Synthesized from the futureneering work of the storytellers and organisational alchemists in the Business Intelligence Unit (BIU) of TomorrowToday.biz. - http://www.tomorrowtoday.biz
Monthly Archive for March, 2005
I have recently acquired an awesome piece of software, Dragon NaturallySpeaking version 8. This is voice recognition on steroids. I am in the process of training it to my voice and my vocabulary. In fact, this particular blog entry has been done entirely by voice command.
Anyway, while tidying up an article on predictions, I used the word futureneering. The voice recognition software recorded it as ‘ future nearing’. Not bad, I thought. That’s sort of what I meant. The only point of visioning or predicting is to make a valid attempt at trying to create the future you’re dreaming of.
This is a summary of an article by this name, appearing in The Wits Business School Journal, November 2004. It was written by Norman Chorn, Visiting Professor in Strategy at WBS from Sydney, Australia.
It starts, “This is not an article about getting more women into organisations — although I believe that this is necessary… Creating feminine values is not about women. It is about those behaviours which will drive the cultures and strategies required in the current and emerging competitive environment in South Africa. To view in favour of creating more feminine values is based on two key premises: (1) The emerging competitive paradigm will demand a set of values and behaviours which emphasise more of the so-called ‘feminine’ attributes; (2) Traditional ‘masculine’ values have a number of limitations when applied to the task of leadership in modern organisations.”
Continue reading ‘Creating Feminine Values in Organisations’
The attached article appeared in issue #596 of Innovative Leader, Volume 13, Number 3 March 2004.
It is a review and application of Christensen’s book on innovation, The Innovator’s Dilemma, and encourages companies to get different generations working together in the disruptive innovation/technology space.
Continue reading ‘Extrapreneurs: Crossing Generations for Disruptive Innovation’
by Raymond
Is this the first real-life example if effective ‘wet-work’?!?!?!
‘wet work’ – sci-fi speak for computer technology interfaced with human biological systems.
Check it out:
Continue reading ‘Chip reads mind of paralysed man’
Am reading an interesting book by this title. In many senses it is nothing we don’t know or do but someone simply beat us to the punch when it comes to writing it up. I would be interested in any stories / experiences you have in exploring this space within companies. The power of the narrative will grow significantly into the future. It will impact leadership, sales, marketing, staff development - including attraction and retention. I would be keen to hear what other think / believe regarding this subject. I think we need a seperate category for ‘Storytelling’ for blogging!
by Graeme
The New Scientist magazine of 29 Jan 2005, Feedback section, carried the following story:
NASA publishes an Astronomy Picture of the Day, and Mark Fletcher noticed that the one it released for 7 December 2004 featured a view out to sea from the Australian coast. Why is that astronomical, he wondered.
But as those who visit http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap041207.html can see, a dark diagonal line crosses the photo, apparently starting in the clouds at the top left and ending in a flash near a lamp post at the bottom right - and no one knew what had made it.
An impressive exercise in collaborative deduction ensued, in which only a few of the 2072 messages posted over the following month suggested UFOs, or made sarcastic counter-claims of “mass hysteria”. The near-straightness of the line led many to the astute thought that whatever it was moved very, very fast.
More delving ensued. Someone performed a Fourier analysis to extract the frequencies of barely perceptible wiggles in the line. In a moment of inspiration, someone else tore themselves from their computer to perform an actual experiment. By gluing a dead bee to the rim of a bicycle wheel and photographing it as it spun, the experimenter succeeded in replicating the slight wigglicity of the line.
Thus a consensus was reached: the line was formed by a bug flying just in front of the lens - possibly the most discussed bug in history.
Isn’t science wonderful?
THIS IS A FANTASTIC EXAMPLE of the power of networking, and how technology and the information networks we have created so successfully over the past few decades are now being leveraged in the form of connections and interactions. Imagine harnessing this type of interactive power, all for free, in the network that is your customers? or your staff?
What are you doing to create, nurture, and harness your latent connections and networks?
A few weeks ago, a wealthy South African businessman paid about R 22,000 to take out a half page advert in a local Cape Town newspaper. His intention was to highlight the bad service he had received from Landrover as they tried to fix his car which had gone into a Landrover dealer for a service. Hyundai responded the following day with a cheeky advert of their own, and Landrover followed suit a day or so later. Who were the winners and losers? Who really connected?
Continue reading ‘Correct, cute, cheeky, and/or clever. But which company connects?’
Frank and I have designed and proposed a diversity process for Tshwane. Barrie and Keith are lecturing on Diversity in Hawaii every year. Graeme is busy proposing a Diversity process to Tiger Brands. Are we all talking the same language when it comes to embracing diversity? Can we learn from each other on this topic?
