Guy Kawasaki is a Twitter and social media expert. He's the founder of Alltop, the online magazine rack (which I use as my homepage). At the world's largest consumer electronics tradeshow (CES), Guy gave a presentation entitled "The Art of Innovation" where he outline eleven key ideas. 1. Make Meaning - great marketing campaigns strike an emotional, real connection with people 2. Make Mantra - can you boil down what you are trying to communicate into a simple phrase like Wendy's, Nike, or eBay? 3. Jump to the Next Curve - Ice 1.0 was Harvest, Ice 2.0 was a Factory, Ice 3.0 was a Fridge 4. Roll the Dice - Deep, Intelligent, Complete, Elegant 5. Don't Worry Be Crappy 6. Let 100 Flowers Blossom 7. Polarize People 8. Churn, Baby, Churn - go against the flow 9. Niche Thyself - there is a place where value and uniqueness can coexist in excellence 10. Follow 10-20-30 Rule Read more...

If you follow this blog, you'll know that I'm a huge fan of author Daniel Pink. His latest book, Drive, is out now and I wanted to spread the word. In Drive (a book about what motivates people), Pink poses two epic questions: What's my sentence? Was I better today than yesterday? RFor a cool explanation of these questions, check out the 2 minute video. http://vimeo.com/8480171

Recently our children's ministry team sat down to discuss scope and sequence. Our team creates the majority of the curriculum resources used during weekend services at our three campuses (both written and video), so this discussion was vital to the next stages of our curriculum process. We spent a block of time getting a picture of where kids are today and where kids will be in middle school. This is an important task in the our field! We need to know exactly where kids are and where they will end up. Henry Jenkins, Director of the Comparative Media Studies Program at MIT, and a host of colleagues wrote a paper dealing with the subject of 21st Century Skills (which I came across in preparation for our team's scope and sequence meeting). The article discusses several critical skills children should develop. Filed under: Digital Learning, Curriculum | Comments (17)

From the fog of past memories, I recall a televangelist show named the "Hour of Power." I do not recall what happened on the show, probably because I often changed the channel to something more like the "Hour of Cartoons" (which I was obsessed with as a child). Recently my obsession has turned to the subject of productivity. In my ministry context, I try very hard to limit meetings but they happen. Many run long. Some begin with great hopes for future production but end with faint glimmers (and those are often the meetings I've led). So I took a hint from Scott Belsky of the Behance Network and put into practice the Hour of Power. Belsky presents these guidelines: Stop thinking big picture and zoom in on the particular factors that impact outcome on a daily basis. Place an hour on your calendar every day to focus on issues that have an immediate impact and a measurable outcome. Read more...

Previously I wrote about five forces or broad trends that we are facing as children's and family ministry leaders (the rise of the individual, connectivity, Twitter Speed, Rip-Mix-Burn-Share, and Motion Blur). I'd like to finally address the last force - Motion Blur. From the original article: Motion Blur: The result of the previous four trends is motion blur. Motion blur is happens when you take a photograph of something that is moving rapidly. The result is a less detailed picture, since the picture is trying to interpret all the movement and show the sense of speed. In the lives of kids and families today there is motion blur between the virtual and physical worlds they occupy. For kids and teens in the virtual world, friends and relationships on Facebook are just as valid as the friends and relationships they have at their school or neighborhood. Shane Hipps who wrote Flickering Pixels introduces the term "digitally absent" for those who would rather take a phone call th

Previously I wrote about five forces or broad trends that we are facing as children's and family ministry leaders (the rise of the individual, connectivity, Twitter Speed, Rip-Mix-Burn-Share, and Motion Blur). I'd like to address each one of these trends and present some ideas and possibilities for response. From the original article: Rip, Burn, Mix, Share: The iTunes mantra has become the new normal for content. Television shows or news programs get live video responses then mashed up, auto-tuned, and delivered to YouTube. Did you know that Google recently changed its copyright enforcement largely because of a YouTube video of a wedding party dance that turned a song into Sony's 8th best seller in history? Tutorials for professional software are distributed with the original files so that users can think up new ways of creating content, all for free. Kids are used to creating their own content. One of my favorite weekends of the year is the weekend after Christmas beca

Online classes are becoming more and more common - not just for adults seeking flexible degree programs, but for children. I came across a great article in the Seattle Times about an online class for kids about kindness. Here's what Dan Pink had to say about the kindness class: Andy Smallman, head of the Puget Sound Community School in Seattle, has come up with a social innovation that’s ingenious, inspiring, and infectious. He calls it “kindness class.” Each week students in the online course get an assignment. In week one, they do something kind for themselves. In week two, they do something kind for someone they love. And so on. Along the way, participants do something kind for a neighbor, provide something wonderful for someone to find, let everyone go ahead of them for a week, and do something kind anonymously. For more information, check out the site and this Seattle Times article. In a world where people are seeking purpose and connection, kindness classes could be an i

Previously I wrote about five forces or broad trends that we are facing as children's and family ministry leaders (the rise of the individual, connectivity, Twitter Speed, Rip-Mix-Burn-Share, and Motion Blur). I'd like to address each one of these trends and present some ideas and possibilities for response. From the original article: Twitter Speed: Clearly everything is getting faster and more powerful. Computers, cell phones, netbooks, and the Internet. Five years ago, only 81% of American households had access to a low speed Internet connection! Now 96% of American households are connected to or have access to a high speed Internet connection. Many of you may not have heard of Ian Jukes. Dr. Jukes is an educator who specializes in digital learners. He has researched their needs, preferences, successes, and failures. His books include Teaching the Digital Generation, Windows on the Future: Education in the Age of Technology, and Understanding the Digital Generation: Te