Cool Job Titles: Chief Blogger

Is this a world first? Stonyfield Farm has a Chief Blogger – mainly charged with connecting with clients. Read the BusinessWeek story on her, here.

Blogs are coming – no doubt. BusinessWeek’s current edition has blogs as the front cover. “As big as the printing press…” is their view. Get on board, before you lose out.

Also read BusinessWeek’s blog site (blogspotting) about Who should blog at a company.

And, PS – thanks for reading our corporate blog. Link to us, and come back soon.

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3G – not the solution to everything

If you have been frustrated at the pricing and service of any of South Africa’s telecomms providers, you might enjoy Clive Simkins’ rant about Vodacom’s recent hassles with 3G (and the warning not to use their option-only Vodafone 3G card): get it here.

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Cyber-grounded: Parenting for the 21st century

I had a wonderful phrase the other day. A14-year-old was complaining that he had been “cyber grounded”. I believe this meant that he had no access to his digital TV, which meant no access to the Internet either. I wasn’t able to ask him about the implications for a cellphone usage, but maybe the parents would have thought that was a health and safety issue. Who knows? It’s wonderful to be living in the 21st century isn’t it?

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Pensions – one of the scariest generational issues of all

In most developed nations around the world, one of the biggest looming issues is that of retirement and payment of pensions. Futurists and commentators have been talking about it for a while (see, for example, Newsweek, Macrh 8, 2004). There is no doubt in my mind that this issue above all others has the potential to cause massive generational wars around the world. I do not think that I’m overstating the danger. Most developed nations have an unsustainable system that in essence takes it from the young and gives to the old. For the past hundred years this is not really been a problem, because the young have outnumbered and out earned the old. But that has not changed. As the baby boomers begin to retire these systems are no longer adequate.

Many possibile solutions have been put forward: raising the retirement age (it was set by Bismark in the 1800s when only about 10% of the population even lived to 65 years old), scrapping all income taxes for those over 65 (with a possible ceiling for mega rich CEOs), mandatory retirement saving, moving to a personal savings only retirement policy (i.e. no – or reduced – social security).

Read a short summary of the situation, in TIME magazine, written before George Bush began his task of reforming the American pension system (see text below).

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Universities no longer favouring the “sausage factories”

In the past decade, a number of chains of private schools have sprung up around South Africa. They provide a quality education, of course, but one of their primary focuses and certainly one of their primary marketing tools is to churn out matriculants with a fist full of distinctions. It’s not unusual for these schools to have matriculants who do 8, 9 or even 10 subjects (the requirement is 6), achieving most with distinction. Most of these students have expected to have universities clamouring for them, but that is starting to change.

Both the University of Cape Town and the Witwatersrand University medical schools last year rejected many applicants with top academic qualifications, favouring applicants with life skills and the emotional intelligence required to be a doctor. Although this was partly due to South Africa’s need to redress past imbalances, it was not simply about affirmative action and limited places. It was about these medical school saying that it takes more than just academic intelligence to be a good doctor. The same is true for most of the other professions.

It’s exciting to see universities, those social institutions supposedly geared towards the future skills requirements of society, starting to understand some of the implications of the movement to a connection/emotion economy.

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Bob Hope – the machine-age comic

Comedians, actors and science fiction writers are amazingly good at capturing the essence of an era and mirroring back to us our fears and dreams of today and the future.

In August 2003, the world lost one of its most enduring comic geniuses, Bob Hope. TIME magazine (August 11, 2003) dubbed him “The Machine-Age Comic”. He really didn’t do too much more than standard microphone and tell one-liners. He wanted the instant gratification of the ‘badabing’ ending. “He was the comic for the age of the production line, churning out interchangeable, immediately disposable jokes at an industrial pace.” In fact, he had an entire comic machinery backing him up — a group of writers churning out jokes for him to use. He was the perfect comedian for the new media of radio and TV in the first half of the 20th century. He never quite made the change for the second half of the century, and always seemed slightly out of date to the younger set. “But he prevailed, mostly because of the reservoir of goodwill he had stored up by entertaining the American military on all its battlefields, in all its wars, for a half-century.”

“Lacking the anguish and self-doubt many great comedians come to feel about being funny in an unfunny world, he did something different: he became a bright, brisk anodyne for the torments of a brutal era.” He was the right comedian for his time, and his humour gives us an insight into the Veteran or Silent generation, born and formed during the Great Depression and World War II. We shall not see the likes of him again, because his age has passed.

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Clearing out the archives

I write in books and tear out of magazines. Its the way I process information. The magazine bit is most irritating for my wife, who has to live with piles of papers strewn around my home office. Part of the value of this blog site is my ability to transfer my thoughts and musings into a digital space where they can be captured and used by others. That will help to reduce the piles. So, for the next few days, I will be digging into my archives, and trying to reduce the teetering mass that sits on my desk (see picture). I hope you enjoy the results…

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South Africa – who’s version is the truth?

I was amazed to read two articles on South Africa in the two most recent editions of TIME (read it here) and The Economist (read it here). You would think they were talking about two different countries.

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“Is it good for you?”

