Clay Shirky’s a man to turn to for answers.  His terrific book, Here Comes Everybody, talks about the impact of this new connectedness on how we live our lives – or, as he sums it up in the interview, “group action just got easier”.  Clay’s been writing and thinking on the social and economic effects of internet technologies since the 1990s and his practice is focused on the rise of decentralized technologies – ways of connecting that bend the wired client server infrastructure that typically characterizes the web.  On top of all of this, Clay’s the adjunct professor at NYU’s graduate interactive telecommunications program.

In this interview we discuss:

• The impact of this new connectedness on hierarchy (it’s not going away, but it’s changing…)
• The role of permission in allowing Great Work to flourish
• How and when being “matrixes” works… and when it doesn’t
• The overall strategy to consider in bringing a new level of social engagement to your organization
• What ‘practical surprises’ are – and why they matter

You can follow Clay on Twitter at @cshirky

The interviews are all between 25 and 30 minutes long.
You can either download them here as mp3s, or go to iTunes, type in “Great Work Interviews” and you’ll see them all there.

Listen to my interview with Clay Shirky

If you enjoyed this interview, you’ll also enjoy my interview with Keith Lippert

Naomi Dunford – wow, what a firecracker this woman she is. She’s a mover and shaker in the world of blogging and internet marketing and it’s been a meteoric rise – partially because of her savvy business and marketing skills, partially because of her provocative, disarming, somewhat scatalogical style. She’s like the Chris Rock of internet marketing, but a 29 year old with a punk haircut rather than a black man. IttyBiz is her company, and currently its tagline is ‘marketing for businesses without marketing departments’.  But I kinda liked an earlier iteration, which was ‘working from home tips to keep you from stabbing your own eye out.’  We did this interview almost a year ago, and since we did Naomi gone’s from success to success. In the interview we talk about:

• The moment that tipped Naomi from being a temp to a powerhouse marketer
• Why it’s not money that gets in the way of people being entrepreneurial, but something else. (Naomi’s got an opinion on that)
• Decisions on her business model (and how it works with her authentic style)
• A great insight she stole from Albert Camus
• My cute accent.  (See, I told you I like her!)

Naomi’s on Twitter – @IttyBiz

The interviews are all between 25 and 30 minutes long.
You can either download them here as mp3s, or go to iTunes, type in “Great Work Interviews” and you’ll see them all there.

Listen to my interview with Naomi Dunford

Whether it’s the best of times or the worst of times, it’s the only time we’ve got.
~ Art Buchwald

I like the bluntness of this. I had been toying with putting in the lovely lines from the Renaissance poet Andrew Marvell:

At my back I always hear

Time’s winged chariot hurrying near;

And yonder all before us lie

Deserts of vast eternity

(”deserts of vast eternity”. Is that not an amazing turn of phrase?”)

But Buchwald’s quote gets to a different point, and somewhat faster.

It’s not about time ticking away, it’s about Now being the only time there is.

Whether it’s good times, whether it’s bad times – if you want to do more Great Work, now’s the time to do it.

In the interview we’ll get into:

• How connecting with the peak moments can give you a powerful insight as to what your Great Work might be – if you’re courageous enough to pursue it
• The power of meditation as a diagnostic tool – and as a business critical tool (1200 scientific studies can’t be wrong)
• How to counter the epidemic of uncertainty and stress – something that’s costing North America about a trillion dollars each year
• The path of 30,000 steps – and how you can begin that journey in just a couple of minutes

Listen to my interview with Mark Thornton

The interviews are all between 25 and 30 minutes long.
You can either download them here as mp3s, or go to iTunes, type in “Great Work Interviews” and you’ll see them all there.

It’s on at Wednesday, 1pm Eastern – and you can register here.

