In the race for influence and audience attention sometimes we forget to take time for disconnected tranquility. Such was the case with a recent visit to a local Barnes and Noble, an ideal location for inspiration, critical thinking, and self exploration. After all, it's good to know thyself!

A recent article from strategy + business caught my attention and is based on the idea of How to Make a Region Innovative. With today's talk of innovation, creativity, cause, impact, and progress across industry, the time to talk about real fundamental building blocks of creating real genius and thriving environments is now.

The following are a collection of tidbits from the outstanding article that are sure to prove vital for those interested in building a thriving community and one in which ideation breeds innovation, technology fuels growth, collaboration adds to creativity, and regions are changed.

Clusters can be vitally important to a country’s innovation and prosperity, but when they are misunderstood, they do not realize their potential.

To generate one groundbreaking technological development after another, innovation must be embedded within long-lived social institutions and networks.

Four different sectors must be linked together: government, business, civil society (not-for-profit organizations), and academia.

This is called the quad.

In most communities, this quad alignment can be deliberately developed if leaders put three measures into effect. First, they should construct cross-sector networks that are richer, more diverse, and more deliberately structured than those of the past.

Think synergy.

We now know how to accelerate the process by drawing on the collective efforts of leaders in all four sectors of the quad.

Second, these leaders should continually reform the way their organizations are managed — creating a climate that fosters innovation, and adjusting the incentives and organizational structures to reward creativity and collaboration.

Reinforcement breeds solutions.

Third, leaders should invest in talented, innovative individuals, attracting, retaining, and empowering the right mix of people who can foster serial innovation.

Always hire people better then yourself.

To build a thriving community requires the collaborative efforts of several entities. Here's where it gets really interesting and should capture the attention of most visitors to this blog. Business.

Businesses provide the cluster with its economic engine. Because they will close down if they fail to innovate successfully, they take the many risks that innovation entails. The private sector furnishes a large part of the capital needed to fund strategic innovation. 

What does this mean for business? Does this confirm the work and efforts of your organization? Where can we add value to this equation of building an innovative region? 

The answers are inspiring and thought provoking helping to shed some light on the power of people, press, process, and product the four fundamentals of creativity.

The power of visual elements and a good story go hand in hand when creating an effective advertising spot. The following are my attempts at reverse-engineering two shooting scripts for several Allstate advertisements.

Allstate TV Ad: My Bad

 Allstate TV Ad: Road Workers

The story: Take your game to another level. Creativity empowered.

Sidenote: I'm not fond of the presentations within the ad but rather the message. The topic of visual communications makes for a good follow up post. Stay tuned!

Delivering happiness...that is the core of Zappos!. We can learn a lot from this company including the importance of maintaining a zero experience gap. When we provide world class customer service to every person we interact with there is no experience gap. 

Here are 10 core values that form the foundation of the Zappos experience:

1. Deliver Wow Through Service
2. Embrace and Drive Change
3. Create Fun and a Little Weirdness
4. Be Adventurous, Creative, and Open-Minded
5. Pursue Growth and Learning
6. Build Open and Honest Relationships with Communication
7. Build a Positive Team and Family Spirit
8. Do More with Less
9. Be Passionate and Determined
10. Be Humble

That's how you define greatness. 

To be original or not to be…that is the question. In the world of new media communication...content is king. The value of quality information cannot be overstated in an arena where audiences are seeking insightful, novel, and useful material.

The blogosphere and world of new media in general is inundated with mediocrity in terms of game-changing and original content that resides on the cusp of innovation. This type of thinking is validated when we consider the fact that many of today’s leading curators pull material from the same well.

We can talk about the concepts of tribes, social graphs, and our sphere of influence but the real excitement comes from those moments in time where we discover the potential of building our own well and content silos.

The paradox of originality exists because we fail to recognize the value of noise reduction. Sharing information from the same well or visiting similar silos magnifies the noise that exists in the digital space.

Original content isn’t only king…it dominates.

Very interesting special from the New York Times on the negative dynamics of today's technologies.

Apple is a cut above the rest in terms of branding and design. Their new iPhone4 commercial proves to be no different. Right off the back, their stunning imagery and music selection creates a desire to get your hands on one immediately. Well, isn't that the point when it comes to advertising? Of course. The ad simply does a great job of reverberating and speaking to the interests of their target audience.

• Reverberation
• Resonance
• Authenticity

Three aspects of the ad that make it stand out.

There’s an old saying that “A picture is worth a thousand words”. You know it when you see it…those wonderfully crafted and delicately developed works of art that stop and grab your attention commanding your every thought and visual focus on the subject at hand. There’s art and then there are classic pieces of art that completely outshine the rest surviving the test of time.

In advertising, some ads lead to millions of dollars in sales and some…well, let me just say that they are a bit distracting. A good advertisement makes a clear call to action. Advertisers spend lots of dough trying to catch the attention of the masses.

Hollywood on the other hand is in the business of creating visually appealing and emotionally charged full length motion pictures in an effort to entertain. Of course, we each have our own tastes when it comes to the movies. Some films such as Titanic, Independence Day, Million Dollar Baby, and more recently Avatar explode onto the scene and make a huge impact taking home a nice chunk of change.

Are we just so in love with big boats, alien invaders, and the bold blue of the Na’vi that we rush to theaters in droves eagerly awaiting the opportunity to burn our hard earned cash? Nope. Don’t think so.

The success of memorable ads and movies is completely built upon the art of storytelling. The ability to capture our attention and take us to a place we’ve never been is a vital component of measurable success.

Let’s apply this to new media. What will happen if we take a moment to look beyond the vanity of social media and recognize the power of a good story? Making an effort to connect with others is wonderful and an essential part of being an online citizen. However, bringing value and authenticity to the table is completely hinged on our ability to tell a good story.

Engagement is built around the ease and multifaceted dynamic of making it easy for others to tell your story.

Where do you want to take us? Where are we headed? Down a boring road of the same old’ uneventful hogwash or are we headed towards a new arena of impact and influence?

Chris Brogan has an excellent post on his blog entitled "Wiring Yourself for Success" and in an effort to build off his words of advice...here is one of my three words for 2010.

Goal word: Impact

Path 1: Participate in the conversations taking place.

Path 2: Give back to my community.

Path 3: Lend a helping hand.

Distractions: Time restraints, personal commitments.

Steps to the path: Stay organized. Make time. Focus on the end results.

The finish line: Measurable results. Rewarding relationships. Positive momentum.

What's next: Take it to the next level. Growth and expansion.

What are your three words?