I Just Think and Think
I saw this picture on Swissmiss under the title “refreshing.” This is the work of And Partners. Brilliant stuff, simplicity. As they say, “Why do people complicate creativity?” Double that for HR. Sitting around and thinking about people programs isn’t the same as doing them. Moving fast from idea to execution is gift. Tom Peters says “fail fast.” And Sarah channels Yoda when she says, “Think not, do.” It’s all the same thing. Now get going.
Seat Backs and Truthfulness in Their Full, Upright and Locked Positions
The Economist published an article called Welcome Aboard, with a tagline “In-flight announcements are not entirely truthful.” This paragraph is an example:
Your life-jacket can be found under your seat, but please do not remove it now. In fact, do not bother to look for it at all. In the event of a landing on water, an unprecedented miracle will have occurred, because in the history of aviation the number of wide-bodied aircraft that have made successful landings on water is zero. This aircraft is equipped with inflatable slides that detach to form life rafts, not that it makes any difference. Please remove high-heeled shoes before using the slides. We might as well add that space helmets and anti-gravity belts should also be removed, since even to mention the use of the slides as rafts is to enter the realm of science fiction.
There’s definitely something to be learned by telling the truth, especially to employees. Added bonus: You never have to remember what you said.
A Simple Look at Diversity Statistics
The Miniature Earth intro says, “If the world’s population were reduced to 100, it would look something like this.” It’s a compelling look at the world that we live in with statistics that are easy to grasp. This “reduction to 100″ approach would be a killer way to show company diversity information.
Google Image Labeler and Tom Sawyer
I’m on my way to being addicted to Google Image Labeler. Be careful, if you click on that link you may be too. I’m up to 8,800 “points,” but I’m really waiting to get a great partner and move to the head of the “Today’s Top Pairs” list. Here’s how Google describes this “game” that gets people like me to spend 90 seconds at a pop labeling pictures for Google. (Oh, the exquisite Tom Sawyer-ness of it all.)
You’ll be randomly paired with a partner who’s online and using the feature. Over a 90-second period, you and your partner will be shown the same set of images and asked to provide as many labels as possible to describe each image you see. When your label matches your partner’s label, you’ll earn some points and move on to the next image until time runs out. After time expires, you can explore the images you’ve seen and the websites where those images were found. And we’ll show you the points you’ve earned throughout the session.
Games work. The Google Image Labeler satisfies a need for Google - they need humans to look at thousands of pictures and label them. They need the wisdom of the masses. And games satisfy a need for people (okay, me) to play. (I wonder if there’s a gender difference in who’s willing to play the game). And like a modern day Tom Sawyer, Google got me to paint a fence…and like it. There might even be an HR lesson or two in there. Need something done? Make it a game.
Ready. Set. OK Go.
Creativity doesn’t have to be costly, either in HR communication or in promoting your latest single. For instance, this video by the Chicago-based band OK Go cost them ten bucks. Really. They posted it on YouTube and got a millions hits in the first week it was up. Their song Here It Goes Again, featuring their now-famous “Treadmill Dance” is the biggest thing in music, and viral marketing, over the past few weeks, with over five million views of the video below (as of Sept. 2, 2006). Shows what a little creativity coupled with content can get you.
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