Terminal Golf (p. 34)
FC Article

Gravity Golf adds an exciting new option to kill time on a layover. What other airport business ventures are untapped? Discuss things your group members would love to do while waiting for a flight but still can't. For example, portable DVD player rentals are popping up in major cities, and strangely, Internet cafes are not as widespread as one would expect. What barriers are halting airports from becoming more then just transportation centers?

Time To Trim Your Network? (p. 46)
FC Article

Ask group members to bring in their rolodexes, cell phones and PDAs to your next meeting. Group people in similar industries and take 10 minutes to have them map out their networks and determine the links between contacts. If two people from different walks of life list the same person as in their 'network,' have them map out the shared links. Have everyone determine how many degrees of separation exist between themselves and 'tainted goods.'

The New IT Agenda (p. 53)
FC Article

Hold a roundtable on new IT developments in the industries your group represents. Discuss the potential to switch business operations from phone to the Web, like FedEx did with tracking. Discuss the potential of radio-frequency identification (AKA EZPass). What other potential uses does it have? Could you find a way to integrate it into tracking your clients? Think about how transactions would work if money was replaced by EZPass or a Mobil Speedpass wand. Would you be comfortable using radio-frequency ID in all buying aspects of life?

A Brief History of Hard Work, Adjusted for Risk (p. 64)
FC Article

Seth Godin differentiates between long work and hard work. Have people in your group diagram the hours they work per week versus the their perception of how intense their work is, on a scale of 1-10. Are the 'hardest workers' putting in the most time? Where does the median lie? Determine the facets people are using to decide how 'hard' their work is. What other factors can you come up with that makes work 'harder?'

Double Digit Growth in No Growth Times (p. 66)
FC Article

• Give a critical read to Slywotzky and Wise's article. Then re-read Seth Godin's Purple Cow article from the February issue. S & W state companies that are growing are doing so because they focus on the 'issues that surround their products rather than by simply improving the products themselves.' This seems to be in conflict with Godin's theory on Purple Cows, that there is too little emphasis on improving products and too much on the marketing, packaging, etc. Are these two theories mutually exclusive? Assign part of your group to do a critical analysis of Godin and the other part to do the same to S & W. Do the criticisms of one article act as support for the other one?
• Study the sidebar on p. 70. What do these terms actually mean? Try and provide concrete examples of each based on your group's business experiences.

The Next Big (Legal) Thing? (p. 112)
FC Article

Cyrus Mehri and Ralph Seligman are crusading for new standards of workplace equality. How do your group members perceive the meritocracy of corporate America? Survey the perceptions of workplace discrimination among members, and ask any women or minorities if they have any glass-ceiling anecdotes to share. Discuss options for how to raise awareness of institutional discrimination to those who, in theory, are opposed to it, but remain somewhat ignorant on the problem due to poor consciousness-raising on the behalf of activists.

Daniel Richards contributed this month's Flash Points.

April 2003 Connexus | Flash Points | Next Steps

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