ideas

William Saroyan on Business

BY Heath RowFri Apr 15, 2005 at 4:59 PM

Last month, I posted an entry touching on some business lessons learned from Encyclopedia Brown. Readers responded strongly enough that I'll probably continue that train of thought in the weeks to come. But last night, while reading ...READ»

IDEAS | 3 comments

Pay As You Please

Tue Mar 15, 2005 at 2:51 PM

Okay, this is an innovative, if risky, pricing strategy. But fascinating, too. Who wants to eat in a new restaurant until it's been tested? Letting consumers pay as they wish certainly builds trust with new customers during the early ...READ»

IDEAS | 1 comment

How to Read a Business Book

BY Heath RowTue Feb 8, 2005 at 6:13 PM

Inspired by Tim Sanders' book Love Is the Killer App, which details how Sanders reads books -- and why -- the author of the blog Slacker Manager weighs in with his own how to. While I'd also offer our Readers' Choice project as a way ...READ»

IDEAS | Comment

Mano a Mano

BY Heath RowTue Jan 11, 2005 at 3:47 PM

Now, this is a conversation worth eavesdropping on. James Surowiecki, author of The Wisdom of Crowds, and Malcolm Gladwell, author of Blink, are holding forth in Slate this week. So far, their exchange has touched on the difference ...READ»

IDEAS | 1 comment

Ways to Nurture an Idea

BY Heath RowThu Jan 6, 2005 at 12:40 PM

Earlier this week, John posted an entry about ways to discourage, derail, and effectively destroy new ideas. Chuck Frey's Innovation Weblog offers a useful corollary to that post, touching on the concept of springboard ...READ»

IDEAS | 5 comments

Ways to Murder an Idea

Tue Jan 4, 2005 at 3:01 PM

The Synectics Corp., yes they are consultants, has just published a neat little book entitled Imagine. You can't get it in a bookstore because it's available free from the firm. My advice: Call the firm up and ask for a copy. It is ...READ»

IDEAS | 13 comments

Conquer Your Fear of Public Speaking in a Few Hours. Really?

Mon Dec 20, 2004 at 10:18 AM

I hate speaking in public. Like most oratory-phobes my throat closes up, "Umm" suddenly becomes the single most important word in my vocabulary, and trying to imagine the crowd in its underwear, as the age-old trick has it, ...READ»

IDEAS | Comment

Free Market Philosophy

BY Heath RowWed Oct 27, 2004 at 10:07 AM

Wikipedia's Philosophy of Business section takes a long look at the very foundation of business formation and operation, business's purpose and role in society, and its moral obligations. Making a sharp disction between the ...READ»

IDEAS | Comment

Security Projects

Fri Sep 10, 2004 at 12:08 PM

As the third anniversary of Sept. 11 terror attacks gets close, five projects have been picked as the finalists for the Mitretek Innovations Award in Homeland Security, the first nationwide program to mark public or private models ...READ»

IDEAS | Comment

Games Theory

BY Peter ReesFri Aug 13, 2004 at 9:31 PM

If you ever get busted for playing solitaire, here's the EverQuest defence. Clive Thompson writes in The Walrus about Edward Castronova and his paper Virtual Worlds: A First-Hand Account of Market and Society on the Cyberian ...READ»

IDEAS | 1 comment

The Sleep Opportunity

BY Jeff De CagnaFri Aug 13, 2004 at 8:43 AM

I'm moblogging from my Blackberry, so I'll keep this short. I'm off to Minneapolis for the annual meeting of the American Society of Association Executives and I'm already pretty tired. So, naturally, I started to think about the ...READ»

IDEAS | 2 comments

What Would Your Company Do With a Poet in Residence? II

BY Heath RowMon Jul 19, 2004 at 11:20 AM

Last fall, John considered the value of poetry as a creative tool in business. In this morning's Daily News, Lloyd Grove discusses the poetry of British publisher Felix Dennis. While Dennis doesn't use his poetry to help shore up ...READ»

IDEAS | Comment

Did You Ever Go Off-Road?

