I’m a great fan of so-called Web 2.0, and what it’s going to mean to our way of interacting and doing business.
Today I came across a wonderful database of Office 2.0 apps nicely arranged into useful categories. For those who are dabbling in this world, or would like to, you need to take a look at this database.
About the Office 2.0 Database:
The Office 2.0 Database is developed and maintained by Ismael Ghalimi [LinkedIn], a passionate entrepreneur and fervent industry observer, founder and CEO of Intalio, creator of BPMI.org, initiator of Office 2.0, and author of IT|Redux. Ismael is an advisor to several high-tech companies, including AdventNet (a.k.a. Zoho), EchoSign, EveryTrail, Open IT Works, ThinkFree, and 3TERA.
Not many people think about maternity benefits when applying for a job, and yet organisations differ hugely in what they provide for parents. Some offer the bare legal minimum, others offer a year’s maternity leave on full pay. In an era of increased awareness of the importance of work-life integration, The Guardian argues, following a study of 250 organisations, that it is the smart organisations that take maternity benefits seriously who will attract and retain talented staff.
I received this in an e-mail today….
South Africa, a young democracy, is experiencing what almost every young democracy has experienced: an increase in crime, and other issues that threaten hard won freedoms. It often takes a tipping point, and an escalation to almost unbearable limits, in these situations, until society is shaken from its sleepiness and starts to fight back. I sense that this is where South Africa now finds itself. There is a feeling that crime, especially violent robbery, has increased dramatically in just the past few months, and I sense a heaviness in people’s hearts. But, is this the reality?
I am sitting at the 
Tomorrow, I am speaking at South Africa’s “
The Vancouver Sun, Canada, recently reported on a trend of younger generations of workers taking sabbaticals from their work. We’re talking about young people working for 3 or 4 years, and then resigning to take a 6 month break - normally involving travel and adventure. The report (
Ever since I can remember (although in reality its probably only since the late 1980s), I have lived with the grim warnings about the scourge of HIV/AIDS. Futurists have been warning of the dire consequences of having as much as 20% of the workforce taken out. Health care professionals have been warning of the dangers of such a communicable disease and have been trying to change sexual habits (remember when condoms were used to stop life? Now they’re used to safe life!). (Aside: not everyone has maintained this line - South Africa’s Minister of Health has rather spent her time increasing the sales of beetroot, garlic and onion). Churches have used the disease as an excuse to spread their own brand of sexual health (”sex is dirty, so keep it for marriage”). And NGO’s the world over have proliferated, as they try to deal with the health issues, the “dying with dignity” issues and the problem of orphans (2 million orphans expected by 2010 in South Africa alone).
Sue Grant-Marshall, co-author with me of “Mind the Gap”, our book about the generation gap, has written a nice primer on generational attitudes to health. It was published in the Business Day on 30 August 2006 - 
Motorola, (in South Africa at least) has reportedly been experimenting with a shift to more work-life balance in their working hours and office inhabitation requirements. 
We all do it, our busy schedules and run around lifestyles mean that we eat more take away and fast foods now than we ever did…ITS TRUE. How many times after a busy day, do you just say ” I think I’ll just grab something on the way home”. Its jsut the way it is, but we will pay in time for this. According to a New Scientist 
“We have to stop letting businesses off the hook who talk about family values, but create policies where the employee, who puts caring for a sick child a higher priority than work, risks a promotion or their job”. So says, Ellen Bravo, a University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee professor (read 
This article was posted on 
In an article entitled “
Apparently 1 March is designated “Work-Life Balance” Day. Not sure it made any difference to me, but there it is…
I was recently asked to contribute to a magazine feature that focussed on helping people get the most of jobs, even when they hated doing what they did. This is a tough topic for me, as I enjoy nearly every moment of my job. I also work for myself (although the company I co-founded now has over 30 people in it). But I interact often with people who are desperate to escape. It comes with the territory when you do what we do – we show people what the future could be, and we help companies think about how to make better working environments. So, while doing some research into what others have said on the topic, I discovered some nice pearls of wisdom to add to some of what TomorrowToday.biz would say.
I was fascinated yesterday while reading through my local Caxton newspaper to see a brochure from KFC (Kentucky Fried Chicken) on their latest offering….oven grilled chicken. WOW!!! In a world marinated (literally) in junk foods, fast foods, flavourants and the like, this is an interesting new strategy from the colonel. What I find most interesting is that they are punting the new option as “a matter of taste”. This may be a marketing faux pas, it does imply that their other offering (deep fried, cholesterol filled, artery hardening option..) doesnt taste as good, but whatever the case this is an interesting move on their part. So what would be the reasoning:
Around the world, a growing number of organisations are starting to realise that it is a massive loss to lose women in the 30s and 40s - women who opt out of the rat race in order to focus attention on family issues, including child care and ageing parents (see previous post on the 
Today is the 100th birthday of the humble cornflake. William and John Kellogg had started the sanitas Food Company to provide America with whole grained cereals in the 1800s. They stumbled across the cornflake after leaving some dough out overnight by mistake. They served the first bowl of their experimental breakfast on March 7, 1897. The Battle Creek Toasted Corn Flake Company (later to become 
The 
TIM’S QUICK SUMMARY
I just had a birthday. My amazing wife bought me an iPod Video. It replaces my iPod mini that’s given me hours of amazingness. I used my iPod mini for mostly travelling by plane to escape the mind-numbing experience of airline travel. As I discovered PodCasts I spent a lot less time listening to music, and a lot more time getting some great input from the various PodCasts I subscribe to. The iPod video will enhance my experience even more. (that’s the theory)
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