Posted by Internet at Every Where on 3:54 PM
weave better networks... for myself and others.But, be careful whose advice you follow! Here are two contrasting pieces of advice emanating from Chicago. First, Betsy Hart of the Chicago Sun Times relates her experience...It used to make me crazy when people would invite my then-husband and me over to dinner, only to discover that another couple we'd never met had been included because the hosts thought we would ''just love these folks.''Whether we did or not, we'd have to spend the whole night making small talk and asking, ''So, how old are your kids?'' I was at a stage in life where I didn't want to learn how old someone's kids were. I just...
Posted by Internet at Every Where on 9:34 AM
Good things are happening in the Cuyahoga Valley.People and organizations are connecting, and money is pouring in. Connections, Cognition, and Cash, the necessary base for a good Innovation Soup, are being cooked in a pot that has been empty too long.A standing room only crowd [eager for good news?] was at the press conference where the Third Frontier investments in the area were announced. My first alma mater, Cleveland State University, partnered with 32 others for their winning grant on sensor systems -- weave that network! Other Cuyahoga Valley winners included the University of Akron, Swagelok, GrafTech, Kent Displays, Cleveland Clinic...
Posted by Internet at Every Where on 5:08 PM
Today I attended a conference on digital media at the Cleveland Institute of Art -- affectionately called "CIA" on the North Shore. A great group of people showed up.But I could not "get" the title of the conference -- defrag??? It is something I used to do to my Windows computers when they would slow down after several months of use. So I looked up "defrag" on the web...A process whereby parts of data files on all segments of a computer hard disk are taken from their fragmented state (with parts of files spread all over the disk), and grouped together in complete-file segments. This makes it quicker for applications to find the files they...
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Riffing of our Plexus Institute conference call yesterday: when we want to create a broader set of connections around any project we have on our plate, we need to help people get clear on our goals, short and long term. The clearer they are on our goals, the easier it is to connect us to people and resources we cannot predict or anticipate.This is the power of knowing and knitting any network: access to resources we cannot predict or anticipa...
Posted by Internet at Every Where on 2:04 PM
June and I chatted this morning about the centrality of innovation in our network weaving work. Everyone we work with is after one or both kinds of change: scaling what you're already doing, and doing something new (innovation).Network weaving is particularly powerful with innovation because we're connecting people with the kind of diversity that is always essential to the R&D of innovation. Diversity of ideas, perspectives, intentions, resources, access, and opportunities. The more we connect with people outside our personal (1st) circle, the diversity becomes more and more guaranteed.Of course learning how to connect these people in collaboration toward innovation is a social technology that we will continue to offer in our worksh...
Posted by Internet at Every Where on 3:54 PM
Local network weaving is great, but global network weaving is better!I am blogging from Riga, Latvia, where this week I participated in some great meetings and some great introductions. Above is a simple network map of the organizations involved. The links show who has collaborated with whom before this week. All of the organizations, except for orgnet.com, are from the EU -- most from Latvia. After having worked with a great group of new media artists @ RIXC and some brilliant mathematicians and computer guys @ SIS, I knew it was time for some introductions. All of the above organizations/groups were represented at the meeting in the Old...
Posted by Internet at Every Where on 5:08 PM
patternHunter observes...One of the challenges with "social networking" sites is that most are more correctly "social linking" sites. ...they are all like bad parties where everyone is gathered in small circles with their backs to anyone new. One of the benefits of a good host/hostess (other than attracting an interesting crowd) is his/her ability to introduce individuals to other individuals who are likely to share some kind of interest. To my knowledge, no social networking site is particularly good at making introductions and most do not even try.Right on. We train networkweavers to make useful & actionable introductio...
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In an adaptive, networked environment, the primacy of location moves from geography to netography.In the netography, it matters whether we're in the core or the periphery. Location in the core puts us in a prime position to be guardian of the network's core principles, values, assets, and relationships. Location in the periphery puts us in a prime position to be boundary spanners, inter-network weavers and the shameless idea butterflies and bumblebees. Moving from and between core and periphery in any network changes the scope of our opportunities for strategic serendipi...
Posted by Internet at Every Where on 7:39 PM
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I continue to get good traction from the distinction of our 3 circles. Our first circle includes people we know well - we and they have a "relationship." Our second circle includes people we know of, but don't have a relationship with. Our second circle people are usually our first circle's first circle. Third circle people are those we don't even know exist, yet we are nonetheless connected to in 2 steps - we know someone (in our first circle) who knows someone (in our second circle) who know them (in our third circle).Increasing the scope of new knowledge, ideas, or resources can happen in at least 3 ways:1. Interacting more with first circle people who we only interact with infrequently2. Interacting more with people in our second circle3. Interacting more with people in our third cir...
