Digital Tonto

Digital Tonto is a blog that explores the connections between media, marketing, and technology.

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Working, Fast And Slow

1 week ago | digitaltonto.com | Greg Satell

In Thinking, Fast and Slow, Nobel Laureate Daniel Kahneman suggests that we have two modes of thinking. The first is emotive, intuitive and fast. The second is rational, deliberative and slow. As humans we evolved to make split-second decisions in life-or-death situations. Our slow-moving rational minds don’t automatically engage unless we deliberately focus. Cal Newport, in his new book Slow Productivity, makes a similar point about work.
Summer Reading List: 17 Revolutionary Books

2 weeks ago | digitaltonto.com | Greg Satell

One observation I’ve made is that countries tend to have their preferred season for rising up. In Ukraine, quite maddeningly, it is the dead of winter. I still remember freezing with so many others on Kyiv’s Maidan during the Orange Revolution in November 2004, then seeing so many of my friends freezing the same way on the same place a decade later. We Americans, at least in this one respect, are far more sensible. We protest when it’s warm.
Why Resistance to Change So Often Defies Logic

3 weeks ago | digitaltonto.com | Greg Satell

tags: Change, Resistance, Transformation Anybody who’s ever pursued significant change of any kind knows that some of the opposition can be absolutely nuts, with no rational basis at all. Change consultants often suggest we look for a “root cause,” but that’s often a fool’s errand. You’ll not only drive yourself crazy running in circles, you’re also likely to lend credibility to their attacks.
How We Got Here—and What Needs To Come Next | Digital Tonto

4 weeks ago | digitaltonto.com | Greg Satell

During the 15 years I spent in Eastern Europe, I saw more than my share of upheaval. When I arrived in Poland in 1997, there were monuments to dysfunction everywhere you looked. In Warsaw, Stalin’s horrid Palace of Culture dominated the skyline. In Krakow, the abandoned frame of the Szkieletor building stood frozen since the 1970s.
To Innovate, Leaders Need To Empower The Edges

1 month ago | digitaltonto.com | Greg Satell

Breakthrough innovation typically comes from the edges. Albert Einstein had published his miracle year papers when he was an obscure 26 year-old Swiss patent clerk. Some of McDonald’s most popular products, such as the Big Mac and the Egg McMuffin, originated with franchisees before getting adopted nationally. That’s why a lot of management experts advise leaders to spend time on the edges of their enterprise and some, Walmart’s Sam Walton comes to mind, can do that effectively.
The Evidence Behind Why Big Transformations Start Small

1 month ago | digitaltonto.com | Greg Satell

tags: Change, Surviving Victory, Transformation In the 1950s, a number of researchers began exploring how innovations spread. Why do some ideas catch on while others fizzle out? And why do certain ideas gain quick acceptance in some places but struggle in others? To find out, they studied successful innovations like hybrid corn and tetracycline. What they found was that innovative ideas tend to come from outside the community, with early adopters being those most connected to the outside world.
Culture Is How An Enterprise Honors It Mission

1 month ago | digitaltonto.com | Greg Satell

When Portuguese colonists first came across manioc in South America, they were a bit perplexed by the elaborate, multi-day process the indigenous people followed before consuming it. Some steps, like boiling the raw tuber to eliminate its bitterness and prevent digestive issues, appeared practical. Others, however, seemed more driven by superstition than anything else. So when they transferred the crop to West Africa they streamlined the process.
We Need To Break The Disruption Mindset

1 month ago | digitaltonto.com | Greg Satell

In the 1990s, newly minted Harvard Business School professor Clayton Christensen began studying why good companies fail. What he found was surprising: They weren’t failing because they lost their way, but because they were following time-honored principles taught at institutions like his own. They listened to customers, invested in R&D and improved their products.
Why You Can’t Afford to Ignore Resistance to Change

2 months ago | digitaltonto.com | Greg Satell

One of the most puzzling things that I’ve come across in speaking and writing about change is the denial that resistance exists. While I never hear this from leaders that I coach, who face resistance every day, there is a cadre of consultants and pundits who insist that resistance to change is some sort of illusion. This should be ridiculous on its face. Certainly, the resistance we encountered during the Orange Revolution was very real.
How Unexpected Connections Can Lead To Surprising New Breakthroughs

2 months ago | digitaltonto.com | Greg Satell

In 1998, Srdja Popović walked into a Belgrade cafe to meet some friends. A biologist by training, he also played bass in a goth rock band called BAAL. Lately though, his passion turned to politics. He’d become an organizer, eventually rising to lead the youth wing of Serbia’s Democratic Party. It was that passion that brought him to the café that day.