Intellectual Capital: Chicken or Egg?

January 30, 2009

Today’s work has prompted me to wonder what came first the chicken or the egg, or in business terms what’s the most valuable asset for a business?

Is it intellectual capital, financial capital or technology?

I tend to feel that without the right personnel, capital and technology are not necessarily a business advantage.

How do business owners maximize profits without the right investments?  Personally, I value my brain trust beyond compare.  As useful as technology is, without the right advise at the right time, without the correct connections and the power of my intellect and my intellectual network bad decisions would have been the norm in this new endeavor.

I have had the pleasure of meeting many smart business people who know that without intellectual capital their money would not be a competitive edge.  Knowing that people understand the business at hand and think critically allows businesses to make informed decisions.

So why do business get blinded by gadgets and gizmos?  Shiny and new does not solve problems.  Technology only maximizes the time and knowledge base.  Without the right intellectual vetting how can you choose the right content management solution or invest in the most powerful hardware with a long shelf life?

While the chicken is necessary for the egg, the egg needs the chicken just as much.  In business, the right people choose the right technology and make the best investments for financial capital.  So invest in “key personnel” and get more bang with your assets.

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Posted by Answer Maven

Dead Frenchmen

January 26, 2009

Shakespeare, Henry V and Agincourt would not seem to have relevance in today’s technology landscape.  However,  Paul Lippe writes a marvelous post in the Am Law Daily that binds Henry V’s victory to the need for law firm innovation.

A few quotes from Lippe’s post really strike home for me.

  1. Technology is anything that didn’t exist when you were a kid–if it did exist, to you it’s just stuff. (This is a quote from a former boss of Lippe’s. )
  2. To say that the history of the world is the history of the interplay between leadership, culture, and new tools is no exaggeration.
  3. …”Web 2.0,” because I think this collection will be the most consequential tool for lawyers in our lifetime…

Pen and paper are still technological innovations even if they are older innovations.  Using pen and paper effectively has created countries and cultural revolutions.  Technological tools build, expand and grow but the purpose is the same: create, affect, change, lead.

Lippe’s definition of Web 2.0 technology for lawyers and the break-down of the parts is simplicity at its best.  His buckets of mechanisms, contexts and consequences lay great groundwork for future conversations.  I appreciate the recognition on Lippe’s part that contexts and consequences will need additional explanations and look forward to reading those.

I think the most profound part of Lippe’s essay today is the conclusion that due to law’s boom period lethargy in adopting new technologies was the norm and I agree that the end of the boom requires innovation.

Law firms must expand their outreach and response and not with tools they build for themselves.  Customers must be met where the customers already live.  There is an inherent warning that needs to be heeded in this new level of outreach.  Lawyers are not a client’s friend and thus the blurred line between professional and friend in the social realm of Web 2.0 must be more clearly defined and adhered in attorney/client relationship.  The consequences reach beyond just the possible offense to a client but to discovery and privilege issues as well.

I look forward to hearing more from Mr. Lippe on the issue and welcome comments about how innovative lawyers are harnessing the power of the new longbow in the Web 2.o Argincourt arena.

Constance Ard January 26, 2009

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Blog Directories Lament

January 23, 2009

Why, oh why, do not all directory providers hire a fabulous Information Pro to organize their data?

Yesterday I was charged with the task of finding blogs for a specific geographic region on a specific topic.  Blog directories abound, just check out this article from Search Engine Journal for a good summary of sources.

Unfortunately, not all directories are created equally and not many feel the need to cross-reference geographically versus subject matter.  Most take submissions by blog owners or folks paid to bring attention to the blog.

Quality is not the name of the game in this search task.  Strategic thinking about any type of directory on the world wide web seems to be sorely lacking.  The best directories and the ones that I actually bookmark and reuse are those that provide short, accurate summaries and cross-referenced indexing based upon, author, subject, location and more.

If anyone knows of a great blog directory that does that well let me know.  I did receive some great hits from Google Reader but I was sorely disappointed by Technorati.  Remember, I’m was searching for blogs not blog postings.  I do love Technorati for blog post searching.

If you are a blog directory site, consider hiring an information professional to provide a solid structure for your indexing tasks and then let me know that you have increased your sites usefulness.

