We reworked the weblog backend to make bBlog easier to maintain — expect more frequent posting around here come 2004. But the new system also means the old link to bblog.xml is no more. Please update your feeds to point to xplane.com/bblog/b2rss2.php. Thanks, and happy holidays!

“What’s good advice for enhancing your creativity in business? Cut the umbilical cord to the folks around the office water cooler. Mix it up. Take a class with strangers, seek out ideas from people you don’t ordinarily talk to, do anything to get out and mingle more with folks from other professions. Broaden your social horizons, and you just might come up with the next crazy idea that sparks an industry.”

“This year, some of 2002’s ugliest scandals drew toward grim climaxes: ImClone’s Sam Waksal headed to jail; Dennis Kozlowski went on trial; HealthSouth’s Richard Scrushy was hit with an 85-count indictment. But if investors and regulators thought they could finally breathe easier, they were horribly mistaken. 2003 will be remembered as a year in which a raft of new financial fiascos surfaced, rather than the year that Wall Street finally cleaned up its act.”

“In hardball bargaining, is the other side really making its ‘absolute final offer’ or only bluffing? In a collaborative situation, do you understand everyoneís true interests? Are valued customers and colleagues satisfied with their relationship with you, or are they harboring unspoken grievances?”

“While most executives contend that they need marketing, few are able to articulate why they need it and many have no way of knowing what kind of value the function generates for the company overall. In some respects, one could say that executives view marketing as a necessary evil.”

“Author David Ticoll tells how smart companies gain the trust of stakeholders by sharing important information. David Ticoll is the co-author, with Don Tapscott, of The Naked Corporation: How the Age of Transparency Will Revolutionize Business (Free Press, 2003). He has performed groundbreaking research on the impact of technology on business for more than 20 years, and was founding CEO of the international think tank Digital 4Sight.”

“The Collaborative User Experience (CUE) team in IBM Research has spent nearly a decade studying email. Not only has email become one of the most pervasive and successful collaborative tools available, it has also become a key component of IBM’s Lotus Software offerings. In many ways, email can be seen as a victim of its own success — users increasingly suffer from overload and interruptions as well as use email in a manner for which it was not intended. To meet the challenges in researching email, we have taken a multifaceted approach to data collection.”

“Principles for building clarity through the effective design of jobs, organizations, and processes. The move toward matrix-, team-, and process-driven organizations has no doubt helped many companies increase efficiency. However, the complexity of these structures can also create a fog of ambiguity, leading to cultures of indecision and frustration.”

“If you think a proposal’s executive summary is really a summary, you’re missing the point. Here are six tips for turning your blah conclusions into an effective, well-substantiated pitch.”

“We get pulled in many directions during the day — unexpected interruptions, phone calls, e-mails. It’s time to get control of your schedule.”

“Are you always exhausted? Owner of an endless to-do list? That’s life in a pared-to-the-bone economy — or so you may think. The truth is that folks like you, who are skilled at every task in their company, often struggle against doing the one job that could make the biggest difference: delegating.”

“As proud as you may be of your company and your product or service, most customers only care about how well you can help them meet their wants and needs. If you want more of them to buy, your focus has to be on your customer. How do you communicate that to them? With the words you use on your site. Are you talking mostly about them and their needs or are you talking mostly about yourself? To help you answer that question, we’ve developed a unique and free analysis tool that counts certain words on your site that are key indicators of whether your focus is on the customer or not.”

“You are about to give a presentation about your project at a prestigious international conference. You have prepared the material. You are an experienced speaker. Surely nothing can go wrong. Or can it? Brian Kelly provides advice on the technical aspects of giving presentations.”