I would love to know, for instance, what exactly Barrie and Keith are focusing on in Hawaii in order to enrich my own thinking on the topic.
Here is a broad outline of Frank and my process with Tshwane:
When you talk embracing diversity, you first need to understand that diversity goes way beyond black and white. Black actually refers to Sotho, Tswana, Zulu, Venda, Xhosa etc while white includes English, Afrikaans etc. Except for cultural / racial diversity we also need to be aware of diversity in terms of age, gender, professions, personality, social background / class etc.
If you want to get a diverse group of people into harmony, you have to move with the group through three “spaces”:
Space 1: Accept, acknowledge, understand and be proud of your own unique background, culture, heritage. No need to throw this way. No need to be ashamed of this.
Space 2: Explore and understand the other person’s culture, background etc. Acknowledge the differences which might be worlds apart. Do not downplay the differences.
Space 3: Explore values and needs that you share. Work towards a shared culture shaped by everyone involved to work in the specific context. You thus end up with a contextualized culture that still gives every individual the opportunity to be congruent to him/herself.
Final thought on organisational culture. Remember culture grows from norms which grows from values which grows from really getting to know, respect and trust each other.
Barrie, Keith: How does this framework differ from what you are doing in Hawaii?
Last week a 35-year old, brilliant consultant from Atos-KPMG died of a heart attack. We worked together on the DWAF project. He was an in-shape, lean-looking guy. He leaves behind two small kids (9mnths and 2 years) and his wife.
Lesson for myself: Get out on the road and stay fit and get rid of stress and frustrations.
Lesson to all of us: Hold each other accountable for being healthy in body, mind and spirit.
Lesson to our clients: Take care of your BYT’s. Do not burn your brilliant young people. BYT’s are by nature smart, ambitious and willing and able to take on more than their peers. Do not abuse this. If someone runs in over-drive from age 25, he/she can be dead by age 35.
Earley, P.C. and Soon Ang. (2003). Cultural Intelligence: Individual Interactions Across Cultures. Stanford, CA: Stanford UP.
Reviewed by Dave Livermore, and sent to Graeme Codrington by email.
Continue reading ‘Cultural Intelligence: Individual Interactions Across Cultures’
A summary of The Art of Crossing Cultures, by Craig Storti, Intercultural Press, Maine, 1990. Complied by Mark Tittley in August 2000, as emailed to Graeme Codrington.
Continue reading ‘The Art of Crossing Cultures’
Huntington, Samuel. (1996). The Clash of Civilizations and the Remaking of World Order. New York: Simon and Schuster.
reviewed by Sharlene Swartz, as sent in an email to Graeme Codrington on 7 Nov, 2001
Continue reading ‘The Clash of Civilizations’
3rd edition, Random House, 2000, ISBN: 0-7126-6968-X
Reviewed by Graeme Codrington
This is the best selling business book of all time. It beats its prequel, “Good to Great” into second place, and Who Moved My Cheese into third. But is it any good? We think not. The problem is that the book, in an attempt to be completely scientific and data-bound, has no choice but to select companies that may not be the best role models for the 21st century. By definition, the companies selected for the research project are all industrial era companies. Some of them are in the process of making a transition to the connection economy, but many of them are struggling. The danger of a book like this is that if you look at the wrong thing and ask the wrong questions, you will get the wrong answer every time. The conclusions and suggestions outlined in this book are valid and useful, and every company should take cognisance of them. However, there is a danger in just blindly following the results of this research project, without considering the culture, context and desired outcome of any intervention. I believe the authors of this book would be the first to agree with this sentiment.
Our own view at TomorrowToday.biz is that the most critical interventions needed in companies at the moment are the development of the ability to see the context, to no one’s own strengths and weaknesses, and for the leadership to become adept at storytelling as a means of holding the vision. Having said that, you need to make your own mind, and so here I offer a very short summary of this bestselling book.
Continue reading ‘Built to Last, by Jim Collins and Jerry Porras’
We live in a transparent world, where you and your competitors are offering the same products/services to the same set of clients at about the same quality and price, delivering through the same channels, advertising in the same media, and you even swap staff every few years. The old competitive differentiators (think back to the “P’s” in your marketing textbooks: price, placement, product, position, etc) are not as good as they used to be in giving you the edge. Its less and less about WHAT you sell these days, and more and more about WHO you are. Letting your customers inside WHO you are is a key to future success. With that in mind, enjoy your time in our playground.
Continue reading ‘Welcome to our playground’
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