Coolfarming: Turn Your Great Idea into the Next Big Thing Book

C O N T E N T S

Acknowledgments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .IX

1 HOW DO YOU TURN A COOL IDEA INTO A TREND? . . . . . . . 1

The Four Steps of Coolfarming . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .4

Finding the Trendsetters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .7

Growing Your Own Trends . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .9

Coolfarming Is More Than Managing a Project . . . . . . . . . . . . . .11

Coolfarming the World Wide Web . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .17

Coolfarming Linux . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .21

2 SWARM CREATIVITY: The Force That Fuels Coolfarming . . 29

The More Swarms Communicate, the Better They Perform . . . . . .34

Swarm Business Beats “Black Swans” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .37

Lessons from the Beehive . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .40

Swarm Creativity in Ghana . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .55

Essentials of Coolfarming and Coolhunting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .68

3 CREATORS: Building the Vision . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73

COIN Leaders Are Not Leaders . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .75

Eating and Feeding Royal Jelly . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .77

Royal Pheromone—Nicholas Negroponte . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .79

Coolfarmers Are Coolhunters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .82

How Do Leaders Get Selected? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .86

Coolfarming Tourists—Immersing Yourself into the Swarm . . . . . .88

Coolfarming a Palm Tree Plantation—

Empowering the Community . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .93

Running an Internet Café in Ghana—

Using the Swarm to Police the Swarm . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .95

Seven Guidelines for Creators . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .98

4 COINS: Building the Product . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101

How Picasso Created Cubism Through a COIN . . . . . . . . . . . .103

Gain Power by Giving It Up—Rotating Leadership . . . . . . . . . .106

Start Out as a Small Fish in a Big Pond . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .111

Six Guidelines for COINs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .114

5 CLNS: Teaching and Preaching the Gospel . . . . . . . . . . . 117

Increasing Sales Through a CLN of Salespeople . . . . . . . . . . . . .120

Learning About Innovations Through the

P&G Technology Entrepreneurs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 124

Coolfarming in Twilight . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .129

Six Guidelines for CLNs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .132

6 CIN: Building the Buzz . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135

Immersion Gets the Swarm to Explosion—LEGO Mindstorms . . .137

Building the Heat—Yummy Industries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .145

From Creators to CINs—

Illustrating the Process Through Social Networks . . . . . . . . . .150

Five Guidelines for CINs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .155

7 COOLHUNTING: Find the Trends Through

the Trendsetters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 159

Coolhunting Combines the Wisdom of Crowds,

Experts, and Swarms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .161

Coolhunting U.S. Presidential Candidates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .168

Coolhunting the Value of Brands:

Looking for the End of the Federer Era . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .174

Why the World’s Most Influential Intellectual

Is an Islamic Cleric . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .175

Predicting the Outcome of the Academy Awards . . . . . . . . . . . . .178

Predicting Stock Trends . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .180

Predicting the Actions of People Using Social Badges . . . . . . . . .181

8 WHAT MOTIVATES COOLFARMERS? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 185

Coolfarmers Show Yhteisöllisyys and Gemeinsinn . . . . . . . . . . . .186

Coolfarmers Are Ethical . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .190

COINs Need Cops . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .192

Coolfarmers Are Happy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .193

Coolfarmers Are Altruistic . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .196

AFTERWORD: It’s Not Chief Executives,

but Chief Creators We Need! . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 205

Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .209

Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .215

About the Author . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .225