(The following books were mentioned in the February 2003 issue of Fast Company. Try picking one per issue and having your group read it and discuss, possibly at a separate meeting)

TechTv's Catalog of Tomorrow: Trends Shaping Your Future (p. 30)
Edited by Andrew Zolli
Buy it

How Customers Think: Essential Insights Into the Mind of the Market (p. 45)
By Gerald Zaltman
Buy it

I Don't Know How She Does It (p. 64)
By Allison Pearson
Buy it

Purple Cow: Transform Your Business By Becoming Remarkable (p. 74)
By Seth Godin
Buy it

The New Culture of Desire (p. 86)
By Melinda Davis
Buy it

• One World Health is trying to restore some ethics in a questionable industry (p. 34). See if your group can gain a better understanding of how the pharmaceutical industry operates. Find a pharmacy near you and arrange an after-hours tour. See if your group can divide into halves, with one part going to a neighborhood drug store and the other to a hospital pharmacy. Talk to the employees about their relationships with drug reps and companies. Are they ever solicited toward specific drugs or pushed to promote one company over the other?
• Read through some of the facets of medical ethics and think of potential conflicts as they may relate from what you learned from the pharmacy. Visit the local pharmacology school and schedule some time with an ethics professor there. Discuss the implications of withholding research because of financial considerations. Should the government Health and Human Services department have any say in this? Is medicine required to live up to a higher standard of business ethics than other industries? Consider the case of doctors striking due to increased malpractice insurance rates, a hot topic in the medical industry and in President Bush's recent State of the Union speech.
• Wipro is the smile on the new face of Global Competition (p. 90)
  Often times successful companies become strongly associated with their city/country (i.e., Ikea=Sweden, Sony=Japan, Prada=Italy). Soon we may equate Wipro with India. Go on a walking tour of your downtown area and come up with five companies that best represent your city. Is there anything intrinsic in them that relates to the qualities you think your city represents? Take it one step further and complete the following sentences -- 'The restaurant that I would tell every visitor to my city to eat at is ___. 'The bar is____' The museum/cultural attraction is ___' Try to get a group to visit one of those places and discuss what makes it unique from similar venues in other cities.
• On the same wavelength of honing in on your city's identity, try to connect with a 'sister' city from the COF list. Choose a city that you think will closely mirror the conceptions you have of your own hometown, or perhaps a place that is completely opposite. Arrange for a conference call during the next group meeting and compare corporate cultures and preconceived notions of what you think of each other's area of residence. Does any of what they say ring true to you, either positive or negative?
• Anne Kreamer's column (p. 64) found someone who overcame the legendary Second Shift burden to enjoy professional success as a wife and a professional. But as the parents in your group are likely to tell you, it's not easy. Offer to watch the kids of a friend or neighborhood-working mom for a few hours, so she can enjoy some time off. Or perhaps make one COF meeting 'family-friendly' for people who would like to come but normally can't. Hold the meeting at a kid-friendly place (Adults can have a surprisingly fun time at places like Chuck E Cheese). Discuss tactics on balancing work with family, and success and horror stories of balancing the two.

Daniel Richards contributed this month's Next Steps.

February 2003 Connexus | Flash Points | Next Steps

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