For years I have been an avid reader of trade publications, business books, business and tech magazines, etc. I firmly believe any current or aspiring CEO, and for sure any software/technology CEO, has to be to be successful. Luckily, I enjoy it and read as often as I can. Further, I don't enjoy or really have time for fiction (unless you count fairy tales and blue's clues.) I am now reading several books (yes I have a short attention span) and in particular I am about done with Scoble and Isreal's "Naked Conversations."
Whether monitoring competitors, keeping tabs on trends, reviewing the opinions of pundits and media, learning what folks think of your business, tracking user forums, exploring new products, technologies, markets, etc etc etc. There is no mistaking that RSS makes it so much more efficient to stay on top of things. Period. All CEOs will better serve their customers, employees, and shareholders if they embrace and utilize RSS. By the way, Venture Capitalists, also a no-brainer, so get with the program folks! There has never been a better tool to wade through more material and in less time. Last time there was such a paradigm shift in information consumption the creation of the Internet itself was responsible. I am amazed when I meet a seemingly motivated and informed person (or successful venture capitalist) that does not take advantage of it. And guess what? I met several CEOs and several VCs over just the past several weeks that have NO FRIGGIN' CLUE!
Raw "dumb" RSS (what we have today) is amazingly useful to be sure, but our vision at Attensa is to take it all to a whole new level by automatically re-prioritizing and even recommending RSS items based on your behavior and interests. Call it Attention, call it Gestures, but the how/who/what/where/when/why of things will work to your advantage in ways you can only now imagine. So stay tuned...
In the meantime, current and aspiring CXOs (yes all in the proverbial executive suite, not just the CEO,) get your butts in gear and embrace this new tool or get left behind.
P.S. I can cut some slack on not knowing what tagging is or why it's important. For now anyway.
Tags: attention, RSS, CEO, VC, Software Business, Naked Conversations
