I'm very pleased to be adding my name to the list of great bloggers who will be contributing to this year's edition of Age of Conversation. Last year, two marketing bloggers whom I greatly admire, Gavin Heaton and Drew McLellan "challenged bloggers around the world to contribute one page — 400 words — on the topic of “conversation.” The resulting self-published book, authored by 100 writers and thinkers, was sold online, with the proceeds benefiting Variety, The Children's Charity.

This year Gavin and Drew have opened up the opportunity to even more participants, and I will be one of them.

This Saturday, March 29th, you can help us by going to Amazon and pre-ordering your copy of the book. We are attempting to boost our visibility with a concentrated push.

Here are all of the other great contributors to this year's edition (all 275 of them): Adam Crowe, Adrian Ho, Aki Spicer, Alex Henault, Amy Jussel, Andrew Odom, Andy Nulman, Andy Sernovitz, Andy Whitlock, Angela Maiers, Ann Handley, Anna Farmery, Armando Alves, Arun Rajagopal, Asi Sharabi, Becky Carroll, Becky McCray, Bernie Scheffler, Bill Gammell, Bob Carlton, Bob LeDrew, Brad Shorr, Bradley Spitzer, Brandon Murphy, Branislav Peric, Brent Dixon, Brett Macfarlane, Brian Reich, C.C. Chapman, Cam Beck, Casper Willer, Cathleen Rittereiser, Cathryn Hrudicka, Cedric Giorgi, Charles Sipe, Chris Kieff, Chris Cree, Chris Wilson, Christina Kerley (CK), C.B. Whittemore, Clay Parker Jones, Chris Brown, Colin McKay, Connie Bensen, Connie Reece, Cord Silverstein, Corentin Monot, Craig Wilson, Daniel Honigman, Dan Goldstein, Dan Schawbel, Dana VanDen Heuvel, Dan Sitter, Daria Radota Rasmussen, Darren Herman, Darryl Patterson, Dave Davison, Dave Origano, David Armano, David Bausola, David Berkowitz, David Brazeal, David Koopmans, David Meerman Scott, David Petherick, David Reich, David Weinfeld, David Zinger, Deanna Gernert, Deborah Brown, Dennis Price, Derrick Kwa, Dino Demopoulos, Doug Haslam, Doug Meacham, Doug Mitchell, Douglas Hanna, Douglas Karr, Drew McLellan, Duane Brown, Dustin Jacobsen, Dylan Viner, Ed Brenegar, Ed Cotton, Efrain Mendicuti, Ellen Weber, Emily Reed, Eric Peterson, Eric Nehrlich, Ernie Mosteller, Faris Yakob, Fernanda Romano, Francis Anderson, G. Kofi Annan, Gareth Kay, Gary Cohen, Gaurav Mishra, Gavin Heaton, Geert Desager, George Jenkins, G.L. Hoffman, Gianandrea Facchini, Gordon Whitehead, Graham Hill, Greg Verdino, Gretel Going & Kathryn Fleming, Hillel Cooperman, Hugh Weber, J. Erik Potter, J.C. Hutchins, James Gordon-Macintosh, Jamey Shiels, Jasmin Tragas, Jason Oke, Jay Ehret, Jeanne Dininni, Jeff De Cagna, Jeff Gwynne, Jeff Noble, Jeff Wallace, Jennifer Warwick, Jenny Meade, Jeremy Fuksa, Jeremy Heilpern, Jeremy Middleton, Jeroen Verkroost, Jessica Hagy, Joanna Young, Joe Pulizzi, Joe Talbott, John Herrington, John Jantsch, John Moore, John Rosen, John Todor, Jon Burg, Jon Swanson, Jonathan Trenn, Jordan Behan, Julie Fleischer, Justin Flowers, Justin Foster, Karl Turley, Kate Trgovac, Katie Chatfield, Katie Konrath, Kenny Lauer, Keri Willenborg, Kevin Jessop, Kris Hoet, Krishna De, Kristin Gorski, Laura Fitton, Laurence Helene Borei, Lewis Green, Lois Kelly, Lori Magno, Louise Barnes-Johnston, Louise Mangan, Louise Manning, Luc Debaisieux, Marcus Brown, Mario Vellandi, Mark Blair, Mark Earls, Mark Goren, Mark Hancock, Mark Lewis, Mark McGuinness, Mark McSpadden, Matt Dickman, Matt J. McDonald, Matt Moore, Michael Hawkins, Michael Karnjanaprakorn, Michelle Lamar, Mike Arauz, Mike McAllen, Mike Sansone, Mitch Joel, Monica Wright, Nathan Gilliatt, Nathan Snell, Neil Perkin, Nettie Hartsock, Nick Rice, Oleksandr Skorokhod, Ozgur Alaz, Paul Chaney, Paul Hebert, Paul Isakson, Paul Marobella, Paul McEnany, Paul Tedesco, Paul Williams, Pet Campbell, Pete Deutschman, Peter Corbett, Phil Gerbyshak, Phil Lewis, Phil Soden, Piet Wulleman, Rachel Steiner, Sreeraj Menon, Reginald Adkins, Richard Huntington, Rishi Desai, Beeker Northam, Rob Mortimer, Robert Hruzek, Roberta Rosenberg, Robyn McMaster, Roger von Oech, Rohit Bhargava, Ron Shevlin, Ryan Barrett, Ryan Karpeles, Ryan Rasmussen, Sam Huleatt, Sandy Renshaw, Scott Goodson, Scott Monty, Scott Townsend, Scott White, Sean Howard, Sean Scott, Seni Thomas, Seth Gaffney, Shama Hyder, Sheila Scarborough, Sheryl Steadman, Simon Payn, Sonia Simone, Spike Jones, Stanley Johnson, Stephen Collins, Stephen Cribbett, Stephen Landau, Stephen Smith, Steve Bannister, Steve Hardy, Steve Portigal, Steve Roesler, Steven Verbruggen, Steve Woodruff, Sue Edworthy, Susan Bird, Susan Gunelius, Susan Heywood, Tammy Lenski, Terrell Meek, Thomas Clifford, Thomas Knoll, Tiffany Kenyon, Tim Brunelle, Tim Buesing, Tim Connor, Tim Jackson, Tim Longhurst, Tim Mannveille, Tim Tyler, Timothy Johnson, Tinu Abayomi-Paul, Toby Bloomberg, Todd Andrlik, Troy Rutter, Troy Worman, Uwe Hook, Valeria Maltoni, Vandana Ahuja, Vanessa DiMauro, Veronique Rabuteau, Wayne Buckhanan, William Azaroff, Yves Van Landeghem

