Maverick – Ricardo Semler

After hearing my thoughts on HR in a Skype chat, a fellow ThinkSync member recommended that I get my hands on some of Semler’s work. The irony is that it has been sitting in front of me in my book case for the last 2 years – the cheesy pic of Semler crouching on a desk told me to leave it alone! So I plunged in, and with with an opening line like this, I was grabbed …

Just the other day, Clovis Bojikian, our Sultan for HR (yes, we still love to mock titles)and I sat around …

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The $100 laptop from MIT..

Rediff – MIT has given an update on their progress on the $100 laptop that they are producing for emerging economy children. It seems that this is starting to gather momentum and it is a great idea. I mentioned this in one of my other blogs on FutureFast (http://futurefast.blogspot.com), but this could be the big break into the realm of bridging the digital divide. So the laptop basically is a functional device and has an AC adaptor for places where there is electricity and a hand crank for places without electricity (Hey, that would be nice on my laptop now!!) In fact, I am sure Barrie Bramley would have liked to have this feature on his laptop over the last few days!! … Continue Reading

Blogging on the up and up

Techweb news – Blogs are being read more than double from last year. According to Forrester research, 10% of consumers in the States read blogs once a week or more, that up from 5% who browsed blogs the previous year. RSS has tripled in the same period up to 6% this year. Watch this space, it seems more of you will be in future.

So what does this mean to businesses. Well in short, it seems blogs are starting to be positioned as a very real way to talk to customers and get insights into their thoughts and concerns. It also provides a great feedback mechanism for companies in real time, in short, a marketers dream or in some cases a nightmare, depending on the type of feedback you are getting. It seems blogs are picking up some momentum, so what are the views, should our big corporates in SA get started on blogs, and who will be the first to get them going, Herman Singh of Std bank has one, who will be next…I think we all need to remember that it is not a race, but a journey, blogging though is simply one of the routes..

India is coming…

For those of you who are unaware of it, India is on the rise. I saw this first hand when visiting there recently. Not only is the fact that on average, the Indian guys are reasonably well educated, the also tend to work hard. While chatting to some local Indian guys at the hotel I stayed at, they were saying that they earn on average R$7500 (Rupees) per month (Approx R 1200) However guys in the IT industry in India can earn up to R$ 50 000 (R 7800) per month, a marked difference. So there is huge incentive for these people to become qualified in IT and if that is so, it seems that the big Internationals are growing their footprint significantly according to a recent ITweb article. My question is, why cant we emulate this success here, we have similar challenges to India, here is where we are similar and how India seems to have solved these issues:

Diverse population: India has made English the business standard and accepts people from all backgrounds in general
Multiple languages: English has become the de facto standard
High Unemployment: Government has REALLY got behind job creation and has made it attractive for multinationals (Microsoft, Oracle etc ) to invest
These are just some examples of what can be done, I think we in SA could easily emulate the sucesses of India. So come on, lets try it! Who knows, it may just work

Innovation in the healthcare sector Please!!

My wife was feeling a little queasy over the past few days. After having been to India, we both decided that maybe it would be a good idea to get this checked out sooner rather than later (Malaria and Hepatitis being some of the nasties that one can pick up there) So we went off to the emergency rooms at Wilgeheuwel at 9pm at night. We arrived at the desk in the emergency are where the gent behind the desk asked us if we were on medical aid. The answer is yes and no. We are on a hospital plan with Discover for a few reasons.

We downgraded ourselves as we never used up the out of hospital benefits and were wasting money paying for it
We dont have children who “eat” through that benefit as many people who have children do
We have resorted to saving the difference on a monthly basis so that we can pay for any of our medical bills cash.
So, upon telling the gent that we would be paying cash, he informed us that we would have to put down a R 600.00 deposit to be able to see the doctor and then the doctors fees and other sundries would be deducted off this, but the bill could be up to R 900.00 – RIDICULOUS. We left and went to Flora Clinic where a far more reasonable R 270.00 was charged and the total bill was R 344.00 after seeing the doctor.

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The Talent Myth – Malcolm Gladwell

Malcolm Gladwell in 2004 put together his manifesto on The TalentMyth (get it at www.changethis.com). It is a brief write-up on the work some Mckinsey consultants put together regarding “The War for Talent� that profiled numerous Big Cheese Co’s, one of which was a company where McKinsey’s billings topped ten million dollars a year, where a McKinsey director regularly attended board meetings, and where the C.E.O. himself was a former McKinsey partner. The company, of course, was Enron.
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Career path hits age gap

There is a major generation gap in the workplace at the moment. One of it biggest hot buttons is the issue of work-life balance. Following this is concern for how much I love my job, and what contribution it makes. Research is begining to big this assertion up more and more.

