Blogs

Sometimes you come across an article, blog or book that just smacks you in the head and gets you thinking. The Power of Pull - How Small Moves, Smartly Made, Can Set Big Things in Motion is one of those books. The authors are John Hagel III, John Seely Brown, and Lang Davison, copyright 2010 by Deloitte Development LLC and published by Basic Books. 

The book explains the current "push" based approach that has been the model since the beginning of the industrial revolution, the Big Shift that captures the fundamental shift from a world of push to a world of "pull," and how that will impact everything and everyone. The authors explore how to use the power of pull to:

• access new sources of information
• attract like-minded individuals from around the world
• shape serendipity to increase the likelihood of positive chance encounters
• form creation spaces to drive you and your colleagues to new heights
• transform your organization to adapt to the flow of knowledge

What impacted me most by this book is how I can personally relate to the observations and analysis discussed. It validated some of my own theories on the future of knowledge management and business operations in general, and had me thinking in new directions that will help guide me in my current professional efforts. The discussion surrounding serendipity was extremely interesting to me as I have been told how lucky I have been in my professional life. I never saw it as luck, but as setting myself up for the next job or opportunity. I now understand how it works, and how to do a better of job of creating these "chance" encounters.

I rarely make these kinds of recommendations or endorsements. In this case it is in order.