Tom Asacker: How do you make sense?

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How do you make sense?

I read a few newspapers and a handful of magazines each day, not to mention the two to three books I have "in process" at any given time. In addition, I regularly read about two dozen blogs, listen to a few podcasts, watch a few webinars, and I also subscribe to a plethora of email newsletters.

My goal is to "make sense" of it all, and then to provide guidance to people who are trying to create value for their audiences and communities. It's a daunting task. To give you a "feel" for what I'm trying to get at, these are just a few of the headlines (with links to the full text) that have shown up in my inbox . . . today:

IBM CEO preps for infrastructure boom: IBM CEO Sam Palmisano looks at the global financial crisis and sees only opportunity. Many of the world's ills, he believes, are the result of one problem: shoddy networks. So he is angling to make IBM the leader in network overhaul. "You can retrench, pull in your horns, protect the balance sheet, and preserve cash," he says. "Or you can realize that this is about humanity screaming for change."

Honda dashboard, glowing blue: Honda adds ambient feedback for greener driving. Instead of displaying potentially distracting numbers and statistics, Honda's Eco Assist dashboard system gives feedback by changing colour.

Small acts can have big impact: Small behavioral changes don't cost much, but they can produce dramatic payoffs, something managers should take into account when training workers. For example, a customer will wait longer when acknowledged by eye contact or a quick word, and restaurant customers are more likely to come back if they are called the day after their visit to inquire about their satisfaction.

Gore-Tex repels management: The WL Gore materials company has thrived for 50 years, but the concept of management never took hold. "We don't like the 'manager' word," Chief Executive Officer Terri Kelly says. "We get very angry when people call [the staff] employees."

Muppets made to order at FAO Schwarz: Capitalizing on the personalization trend, Muppets and FAO Schwartz have teamed up to build the Muppet Whatnot Workshop. Customers can build their own muppet at FAO Schwartz or online.

How a big corporation can think like a startup: Given the same innovation budget, new companies outperform established firms, and researchers at IMD set out to discover why. Their findings: Employees need autonomy and reward for innovation, but the key ingredient is psychological safety. The challenge for executives, they said, is to build a culture that allows failure and harnesses the knowledge gained along the way.

News Media Less Effective at Conveying Ad Messages: Only 28% of the audience of an average news program, website or magazine gets valuable information about products and services advertised there, making news venues less effective at conveying ad messages than all forms of media combined, according to consumer research from Experian Simmons

The downturn's new rules for marketers: The old recession playbook won't work this time around

Home Depot helps families reduce Christmas-tree fuss: Big-box stores were responsible for about 25% of total sales of fresh-cut Christmas trees in the U.S. last year. Home Depot is the leader in the field, thanks to its method of distributing different sizes and varieties of trees to regions in which they will sell best, an approach that will help it move about 2 million fresh trees this year.

Catching your own flak: When bad news affects your brand in the online environment, the best way to cope is by acting quickly and presenting documentation to potential critics that tells your side of the story

Millennials drive their parents 2TXT: Credit Millennials with getting their folks to text. 20% of 55- to 64-year-olds are tapping out messages in 2008, up from 13% just two years ago.

Cisco's radical reorganization: The top 10 executives at Cisco used to make all the leadership decisions. Now, the company is spreading those duties among working groups that have 500 members. Cisco CEO John Chamber says the makeover, already under way, reflects the adoption of social-networking tools that let Cisco's new boards and councils innovate at breakneck speed. "Fifteen minutes and one week to get a (business) plan that used to take six months!" he says.

Leading through uncertainty: It's a whole new capitalism out there and business leaders need to figure out how to operate amid multiple unknowns. Executives "need greater flexibility to create strategic and tactical options they can use defensively and offensively as conditions change," say the management pros at McKinsey. "They need a sharper awareness of their own and their competitors' positions. And they need to make their organizations more resilient."

Kmart's layaway policy energizes other retailers, shoppers: Kmart's and Sears' pushes to promote their layaway programs this holiday season has popularized layaway again with shoppers, who are seeking ways to avoid credit card debt. An online layaway e-commerce site expects its traffic to jump 50% this year.

Microsoft, Blockbuster to Serve Films via Mobile: A cloak-and-dagger meeting of minds Microsoft has partnered with brick-and-mortar movie rental firm Blockbuster to serve films on mobile devices. "Eventually, we'll give customers instant access to any movie on any device with an internet connection and a screen," vowed Blockbuster Chief Information Officer Keith Morrow in an interview with the Dallas Morning News.

Saturn brand never quite became GM's engine of change: Although General Motors' Saturn unit has built some consumer loyalty, it is a symbol of how the country's biggest automaker tried, but didn't quite succeed, in creating a brand that would rival foreign automakers' high-quality, fuel-efficient models, according to this article.

Strategy in a "structural break:" Many companies will find that their old business model goes kaput because the volatile market is creating new trends and patterns. The right strategy now can help an upstart leap ahead of the competition, says UCLA professor Richard Rumelt. "A structural break is the very best time to be a strategist, for at the moment of change old sources of competitive advantage weaken and new sources appear," he says. His nine-point "Hard times survival guide" is a must-read.

Target shakes up season with iPhone application: The retailer has launched an iPhone application that suggests gift ideas that can be bought instantly on its Web site. By shaking their iPhones, users set off a flurry of digital snow in the Target Gift Globe that settles to reveal a product.

I want to emphasize that that's simply a sprinkling of the business-related email content that has poured in . . . today. There is much, much more. Now, are all of those articles relevant to creating an endearing and enduring organization and marketplace offering? Are there insights buried within each? Perhaps, but I won't know until I've had a chance to read them and "make sense" of them.

On Monday I had a stimulating conversation with a very passionate, and very busy, executive of a global marketing organization. After speaking with her, I'm absolutely sure that she doesn't have the time to consume even a fraction of the amount of information coming at her from traditional and new media sources (and have a career and life, too).

So, how does she "make sense," given all of the changes that are rapidly occurring in the marketplace? How does she stay on top of what's important and "what works," as opposed to what's popular and "in the news?" How do you? It's something to seriously consider before wandering into 2009.

The next 12 – 18 months will likely be the most challenging time for businesses of all stripes and sizes, since the recession of the early 1980s. To be successful in this marketplace filled with desperate companies chasing time-starved people with fewer discretionary dollars, businesses must focus relentlessly on providing customers with more "value" in exchange for their time and those dollars.

But "value" is a very complex, nuanced, and rapidly changing concept today. So it's imperative that you follow Andy Grove's sage advice and be paranoid! You must consciously and strategically do your best to assure that you - and your people - understand precisely what marketplace "value" means to your audience. And then you must stretch and exercise your organizational muscles, and develop the unique ability to creatively and profitably deliver said value over time. Because make no mistake, in 2009 only the paranoid and passionate will survive.