As the NYTimes writes this morning, "Mrs. Clinton’s best hope now is that Mr. Obama, as a candidate, suffers a political collapse akin to what has happened to the subprime mortgage market, a view shared by aides in both campaigns."

I think that this is probably the most disheartening and disappointingly aspect of this entire primary election. After two great candidates entered into a completely fair contest, we are now left with one of the campaigns leaving themselves with no other option than to hope and pray for the utter destruction of the opposing candidate.

I think that Senator Clinton has every right to stay in the primary for as long as she likes. And if she had kept her campaign completely positive and continued to build excitement about the Democratic party in every state where they campaigned, I would be the first to say that it was well worth it.

But, what we're stuck with now is a minor tragedy.

I've started reading Clay Shirky's new book, Here Comes Everybody. So, far it's quite good.

I've decided to post a series short notes on this book as I go along. Just to help me remember what I thought was important, and hopefully to allow you to help me figure out what it all adds up to.

Chapter 1:

(pg. 20) "...we are living in the middle of a remarkable increase in our ability to share, to cooperate with one another, and to take collective action, all outside the framework of traditional institutions."

This line jumped out at me when I read it. It's basically the central thesis of the entire book. It especially resonated with me from a strategy perspective. If you are in charge of running any kind of organization—or your clients are—then you should be saying to yourself or asking your clients, "This is the reality of the world we live in. What are we doing to enable this and benefit from it?"


Chapter 2:

(pg. 35) "The basic capabilities of tools like Flickr reverse the order of group activity, transforming 'gather, then share' into 'share, then gather.'"

I just like this simple insight.

(pg 48) "...we can have groups that operate with a birthday party's informality and the multinational's scope."

In the book, Shirky is speaking specifically about the ease of coming together and the grand potential of the work that can be done. I'm also very interested the nature of the relationships in these new types of communities; I'm fascinated by how they can foster an intimate level of trust, while sustaining that trust across such a huge network. I think that this is the real disruptive force in the evolution of influence.

Comments are welcome.

Neuroanatomist Jill Bolte Taylor had an opportunity few brain scientists would wish for: One morning, she realized she was having a massive stroke. As it happened -- as she felt her brain functions slip away one by one, speech, movement, understanding -- she studied and remembered every moment. This is a powerful story about how our brains define us and connect us to the world and to one another.

In spite of Clinton's significant primary victories this past Tuesday in Ohio and Texas, she only came away with a net gain of approximately 10 pledged delegates. By CNN's count (and most other counts are in this ball park) Obama continues to lead Clinton by 138 pledged delegates. No matter what either campaign may wish, the all important Super Delegates (US Reps, Senators, Dem. Governors, and Party Activists) are not going to overturn the significant will of the voters.

Where does that leave Clinton? Well, Clinton needs to win every remaining primary contest by a consistent margin of approx. 65-70% in order to pull even with Obama in pledged delegates. There's just no way that's going to happen.

That said, I am not ready to advocate for Clinton to drop out of the race (though I'd be pleased as punch if she did). Because, in each state that these two great candidates campaign in, the local Democratic party becomes reinvigorated and invested in this presidential race, as never before. Each state is left with a highly trained and excited infrastructure for Get Out The Vote efforts and general party enthusiasm.

This is why I'd be happy to see Clinton stay in the race – IF she was actually campaigning to be Obama's VP.

Now, I'm not suggesting that either candidate acknowledge this explicitly; I'm suggesting, rather, that Clinton return to the high-minded positive campaign she was running back before the primaries started. I'd like to see Clinton run a consistently positive campaign in which she stressed her strengths, while resisting the impulse to adopt disingenuous GOP arguments about Obama's readiness. If she took this high road, I believe she would continue to do as well as possible in the remaining primaries, probably winning even Pennsylvania. She would still be behind in pledged delegates going into the convention, but she would create a situation where both the party at large, and Obama specifically would be ready and willing to have her on the ticket as the VP candidate.

Unfortunately, the way things are going now, she seems to be shooting both herself and the party in the foot by making it impossible for Obama to choose her as his running mate.

With very few exceptions, everyone who likes Clinton, also likes Obama. But, many of the independent and Republican crossover voters who like Obama, do not like Clinton; they are, however, very open to McCain.

By the way, Marc Andreessen posted a very fascinating post about his 1 1/2 hour private meeting with Obama.

UPDATE: A new PEW Survey disputes my assertions, but I stand by this anyway. I think that the PEW Survey is simply evidence that Clinton's campaign has divided the Democractic party, rather than bringing people together; and also, that Clinton's most ardent supporters have just refused to really get to know Obama, yet.