Note:  This post is written from a user stand-point only.

Constance Ard January 23, 2009

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Continuing Education

January 22, 2009

One of the things I have noticed during the past 8 months or so is that education opportunities abound from a variety of sources.  Personally, the best sourced for continuing education that assist in building my skills and business are from my professional organizations:  AIIP and SLA.

Later this morning I will be attending an AIIP webinar that is targeted to first year independent information professionals.  This afternoon I am attending a free webinar provided MKS and Ravenflow that discusses Content Management.

As I focus my business on content management and strategic information solutions, I find it important to expand my knowledge continually.  If I’m not aware of available solutions, how can I advise my clients on their best options?

Continuing Education also comes in the form of reading.  For the first time in my life, my reading is stretched beyond my comfort zone.  I read more technical info than ever before.  Understanding the nuances of how information solutions work will only assist me as I guide clients to the right source for their content management needs.

I’ve always done a great job of thinking broadly and strategically for information solutions and user needs.  Now I know it is important to stay abreast of the technical nuances as well.  Strategic thinking without technical ability results in time and effort wasted.   Wasted anything is the last thing I want for myself or my clients.

So my education continues. While I long for my own tech support department, I’m lucky to have colleagues who can provide assistance and advise as needed.  These colleagues offer layman’s term explanations for the gritty technical details that are just out of my grasp.

And I find that as the knowledge expands, those gritty details are understood more quickly and sometimes I don’t even have to call my tech support for assistance.  So, maybe I’ll learn enough to network my home and office computers in the next few months or build a network server that can be my data back-up.  If I can’t apply that technical knowledge directly, I will at least have learned the how-to and why behind the process and thus my strategic ability remains intact and ever-expanding.

Constance Ard January 22, 2009

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State of States

January 20, 2009

I wanted to share this resource with those of you who need to track state information.  2009 State of the State speeches schedule.  In addition to offering the calendar of the speeches there are links to the State of the State speech for the dates already past.  The site also offers an archive back to 2000.

Constance Ard January 20, 2009

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Deep Web Resource

January 19, 2009

While catching up on email this morning I came across a new resource.  As a practicing law librarian I always found great value in content produced by law firms.

Fee Fie Foe Firms uses  Google Custom search and allows you to search for press releases, firm bulletins and articles.  A quick search of e-discovery best practices returned some valuable information.

It seems that they have added a date filter which will be a useful filter.  I was disappointed by the non-chronological display of search results.  However, the refining links to narrow results by publications, people, expertise or media releases is an advantage to this new research tool.

Another useful box on the site is the jurisdiction choice box.  The default is USA but Australia, Canada, Ireland, New Zealand, Singapore, UK and South Africa are available for searching.  I did not search outside the US jurisdiction so if anyone has and can offer comments please post in the Comments field below.

Overall I think legal researchers will be able to mine for some useful gems with this deep web resource.

Constance Ard January 19, 2009

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Is Leadership More Than Good Communication?

January 15, 2009

This week I am attending the Special Libraries Association (SLA) Leadership Summit in Savannah GA.  Amidst the beautiful architecture the leaders and future leaders of SLA are developing their leadership skills, polishing off or beginning plans for future educational and networking events and networking with old and new colleagues.This morning’s Keynote on Leadership boiled down to a few key points:  positive statements, words to avoid and perception.  These three things are all part of communication, whether in delivery or reception.

So as I reflect upon Mr. Stephen Garvey’s overall message I am prompted to wonder if leaders are thus because they communicate well or if they communicate well because they are leaders.  This is just another iteration of the chicken and egg dilemma.

And as with the chicken and egg dilemma, the point is really moot.  The important thing is that leadership and communication go hand in hand.  Effective leaders communicate well.

This fact should inspire self-evaluation.  Power does not equal leadership and leaders who have gained power don’t always remain leaders.  Sometimes the power plays force a change that results in poor communication.

Organizational leaders benefit from sharp communication skills.  Listening, comprehending and relating are more important than the 3 words Garvey warned listeners to avoid:  try, understand, but.

Are you “understanding but” or are you “relating and”?  Leadership requires upkeep.  Once a leader does not guarantee a lifetime of leading.  What can you learn from others?  How do their methods meet the organizational goals?

