“As I write this I am thinking of how WordPress works. At the core of WordPress is a for profit organization – but also one of the tasks of Automattic is to ensure the health of an ecosystem that is the larger WordPress ecology…”

Matt Mullenweg and Automattic have done a masterful job of wedding profit and open source. The best way to find out whether or not users want what you’re making is to see if they’ll pay for it. Automattic does that. The get people to pay for stuff, then they make most of it open source. That’s a network that is likely to be around for a long time. I think they’ve combined the best of for profit ventures with the community driven open source.

“I see no way now that Wikipedia will not be here in 50 years.”

I’d rather put money on WordPress… Wikipedia just has its hand out on the street corner. IF they figure out how to build a for profit enterprise, alongside the free Wikipedia, I’ll get on board.

“Cities are much more open as systems and networks. They are much closer to being alive than corporations that rely too much on command and control.”

With respect to cities not acting as command and control enterprises… well, try to negotiate with your water department. Better yet, grab a copy of your city building codes and review it at Starbucks with some friends. Then submit your proposed changes and tell me how that goes. City government is one of the best examples of command and control I can think of. I couldn’t disagree more with his comparison in that regard. Cities stick around so long because they can grow at will, tax at will and regulate everything within their boundaries. Furthermore, the cost of change is enormous compared to switch from one company to the next. I can decide to buy Nike rather than Addidas, but moving to another city is much more difficult.

The last thing I’d say about corporations dying is that we should consider the role of founders and CEO’s. People have lifespans and corporations are really about people. When you lose the founder, or the very charismatic CEO, you lose more than body. For many companies, the soul rests with the founder.

via ma.tt

via youtube.com

Out of 1000 people surveyed after being cut off from the Internet for 24 hours, 53% reported feeling “upset” about being deprived of online access and 40% said that they felt lonely after not being able to connect to the Internet. Participants described the digital detox akin to quitting drinking or smoking and one even said it was like having his hand chopped off (!).

via techcrunch.com

“This might seem counter-intuitive. After all, when faced with a trade-off between doing and buying, many people opt for the material good because “it will still be there” long after the experience would have been enjoyed. In one sense that’s correct: The material good lasts while the experience is fleeting. But psychologically it’s the reverse. We quickly adapt to the material good, but the experience endures in the memories we cherish, the stories we tell and the very sense of who we are.”

I know this is true for us. My wife and I had a chance to spend a few days in St. Augustine, Florida following a conference we attended in Orlando. We drove over to the coast and spent the weekend. It is one of the best memories I have in life. It was cheap and so much fun. We both talk of it often.

Good advice, particularly as most of us find ourselves with less cash for material possessions and in need of a little more fun.

via Tony Hsieh

In many situations people act very similar to one another. Looking to each other for cues, groups of people will mimick each other, sometimes leading to group paralyses or group compliance. It’s called Social Proof.

A recent and publicly visible murder of a two year old in Turlock, CA serves as a tragic example:

The town of Turlock and much of the rest of the nation was shocked when a 27-year-old man beat and stomped his 2-year-old son to death on a rural road. But what was nearly as stunning for many people was that none of the motorists and their passengers who stopped and saw the attack tried to tackle the man.

The story illustrates a principle I first discovered a book title “Influence” by Dr. Robert Cialdini. In a fascinating book that spans a wide range of issues, Dr. Cialdin outlines how a crowd can sometimes fail to react simply because no one else does.

Dr. Cialdini discusses the 1964 murder of Catherine Genovese in his book and this recent case in Turlock reminds me of the Genovese murder very much. You’ll have to read the book for the full story on that murder (the book is well worth the time and money) but flip to page 111 and you’ll most certainly see the similarity.

Apparently, something called “witness apathy” can take place and bystanders aren’t quite certain they’re witnessing an emergency, even though a murder may be taking place in plain view.

Stanislaus County Sheriff’s Department spokesman, Deputy Royjindar Singh, said:

“Your headlights are shining on a person taking the life out of an infant, and not just shaking and slapping but punching and kicking,” … “Everybody reacts differently.”

Well… not exactly. They all kind of did the same thing, which was nothing. That’s not to say that inaction on the part of the bystanders was a character flaw. In fact, they acted quite predictably as a group.

The thing to remember in a situation like this is to be direct about emergency aid. Whether you’re the victim or the bystander, be direct about the need for others to help. As Dr. Cialdini recommends in his book, single out bystanders and give them specific instructions to help avoid witness apathy.

On May 18 he passed away.

If you’re looking to build a service business, like his tire business, then you should study this mans path to success.