This is the one part of this series that i question. It's not that i don't think we can learn from these people, but simply that the cost may be more than the benefit. The potential costs i've thought of so far are:

• being drawn into a 'personality cult' (the Mike Guglielmucci scandal should give us all pause in this respect)
• not thinking through the issues thoroughly for ourselves and carefully evaluating whether the techniques and programs these people offer us fit our particular situation and culture (especially important when we are using American material)
• spending our time at the computer instead of with people, or with our ears stuck in the headphones of our MP3 player instead of open to what is going on around us
• and most of all, not having any new ideas of our own

The potential benefits:

• tried & tested ideas
• innovation beyond what we might come up with ourselves

Any other thoughts?