Auren Hoffman, chief executive of Reputation Technology company Rapleaf, writing for BusinessWeek, reviews how the current presidential candidates have become exceptionally adept at "microtargeting" persuadable voters and in using the latest social media software to go beyond seeking traditional support ("give us your money and vote") towards also seeking active advocacy ("call three swing voters").

Workforce Management Magazine reports on the growing trend for blue-chip organizations to take blogging seriously and even appoint Chief Blogging Officers (CBOs). Is it the natural evolution of blogging into the corporate world or does it totally miss the point of blogging in terms of personality, "human-ness" and authenticity?

Business veterans claim you cannot teach 'experience', but European researchers say you can. The team developed software that helps players acquire real-life skills and realistic experiences through game playing. But this game is no executive toy. The interactive software has caught the imagination of both business colleges and major enterprises.

Managing any team, network or group becomes a whole lot easier if you understand the distinction of the three concentric rings of team member commitment.

The way small causes yield huge effects is itself only one piece of the much grander idea of simplexity, a science that is increasingly being studied at universities and institutes around the world, but nowhere more intensely than at the Santa Fe Institute in New Mexico. No single unified rule governs all complex or simple systems, but there are a few big ones.

Think Differently: Long-term success is not only determined by how well a company handles a downturn, but also by its foresight in preparing for the next upturn. In the midst of a recession, corporate leaders are often forced to restructure and control expenses, but those who focus only on the immediate crisis may be left behind when better times return.

My new book THE NETWORKED ENTERPRISE contains over 30 diagrams and charts which provide detailed Blueprints, Roadmaps, Worksheets and Techniques for creating successful Virtual Enterprise Networks. In a free downloadable 30-page PDF, produced in response to reader requests, I have put together a book overview plus about 20 of the book's key diagrams in full A4 page format to assist network facilitators, coaches and leaders.

Ben Worthen, writing for the Wall Street Journal (July 16, 2008), reports on a Deloitte survey of over 100 businesses who set up online communities. They found that most of them (>75%) failed and were more like ghost towns than thriving communities. There were 3 main reasons they failed....