asalvesen's blog

● “Ethics in Social Network Analysis”
    Author:  Eva Schiffer
    Date:  October 13, 2010
    Source:  Net-Map blog
    URL:  http://netmap.ifpriblog.org/2010/10/13/ethics-in-social-network-analysis/
Social Network Analysis:  Traditional surveys ensure that the respondents remain anonymous, as each respondent is simply meant to be representative of a particular demographic.  However, in using network tools to facilitate change,  the identity of each individual becomes key. This brings up an ethical issue involving social network analysis – should the respondents have it made very clear to them exactly how their answers will be analyzed?  The answer, for Eva Schiffer, is “yes.”  And not only is it the ethical thing to do, to provide full disclosure of the analysis methods, it is actually “one of the strengths of network mapping”; it allows interviewees to “reflect on the complete picture and see if that’s what they actually wanted to say.” 

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•    “Empathetic Leadership Means Better Talent Management and Higher Profitability"
        Author:  Kevin W. Grossman                                                                                                      
        Date:  September 15, 2010
        Source:  Glowan Blog
        URL:   http://glowan.com/wordpress/2010/09/empathic-leadership-means-better-talent-management-and-higher-profitability/
Kevin Grossman refers to the work of Dr. Steven Stein, author of Emotional intelligence of leaders: a profile of top executives and gives a brief summary of his findings.  Grossman points out the following two characteristics about leaders with higher emotional intelligence which Dr. Stein’s work confirmed:  1) they run more highly profitable companies; 2) they are less challenged by managing people.  read more »

•     "Toward a New Science of Leadership" 
        Author:  Sangeeth Varghese                                                                   
        Date:  August 23, 2010
        Source:  Stanford Innovation Social Review
        URL:  http://www.forbes.com/2010/08/23/handbook-leadership-theory-practice-leadership-managing-harvard.html                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                   The recent publication Handbook of Leadership Theory and Practice  is an outgrowth of the 2008 Harvard Business School conference, “Leadership:  Advancing an Intellectual Discipline,” at which prominent scholars from a variety of fields ranging from psychology to history to economics came together to assess current knowledge about leadership and identify areas for future research.  The book seeks to both provide rigorous scholarly research on leadership, which the authors feel is all too scarce, and to inspire scholars to develop new ideas and ways of thinking about leadership.  read more »

•      "Social Analytics Meet Community Engagement" 
        Author:  Allison Fine                                                                    
        Date:  July 26,2010
        Source:  A. Fine Blog
        URL:  http://bit.ly/cZ51Dy 

Allison Fine looks at how all the social media activity related to social causes translates into the actual on-the-ground activity necessary for social change.  She explores the question:  “What, if anything, does all of the clicking, blogging, and “friending” add up to in the end?”.  This topic, the one of how to both translate online exchanges into offline actions and measure the results (the connection between online activity and veritable social change), engenders a discussion, which, as Fine describes is in its “infancy.”   read more »

•     "6 Powerful Tips for Philanthropy Leaders" 
        Author:  Stanford Innovation Social Review                                                                    
        Date:  Spring 2010
        Source:  Stanford Innovation Social Review
        URL:   http://www.ssireview.org/philanthropytips
This article provides a brief summary  of each of the six tips and includes links to other articles in the Stanford Social Innovation Review for a more in-depth examination.  Examples of topics covered include being a catalyst for change and evaluating programs to create long-term strategies.   read more »

•     " Diversity vs. Philanthropic Freedom"  
        Author:  Bradford Smith                                                                      
        Date:  June 25, 2010
        Source:  Philantopic
        URL:   http://pndblog.typepad.com/pndblog/2010/06/diversity-vs-philanthropic-fr...                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    
Currently there is an increasingly polarized debate over philanthropic freedom vs. diversity – something the president of the Foundation Center and author of this piece, Bradford Smith, considers to be a false mutual exclusivity. He begins by countering that philanthropy is inherently free, due to its private and voluntary nature.  Unlike public funds, which involve bureaucracy related to accountability and oversight, philanthropic funds are far more flexible.  This flexibility, this “philanthropic freedom” is best defended by increased transparency (and presumably not by opposing diversity).

Diversity is a big part of everyday life in this country, as can be verified by a trip to any shopping center or by simple channel surfing.  Many foundations,especially those working with disadvantaged communities, already view diversity “as an asset if not a precondition for their work.”  As the nation – the world for that matter - becomes increasingly diverse, the ranks of organizations placing a high value on diversity will grow.  read more »

• Powerlessness Corrupts

       Author:  Rosabeth Moss Kanter         

        Date:  July / August 2010 edition

        Source:  Harvard Business Review

        URL:  http://hbr.org/2010/07/column-powerlessness-corrupts/ar/1

In the Harvard Business Review column, Powerlessness Corrupts, Rosabeth Kanter examines the negative impact on organizational effectiveness of strictly limiting the contributions of employees of an organization, concentrating power in the hands of a few.  By spreading the power, growing the "power pie," through deep and wide involvement, organizations can avoid the pitfalls of internal rivalries and intergroup conflicts that undermine their progress and succeed even in difficult economic times. read more »

• “Applying a Social Media Rule to Innovation”
  • Author: Jeffrey Phillips
  • Date: June 24, 2010
  • Source: Blogging Innovation
  • URL: http://www.business-strategy-innovation.com/wordpress/2010/06/applying-a...
  • Social Media & Innovation: Jeffrey Phillips identifies two types of communities in the world of social media – “broad and topical”, like Twitter, and “deep and narrow,” like forums. In the sites focused on topical interaction, thousands of participants exchange information that is neither very informative nor very deep, whereas smaller groups of people in a more narrowly-focused discussion generally provide very deep or information-rich resources. This polarization in social media, according to Phillips, aligns very well with all aspects of innovation, but with idea generation in particular. A small, diverse team of several people who are all well-prepared will produce the most radical innovation. As more participants are added, the ideas generated become more incremental rather than disruptive.

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• “The Two-Pronged Approach to Innovation Your Company Needs”

Author:  Inder Sidhu

Date:   June 4, 2010

Source:  Forbes.com

URL:  http://www.forbes.com/2010/06/04/innovation-cisco-disruptive-sustaining-...

Innovation:    An effective innovation strategy requires both a commitment to sustaining innovation and a commitment to disruptive innovation, according to Cisco’s Inder Sidhu in the Forbes article “The Two-Pronged Approach To Innovation Your Company Needs.”   Avoiding a tradeoff between sustaining innovation and disruptive innovation is a challenge that all companies face.  Fortune 500 companies, very mindful of their accountability to customers and shareholders, tend to invest fewer resources in disruptive innovation.  Start-ups, on the other hand, focus most of their resources on disruptive innovation.    The key to successful innovation is to consciously pursue both types, as the amplification of the combination is significant.