Yesterday Frank and I facilitated a three-hour experience with Sportron’s top sales leaders in the Drakensberg. What a great company this is! During dinner I told Dr. T (Sportron’s head) of a specific nougat brand and the only question he had was: “Is it good for you?” It seems as if this is the unwritten Sportron motto “Is it good for you?”

Not only are their products ‘good for you’, but it also seems as if Sportron as an organisation is good for its people. Several stories were shared of people who really benefited on a personal level from being part of Sportron. I had the flu while presenting the programme and it was amazing the amount of care they gave me once they found this out after the workshop. And their products really were ‘good for me’!

I think all organisations can learn from direct marketing companies. They perfected the art of relationship-business long ago. This was so evident in the team we had there, although it was only for a short period of time. The sincerity between the leaders and the team and the team amongst each other and the fun they have while doing their business is inspiring. Of course there are always things in all teams than can be improved, but we can all learn from Sportron’s passion for learning, care for people, value for empowering relationships and determination to succeed.

Whatever you do to yourself or to others, always remember to ask: “Is it good for you?”

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BEE and talent, and The Sound of Music

This may be a contentious issue, but then again that’s what blogs are for. I have just returned from a family outing to the State Theatre,where we watched an excellent performance of The Sound of Music. An outstanding feature of the show, especially in South Africa, was the fact that the cast was all white. Now, it would be a rare feat of casting if one or more of the seven Von Trapp children were non-white. Given the play’s setting (Austria in 1939) and history, it was entirely correct to cast it accordingly. It was interesting though, that the full orchestra was also almost entirely white.

For such a high-profile play, it is surprising that I have not heard any media reference to this obvious lack of transformation in a South African production. For those readers outside of South Africa, you need to understand that BEE (Black Economic Empowerment) is the single biggest factor in every industry in South Africa at the moment. In an absolutely correct and entirely necessary move, the government has decreed, and enforces, that previously disadvantaged people must not just be allowed to compete on an equal footing, but must actively be given immediate positions in an attempt to kickstart the redressing of past injustices. This must occur in everything from sports teams to big corporates and from schools to small businesses. I am in full and complete support of this.

But I’m also in full support of what happened at the State Theatre today.

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Japan’s hi-tech carers

By 2050, the over 65s in Japan are expected to make up a third of the population… and it’s likely that technology will be relied upon to help look after them. Read the full story from BBC News, here.

Generational theory is not just about the youth market, and becoming more applicable to an emerging generation. It is also about realising that today’s seniors are the youngest, healthiest, richest old people the world has ever seen, and they represent a massive (often untapped) market for new products and services aimed at the elderly and ageing.

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Tougher Bankruptcy laws in the US

On April 20, George Bush signed tougher personal bankruptcy laws into being in the USA (read about it). About time!! For too many years, the likes of Suzie Orman and Robert Kiyosaki have been able to peddle their money management wisdom around the world, without feeling any need to enculturate or localise it. One of the biggest dangers of their often cavalier approach to generating passive income, is that they live in a country that has allowed people to go bankrupt “for fun and profit”. No problem to lay up soaring debts, to take a chance and then if it all goes wrong, shut up shop for a few months and start again with a clean slate.

In South Africa, for example, it can take up to 7 years to “rehabilitate” after declaring bankruptcy. We can’t be a risky here as the Americans can. While the old US laws are part of the reason they have an entrepreneurial culture, the proctection of defaulters had gone too far. It needed to be fixed up.

I am no fan of George Dubble-Yu, but the man has guts, whatever else he doesn’t have. He’s taking on pensions, bankruptcy, and a whole lot more. Good for him.

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The Enforcer, the man, the other man, the woman, that other man, and the whole planet at first glance

Walking up the stairs to the airport lounge I overheard a conversation happening on a mobile phone declaring that the Pope had been chosen. Upon entering the lounge it was fairly obvious that the announcement had captured every eye anywhere near the TV. I phoned Ray (a colleague who had just dropped me off at the airport) to tell him, as I was aware that he probably didn’t have a radio on, and would be interested by the news.

As I described the scene where I was he pointed out how the world’s attention had been captured by this event. An event that has direct relevance to 1.3 billion Catholics, and several million on the on the edge of the Catholic Church.

But why does an event which really isn’t going to have much, if any, bearing on the majority of people’s lives capture so much attention? Maybe they know something I don’t. Enter the Enforcer….

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The Sovereign Individual

An article in last week’s “The Spectator” (I won’t tell people that you read this blog, if you don’t tell them I read Spectator ), is possibly the best single article description of the new emerging connection economy you are ever likely to read (in fact, that’s why I read the mag – it’s the best use of the English language I have ever encountered in mag print). Find the article here. [[The Spectator needs a subscription to read online content. If you don’t have one, then I have put up a JPG copy of the two pages. I don’t want to have intellectual capital issues, so I have just scanned it in – you can read them but otherwise not use them. Please buy the Spectator. Read them: Page 1 (490Kb) and Page 2 (531Kb).

