Right Brain people will be a-head in the future
Ted.com is one of the best internet resources I've ever come across for short, powerful and interesting inputs on a broad cross-section of topics that loosely fall into the categories of Technology, Environment and Design (TED). Most inputs have a future focus, and...
CNN’s 6 job market trends for 2010
CNN Living recently carried an article by CareerBuilder.com's Matt Ferguson. In it, he suggests that there are six key workplace trends that employers should be watching. Read his article here. I like his list: 1. Hiring contract workers -- Be open to job listings...
CNN's 6 job market trends for 2010
CNN Living recently carried an article by CareerBuilder.com's Matt Ferguson. In it, he suggests that there are six key workplace trends that employers should be watching. Read his article here. I like his list: 1. Hiring contract workers -- Be open to job listings...
Why Gen X parents are so painful
Susan Gregory Thomas writes a great article, 'Teachers Guide to Gen X Parents'. Possibly the best description I've read as to how Gen X parents are experienced in a school context by educators and administrators, and then why they are as they are? To be honest, as a...
President X – a one year review
Author, Tammy Erickson, does a nice job in a Harvard Business Review post taking a look at President Obama through the filter of Generation X. President Obama is arguably the United States' first President who is a member of Generation X. (I say "arguably" since the...
Learners with Disabilities
It was an interesting sign to have on the school bus I thought – ‘Learners with Disabilities’. Soon the school bus was to take another route to that of mine and then it was gone. The bus was no longer in sight but the bold sign emblazed across the back of the bus...
‘I am the President’ doesn’t mean what it used to
Jacob Zuma, the ANC, the ANC Youth League and anyone else suggesting that the President's most recent 'love child' with the daughter of one of his peers, is a private matter and should be respected as such, is lacking a fundamental understanding of a key component...
Mandela’s release is announced – 20 years ago today
1989 was a momentous year all around the world. I wrote about it last year, as each month we rolled through the "twenty years on" anniversaries of everything from Tiananmen Square (June), the Ayatollah's funeral chaos in Iran (June), hands across the Baltic Way...
Death and Twitter make for a horrid exchange
Yesterday, in South Africa, Manto Tshabalala Msimang died from a liver complication that had been plaguing her for some time now. She is a former health minister, and her time spent in that role was fraught with controversy because of her seeming lack of will to...
Capturing the Asian Opportunity
S+B (Strategy + Business) is a great ezine from Booz & Co. This week's edition focuses on where multinational companies might want to focus as the recession draws to an end and an upturn begins. And the place to look is probably Asia - if you have a clear focus. Read...
What it means to “be British” – a response to Nick Griffin
Like 8 million other Britons, I watched BBC's "Question Time" on Thursday night. Nick Griffin, the head of the British National Party (a right wing party who restrict membership to white's only and want to keep Britain "British" - by which they mean white, Caucasian)...
Star Workplace Article
I was published in The Star (South African newspaper) earlier this week on 'diversity'. I've had a few requests from people who wanted to read it, but couldn't find it online. Our PR company (SimonSays Communications) scanned a copy and sent it through today. It's...
Complex Diversity even in Paradise
My current visit to the Asia Pacific Leadership Program is the eighth time I have had the privilege to visit Hawaii and experience the 'aloha' spirit. The traditional aloha greeting, goes far beyond the simple 'hello'. The traditional greeting would involve a touching...
What Microsoft’s “racism” teaches us about ourselves
The ether is alive with enraged twits, tweeting and blogging on about Microsoft's racist blunder. If you've not heard the buzz, it has to do with MS photoshopping an advert as it transported it from the US (where it features a white woman, older black man, and an...
Competing rights and freedom claims
In a world of increasing complexity, we will continually need to deal with competing claims and rights (and the flip side, too, of responsibilities). America, as the sole superpower, must currently find a balance between "bringing freedom to the world" and protecting...
Affirmitive Action is Dead in South Africa – or is it?
Sipho Ngcobo wrote an interesting article on Money Web this last week, reflecting on the reality the African National Congress (ANC) faces around service delivery, or lack of it, in South Africa currently. He suggests that the pressure the ANC is under for 2011 local...
The Naked Office
I've heard plenty of mechanisms to improve team spirit and boost office morale, but never this..."Staff at a design and marketing company in Newcastle (UK) spent a day working together naked after being told it would improve their morale."And it seems most of the...
The Soul of Your African: Celebration
Aloysias Maimane asks what makes someone an African. Part of the answer relates to African celebrations. In this article, Aloysias explains what celebrations mean to Africans, and what implications this has for companies and leaders. Anyone who needs to attract,...
Tesco trains their staff in generational talk
Older supermarket workers, at Britain's Tesco, are being given a guide to youth slang to help them understand younger colleagues and customers, in the form of a pamphlet handed out to staff. The pamphlet is being tried out in some of Tesco's 1 500 stores with a high...
Buppies – coming to terms with young black staff
Buppies - Black yuppies. Black young upwardly mobile professionals. Research shows that this is one of the fastest growing demographic groups in South Africa, but many companies and leaders have no idea how to manage them. Aloysias Maimane, a new member of the...