the Tour de France obsessed with doping and being treated arrogantly by an Air France supervisor in Paris after they have messed up my international connecting flight. I don’t like to be told that it is the fault of another Air France subsidiary instead of offering any help. And I don’t like to be sent on a 3h journey through the various terminals of Charles de Gaulle Airport to get some help from this other Air France subsidiary.

Hello Monsignor Supervisor, it was a quite expensive Air France ticket for four Air France flights. Your company sold it, your company got the money, and your company created the problem in the first place. Therefore, as a simple matter of fact, I expect your company to be kind and handle the mess without any discussion.

By the way, telling me and the other passengers from the US that this connection fails every other day wasn't too smart either. I didn’t solve any problem. And to hear that you knew about my misery even before we bought the flawed tickets from your company is even worse.

Why has your company told me to use this inaccurate flight connection, just to annoy me?

And what have you done about it personally?

Go ahead with your silly dog fight with your local sister company but don’t expect me to fly again with Air France.

by Björn Bauer July 03, 2007 at 10:00 PM

Nick O'Neill wrote some nice words about the future of companies and what they have to do to attract young employees that grew up in social networks. But to attract people is one thing. The impact in the culture of these companies is what follows. Absolutely worth a reading. It's an amazing feeling to read such words from outside of our small world, noticing that not only we are talking about this.

We still have much work to do at CoreMedia, but it feels good to be on the right way.

And to all those who are thinking about working for CoreMedia: "Talk to us!"
You can find many of us in Facebook (simply type in 'CoreMedia' in the search field), ask questions and find out what's in it.

You're very welcome!

by Sören Stamer June 20, 2007 at 06:18 PM

Sharon Gaudin from InformationWeek comments on the Enterprise 2.0 conference in Boston: Enterprise 2.0--Changing Corporate Culture Before Changing The Tech

CoreMedia's way to emphazise more on changing the corporate culture than introducing new technology was well received by most if not all of the people I met. However, it seems to be still an exception. But why?

by Sören Stamer May 25, 2007 at 07:32 PM

Most of us believe in centralized structures to coordinate things and solve important problems. The results are omnipresent hierarchies. Someone (string leader) has to decide in the end, right? Really?

Professor Thomas Malone from the MIT thinks not. Actually, he believes that the opposite is true. He makes the compelling case that we create better organizations and a better society if we use highly decentralized structures instead. I strongly believe we will. The great thing is that he also explains why.

Pleasel enjoy his interview about leadership and his own life: The Power of Decentralization: Discovering the New Physics of Organizing. It is from May 2001. However, it has a lot to do with Enterprise 2.0.

Henrik, thanks for the hint. Awesome!

by Sören Stamer April 22, 2007 at 03:18 PM

"NO ASSHOLES"

Everyone who is interested in a healthy corporate culture should have zero tolerance for assholes. Those who have the guts to stand up against certified assholes make the difference.

So if you want to work in a healthy corporate culture, fight for it!