'My mom will sort you out!' Boomer's Kids @ Work
"How do you deal with a generation that has had their parents take care of all their problems when they face disappointment in the workplace?" This is a question most HR Managers are asking themselves in the US and soon in SA as they increasingly have to deal with...
The Wisdom of Crowds
When the space shuttle Challenger exploded shortly after take-off on January 28, 1986 who would have known that, out of the 4 publically listed contractors to the shuttle, the Dow Jones market singled out the party responsible prior to any investigation into the...
More grandparents raising children
One of the major problems of the AIDS epidemic in Africa (and soon in Asia, Russia, China and India, too), is that it hits the middle age people most (mainly because in Africa, AIDS is sexually transmitted between heterosexuals). This has the effect of removing...
Taking a step back … diversity
“According to the philosopher Ly Tin Wheedle, chaos is found in greatest abundance wherever order is being sought. It always defeats order, because it is better organized.� (Interesting Times – Terry Pratchett) If you are new to this series, catch up here, here,...
Diversity: So how should we do this?
Written by Jean Cooper and Graeme Codrington. The previous e-zine had a great article by Barrie Bramley and Dr. Graeme Codrington, entitled: Loving and leading diversity. In this article they explain the business benefits of deeply embracing diversity in the...
Social Network Analysis
Check out this website for the International Network for Social Network Analysis
Remind me: How do rules help?
With a few exceptions, rules and regulations only serve to: 1. Divert attention from a company's objectives, 2. Provide a false sense of securty for executives, 3. Create work for bean counters, and 4. Teach men to stone dinosaurs and start fires with sticks. Courtesy...
Is it cos I’s black?
I wrote yesterday about some of my random musings about the chaos in New Orleans. One of my points was that this shows how the media might be treating African-American (I am from South Africa, where "black" is an acceptable term) victims of the hurricane. Well, if you...
Watching a Master
I have played the trumpet since I was 11, and even spent two years doing it professionally, including a year as lead trumpeter of the National Serviceman's Orchestra of the South African Air Force (whilst conscripted in the late 1980s). I love the instrument, and...
Leading and Loving Diversity
Written by Barrie Bramley and Graeme Codrington. There is no doubt that Diversity is playing itself out as a critical factor in business today. In some countries, especially those with histories of institutionalised oppression (like South Africa, or the USA) it is...
Wikipedias as cultural references
Wikipedia is an open source, free-to-use online encyclopedia built by people like us for people like us. In order to cater for cultures across the globe, Wikipedia offers it's content in hundreds of different languages. Problem is, content is not simply translated...
Conflict Transformation
I know I am referring a lot to Inc magazine today, but its good stuff... The last page had a short piece on conflict in the workplace, and a consultant that goes beyond conflict "management" and "resolution" to conflict transformation. Read the full article here. "In...
See a secret… Share a secret.
For yet another fascinating example of how the blogging medium is manifesting itself, check out PostSecret. To quote the site, PostSecret is an ongoing community project where people mail in their secrets anonymously on one side of a homemade postcard. It's almost an...
Flight of the Creative Class
I read a book review this morning in Wired (click here for Wired Web site) on "Flight of the Creative Class" by Richard Florida (buy it at Amazon.com or Kalahari.net). It got a so-so review, and I haven't read the book (has anyone else?). But I did like the 3...
Can ‘diversity’ survive this for much longer?
More blasts today in London. I was on a plane while it was happening. I was reading a Newsweek article on the 4 bombers from last week. As I read I wondered about their families and how life for them would be here on out? Not only being the parents of these 4, but...
A Positive Approach in the midst of UK Racial Tension
Here is an interesting article from BusinessWeek that puts a new sense of urgency on The Connection Economy principle: Arming Britain's Muslim Youth With A Future By Stanley Reed in London The news that the deadly bombings of three subway trains and a bus in London on...
Diversity as Enemy of Efficiency
I'm working on one of our teams to put together a programme that comes from a concept we've been working on. It started in the innovation space, and then gradually drifted accross to the diversity space because of our interest in that area. We then decided to work on...
The goal of diversity is not harmony
Travel the world. It doesn't matter where you go. People are Diverse. Dictionary.com defines diversity as, "A point or respect in which things differ." Simple really. So why are we so stuck with it? Why when you mention diversity, or one of it's many derivatives...
What women want – The future of leadership
What woman want in business is not the corner office, or so maintains Linda Tischerler in the Febuary 2004 edition of FastCompany. In the article Tischerler investigates the reasons behind the current dearth of women CEO's in the corporate jungle. The predominant...