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The mythology is that “the user is king… Companies must become user-centric. But there’s a problem: It doesn’t work. Here’s the truth: Great brands lead users, not the other way around.” Citing the example of Apple [AAPL], they quote the Apple design team who say: “It’s all bullshit and hot air created to sell consulting projects and to give insecure managers a false sense of security. At Apple, we don’t waste our time asking users, we build our brand through creating great products we believe people will love.”

What can you do to lead the charge on social, on big data, on improved user and customer experience, on customer intelligence? How can you put yourself in the best position to drive change, rather than be driven by it? How can you embrace new alliances with customers (internal and external), so that you’re in a position to be proactive, and not become your company’s whipping post?

Description: Avatars at Work and Play brings together contributions from leading social scientists and computer scientists who have conducted research on virtual environments used for collaboration and online gaming. They present a well-rounded and state-of-the-art overview of current applications of multi-user virtual environments, ranging from highly immersive virtual reality systems to internet-based virtual environments on personal computers. The volume is a follow-up to a previous essay collection, The Social Life of Avatars, which explored general issues in this field. This collection goes further, examining uses of shared virtual environments in practical settings such as scientific collaboration, distributed meetings, building models together, and others.