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We had a productive day today, getting our web site up, preparing for our next conference, and accomplishing quite a bit around Jack's dining room table -- proving once again that "a day face-to-face is worth a thousand emails!"Thanks to Steve Goldberg for stopping by and taking our pictu...
Posted by Internet at Every Where on 6:22 PM
This is a 1.0 version of a formula for measuring trust in relationships. It's intended to use a formula for assessing the complex and intangible dynamic of trust.It basically says that trust is the multiplication of weighted expectations and delivery on expectations, divided by the multiplication of expectation clarity and usefulness of feedback. It's actually based on intensive work I've done recently in client organizations on trust building between individuals, managers and departments.And here's the process:1. In the case of trust between two people, each person lists their 5 top expectations of each other in categories including what they...
Posted by Internet at Every Where on 9:34 PM
Many people think that all post-Katrina recovery efforts are fragmented and failing. Although many of the formal organizations are falling over each other, and over the debris that is still in the streets, community networks are self-organizing and emerging in New Orleans and elsewhere in the devastated region.A month ago, I got an email from Sarah who is working with ThinkNOLA. She inquired...Through the New Orleans Wiki we've documented significant social relationships and organizational connections between board members in the key recovery agencies, both governmental and quasi-governmental. Do you have any suggestions for producing visual...
Posted by Internet at Every Where on 5:53 PM
I got an email today from a dear friend who is promoting sustainable development in small remote Mayan villages in Belize. She has done a marvelous job, working with villagers to set up a computer center for the village children (who are now computer wizards!), using donated computers from folks in Athens, Ohio. She's also helped mostly young women in the village set up income generating businesses, gathered up a container full of books from U.S. friends to stock the new high school's library, and helped raise money for disbaled children to get needed operatons. All this while respecting the culture and encouraging local leadership. Now she...
Posted by Internet at Every Where on 10:04 AM
Weaving Smart Networks: Building Capacity for Positive Change in Organizations and Communities will be held in Washington, DC on October 12-13, 2006. The workshop is intended people already engaged in change and innovation who want to learn to apply networking strategies to increase the scale and impact of their activities. For more information, see the full brochure with registration form at Plexus Institute's web site Jack, June and Valdis will all be participating.For more information, email june@networkweaving.com or curt@plexisinstitute....
Posted by Internet at Every Where on 6:03 AM
When it comes to making change in communities and organizations, there are a few key roles that make change possible.One group is the group of innovators, visionaries, and entrepreneurs. These are the people who have the power of dreams.Another is the group of formal leaders who have the power to develop people's capacity for change. These are the people who have the power of development.Another is the group of informal leaders who also develop capacity for change - but all through invitation. These are the people who have the power of facilitation.There is the group of managers who have the formal community/organizational responsibility and resources to engage people in making changes happen. They are the people who have the power of assignment.Finally, there is the group of network weavers...
Posted by Internet at Every Where on 8:27 AM
Interesting discussion recently with a health care organization about designing new programs. They liked the idea of different strategies for people at the cores and peripheries of specific ethnic market segments - such as here on the South Coast of the Great Lakes - with the Chinese, Hispanic, and Indian communities/networks.For people at the cores of these communities, programs need to be designed with an eye to managing their traditions. For people at the peripheries, programs can be more "mainstreamed" in look, feel, and function desi...
Posted by Internet at Every Where on 9:34 PM
... to a very loud "You Suck!" Wow.The Cleveland Plain Dealer, the last major paper in town, used to write about the "quiet crisis" in NE Ohio -- how the economy was fading, and no one was doing anything about it. Sunday, they took the gloves off. BAM! A right hook to formal Economic Development [fED] in Cleveland. As usual the mainstream media, gets the story, but gets it late. The local grapevine was questioning the mission and performance of these ED organizations years ago. The whispering grew louder and has now been sufficiently amplified for the whole region to hear. I am glad the mirror has been cleaned off to reflect more accurately.All...
Posted by Internet at Every Where on 8:09 AM
One of the powerful dynamics of successful entrepreneurial networks is the use of complex reciprocity (or what anthropologists call a gift economy) to keep knowledge and resources circulating in a way that results in extraordinary economic value. The dynamic starts with network weavers sharing generously�providing important information about trends, markets, people and so forth. Entrepreneurs quickly translate this information into economic gain: they buy a piece of used equipment for much less than they had expected, they draw on the know-how of an experienced entrepreneur to develop superior products, or they gain entr�e into a large grocery chain very quickly because someone shares the name of their key contact. Next, staff encourage entrepreneurs to share generously among themselves, knowing...