It comments on the closing of the Rover factory in England a few weeks ago, and expresses astonishment. Not at its closure, but at how long it managed to stay open. It goes from there to comment on how conservative Britons express dismay that “Britain doesn’t make anything” anymore, and asks them to wake up and smell the services revolution. It goes on to comment on the braining up of China, the fact that more Chinese people are leaving Canada to go back to China than the reverse, and suggests what the world might look like in a few decades time.

It will take you 10 minutes to read, is witty and insightful, and plain brilliant.

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Come, visit my valley. Please.

Where you live becomes irrelevant in a virtual team – or does it? Recently I had quite a peculiar experience. Graeme had a presentation close to where I live and we agreed to have coffee afterwards at a coffee shop just around the corner from my house. I was there a bit before him and ordered so long while I waited. When he arrived I had the strangest feeling. It wasn’t the excitement of coffee with Graeme (sorry Graeme!). It was the fact that this would be the first coffee I had with one of our team members in MY valley. My space. The piece of earth where so many of my stories intertwine and weave across each other. My piece of earth. My valley. Me.

What can we learn from this experience regarding the importance of geography in virtual teams?
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Lern how 2 spel

We often say in our “Mind the Gap” presentation, that there is nothing sadder than a bunch of Boomers trying to be cool. By this we mean that a lot of Boomers (in their 40s and 50s) in marketing/sales/advertising tend to think that because they were young once, they understand today’s young people, and are easily able to connect with them. I was reminded again this morning how simple mistakes can prove this belief to be false.

Standing in a bus at Cape Town airport, I noticed MTN’s campaign. Quite clever. “If ur coming, switch us on. If ur going, switch us off”. Except for the spelling mistake. They were trying to use the new SMS txt speak of the mobile phone generation. But they didn’t bother to do a spell check with a 13 year old. Anyone of whom could have told them that there is a difference between “ur” and “u r”. The former means “your” and the latter means “u r”. The space is critical.

Older generations tend to dismiss the free flowing world of text talk as having no grammar or rules. On the contrary, it has specific rules, and very careful etiquette. Pity the marketers at MTN didn’t lrn hw 2 spl. mayb nxt time?

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Tell me and I will forget. Show me and I may remember. Involve me and I will understand.

Updated, February 2010

If you copy and paste this saying into Google you’ll get 3520 hits attributing the saying either to Aristotle, Confucius or some native American wizard. Yet it is just as true today as it was hundreds of years ago. Perhaps it’s even more true today. We live in a world where information abounds and where people from diverse backgrounds are more in contact with each other than ever before. This post-modern world is one where traditional views are challenged and authoritive statements are doubted.

Why should I believe you? Who says you are right? My Japanese friend says they’ve been doing it differently for centuries and he believes they are right. But they look wrong to me.

It is in a world like this one where a social constructivist approach becomes critical. An approach where people develop their own meaning from experiences and from interacting with each other. Using experiences. Based on relationships.

This is one of the keys to TomorrowToday‘s approach to helping our clients get more out of their people – their leaders, staff and customers. We agree with Ron Heifetz, legendary leadership guru at Harvard, that “leadership can be taught” and that a key to doing so is to help people to become “adaptive” in their approach to the world.

In 2010, we will be launching an exciting new initiative aimed at integrating adaptive intelligence with leadership and strategy development and implementation in organisations. You will be able to find out more about this from March 2010 at http://www.strategicleadershipintelligence.com.

Unfortunately, there are no shortcuts to developing these capabilities. But the path is certain, and the benefits well worth the effort.

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Mind the Gap: Generations @ Work

This is the original submission as published as the Keynote feature in the Journal for Convergence (ISSN 1606-6162), Vol 5 No 4,www.axius.co.za

“We can’t seem to keep our bright young things”. This is the common complaint of businesses around the world these days. Talented employees, especially young people, are not staying, and an older generation of managers don’t know why they can’t keep them. No “quick fix” solutions or simple, 1-2-3 strategies will work. And none of the tried and trusted motivational tools seem to have any effect on this new generation. The solution lies not in more techniques or cuter strategies, but rather in understanding that a radical value system shift is currently taking place in society. This shift is best explained by generational theory.

What are ‘Generations’?[i]

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Targeting Geeks and Geezers

In their book, Geeks and Geezers (buy it at Amazon.com or Kalahari.net), Bennis and Thomas wrote about the old generation (GIs) and the young (Gen Xers/Millennials), and coined a phrase that has entered consumer-market jargon.

In the Journal Gazette of 14 April, mention was made of a trade show for consumer goods where it was obvious that the winners were those that had understood either the geek (10 to 25 year old) market or the geezer (age 60 and over) market (read it here.). The older group especially are a prime target market for retailers and manufacturers – they are the richest, healthiest and youngest old people the world has ever seen. It makes sense to target them specifically. These Boomers like “trophy purchases” that can be displayed, are techno gadgets but with a retro feel (and even though they won’t admit it, they also need appliances that have larger font type displays .

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Overlooked . . . for being too young

The Times of London, 13 April 2005, reported on a survey by the Hay Group (remuneration specialists) on age discrimination against younger workers (specifically those age 18-24). You can read it here.

The main reasons for young people (Generation Xers) being held back were:

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