I've been thinking a lot lately about personal branding, in part because several people have told me that I seem to do it pretty well, in spite of the fact that I would never call myself a personal branding expert or endeavor to make my living as a personal branding consultant. While I think the topic is an interesting one, it is more because I am curious about...

What do 24,000 ideas look like? Ecologist Eric Berlow and physicist Sean Gourley apply algorithms to the entire archive of TEDx Talks, taking us on a stimulating visual tour to show how ideas connect globally.

What latest gadgets and gizmos are going to change your classroom in 2013? It’s hard to know exactly what will catch on and what won’t, but the following list showcases some of the emerging new technologies, software, and platforms available.

John Stuart Mill lived at a time and in a place where the interaction of the various classes was limited, and when it occurred the conversation or interaction was one of disdain for the lower classes. Mill lived at a time of little change and great social unrest, but his goal was to create more progress. Today we live in a place where anyone can talk with anyone. Twitter, Facebook and other social media provide ever greater opportunities to exchange information and ideas with a wide range of people.

Add This (www.addthis.com) has done a nice job tallying up some of the social sharing stats for 2012. Some are surprised about the huge influence gap between Facebook and Twitter ( 51% vs 15% of sharing). There are some other interesting insights on both substantive topics and shallow tidbits of our time–enjoy!

We think about networking as a very modern notion, with our accumulation of virtual “friends,” “followers” and people-who-might-be-useful-to-us-someday. To me, it is just an extension of what my people, my family have been doing since 70 AD – making critical connections that enable both our survival. The tools may have changed, but our reliance on the network has not. In fact, without the network, I literally wouldn’t be alive.

Many of you will have heard or read the following statement – “innovation is everyone’s responsibility”. It’s often well meaning, intended to invite participation from all the creative minds in the company. However, it’s wrong.

The May issue of Fast Company had an interesting column by Dan and Chip Heath. They looked into the thinking of Boris Groysberg, a Harvard Business School professor who is due with a new book, Chasing Stars: The Myth of Talent and the Portability of Performance. In this book, Groysberg argues that talents and star performers – the case in ...