"We are more easily persuaded, in general, by the reasons we ourselves discover than by those which are given to us by others." Blaise Pascal

"Making the simple complicated is commonplace; making the complicated simple, awesomely simple, that’s creativity." Charles Mingus

"It’s not what you look at that matters, it’s what you see." Henry David Thoreau

Today's image: eia by e7* Wonderful capture. Thanks for sharing.

Inspired by The Power of Pull by Hagel, Brown and Davison, today's post is an invitation, the first in a series. Let's get started with a slice from The Power of Pull introduction:

"The first and simplest level of pull is all about flexible access - the ability to fluidly find and get to the people and resources when and where we need them...Access will become increasingly necessary as competition intensifies and disruptions become more frequent. It used to be that we could rely on 'stocks' of knowledge - what we know at any point in time - but these stocks are diminishing in value more rapidly than ever before. Consider the compression of product life-cycles occurring in most global industries today. Even the most successful products fall by the wayside more quickly than the ones that preceded them as new generations come through the pipeline at an ever faster clip. In more stable times, we could sit back and relax once we had learned something valuable, secure that we could generate value from that knowledge for an indefinite period. Not anymore."

The challenge:

"Can you identify the fifty smartest or most accomplished people who share your passions or interests, regardless of where they reside?...For these fifty people, how effectively are you using social media to increase your mutual awareness of each other's activities?"

The context:

"Knowledge flows represent extraordinary opportunity. In a world where edges surface and grow rapidly, these knowledge flows provide the key to continually replenishing our knowledge stocks and exploring new forms of innovation. One challenge in an era of proliferating knowledge flows is to figure out which of these knowledge flows provide the most value. We often are not even aware of the full range of knowledge flows available and therefore cannot effectively use search tools and other mechanisms to access the most rewarding ones. We must master a new set of techniques designed to shape serendipity and attract attention in the most productive way possible. These techniques are the key in turning the challenge of knowledge flows into the rich opportunity of knowledge flows. Rather than a source of value destruction, they become a source of value creation."

The invitation:

My thought is we share our flows. Following, from my experience, are some of the sources that consistently offer solid insight, knowledge flow, that merits your attention. Of course, YMMV, so please do consider this an invitation to offer a few gems from your flow. Take a moment and share by leaving a comment. Alternatively, send me an email with your list and links or post to your blog, send me a link and we'll link to your post from here. Let's do this! Thank you.

Tom Peters! popurls Hacker News paidContent Joho the Blog

Scripting News Rosenblum TV BrandSavant Doc Searls Weblog

Beyond The Beyond Fimoculous Kevin Kelly Thomas P.M. Barnett's Globlogization

Tom Asacker Mediagazer EDGE MediaMemo

Lastly, from the Twitter, the linkers Twitter list by Patrick LaForge (@palafo)

This just in: My thanks to marketing maven Tom Asacker. Tom weighs in with these from his flow:

Grant McCracken
Jonathan Salem Baskin

Piers Fawkes
Matthew May

"The job of the dramatist
is to make the audience wonder what happens next.
Not to explain to them what just happened,
or to suggest to them what happens next."

David Mamet

Bonus: David Mamet Memo to Writers

More flow coming, next time. Thanks for stopping by.

"The best way to predict the future is to make it." Ahmet Ertegun

"Do not go where the path may lead, go instead where there is no path and leave a trail." Ralph Waldo Emerson

"When we hear news we should always wait for the sacrament of confirmation." Voltaire

The folks at JWT/Detroit working on the Ford Edge account hired David Mamet to direct a new TV campaign. Smart, very smart. Can't wait to see them now that I know Lewis Lazare grades the creative an A. More from Lew here.

MarketWatch writer Jon Friedman has decided to feature observations by "America's class wits" each Friday of this month's Media Web column. Today he brings on Andy Borowitz. Thanks Jon. Very cool idea. Check it out here. Andy's The Borowitz Report is always a fun read here.

Should Rupert get his way it seems obvious he will use the WSJ brand for his cable biz news channel. What happens to the said to be long term CNBC agreement with Dow Jones? Stay tuned.

Speaking of the obvious this year is shaping up to be one of dramatic change. My sense is M&A will rock at the "11" setting. Lots of assets in play. Incredible opportunities. Some players cashing out, new players coming in (including some coming back). On balance, it is a great year to be in the media bidness. It's a safe bet the Microsoft - Yahoo talks are on again.

Next Tuesday - Chicago's Music Row: Heard from the amazing Paulie Gallis and it sounds like next week's gathering is going to truly be one of a kind. Just about everybody from Chicago radio, records and music - past and present - is coming. Thanks to Paulie for organizing this very cool event. Don't miss it if you can. See you there! Details here.

Congrats & cheers: Senator Obama has requested the DNC protect the Democratic Presidential debates using a Creative Commons license - bravos! Lawrence Lessig has posted Obama's letter to Dean here. This should be a no-brainer for the DNC and RNC.

Photo: hereiskaty

Good shot, thank you.







"Everyone is interested in two businesses. Their own business and show business." David Mamet

The great genius Mamet was on Charley Rose last night. A shame Charley was fighting a cold and not into the interview. Mamet's new book is out. Bambi vs Godzilla. Amazon info here. The Mamet quote, while certainly true, reminds me of something Buzz Bennett was fond of saying, equally true, to wit: "Everyone has the right to program."

The great Fred Winston is doing the John Landecker show this afternoon. While John is away Fred will play. Should be fun, don't miss it if you can. 3-7pm today. Check out the stream here. In the meantime Fred blogs about donuts here.

The sail to Sydney - Day Nine: Ron Fell checks in from the Pacific aboard the Queen Mary 2 here. 2,600 passengers, 1,300 crew; we learn the largest suite is 2,250 square feet, the smallest cabin (known as "Superman's changing booth") is 87 square feet. Good stuff Ron!

Dante Chinni: "...if your concern is being trapped by the worldview of the MSM editors, how is the worldview of the crowd on one website really better?" Dante writes about social-networking and Digg via CSM here.

400 year death spiral continues - video edition: dead tree guys $81 mil, FM with pictures guys $32 mil. That's how Borrell Associates closed the book on 2006 local video advertising. The local print folks beat the local TV folks. Borrell suggests video advertising will be one-third of all local online ad dollars by 2012 (second behind paid search). More from Borrell here. (Thanks to Cory at LR for the tip)

Find music you never knew you liked: Listening to The Hype Machine today. Kudos to Anthony Volodkin! (My thanks to Michael Hirschorn for the tip)

Jimmy Guterman: "...this year’s Grammy Awards show—frequently hyped as a showcase for new performers—kicked off with the reunited Police playing 'Roxanne,' a song they first recorded when Jimmy Carter was president. That’s before the core pop-music audience was even born." Read Jimmy's observations on the Grammy Awards, music sales and the music biz via paidContent here.