GE, for example, is famous for being a ‘golf company’. Jack Welsh, the company’s famous ex-boss, is according to many the best golfing CEO of all times and golf has over the years become an essential tool within the company for any manager looking to move up the career ladder. The Economist claims that Welsh used the game as a character test to see whether a person had the guts to work for his organisation. Many other organisations value the game very highly too. For example, John Mack, the boss of Morgan Stanley, is said to have made it a habit to appoint golfing friends to the board.

The Economist addresses a very interesting and important issue in the article. Is it possible that there’s a correlation between the very low number of female CEOs of Fortune 500 companies and the fact that they don’t get the opportunity to play golf with the male counterparts (e.g. because of mens-only clubs such as Augusta National in the US)? On the rare occasions when women get to play golf with their male colleagues, they play off a different tee. At the time of print, there were only eleven female CEOs of Fortune 500 companies and sadly, I don’t think the number has increased dramatically since then.

What’s your option? Do you think it’s possible that there’s a correlation between the very low number of female CEO’s of Fortune 500 companies and the fact that they don’t get the opportunity to play golf with their male counterparts?

You can read the original article here.

Wikipedia is what many refer to as a “wiki”, a server program that allows its users to collaborate in forming the content of a website. Companies can use wikis to create effective intranets and for Knowledge Management activities. A detailed article on the wiki concept and its pros and cons can be found here.

One of the primary concerns about Wikipedia is that it’s openly edited, i.e. anyone can change or update entries. Even the website’s co-founder, Jimmy Wales, has said that it shouldn’t be used as an academic source.

You can use a tool called WikiScanner to get an understanding of how inaccurate information published on Wikipedia can be. The tool allows you to cross-reference the IP address of thousands of Wikipedia edits made anonymously with the IP address of organisations from around the world. This result in a service which allows you to see which organisations were responsible for editing any article you choose.

Wired, an American magazine, has published a list of salacious edits made by different organisations. For example, an IP address belonging to Waggener Edstrom, Microsoft’s PR firm, edited a page about MSN Search to say that it was a major competitor of Google.

Here are the 10 most influential people in technology:

1. Tim Berners-Lee: Founder of the modern World Wide Web
2. Sergey Brin: Co-founder of Google
3. Larry Page: Co-founder of Google
4. Guglielmo Marconi: Inventor of the Radiotelegraph system
5. Jack Kilby: Inventor of the Integrated Circuit and Calculator
6. Gordon Moore: Co-founder of Intel
7. Alan Turing: Played a major role in deciphering German Code in the 2nd World War
8. Robert Noyce: Co-founder of Intel
9. William Shockley: Co-inventor of the Transistor
10. Don Estridge: Led the development of the IBM computer

The complete list, which was sponsored by Intel, can be found here.

It now looks like the finances of the private-held company finally have been leaked onto the Net. Kara Swisher at AllThingsD.com, part of the Wall-Street Journal, has published the following financial metrics – which she claims comes from a meeting held by Facebook’s CEO and founder, Mark Zuckerberg, yesterday:

• 2007 Revenues: $150 million
• 2008 Revenues: $300 to $350 million (projected)
• 2007 Headcount: 450
• 2008 Headcount: 1,000 (projected)
• Capital Expenditures: $200 million (i.e., servers)
• EBITDA*: $50 million
• 2008 Cash Flow (EBITDA - Capital Expenditures): negative 150 million

*EBITDA = Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization

Sounds like a fantastic investment opportunity – doesn’t it? But of course, the figures can change dramatically if Facebook would make a breakthrough in social network monetization – such as their very own version of Google Ads.

Read Karen’s article for more information.

Ron Young delivered the first lecture yesterday and talked about Knowledge Management (KM) and technology. Ron is the CEO of a company called Knowledge Associates. He is acknowledged as a leading expert in KM and has worked with leading organisations in the US, Europe and Asia Pacific.

Ron outlined five key challenges that he reckons companies will face within the next 10 years:

• Companies need to substantially increase the productivity of knowledge working, at least by a 50 fold
• Companies need to exponentially develop global knowledge sharing networks and relations
• Companies need to radically innovate
• Companies need to dramatically improve quality
• Leadership must be aligned to the timeless business principles (increase sales, reduce costs, increase profit/value)

For more information, visit his blog on the URL below:

km-consulting.blogspot.com

The November issue features an interview with Guy Kawasaki, known as the former chief evangelist for Apple. He has recently launched a social media site called Truemors and shares his start-up experience so far.

What I found most interesting with the interview was his comparison between the old internet start-up and his way of doing it – which I think applies to a lot of new internet based businesses today that does not require a significant amount of funding from VCs to get functioning.

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How to use the service:

• Create a new account on Google Alert’s website. This is very easy and not at all time consuming, especially if you already have an account with Google.
• Enter the keyword(s) you wish to receive updates on. It is possible to add/delete keywords later on.
• Enter the frequency in which checks are made for new results (e.g. daily or as it happens).
• Decide in which format you wish to receive the updates. I can recommend HTML for formatting reasons.

Google Alerts is relevant for a range of business activities, from HR to market research. Learn more about the service on the URL below:

http://www.google.com/alerts

Some of the findings are stated below:

• 83% of the respondents say they use e-mail as a digital advertisement vehicle whereas only 33% use video ads.
• The most popular vehicle for brand building is branded sponsorships (55%).
• A company’s consumer website is the most popular digital channel to use for selling products and services (79%) where as only 6% make use of an external action site.

The survey is a must-read for anyone who is interested in online marketing and doing business online.

FT.com reports that EBay continues to insist that its long-term hopes for Skype remain unchanged and that it has no plans of selling the business.

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