Knowing your mission, vision and goals are base level management skills and are often the most overlooked part of organizational leadership.  Are you receiving full business value in your new projects because they have been planned with purpose or are you missing effective opportunities with poor planning?

Any information management project should be led with a full commitment to furthering business value that supports the goals of the mission.  Without that purpose the leaders are shooting into the dark.

Success requires leadership and leadership is communication.  So to be successful communication is a necessary priority no matter the task at hand.

Constance Ard January 15, 2009

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Posted by Answer Maven

Technology Expectations

January 8, 2009

Now this is my kind of new deal.  Law Technology News’ Ted Banks lays out what I’ve always believed.

Technology should accomplish what the User NEEDS.

This philosophy is simple but rarely is it incorporated.  Vendors make products that under-perform, librarians spend hours communicating both ways what is wanted and why the user can’t get what is wanted.

Is it really so hard to think about the use of technology and implement the use into the programming?  I haven’t programmed anything since High School, thankfully but programmers are smart, way smarter than I.

If I tell my programming friends that I want XYZ is it really so complicated that they can’t do it? Banks seems to feel the same way he states,

Clear Communicators?

To ensure effectiveness, which is driven by clarity and relevance, automation tools should be as close to the user as possible. Nothing should enter the real world until it reflects how real people act, and has been thoroughly tested by real people. Successful technology works when it mimics how people think and behave.

I always enjoyed beta testing new products because I would inevitably break.  I  wanted the new search tools to search for XYZ in case of Z & A with the ABC user group always in mind.  If new tools could not meet those expectations it probably wasn’t going to get used and it certainly wasn’t meeting expectations.

So programmers, vendors, librarians and users.  Hop on board the communication train and listen and respond don’t quote.  If you can’t use technology to solve problems you might as well give up matches for starting fires too.

Constance Ard January 8, 2009

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Consultant Branding

January 8, 2009

You know the old saying, it takes a village to raise a child.  The same might be said for new consultants.

As a new consultant myself, I’m very lucky to have two fabulous mentors who have been in the ring for over 3o years combined.  Today I was reminded that branding my consultant business at every level is extremely important.

I knew this but just hadn’t quite gotten around to implementing it on everything.  I won’t bore you with all the gritty details but I would like to highlight a few key items that are important in branding your work either in-house or as a consultant.

  • Choose a font that impacts and does not bore your readers.
  • Brand your Proposals
  • Sell your knowledge and skills even if you don’t think now is the time
  • Know your project
  • Be consistent

Some of these like, know your project, are a given.  Remind yourself that while working outside your comfort zone can be a good thing; having a good knowledge of the skills involved in accomplishing the project successfully is vital.

Email signatures and consistent web presences are only a part of your branding face.  Cover sheets and proposal templates that allow your clients to identify you are essential.

So don’t wait until you need it.  Design that proposal template now.  Choose your fonts, styles etc. and save it for future use.  You won’t regret it and tweaking is easier after the initial design is complete.

Constance Ard January 8, 2009

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Legislative Session

January 6, 2009

Today launches the 2009 Legislative session for the country and for Kentucky.

While working as a law librarian I embraced the humor in the question of inexperienced legislative history researchers.  The reality is that  Kentucky has very little intent on record for our legislative iniatives.

Often the most powerful tools in our search for legislative history and intent are bill versions and news articles.  The LRC’s bill file is a crap shoot in terms of the amount of information found and the archive for those tools is limited.  If you are lucky a regulation is passed and you can track down the “purpose” in those records.

In terms of tracking current legislative actions, Kentucky has come far.  The Bill Watch service is a vast improvement.  Introduced in 2008, I found it to be a time-saver in keeping track of the various bills of interest.  The search engine is not perfectly accurate but the Index terms are well-established and serve as a great way to choose the legislative topics to track.

I did not trust the automation completely during the last session and often complemented the “alert” with my own manual review to ensure I did not miss major activities on the most important bills I was tracking.

Still this tracking service beats the paper any day.  So for all of you law librarians out there keeping tabs on the new bills I wish you well and encourage you to get very comfortable with the advantages and limitations of the legislative tracking tools that are offered.

By Answer Maven January 6, 2009

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