“Frankly, Iíve always thought that publicizing the ‘best practice’ idea was simply a way to sell conference tickets and books. The problem, as I see it, is that itís not clear what it means for some practice to be ‘best’? Best at what? And by what standard? Whatís best for me might not be best for you, and so on.”

“The field of happiness studies has moved out of psychology and into economics. It is folk wisdom that money is no guarantee of happiness. And arguably it is happiness that we care about, not wealth. So rather than looking at aggregate wealth, an alternative research strategy asks people if they are happy. This may sound naive, but in fact people’s answers are correlated with their health, how much they smile, whether their friends rate them as happy, and information from brain scans. We should not so hastily dismiss questionnaire evidence about happiness.”

“Profitability management, the theme of this column, is all about translating great strategies into sound plans — and sound plans into effective tactical actions.” And here’s Part 2 and Part 3.

“Anyone who can help an organization create a Purple Cow is fair game. We want to find companies and freelancers that help their clients be remarkable. If you are one of the 500 that are picked, I’ll include you for free in my new eBook, coming out this May. I expect it will reach about a million people. This is going to be the one and only sourcebook for finding the catalyst an organization needs to create truly great stuff.”

“COI promotes research on organizational innovation as well as new forms of collaboration, communication, and coordination made possible with the advent of interactive technologies… COI affiliates represent multiple disciplines including sociology, anthropology, interactive design, computer science, organizational studies, communications, urban planning, science studies, and journalism.”