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One of the most exciting frontiers of this decade is the place where Social Network Analysis and Complexity Science are cross fertilizing. That's where we Network Weaving bloggers love to hang out!Valdis just sent an email pointing to the proceeddings from the 6th International Conference on Complexity. Check it out--especially David Sloan Wilson's conversation about group evolution. Turns out that if you only breed the most productive chicken, you end up with a henhouse of agressive killers. You have much better success if you select all the hens in the most productive henhouse to breed. In this case, you're selecting for the cooperative skills...
Posted by Internet at Every Where on 6:45 AM
One of the critical characteristics of Smart Networks is that they have expanding, very productive peripheries. If we look at where we�ve gotten some of the breakthrough ideas in our lives, we�d see that our peripheries are often linked into our core networks from what Jack calls accidental conversations. At a National Business Incubation Association luncheon many years ago, I sat down next to an "older blonde with poofy hair" . Although I made some stupid assumptions, thinking the conversation would be of no value, I had a delightful accidental conversation. She shared with me a remarkable innovation she had been developing�a Kitchen Incubator,...
Posted by Internet at Every Where on 3:10 PM
Interesting conversation today with friend and colleague Tom Carlson who's fast becoming a raving social network fan. Actually, it's always in our blood until we discover the framework that unleashes it.Anyway, we were talking about rating the quality of our connections on a -10 to +10 scale. As it turns out, each of us, given everything on our personal plates, have finite bandwidth of time and energy we can give to the quality of our connections. It is our experience that our strong +9 and 10 connections often require more care and feeding than our more superficial +2 and 3 connections.So we can visualize having a bandwidth of, say, 50 points on any given week on personal and professional scales. If we have two +9's, that leaves 32 points to distribute among maybe a few of +4's and 5's and...
Posted by Internet at Every Where on 9:40 AM
One of the basic building blocks of weaving networks is "closing of triangles". A triangle exists between three people in a social network. An "open triangle" is where there is an opportunity to introduce two people by the third person who knows them both -- it is a triangle with one missing link like in the diagram immediately below. A "closed triangle" is where all three people know each other.Here we see our friend and colleague Ed Morrison, of iOpen, connected to two of his clients -- the economic development folks in both Lexington, KY and Oklahoma City, OK. He knows each of these groups, but they do not know each other. Much could...
Posted by Internet at Every Where on 12:23 PM
Entrepreneurs for Sustainability[E4S] is a NE Ohio network of entrepreneurs and change agents from business, government, academia and non-profit sectors who are implementing sustainability principles. They celebrated the Open House of their new work/meeting space this week. Included in that celebration was a network map of almost 600 NE Ohio entrepreneurs and their colleagues who run sustainable businesses in the Cleveland-Akron-Canton-Youngstown Ohio region. As with most network maps, this one [printed wall size], soon had a crowd around it pointing, laughing, taking notes & pictures, and discussing. Several people, who did not find...
Posted by Internet at Every Where on 12:01 PM
June 29 & 30Open Source Economic Development: New Practices and Tools for Economic Development - an invigorating curriculum for leaders to create and lead collaborations, map and enhance regional networks, jumpstart innovation, engage in �strategic doing� and measure results. Workshop PresentersEd MorrisonJune HolleyValdis KrebsJack RicchiutoTime & PlaceDates: Thursday, June 29 & Friday, June 30 Time: 8:00 A.M. to 4:00 P.M. Place: Baldwin Wallace College Berea, OhioStrosacker Hall College Union Open Source Economic Development is a new approach that teaches you how to develop the open economic networks that drive innovation. Regis...
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In training with a few hundred health care staff this week focused on relationship building, we had them closing triangles, after a few minutes of context about why it's important and their brainstorm on the keys to effective introductions. People did a great job - a testament to our intrinsic capacity for doing just th...
Posted by Internet at Every Where on 9:10 AM
The work we do with organizations and communities introduces many of them for the first time to the value of social capital. It is a whole new idea that the quality of connections between people are at least as valuable to the bottom and top lines as financial and other forms of capital. The most disturbing part of this reality is that social capital can't be engineered, managed, traded, or controlled.It can only be nurtured, as in that which is done in gardeni...
Posted by Internet at Every Where on 6:25 AM
Maybe it was because of my lens, but I noticed that trust was one of the threads running through the talks and panel in yesterday's KM conference. One of the pieces I introduced in my 10 minutes of fame in the conference was the 4 core elements of trust building in networks and communities:> Alignment - common beliefs & values> Expansiveness - introductions to others in the network> Interbeing - mutual promise making & keeping> Productivity - making new impacts, innovations togetherThe role of network weaver is to see where opportunities exist to help people build stronger trust in their connections. Why? Because trust drives innovati...
Posted by Internet at Every Where on 6:19 AM
June, Valdis, and I participated in a day long Cleveland KM cluster conference yesterday on social and value networks and tools. It was a strong agenda with solid affirmation that the real gold in "knowledge management" is in the unleashing of networks.It's an acknowledgement that knowledge in organizations and communities grows and serves in the context of relationships. It's value that doesn't reside in individual people, functions, or leaders. Like the brain, it only has value when connect...
