April 2004 Next Steps

Fast Company Book Club

Additional Event Opportunities

Support Economy discussion and Meetup

April Issue-Inspired Activity Ideas

In Fast Talk, medical professionals weigh in on saving lives. Arrange a tour of a local hospital or emergency room. (Your best shot to do this may be during off-peak times.) While there, talk to the ER administrator and discuss the 'business model' of life-saving. Where could it be improved? If ER doctors have the time to address your group, ask them to talk about their best and worst days at work. How do their answers compare to your group's members?
What accidental discoveries have your group members made at work, such as when David Humes noticed the cell clumping? Was their instinct to follow through on them or ignore the result? Do they credit their decisions to corporate culture?
Does your office promote a culture of hiding or learning from mistakes? Inquire whether someone from the hospital's legal department can address how hospitals handle allegations and mistakes in an era of soaring malpractice insurance rates.

The new wave of market research at Ogilvy and Mather involves corporate ethnographies. Grab a group of COF members to conduct your own amateur corporate ethnography at a mall or bar. Before your venture out, identify a core of brands and demographic groups you want to observe, as well as what you expect to witness in terms of brand interaction. If your findings are different, what new information did you discover, and how would you present that to a company's ad team? What changes would you suggest they make to their brand strategy?

Blogs started as a personal communication tool and have moved into the corporate world. Set up a CoF blog for your group that represents the synergy of the both, similar to the one the magazine runs but on a local level. Assign each participating member a specialty niche, presumably one that links well to their industry and interests (marketing, hospitality, sales, management, etc.). Identify the best local sources -- newspapers, business journals, other Web sites, and blogs. Use the blog to inform CoF members of upcoming activities, allow users to promote upcoming events and lectures, and boost activism among causes your group members are interested in.

Daniel Richards contributed this month's Next Steps.

April 2004 Connexus | Flash Points | Next Steps

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