So, you thought Moneyball was a movie about baseball? Wrong … it's a morality tale about YOUR business, and how outdated business models are killing you, and all you can do is sack the people who tell you that. Will you be playing in your industry's equivalent of the World Series, or will your season end prematurely? Start listening to the folk who are telling you things you don't like to hear, because they don't fit your current models … pioneer or dinosaur?

A gentle reminder that having a Facebook page doesn't make you a social business - tactics bereft of a strategic framework will amount to very little. Creating (or transforming into) a social business often requires a cultural shift, and this needs more than ticks on a checklist of social tools.

and the reason is the explosion of data: “Big data can get us to business at the speed of thought … But the reality is that most companies do business at the speed of the weekly meeting.”
Companies in all industries are finding that software and the data it manages are becoming core to their business, rather than a back-office prop.

My post on social media adoption and commitment … (I warned you)

We are all playing games, but are they “finite” or “infinite” games that we want to play? Do we feel that boundaries and winning are important, or continuity and collaboration? Do we exercise power over others, or develop strength with them?

Increasingly, strategy and planning are moving out of the executive suite into a broader milieu for shaping directions. Why? "the world is just too complex, change comes too fast, and the challenges we face are too immense (and interconnected), for an insular clique of executives to chart the course of an organization from a blank sheet of paper and sheer brilliance" … is that the case in your business? What will you do about it?

Some good ideas about how to "get lucky" … along the theme of preparation intersecting with opportunity, and a few things you can do to assist that

A cautionary look at the dangers of outsourcing, particularly as it moves up the value chain from "grunt" work to "thinking work" - once you outsource your thinking, and your unique capabilities, you have no business. And as the interview points out, it's broader than a single organisation - it means countries lose the infrastructure and network of suppliers in an industry, so the outsourcing becomes a continuing death spiral.

Michael Porter suggesting that there is a way to build economic value that provides societal value as well - it's just that we might have to think outside of out-dated business models to achieve it: "The purpose of the corporation must be redefined as creating shared value, not just profit per se. This will drive the next wave of innovation and productivity growth in the global economy. It will also reshape capitalism and its relationship to society. Perhaps most important of all, learning how to create shared value is our best chance to legitimize business again. "

Useful overview of the value of enterprise architecture, and the iterative nature of its application to business (a point often overlooked by consultants who want to "boil the ocean" with some methodology). Talks up TOGAF, which is more a method of creating a framework than a framework that can be applied out of the box to your business - but becoming a useful frame of reference for practitioners as it leaves its IT roots further behind.

Bottom line: your app is only strategic if, and only if, you can tie it to a business strategy ...

Brief but cogent summary of why social networking is important to knowledge management

Pre-empt the collapse of complexity - leave the cubicle and learn how to work simply now ...

Lines in the sand and drawing them - 6 principles for starting a web-based business, teasing out specifics of a nebulous "do no evil" mantra

R Ray Wang's shakedown of the SAP influencer summit

Working on the "how do you eat an elephant" angle, Ray suggests that if you've used the hierarchy of business needs and the right categorisation of business processes, then it's time to look for "bite-size" opportunities

Mirroring Maslow's hierarchy, Wang identifies the organisations hierarchy of needs, and what it means for strategy

R identifies the key categories of business processes

Stephen Collins on taking a longer view of social media strategy - "talk­ing about embed­ding these things into your busi­ness cul­ture and tak­ing a long bet on their value as a suc­cess fac­tor over time"

The difference between profit and value: "If Detroit had asked itself: "how will we build a better tomorrow?", it might have understood the economics behind the numbers. It might have striven to innovate instead of unnovate, by creating authentic, meaningful value."

Umair has more pith than a crate of oranges ...

While I agree to a certain extent that this recession/whatever marks a permanent shift in the social and economic environment, I don't think it's a reason to be gloomy ... overall most of us will be better if we see the opprotunities rather than mourn the passing of status quo

Calacanis isn't everybody's cup of tea, but this is useful advice for the times ...

Seve rules for business:IT alignment ...

Michael with a few easy-to-say but hard-to-do ideas for improving the chance of success for IT projects ... toughest one in my book: "Be honest"

JP on strategies for tough times ...

Good tips ...

Sig explores the difference between efficiency and effectiveness ...

This guy looks interesting ... have subscribed to the feed

where innovation needs to go

Business and IT alignment from strategy to hardware ... via Nick Malik (http://blogs.msdn.com/nickmalik/archive/2007/08/01/putting-application-portfolio-management-into-the-picture.aspx)

Brian has a bit to say about Sapphire and the future for SAP - loved this one: "Personally, any software that your competitor can also own can’t be strategic" - yuh! You should read all three posts ...

Guy interviews Seth about the Big Dip - some interesting thoughts in this ...

The difficulty in strategy is in predicting which strategy will be most effective ...

"The best companies do not accept competitive parity as a cure-all. Mimicry won't help them succeed long-term." As Cote' would say: "Yuh!"

So how do I monetize this??

Pam avoids addiction ...

Gartner v McGovern - I think I agree with James.

Ideo posits design= strategy