Posted by Internet at Every Where on 5:19 AM
I�m still trying to figure out what I loved about Ghana. Unlike most trips, I came back from there energized and feeling nurtured, not drained.The key is in the interactions. Everywhere I went, people bathed me in sunshine with their smiles and friendly acknowledgements. What was going on? It�s so elusive. All I know is that the quality of interaction was different. The smiles and hellos felt like a gift, but with no expectation that I owed anything back.What is fascinating is that this gift opened something in me, and I found this same kind of easy acknowledging of others flowing out of me, and somehow I found myself feeling very relaxed and at ease in the world.So much simple magic about relationshi...
Posted by Internet at Every Where on 4:04 PM
I just posted some things I have written on networks and/or entrepreneurship on my web page: www.networkweaving.com/june.html The first one is an example of how I took census and other government data and converted it into a set of graphs that tell a story about why entrepreneurship is so important and why entrepreneurs have such a hard time surviving and growing.The next one--Transforming Your Regional Economy Through Uncertainty and Surprise: Learning from Network Theory, Complexity Science and the Field--I did for a talk at the Prigogine Center in Texas. A different version was published in Uncertainty and Surprise in Complex Systems, 2005.Building a Regional Entrepreneurship Network: A Guide to Action is a "How To" workbook for people interested in creating regional networks.I'll post...
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Just wanted to let people know that they can learn more about Smart Networks and Network Weaving at a workshop in Cleveland on Friday May 19th that also includes Verna Allen of value networks fame. Valdis, Jack and I will be presenting together.Also, the three of us will be leading a much more in-depth 2-day workshop on building economic networks at Baldwin Walla...
Posted by Internet at Every Where on 4:47 AM
As I travel around the country--and now the world--I'm starting to see some very interesting and provocative economic shifts--part real, part still potential.In both rural areas such as Appalachian Ohio and in urban centers such as Accra in Ghana, entrepreneurship is everywhere. it feels like an increasing number of what used to be LOCAL entrepreneurs (having only local markets) are networking to become REGIONAL entrepreneurs serving sets of urban markets around them--often crossing state or national boundaries. This is happening through regional innovation networks that are just starting to emerge. I think we all need to examine these closely and figure out ways to help them form all over the world.What are regional innovation networks? From the fragmentary evidence we have so far, they...
Posted by Internet at Every Where on 4:19 PM
The more I observe and reflect on the quality of connections in community networks, the more interested I become in the question of how to assess for this quality.Of course, interaction frequency will remain a baseline indicating quality connections, but what beyond that?I'm thinking there are at least these 4 indicators.Alignment - how much do people have in common?Productivity - how much new value does the relationship create?Introductions - how many valuable introductions does the relationship produce?Learning - how much new learning do people gain from each other and collaborative...
Posted by Internet at Every Where on 12:01 AM
As I mentioned in an earlier post, I've been in Ghana working with a United Nations project that is bringing together West Africans to weave a regional network. First, I have to say that Ghana is a wonderful and exciting place. The country is increasingly stable, and entreprenurship is alive along every street, where everything from handcarved beds to toilet paper are being hawked by local--usually very young--entrepreneurs. Reminds me of China when I was there in 1994 for the Womens Conference and saw the first signs of what was to become the China of today. The people I met were wonderfully friendly and accepting--virtually everyone you pass will make eye contact and give you a greeting and a smile. I can't tell you how good it feels to be surrounded by this all day. If you have a chance,...
Posted by Internet at Every Where on 1:54 PM
I'm sitting with Valdis at Talkies who's been contacted for a project of marsupial mapping. I flinched until he explains a project a client of his once did mapping cows. The data was based on which cows spend the most time eating next to others, since eating promiximity correllates to strong social bovine ties. It brings up the whole idea that behavioral mapping is the cleanest ... so to speak....
Posted by Internet at Every Where on 11:14 PM
Network Weavers are individuals who take responsibility for creating healthy networks, what we call Smart Networks.Anyone can learn to be a Network Weaver but natural Network Weavers have at least some of the following characteristics. Are you a natural Network Weaver?1. Opportunity seeking: sees opportunities everywhere2. Loves to connect people to each other3. Able to unearth resources of all types and kinds4. Able to remember many names and resources5. Able to dialogue easily with people and get them to disclose information6. Comfortable with uncertainty but persistent in making things happen7. Able to learn from experience; decides next step after reflecting on previous step8. Optimistic 9. Able to see when something doesn�t work and moves on10. Has a big vision but sees...
Posted by Internet at Every Where on 4:59 PM
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