Wed Jun 30, 2004 at 10:40 AM

I was five minutes late to work this morning -- due to a last-minute decision to go off-road. I usually take the S train to get to Grand Central and walk a couple of minutes to the office. This morning, running a little late, I ...READ»

IDEAS | Comment

Ideas from the Fringe II

BY Heath RowWed Jun 2, 2004 at 7:02 PM

I'm not sure if this is what you mean, Alan, but Watts Wacker has done some work involving deviance -- in the sense that non-mainstream ideas and concepts can become the next big thing. And Seth Godin would call this concept ...READ»

IDEAS | Comment

What's the Big Idea? II

BY Heath RowTue Jun 1, 2004 at 4:31 PM

FC Now reader Jeff De Cagna and Dean make some headway in a comments-driven conversation related to an earlier entry. De Cagna suggests that part of the challenge in collecting and implementing ideas stems from leaders who see their ...READ»

IDEAS | Comment

What's the Big Idea?

BY Heath RowTue Jun 1, 2004 at 4:08 PM

I'm only about 55 pages into Ideas Are Free, but I've already made plenty of notes in the margins and gotten several, well, ideas. The concept that first hit me hard is mentioned in the overview of the book's main points: Small ideas ...READ»

IDEAS | 3 comments

Thinking, Thinking, Just Great

BY Heath RowMon May 10, 2004 at 12:09 PM

Even though the University of Hawaii at Manoa's Thinker's Toolkit was developed as part of its Globalization Research Center curriculum, it's a quick and handy tool to use in connection with almost any work-related thought ...READ»

IDEAS | Comment

Trend Spotting

BY Heath RowThu Apr 29, 2004 at 10:52 AM

Workforce Management has compiled a list of "25 Trends That Will Change the Way You Do Business." Some of the items are no brainers and not overly interesting or surprising, but there are some ringers in there that beg some ...READ»

IDEAS | Comment

Pocket Professors

BY Heath RowFri Apr 23, 2004 at 6:00 PM

Ever wonder how much money business speakers such as Jim Collins, Tom Peters, and Michael Porter pull down each time they take the stage? Workforce Management has compiled a handy chart. Here are the highlights: Clayton ...READ»

IDEAS | Comment

Lovemarks, Revisited

BY Heath RowThu Apr 1, 2004 at 12:29 PM

Several years ago, Fast Company checked in with Kevin Roberts, CEO of Saatchi & Saatchi, to learn more about what he thinks is wrong with brand management. (His glib answer: Brands and management.) At the end of February, Roberts ...READ»

IDEAS | 4 comments

Online Insights

BY Heath RowFri Mar 26, 2004 at 2:50 PM

Starting next week, on Monday, we're launching a new weekly series of Online Insights columnists to be featured on the home page. Our first featured writer is Vijay Govindarajan, director of the William F. Achtmeyer Center for ...READ»

IDEAS | 1 comment

Novel Ideas

BY Heath RowWed Mar 24, 2004 at 5:28 PM

Do you have a novel idea? Fast Company wants to know: What are the best books -- as in novels -- for business? You tell us.READ»

IDEAS | 3 comments

No Small Beer

Tue Mar 16, 2004 at 6:34 PM

Fast Company is an ideas-driven magazine and every now and then readers report back on how those ideas are working in practice. In the spring of 2002, Liam Mulhall and his pals had called time on plans to quit the ailing Australian ...READ»

IDEAS | 1 comment

Coffee with Peter Fader

BY Heath RowFri Feb 20, 2004 at 7:37 PM

Early this afternoon, Peter Fader, a marketing professor at Wharton, stopped by Fast Company's offices to visit. We sat down for coffee and conversation, exploring Fader's work in predictive and explanatory models for electronic ...READ»

IDEAS | Comment

What We Learned in the New Economy

BY Heath RowWed Feb 18, 2004 at 6:04 PM

The online table of contents for the March issue of Fast Company is now available. Shortly, the entire issue will be available online. We're launching the new issue with a sneak peek of our cover package: "What We Learned in the New ...READ»