Nine Shift

Is Coca Cola fizzling?

Interesting story on Coca Cola, to whit:

* From the California governor to the entire Department of Education in the United Kingdom, there is a move to remove Coke from schools as unhealthy for today's kids.

* People in developing countries are looking for alternative drinks as a protest against U.S. corporate domination.

* Gen Y is looking to fruit and other healthy drinks.

Are any of these trends indicative or illustrative of a societal shift?
As a diet-lime-coke drinker, I can go either way.
What do you think about Coca Cola's troubles and the implications for larger society issues?

Make a comment, win a report

Win our new 20 page "NineShift for 2006" report.

Just make a Comment for any NineShift weblog entry. We'll email you and get your address and mail it to you.  The report contains the top stories and weblog posts for 2005. 
Short, interesting, perfect for you or to introduce a friend to Nine Shift.

The end of the road for GM

Your grandchildren will have no idea what "GM" stands for.

Last week, General Motors tried to stave off collapse by cutting jobs and closing plants. Between 1990 and 1910, buggy and carriage sales declined only by about 10%.  So the automobile, while clearly nearing the end of the road, is not yet dead.  But GM is.   Why they sold rather than developed its train engine division is beyond me.

Years back, all the marketing professors smugly taught that the defunct railroads thought they were in the railroad business when they were really in the transportation business.  Today GM thinks it is in the auto business when it too is really in the transportation business.
Got thoughts on GM to share? Do it here.

Peter Drucker saved us

The worldwide authority on business management Peter Drucker died last week at age 95.

1. He  saved our organization. In 1994 our nonprofit organization was in crisis. The Board was meeting in Chicago and in disarray and conflict. Dazed from the confrontation, I staggered out on the street during a break. Aimlessly walked into a bookstore. Mindlessly spotted a book. Plucked a page out of the book. And in one paragraph Drucker summarized our situation and then deftly provided the solution. He saved other nonprofit organizations too.

2. He was the first "knowledge worker." Drucker was the first person to identify "knowledge workers" and knowledge jobs as the primary result and feature of the 21st century workplace. Knwledge work is the core principle of NineShift as well.

3. He linked the 19th and 21st centuries. As NineShift readers know, Drucker was taking notes at a conference in 1951 and encouraged a conference leader named Frederick Lewis Allen to write about the "Big Change" between 1900-1920, which is the basis of the historical parallel for Nine Shift.

Peter Drucker called Nine Shift "a most interesting book."  He was an amazing intellect.
Tell us your thoughts on him or his work.

We're not blocking traffic

One month at college, and already Willie has participated in his first "protest."

Critical Mass is a really loose network of people who bicycle together once a month to protest automobiles and traffic congestion. Their slogan is "We're not blocking traffic, we ARE traffic."

Critical Mass another example of a decentralized or independent network of people.
In their words, "we're not an organization. We're an unorganized coincidence."
Very interesting model.

Thanks for your reaction

Well, more than 400 people attended the premiere of our new keynote, "Work Becomes Play,"  NineShift for 2006. It was exciting. And thanks for your terrific and supportive reaction.  And thanks to the 15 people convened by Kassia Dellabough as the "Nine Shift Book Club."

The annual new presentation marks the beginning of a new NineShift year. Our most recent NIneShift year included 15 keynotes, more than 1,000 readers a month of the weblog, the second printing of the book, and the big BBC interview.

Lekshe asks about getting the slides/notes/audio/video.  We will do a series of posts outlining the main points here with the weblog. I will making an online audio version as well. Again, thanks a bunch.

"Work Becomes Play" premieres today

We're in Las Vegas, and this morning we will premiere before 300 people our all-new Nine Shift presentation for 2006 called "Work becomes Play."

The kids are creating the 21st century.  There were 4 big pioneering economic news this year that allow us to figure out how our children will get good jobs in this century, and how the U.S. trade deficit can be turned around.  Thanks to everyone for your support of Nine Shift, online and F2F.

Exceeded our worst fears

"This really exceeded our worst fears," said Michael Woolfolk, a senior currency strategist with Bank of New York.  He was speaking of the  U.S. trade deficit.

The US trade deficit with the rest of the world jumped to a record $66.1bn (£37.8bn) in September, as oil prices soared following Hurricane Katrina, according to a BBC story. 

Overall imports to the US rose by 2.4% during the month to $171.3 bn, while US explorts fell by 2.6% to $105.2bn, the US Commerce Department said.

The soaring US deficit came as China reported a record global trade surplus of its own of $12bn in October. Tomorrow we release our findings at the LERN conference in Las Vegas on how the kids will turn that trade deficit and balance our imports and exports.

Kids most sophisticated

According to a BBC report, the younger members of the household are spearheading reliance on the internet and are often the ones who research and make online purchases.

The study, conducted by consultancy firm Panlogic, was focused on how people aged 35-45 use the internet.

A third admitted they would now be lost without their internet connection, despite the fact it was originally bought for their children.

Children are the most sophisticated users of the net within the family, with 88% of primary school children using it at home and 95% of eleven-to-eighteen year-olds.

Intriguing secrets

From Slashdot, a great news web site about tech happenings:

Intriguing details are mentioned in a New York Times article. From the article: ""Tell me the things you most want to keep secret," Mr. Seiden challenged a top executive at the bank a few years back.....A week later, Mr. Seiden again sat in this man's office in Manhattan, in possession of both supposedly guarded secrets....""