What Rod's Been Up To
Rod recently completed an overseas tour that started in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, where he delivered the keynote at the EO Global Leadership Conference. From there he stopped in Amman, Jordan, to present to the Young Presidents Organization. He also presented to the International Women's Forum Jordan Chapter in Amman.
The highlight of the trip was the Italian launch of "The Starfish and the Spider" in Milan. Rod had this to say about the event:
"For someone who has admired and loved Italy for three decades, launching the book in Italy on May 29, 2007 was like a dream come true. The local CEO network helped to pull together a great event on all fronts—a two page article in top national magazine L’espresso, an interview with top newspaper Il Sole 24 Ore, and a 20 minute national TV interview on Classic CNBC, the top financial news program, plus a gala book launch presentation and party at the beautiful Grand Visconti Palace Hotel in Milan." If you read Italian, check out the L’espresso article. To see a larger version of the photo of Rod at the Italian book launch party, click here.
Also while in Milan, Rod delivered the keynote to the YPO Italy Chapter, and was interviewed by British Sky Broadcasting.
Rod's final stops were Amsterdam and Copenhagen, where he gave the keynote address to the Amsterdam Sogeti business leaders group and also gave the keynote address at The Next Web Conference in Amsterdam. Rod also attended business meetings centered around his latest activities as Chairman and Catalyst of a new software company that is currently in stealth mode. Be on the lookout for public announcements in August. We are very excited about this.
Also this month, Rod appeared at the Google Corporate Campus in Mountain View, California, where his presentation on "The Starfish and the Spider" was enthusiastically received. See Rod's Google presentation on YouTube.
In addition to these speaking engagements, Rod was also interviewed by journalists from two publications. In Amsterdam, after meeting and being interviewed by a reporter from the Times of London, Rod was featured in that newspaper. Also, Octane, The Entrepreneur's Organization Magazine, ran an interview with Rod, "The Starfish and the Spider: The Era of Leaderless Organizations, in their June 2007 issue.
Starfish Principles at Work
Cisco Chairman and CEO John Chambers addressed a group of CEOs at Cisco and said that collaboration is the single largest trend over the next decade. He also said that Web 2.0 and wikis are central tools that are being used extensively at Cisco to change processes. Chambers talked about how their merger engine is now so efficient that they were able to close their $6.9 billion dollar purchase of Scientific-Atlanta, Inc., the TV set-top box manufacturer, in just 45 days from the first meeting to the closing.
Cisco did this by having one centralized data room for tracking, analyzing and closing the deal. They then decentralized the data room so people could work from wherever they were within or outside of Cisco. This same stragety allowed Cisco to set a speed record for the time taken to acquire a public company on another deal. It took Cisco only seven days from contacting WebEx to closing the $3.2 billion dollar deal with this web conferencing company. This is starfish networking at its best.
Ask Rod
As the word gets out about the power of decentralized networks, and the starfish movement continues to grow, Rod is getting inundated with email requests for advice on how people can apply these principles to their businesses or programs. The amount of email Rod receives has exceeded his ability to respond to each message individually. In the spirit of cooperation and open communication, Rod has agreed to devote one hour per week answering questions. The Q & A will be published on Rod's BECKSTROM.COM website at Ask Rod, which is also the place to go if you would like to ask Rod a question. Each future newsletter will highlight a question with Rod's answer in this space.
Share Your Starfish Story
We'd love to hear about your experiences with starfish networking. If you have a story to share, please send it to newsletter@beckstrom.com and we'll post it in this section of a future issue.
Who We Are
Rod Beckström is an author, speaker, and the Chairman and Chief Catalyst of a new software company that is currently in stealth mode. He founded CAT*S Software Inc., which he took public as CEO. Rod serves on the boards of Environmental Defense and Jamii Bora Africa Ltd. He is also on the board of the Pacific Council of Foreign Relations and on the board of Kiva.org. Rod holds a BA and an MBA from Stanford and was a Fulbright Scholar. He lives in Palo Alto, California and can be contacted through BECKSTROM.COM.
The team at BECKSTROM.COM supports Rod with his writing, speaking engagements and web presence. To inquire about booking Rod for a speaking engagement, contact speaking@beckstrom.com. To schedule an interview with Rod for your publication or blog, contact sandra@beckstrom.com.
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