Conversation Agent - Valeria Maltoni

Would you Rather Pay for the Words, or for the Work?

You're probably used to contrasting activity with results. But this narrative hides a deeper truth. One worth exploring. Because often, what you're buying is the potential of a promise. One that could transfer to creating value for company and customers. Reality is ever evolving. And so should you. Growth is a moving target. Digital media have helped us see how much of our experience is temporary. Even the consequences, with vanishing accountability. The goalpost a stop on the way, rather than a destination. The payoff occurs when your exploration and learning are part of it. Collaboration makes exploration easier and... Read more →

To Truly Change the World, You First Must Change the Narrative

Over the weekend, I wrote a short article about Massimo Bottura and Lara Gilmore. Their theme is the communal act of making. Their message is wrapped into delicious offerings. Their combined enthusiasm is demonstrating the power of building networks of meaning. This creates culture. I started the Italian Style publication and complementary Flipboard magazine more than two years ago. About eight years into a study of a captivating culture I used to take for granted. I've been exploring the landscape for clues on how to create lasting impact. I'm particularly curious about how impact is all about the present. Yet,... Read more →

How the Three Most Common Ideas on Trust are Flawed

Attacks on encrypted phones or encrypted email have become more frequent. Since systems are more connected than ever, you will likely feel the impact. If not today, at some point in the near future. You ordered an item online and you got something else, despite the confirmation you got by email. When you send the image with the printed slip and receipt to the store, you get no response. You follow up and get nowhere. The question of trust is evergreen. Technology has made its role more obvious in everyday life. Connection and integration make things easier, take away friction.... Read more →

Attention and the Tyranny of Dichotomy

Crude dichotomies are attention grabbers. Statements no one could disagree with on one side and evil practices on the other make zero difference in practice. Because there's context, for one. There are priors, biases, and assumptions. Even right and wrong are not absolutes. The world is not divided into saints and sinners. Few practice evil consciously, no one can sustain good practices consciously. If the answer is self-evident, there's little to no cognitive challenge. A visual rendition of obvious statements just makes them more obvious. But not more useful. These “not this/but that” dichotomies are everywhere... except for in reality.... Read more →

Tests for Value

Going through his father's old stuff recently, Nigel Thurlow found a guide for savings and suggestions. The Raytheon Company was a major U.S. defense contractor. In the 1950s, it began manufacturing transistors, including the CK722, priced and marketed to hobbyists. Was the one-pager above from around that time? You may notice the list presupposes a shared understanding of the meaning of “value.” Are the questions leading? A lot on the value analysis list might seem like common sense. Then again, an entire lucrative management consulting industry built processes that should help companies answer these questions: Does this contribute value? Is... Read more →

Incentives do Work: Some Lessons from Crowdfunding

How people make decisions is a topic of constant study and reflection. Alone and together. For example, I've wondered when do individuals make better decisions than teams? Do people do what they in their process? Or is the process rigged to back the decision with data post-hoc? I wrote an entire series of articles to zoom in and out of when and how people use information in marketing. Behavior is often automatic, and also cultural. Words have the power to persuade and close a sale, before anyone has reasoned on the details. When researchers analyzed 45,000 Kickstarter projects, they found... Read more →

To Innovate, Seek Novelty

“It’s no use going back to yesterday, because I was a different person then.” Leonardo da Vinci once said that “things of the mind left untested by the senses are useless.” Flight fascinated him. A keen observer, he studied the flight of birds. The stepping stones of his studies include a Codex on the Flight of Birds (c. 1505 ), and plans for several flying machines.# His helicopter could be built of wood, reeds and taffeta. “A small model can be made of paper with a spring like metal shaft that after having been released, after having been twisted, causes... Read more →

The Connection Between Narrative and Culture

“Economics has re-discovered the power of folklore: the themes in world folktales are linked to current culture.” Professor Ethan Mollick shared a recent study that exemplified this core concept. Cultures with stories where tricksters are punished are trusting; stories where men dominate have more gender bias; stories of risk rewarded have more entrepreneurship. These are the findings of a working paper by Stelios Michalopoulos and Melanie Meng Xue. They found that those patterns hold across groups, countries, and second-generation immigrants. The myths at the origin of the collective imagination are at the root cause of success or failure. It makes... Read more →

What Kind of Problem is it?

John Bernoff received an inquiry for help with Slack writing. As he describes, “the director of engineering for a major technology company” reached out to inquire about doing a workshop. I do different kind of work, so my answer would have been different. I agree that Slack is not technically just about writing. Josh suggests someone who is both versed in communication and the use of Slack for the job. There's value in working with someone who has experience in a tool. They might be be able to suggest technical ways to help. How people use communication as a tool... Read more →

Has Your Business Language Lost its Commercial Roots?

When I came across “in my neck of the woods” in Richard Brautigan's The Revenge of the Lawn, I was intrigued. Do woods have necks? I filed the expression right next to “being on top of things.” This evoked images of a person sitting on the very top of a pile of stuff. At the time, I was working as simultaneous interpreter and translator for a center that focused on neurological and early child development. And completing my degree at the University of Bologna from the U.S. Not an easy commute. Professors almost never approved translations as theses. They made... Read more →