5 TED talks on leadership worth watching

I love TED talks.

Download a bunch of them, great for the commute to work. If I'm to bury my face into my phone while I'm on the train, it might as well be for something enriching. Rather than gossipy, voyeurish, stalkerish Facebook. :)

Here are 5 TED talks on leadership that are gems. Where else can you learn from every-day-joes like a  former orchestra conductor, entrepreneur, Harvard Business School professor and retired U.S. Army general.

Enjoy the sardine packed trains and buses. And the talks.

Read more here.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/on-leadership/wp/2014/03/21/five-ted-talks-on-leadership-worth-watching/ 

Apps that makes managing projects remotely a breeze

Companies in the digital and technology world are typically first movers in adopting new technology to improve productivity and collaboration.

The company I worked in (POSSIBLE), is no different. With our decentralised way of working and closely collaborative studios (aka offices) spread globally, any tools and processes that facilitate collaboration is welcomed.

This article is quite godsend when we recently had a reorg and i wanted to try something new in connecting the teams. Email as a channel is messy and difficult to track and hold accountability. I wanted a way to assign tasks, have followups and oversight without searching thru emails and holding inefficient catchup meetings. But i also wanted something simple to use. Used basecamp in the past, find it bloated.

Picked up Asana instead and gave it a test drive. Looked good so far.

Here's other apps that could be interesting to you.

Read more here.
http://www.inc.com/young-entrepreneur-council/10-apps-that-make-managing-projects-remotely-a-breeze.html 

3 ridiculous mobile design assumptions to avoid

There's no doubt that mobile as a channel and device is important, especially to brands and marketers.

But often, its a uphill task trying to educate clients and stakeholders. That the mobile is not equal to a smaller desktop. Users have sometimes very different intent when browsing the same site from their mobile devices and/or at different time of the day as well as location.

The objective of the website in relation to its mobile users must be clear. And the recommendations backed by data and insights. Assumptions like "I think my mobile users would like this" or "these are the most popular pages on my website, so they should be present on my mobile site" or "i want everything on my website to appear on mobile" should be put down with extreme prejudice.

Read more here.
http://www.imediaconnection.com/content/33877.asp#singleview

Digital marketing trends 2013 - Trends in marketing with the best potential for commercial growth

What do you think would be the major digital marketing trends in 2013?

My bets? That would be mobile, data and content.

Mobile adoption and usage would continue to explode especially in Asia. This would have great impact to the way we communicate with the customers, be it B2C or B2B. Website would be design with mobile first in mind. Social campaigns that would target mobile users, with location in mind. Android would continue to increase in market share, increasing dilemma and splitting of budgets for both iOS and Android apps. PPC and search campaigns would also have to consider mobile channels.

Data should continue to be a cornerstone of any self respecting digital agency. The volume, type and sources of data that can be tapped for insights and intelligence would rise exponentially. Agencies need to be on the look out on how we could tap on these to market smarter and more efficiently. There would also be increased need to invest in developing skills in analytics and data visualisation. We also need to look out for potential pitfalls and steer our clients around data privacy issues.

Content marketing would also be a key focus area in 2013. Brands needs to generate relevant and meaningful content. Content is king and customers love it. Focus by agencies would be to determine type of content, how should it be created and managed, where should the content be published to amplify its effect as well as rigor in planned content creation and agility in reacting with unplanned content.

Read more here.
http://www.smartinsights.com/managing-digital-marketing/marketing-innovation/digital-marketing-trends-2013/

How to Get Anything You Want with Minimal Negotiation

Ahh. Something we hate (well i do), yet its so important in our day to day. We started negotiating when we are babies (try convincing a toddler not to have that candy or get on that car seat). Yet most of us suck at it. 

To most, there's only 2 methods to negotiating. By shouting and bulldozing your point across or give in to reach that middle ground that on paper is win-win but in reality its lose-lose.

There's more than that in negotiation. Here's some simple techniques. 

Read more here.

http://lifehacker.com/5974807/how-to-get-anything-you-want-with-minimal-negotiation/all