shameless self-promotion

This morning again I was visiting MTV3 Huomenta Suomi program with Helene Auramo, CEO of Zipipop.

Video is up in Vimeo, and embedded here:

MTV3 Huomenta Suomi 9.5.2011 Taneli Tikka ja Helene Auramo keskustelevat sosiaalisesta mediasta from Taneli Tikka on Vimeo.

nHere's the same videoclip in YouTube:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bLCqTT80DRU

All critique and comments are welcomed as always!

This theme could have gone on for quite a while, we just barely touched on the surface details. It's a shame that TV, because of the nature of its format, kind of automatically means that the substance will have a touch of entertainment and popular topics in there. And always too little time for it all...

Today the Finnish Information Processing Association, FIPA (or TTL, Tietotekniikan Liitto) has chosen me as the opinion leader in ICT along with Angry Birds as the ICT product of the year!

The FIPA is a bit similar kind of organization in Finland as the ACM (Association for Computing Machinery) is in the USA and worldwide.

It's a very positive surprise to be chosen in the first place, and even more positive to have such great company as Angry Birds by my side.

This honorary title of "Opinion Leader in ICT" (vuoden tietotekniikkavaikuttaja) has been received by some very prestigious people in the past;

Prof. Reino Kurki-Suonio
Prof. Pekka Himanen
Prof. Hannu Jaakkola
Risto Siilasmaa (2007)
Dr. Jyrki Kasvi, Member of Parliament (2008)
Dr. Mikko Kosonen (2009)

And now me for 2010.

What kind of themes I want to introduce in to the discussions?

Finland can no longer succeed with old models and processes of leadership, thinking about the old fashioned nature of work, and having an attitude geared more towards industrial production than for modern innovation.

People are not resources in a production facility.

The amount of work no longer correlates to good results or with more profits - the quality of the work and the brilliance of the idea does instead.

We kind of have an existential crisis in the Finnish economy; we have to be able to innovate and to think of work very differently from what we are used to.

Defining problems is more important than honing your skills in solving them. Independent critical thinking trumps common problem solving skills any time.

The whole world of ICT is full of opportunity for us all; and we have to be able to grasp those. Renew our entire concept of creativity, education, work and what it means to live your life as a contributing creative member of an organization and of society.

One good place to get your mindset right would be to start from reading Rework by 37signals. I have never seen more good thoughts compressed into a book than in Rework.

A finnish language story about this in Tietoviikko.

What do you think: how can we solve our crisis? Renew our thinking? Succeed in global competition?

Earlier today I was a guest in Good Morning Finland (Huomenta Suomi) on the MTV3 channel. I was there with Jaana Kurjenoja, Chief Economist of the Federation of Finnish Commerce. Topic was ecommerce and its relation to the structural change of trade; how it affects the trade of special items and how services are also transferring to ecommerce models. And how ecommerce is evolving.

Here's the video clip from it:

Taneli Tikka 8.2.2011 Huomenta Suomi - Ecommerce from Taneli Tikka on Vimeo.

All feedback much welcomed!

Coming back to the previous blog post:

http://tane.li/2010/free-sail-blue-oceans-once-more

I started on a new post today. As the Managing Director of Soprano Brain Alliance, and Executive Vice President of Soprano, Plc, and a director in the Plc's board of directors.

The finnish language news piece about it can be found here.

This can be categorized as a "corporate entrepreneur" kind of job.

Our aim will be to take the company into new heights and significantly develop it further - for the benefit of our clients and partners alike. It being a public company; there's some limitation to what I can blog about. Keep an eye on us ;-)

I recently blogged about upcoming events here. It turns out that they had to move the 6.10.2010 event to a future date (perhaps in early 2011), so that'll have to wait.

Last week I was a speaker and a panelist at the www.veemaisin.fi event. Here's a finnish language story and wrap up about the event. One direct quote from it: "”Tilastokeskus ei ole suostunut julkaisemaan tämän hetken tilannetta. Suomessa on ylisuuri julkinen sektori ja alaspäin syöksyvän spiraalien kierre, kun sen pitäisi olla toisin päin”, jyrähti Tikka ja sai lähes täydeltä salilta spontaanit aplodit."" I am talking about public spending (and its ratio to GDP) and the fact that the Finnish statistics bureau currently refuses to report the situation. The latest statistic we have on the topic is this one from 2008. The EU statistics bureau (Eurostat) luckily has the 2009 figures behind this link. The 2010 figures are estimated to be even worse. According to Eurostat the only EU country spending even more (in relation to their GDP) than Finland is Denmark. When our GDP is growing slower than our government expenses are; you can guess what happens? This is a particular problem for Finland who has "corporative-conservative" societal structures, making change very slow and preserving the Status Quo one of the top priorities of the government. In another words = are going for broke. Full speed. Greek style. At least there is a very significant risk of this happening.

I would have the solutions to our situation and it is rather frustrating to see our impotent politicians unable to make decisions and act.

However often when I mention this topic to people they come up with the counterargument: money isn't really money, so taking in more debt and going for broke is only an illusion. Naturally, in a twisted way, they are right: the Euro as a currency is not real money at all and only represents a faith based currency of no intrinsic value. Also people often argue that if Finland doesn't soil the value of the Euro to the ground, the Greeks and others alike will do it anyways. These are fair arguments. They are also problems government has created for us. Why are we looking towards the government for solutions to the kind of problems they have created in the first place?

Ok, enough of that. If you would like to see a change in reckless government spending and expansion there are a few things you can do: openly oppose it and talk about it frequently. Let your opinion be heard. Vote for people who do so also, and encourage others to do so as well.

Then way back to an oldie but goldie:

Remember this old talk from almost a year ago?:

Taneli Tikka talking about entrepreneurship 15.12.2009 from Taneli Tikka on Vimeo.

It's me and Petri Niemi (Capman) discussing with Mauri Pekkarinen (minister of the economy) about startup finance, entrepreneurship and creating a competitive environment for growth.