Text-Context: Jim Gilmore - Ways to Study the World/Culture

I appreciated Jim Gilmore's talks at this conference. Jim is an insightful forward-thinking businessman and has a deep care for the church of Jesus Christ. He is the co-author of The Experience Economy which worldwide has hundreds of thousands in print and recently co-wrote Authenticity: What Consumer's Really Want. Jim was deeply thankful to be apart of the conference even though he wasn't sure he belonged at a pastor's conference. All in all, I think he served pastor's well. In his second lecture he discussed 10 points on ways to study the world and culture around us, here are the 10:

1. Study the Past. In doing so it will make you clearer about the past, the present and the future.
2. Think laterally. What is this? Well, Wikipedia puts it this way in contrast with critical thinking:

"Lateral thinking is more concerned with the movement value of statements and ideas. A person would use lateral thinking when they want to move from one known idea to creating new ideas. It can also be put as, critical thinking is like a post-mortem while lateral thinking is like diagnosis."

3. Observe behavior. Both your own and others. Truly looking, seeing is a skill
4. Wield a thesaurus. Know the dominant words in culture and seek out other words. Be a word-smith.
5. Channel surf. Don't just watch one show, intentionally surf through channels to take in all that is happening on TV.
6. Walk the mall. This in my view is the least enjoyable of the 10.
7. Frequent magazine racks.
8. Watch for the new "ing". "Ing" is an experiencing word. Notice all the "ing" words in culture and advertisements.
9. Talk to your children. Why do they like what they like on the internet, TV, the mall, the toys, whatever it might be?
10. Track the hype. Don't just buy into the hype but do track it. See what the media says is hot and think through why it is.

Readers, do you have any others?

I encourage you to take a look at Mr. Gilmore's ideas further at Strategic Horizons his and co-author Joe Pine's organization. They may not endorse it, but here is a summary of the experience economy from Wikipedia.