Had the chance recently to interview Michael Hyatt, the CEO of Thomas Nelson Publishers. Mike is a longtime seasoned executive in the publishing business, and also a leading voice and thought leader on the power of social media. His blog and twitter are read by tens of thousands per day. We discussed his approach to leadership, the importance of social media, and the next generation.
You can listen here, or download from itunes.
We need your help!
Head over to Ed Stetzer’s blog and help us determine what questions will be used for the research project that Lifeway Research is conducting for the Catalyst Conference coming up in October. The research is being shaped around the idea of “making your mark” as a Christian leader, which is our theme for this year’s event.
Will just take a minute, and anyone who helps out will be paid $100,000 each……. Ed Stetzer is personally paying!!!! J/K.
Thanks!
Heard a great talk from Richard Florida earlier this week at the Jim Blanchard Leadership Forum in Columbus, GA.
Richard Florida is the best-selling author of The Rise of the Creative Class, an incredible book outlining the way creatives are currently shaping our culture. His latest book, Who’s Your City, is the one I am really intrigued by, focused on why certain people are living in certain places and how that is changing the landscape of business and economics.
Richard is considered to be one of the world’s leading urban theorists. He mentioned in his talk a couple of points that I wanted to highlight:
1. the rise of “megaregions”- there are 40 megaregions in the world. These areas are dominating the global economy and the direction of our culture. For example- Charlanta- the area from Atlanta, GA to Charlotte, NC.- 22 million people, and 750 Billion in economic output. Wow. 8th largest megaregion in the world. These megaregions are a new phenomenon in urban and city development.
2. We are currently living in a great “re-set,” not necessarily a recession. Our current climate is one of the most dramatic shifts we’ve ever experienced in our history. Radical change and radical transformation- similar to what happened in the late 1800′s and early 1900′s in our country.
3. This reset is forcing us to go back to our greatest source of capital- our human capital. The real capital we have especially here in the US is our people. We have to tap the creative energy of every human being in this country. We have to harness the ideas of every person. Everyone is creative, and that’s our greatest asset.
4. 40 million Americans who are considered to be the “creative class.” 35% of the workforce, but around 60% of salaries. They congregate in the “megaregions.” No longer do the influentials and creative class move to where the jobs are. Now companies have to move to where the influentials are. This is a radical shift. Cited several examples of this that were pretty mind-blowing.
I highly recommend picking up one of Richard’s books, and staying up to date with his work through his company, The Creative Class Group.
We (Catalyst) are partnering with Leadership Network on a brand new event they have created called The Nines. You’ll definitely want to participate. Here are the details:
Wednesday, September 9 (one week from today), begins at 9:00 am CST.
The event is free, but you have to pre-register.
Over 60 presenters, including Mark Driscoll, Perry Noble, Mark Batterson, Ed Stetzer, Reggie McNeal, John Ortberg, Steven Furtick, Greg Surratt, Reggie Joiner and many, many more.
Each presenter has nine minutes or less to present based on this thought: “If you could sit down one-on-one with a handful of church leaders, what is the one thing you would want to tell them?”
Over 6,000 leaders have already pre-registered for this one day online event, so make sure you register today.
Had the chance recently to interview Chris Anderson, the editor in chief of the wildly popular Wired Magazine, and author of two best-selling books: The Long Tail as well as the more recent release FREE: The Future of a Radical Price.
Chris is an incredible thinker, innovator, and technology maven, and we talk a lot about his new book FREE and the impact on our culture, plus discussing several other interesting topics, including the reason why Google is the ultimate model of free.
You can stream live here, or download from itunes here.