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According to the article, Hope on the Battlefield, less than 1 in 5 US soldiers actually could bring themselves to shoot at the enemy during World War II. It seems that killing is something that most people are quite reluctant to do, and while people would risk their own lives trying to help comrades, when it came to shooting at the enemy they deliberately aim a little high to make sure they miss.

The article goes on the talk about training techniques that the US instituted to raise that number to 9 in 10 soldiers instinctively shooting at their enemies. That part of the article was fascinating to me. I’ve been on the periphery of watching an organization try to change the behaviors of a large number of its employees, and it can sometimes seem like a task that is hopelessly out of reach.

The US military though, which must be one of the most complex bureaucracies ever conceived was able to implement a new training program that had stunning results. I’d really like to find out more about how they did that and whether any of that could be applied to other training needs.

How to Run a Meeting Like Google features some great ideas for running meetings. I particularly like the idea of projecting a ticking stop watch. I wonder if people actually pay any attention to it.

How do you motivate people to change when even fear of death isn’t enough to motivate people to change? In Fast Company’s story, Change or Die suggests it takes reframing for a more emotional message, and radical, sweeping changes.

“If you look at people after coronary-artery bypass grafting two years later, 90% of them have not changed their lifestyle,” Miller said. “And that’s been studied over and over and over again. And so we’re missing some link in there. Even though they know they have a very bad disease and they know they should change their lifestyle, for whatever reason, they can’t.”

That seems truly amazing to me.

It’s basically just enforcing the K.I.S.S. approach to communication, but I find the idea of a Strategy Canvas to be very interesting. Maybe I’ve just spent too much time in meetings where people seem to be talking just to hear themselves speak, but if you can reduce the strategy to just a few main ideas, then maybe everybody can get on the same page. Yeah, I know … wishful thinking. Still, thinking that’s worth doing.

An interesting summary of a research paper into public perceptions of price fairness. Most people seem to feel they are getting raked over the coals, and reminding/educating them with respect to other costs makes little or no difference in perception.

I need to spend some time internalizing the lessons contained in Bruce Mau’s Incomplete Manifesto for Growth In particular I will start by focussing on #2

Forget about good. Good is a known quantity. Good is what we all agree on. Growth is not necessarily good. Growth is an exploration of unlit recesses that may or may not yield to our research. As long as you stick to good you’ll never have real growth

I think I’ll get more value by starting with the things that seem impossibly hard to me. Link via Antenna

Some days are better than others. Today was not one of them. We’d been anticipating layoffs for a while, and today I had to swing the axe. Never a fun job.

So true it defies description. ClickZ had some great articles this week. They must have a new editor or something.

Pick One: Open Methodology or Slave to Technology

You wouldn’t believe how many companies place their businesses at the mercy of their technology. You’d expect technology to be at the beck and call of business and its rules. Technology is supposed to enhance and optimize businesses, not govern and hinder. Sadly, that’s not the case.

Lots of interesting ideas here

I particularly like this adivice for beginning a brainstorming session:

*"stupid and ridiculous" is a terrific technique for stimulating new ideas. Just have people think of 3 really stupid and ridiculous ideas. That releases a lot of inhibitions, energizes thinking, prompts a lot of laughter and usually pulls up some great ideas.