How Does One Create Value?

This Christmas morning I woke up asking myself the abstract question: "How does one create things of value?"

Millions of people engaged in gift swapping this morning. I suspect that very few of the gifts will have any enduring value. Memories created at Christmas might endure, but in our hectic world even that is questionable these days.

I actually ask this particular question thousands of times. Whenever I am working on a job, I ask myself multiple times if the work I am creating is of value to the customers.

When I create web sites and blog posts I ask if I am engaged in an activity that is creating something of value.

Most blog posts are just mindless punditry. IMHO, mindless punditry not only is a waste of time. Many people engaged in punditry do little more than create or amplify division. The creation of division is a net negative.

The current project I am working on focuses on the question about how one creates value and how one measures that value.

I decided to put off details about the project until after Christmas. For today, I simply wish to wish to throw these two questions to the wind:

• How does one create value?
• and how do we know if the things we are doing are creating value?

Merry Christmas All!