Ownership Thinking

There is a concept called "cognitive surplus" that I recently encountered, that really resonates with me. I first read about it in a business book I read a few weeks ago - I can't remember which one - and as I was searching the web trying to find the book, I came upon a presentation delivered by Clay Shirky at a Web 2.0 Conference in April 2008 (http://laughingsquid.com/clay-shirky-on-cognitive-surplus/). It's a 15 minute speech, very well delivered, and focuses on information technology as it relates to cognitive surplus. But this term fits perfectly with the subject about which I talk to business leaders: tapping their employees' cognitive surplus, i.e. tapping that incremental knowledge they have that they are either not asked to use, or are not given the opportunity to use, in a business environment. Engaging your employees; drawing them into the daily goings-on in the business. In order to do that, they need some tools, like business acumen training, key performance indicators, scoreboards, rapid improvement plans, effective incentive plans, etc...