Posts Tagged ‘ethics’

The Economy of Collaboration 3.0

Thursday, January 14th, 2010

Image Credit: Jill Clardy | Edits under CC: Andrew Swenson

Original Image: Jill Clardy

Recently, Carlos Miceli argued that the future of collaboration is not in win-win transactions, but in a pay-it-forward type of interaction where one gives for the sake of giving and not for the sake of winning. Miceli states:

“The future of collaboration is ego-less….The real test comes when you have the opportunity to help someone with the previous knowledge that that person won’t be able to reciprocate. Paradoxically, the only way to do this consistently is to forget about the economic way of thinking.”

Seeing Collaboration 3.0 in Economic Terms

In economic terms, there are typically two types of exchange (Lapavistas, 2004):

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Evil, Ancient Greece, and other Marketing Stuff

Tuesday, December 29th, 2009
image credit: Raymond Yee

image credit: Raymond Yee

Is marketing evil?

When Seth Godin pondered the question earlier this year, he came to this conclusion:

Just because you can market something doesn’t mean you should. You’ve got the power, so you’re responsible, regardless of what your boss tells you to do.

Last night in a Twitter exchange with Jessica Gottlieb (@JessicaGottlieb) about how people market and sell, I suggested that the question isn’t anything new. In fact, I think it dates back a few millennia…

[Disclaimer: this post is purposefully philosophy light.
Email theword[at]wordpost[dot]org if you’re craving discourse on metaphysics]

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A Rising Tide Lifts All Boats

Tuesday, July 28th, 2009

I’ve always thought that all businesses, regardless of their size or market position, could benefit from some form of collaboration. People in business, especially small business, stand to gain by learning from and partnering with others. And that’s why I’m in love with ideaAnglers.com

(Full disclosure: I’ve been involved with ideaAnglers for a few weeks as a guide, but I’m not directly compensated by them, nor will I be in the future)

A brief case for collaboration

There’s value in the direct collaboration that an agency and a printer have. There’s value in the pricing model that’s structured so that when a client’s program is more successful, a vendor earns more (I make a more detailed argument here).

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Marketing & Misleading with Truth

Friday, July 24th, 2009

I contend that far too much marketing misleads with the truth.

As we move into an era of commerce that’s supposed to be marked by transparency and authenticity, marketing becomes more than a matter of simply presenting the truth—it becomes matter of presenting the truth ethically.

Take the latest sleazy move by Jim Cramer (of Mad Money fame) for example.

In attempt to sell email newsletter subscriptions, Cramer lent his signature to a series of seedy emails that claim subscribers will earn big bucks by “taking on the market” with Cramer himself. From Henry Blodget (@hblodget) on Business Insider:

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the Bernie Madoff experience

Wednesday, March 11th, 2009

Today on my commute to work, I heard this report on NPR’s Morning Edition about a Bernie Madoff piggy bank that keeps your money. Evidently it has a fake plug in the bottom and everything.

If you’re interested, you might still be able to get one on eBay (read more on MSNBC).

While it’s probably useless to spout off about how I think Bernie Madoff may even deserve to his face plastered on urinal mats and toliet paper (not my idea), I do think that it’s worthwhile to say that there are many of us still working our tails off to make sure that business is conducted ethically, transparently, and fairly.

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