(…At least on TV): Tube tells us hacking is the only way to get things done. Sergeant Bilko (50s); Sergeant Rizzo/M*A*S*H (‘70s-‘80s); Captain Rabb/JAG (‘90s-‘00s); Special Agent McGee, Retired Agent Franks/NCIS (‘03—). Quiz for old farts: What spy-hacker did NCIS’s “Ducky” play in the ‘60s?

Josh and Bill discuss how all babies were born to hack — discovering innovation and creativity by taking things apart and putting them together again. HBR blogger Rasika Welankiwar writes how we were so much smarter as babies…with built-in protections to keep us learning. Unfortunately, we all grew up and learned the “right way” to learn is to sit in neat little rows and follow an authority figure. Hacking, bad. Tsk, tsk. Follow the leader, good. Gold star!

Ken: Our work computers are completely locked down and it is impossible to do anything with out admin rights. However they still give us access to MS office and VBA which is a full fledged programming language. It is amazing what you can do even with a little bit of programming. If you ever find yourself doing the same routine over and over again, try recording a macro or writing some VBA code to do it for you. I do in 30 minutes what they had three staff members spending an entire day working on before.

Katrin: Want to move from machine to machine without leaving a trace? Or take (legitimate, of course) control of a machine remotely? Just using your USB flash drive? Try PuTTy Portable. Totally free. …More about it.

Jason: This subject is near and dear to me. I currently work for government but have been hacking work for at least 15 years now, just didn’t have a name for it. I am often frustrated when dealing with the “helpless desk” and their motto of “we don’t care about your work, we just need to maintain our systems standards”. Thank you!

Ken: USB drives are a great way to get data so you can work at home. However, security is an issue, so when you store the files on the hard drive, compress and encrypt them using 7-zip — free open source software. Once home encrypt them in a work folder using Truecrypt (also free, open source). This will keep your work files secure, but give you the opportunity to work late nights and weekends. It’s worth it.

Wal-Mart executives’ 2009 retirement plans GREW 6.6% while their millions of employees’ plans LOST 18%! This disparity is not unique. According to multiple studies, this is happening to most employees and executives. Why hack? Because risk is not distributed evenly or fairly. You are probably bearing lots of marketplace risks while your boss’s boss is cushioned from those same risks.

Bill and Josh are promoting benevolent hacking — bypassing stupid rules for the good of your company, your team and your customers.

There’s also malicious hacking. Bad people doing bad things. Unfortunately, it’s also easy for them to hack — as evidenced by Iranian-backed insurgents that just breached $billions of U.S. drone-based military operations with $29.95 worth of off the shelf software, and by the Russian cyber gang suspected of stealing tens of millions from Citibank.

Let’s be sure we use the power of hacking for good, not evil!

Cindy: I recently found a very effective work hack – breaking the printer. Most of the time being able to print things as you want to is a benefit, but sometimes removing this capability can be handy. I recently needed to get my boss’ feedback on something and he refused to read my email about it, insisting I print images first. A little jiggling to the ink cartridge and I was “unable” to give him useless images, requiring that he actually consider the information I was sending him. Viola!

Erik: I run eLearning for one of the world’s largest pharmaceutical companies. eLearning is changing so fast, that it’s rare that the more established vendors will be able to deliver what we need. But corporate purchasing policies require me to go to them — at least at first. Yet doing so would be a big waste of time for all involved. So I write the RFP [Request for Proposal] in a way that pretty much guarantees that the approved vendors will bow out, opening the door for me to use the right ones for the job.

Ken: Do you have limited or no internet access at work? Or company too cheap to pay for internet in your hotel room? No problem. While using a coffee shop’s or hotel’s free/cheap access, check out all that you couldn’t at work using HTTrack. This free software allows you to download an entire website. Copy the forbidden site onto a USB stick or disc then you can carry it to work and view it to your heart’s content. HTTrack mirrors the entire site as if you were viewing it online…but you’re not, and there will be no record of you having visited that site.

Guy Kawasaki’s 11 Rules for Entrepreneurs include:
• Build What You Use (Tools)
• Pay $o for Tools
• Don’t Let the Bozos Grind You Down
That sure sounds a lot like the rules of hacking to us!

Maria: I put an email filter onto the firewall to automatically bcc: me any mail with my name in it, but did not include me in the address list. This meant that any email that was about me, but not to me, was also sent to me without anyone knowing. This way I was able to head off two HR issues by knowing about them before HR came to talk to me. With that inside-intelligence, I prevented one staff reduction and turned around one business unit’s concerns by presenting the solution before anyone had a chance to inform me that there was a problem.

Raveena: I’m a corporate trainer. I tell my trainees that, due to budget constraints, much of what I provides “sucks.” So I send my trainees to free online sources outside of the company. Then, after testing them on what they learned, I validate their certificates in required courses they never attended. Result: They consistently learn more this way.

Ajit: My company has Microsoft Exchange server for email which only supports Outlook, except for Blackberries — which is a huge pain in the ass. Blackberries don’t have the built-in tools I need for my job. No iPhones or Sidekicks either, which is how most of us get our work done. So I run scripts to check the Exchange server for mail and then have it forwarded to my real email account.

The top leaders in business called for big changes in how work gets done at the annual World Business Forum, October 6-7. Management guru Gary Hamel outlined business’s top three challenges:

1. How do we build an organization that can change as fast as change itself?
2. How do we build an organization where innovation is everyone’s job?
3. How do we build an organization that actually inspires extraordinary accomplishment?

Guess what powerfully answers those three questions?!