Come along and you’ll learn:

• What’s the difference between Great Work and Good Work – and whether you should care or not
• How to help a team or an organization focus on the work that makes the most difference – and how to deal with the work that doesn’t
• Two words that will significantly increase the power of your facilitation questions

We’ll be using a new technology that allows us to do small group breakouts on the phone – so this won’t be the usual one-hour monologue. (But it also means you’re unlikely to catch up on much email during the call…)

“If I had to pick a person to have dinner with, when I need to be prodded and challenged and inspired to think about the things I really am committed to think about for myself and what I’m doing, I’d pick Michael Bungay Stanier. He has an ability to shake our tree and make us more conscious and responsible about what we know but aren’t willing to admit we know yet. And the best part – he makes it easy and fun. Great work, Michael!”
~ David Allen, 
Author of Getting Things Done

“If you take care of the small things, the big things take care of themselves. You can gain more control over your life by paying closer attention to the little things.”
~ Emily Dickinson, 1830 – 1886

I spent much of my English degree writing bad facsimilies of Emily Dickinson’s poetry. My attempts were short and with lots of dashes – but sadly, they lacked her ability to capture the essence of things so wonderfully.

I’ve been playing with paradox recently – some deep paradoxes live at the heart of Great Work – and I think this is one of them.

I agree with “don’t sweat the small stuff – and it’s all small stuff.”

And I agree with this too.

Worry and don’t worry about the small stuff.

Worry and don’t worry about the big stuff.

Mainly, I think, don’t worry.

• How he managed to guide decentralized global teams back to interacting and engaging with one another
• The importance of opening up “white space” to let Great Work flourish
• Finding the right balance as a senior leader to work “on the business” rather than “in the business”
• And why it’s never too early to start thinking and acting strategically

Listen to my interview with Bob Hughes

The interviews are all between 25 and 30 minutes long.
You can either download them here as mp3s, or go to iTunes, type in “Great Work Interviews” and you’ll see them all there.

=> http://tinyurl.com/ylppvqn

This will be a fun, practical and interactive session – and free to boot.

It’s based on my Find Your Great Work book – and you can read some nice things said about that below.

In the teleclass you’ll learn

• What’s the difference between Great Work and Good Work – and whether you should care or not.
• How to help a team or an organization focus on the work that makes the most difference – and how to deal with the work that doesn’t
• Two words that will significantly increase the power of your facilitation questions

So jump on in – the water’s fine…

=> http://tinyurl.com/ylppvqn

“If I had to pick a person to have dinner with, when I need to be prodded and challenged and inspired to think about the things I really am committed to think about for myself and what I’m doing, I’d pick Michael Bungay Stanier. He has an ability to shake our tree and make us more conscious and responsible about what we know but aren’t willing to admit we know yet. And the best part – he makes it easy and fun. Great work, Michael!”
~ David Allen
, Author of Getting Things Done

In the world of teamwork there is something we call “synergy”. When a group of individuals work together with passion and focus, they produce a result that is much greater than the sum of the individual effort. When interviewed, team members will use the word “magical” to describe these types of experiences. Creating teams that work in this way are what managers dream of. For too many managers the dreams are never realized because they don’t know how to help their team members do more Great Work. I love Michael’s book “Find Your Great Work” because it provides a powerful, step-by-step system managers can use to help coach their team members to making the shift from good (or even bad) work to great work. How many team and leadership development books have you read that leave you wondering how to implement the author’s wisdom? This book is different. Michael literally maps it out for you. We’ve entered a new age in teamwork – - the inspiration age – - and this book will help managers build inspired teams.
~ Tom Heck, IATF President & FounderNew

• His latest book, The Power of Story and how framing your story and defining your purpose is strongly aligned with doing more Great Work
• The importance of measurement and data in understanding how (and why) you’re performing
• What it means to invest “extraordinary energy” – and why that matters
• Why his “inner voice training” was one of the most significant breakthroughs to managing their clients’ focus and energy

Listen to my interview with Jim Loehr

The interviews are all between 25 and 30 minutes long.
You can either download them here as mp3s, or go to iTunes, type in “Great Work Interviews” and you’ll see them all there.

And how can you show them?

Here’s a little inspiration.