Quoted below is a news report from the New York Daily News, by Jean Chatzky. You can read it their site, too.

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Enact GI Bill for workers

Here’s a thought from the DeMoines Register: Its time for America to enact another GI Bill – to give free education to “veterans”, to upskill them for a new economic reality. The previous time this was done was for veterans of World War II, who needed to be upskilled after the war. Most of them fuelled the emerging Information era over the following decades.

Now that the Information Age is giving way to globalised Connection Economy, maybe its time to do this again. Or so this particular report urges. Read the article here.

“What’s needed is a new GI Bill of Rights for a new century. It wouldn’t be just for veterans, but for any American worker who loses a job or simply wants to upgrade skills to get a better job. The concept has been called a GI Bill for workers. Any American who spends a given number of years in the workforce would be eligible…. Whatever the source of funds, retraining should be regarded as an entitlement that can pay for itself. That’s what happened with the original GI Bill.”

Night 3 without water or DSL

Look I don’t know what’s happening in this town? I just moved 600km to the heart of the South African economy, and into a suburb with a group running it who have an interesting sense of humour.

I kid you not, but I arrive home on night 3 (since the begining of the power outages) to find I have no water and my DSL connection is down. So I now have light, heat and sound, but no water or DSL.

Do these people sit in a room somewhere and say, “Look we’ve just hit them with 2 days of no power. They’re pretty rattled by that, so let’s push them over the edge by turning their water off, and will someone please call the phone company and tell them to cut DSL!”

I’m writting this on Day 4 (my DSL connection is back) but my water isn’t. I live in hope.

FC Customer First Awards

FC have launched their first ever ” Customer First Awards” – celebrating truly customer-focused companies. (Hoorah!)

http://www.fastcompany.com/customer/2005/

Follow this link to read a great article from Fast Company about customer -centric company “Netflix” (this years over all winner) and the other companies that have come up tops!

Small things do make a difference

We went out for dinner as a family last week. Nice venue, great welcome, drinks served and our meal ordered. Then came the wait and boy what a wait it was.
You know you’ve waited far to long for your food, when the conversation becomes slurred and your not sure if its from that extra glass of wine, or you’re falling asleep….
In the bill folder was an assessment form, which we filled in, complimenting them on the great meal, but the delivery of the same was much to slow.

One always wonders what happens to these forms, so imagine my surprise when 2 days later, I get an email, thanking me for taking the time to comment, admitting that they have had other comments on the slow delivery, and then proceeded to tell me 3 things they have initiated to address the problem.
I was really impressed at the turn around – “Poor Service but Great Management”

It’s amazing what a difference small things like this can do in a connection economy.
We will definitely go back for a meal, and tell their story. Well done Woodcutters.

Smart glasses

IBM’s Research division filed several new patents this year, one of the more interesting ones — glasses that not only help you see, but actually transform what you see – a “Head-mounted display content transformer”.

It may sound like science fiction, but donning these glasses enables a person to see a Hebrew street sign in English or correct the vision of a color-blind person to “see” the right traffic light colors.

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Night 2 without power

So we’re into night two without any power. Having learned a few things from last night, I wasn’t going to allow myself to run out of power on my laptop or my mobile phone, and so I arrived home with 2 fully charged batteries, having had coffee in a venue with electricity.

But my wife was one step ahead of me (as usual). She’d gone out and hired us a generator. And you know what? I don’t have light, or hot water, or a microwave oven that can turn on (although I think that plugging some of those into the generator may help). What I do know is that I have a wireless network up and running, plugged into a DSL line that’s working because the telephone company installed a battery unit into the exchange box down the road this morning.

Life in Africa….. it doesn’t get any better than this.

Help I Need to Change My Address

Industry Analysis from an Outsider, #2 � Banking

This is the second in an ongoing series that takes the view of a complete outsider into certain industries. Without in any way even attempting to understand the operational constraints and the concepts within an industry, this particular series of articles has a look from a customer and emotion economy perspective at certain industries with which we interact on a daily basis. And purely from a customer perspective aims to ask a few critical questions. These questions may be helpful to industry insiders as they plan how to make the next evolution (or quantum shift) in their businesses.

These questions can act as strategic inputs to any people who actually work within these industries. Where there are constraints that currently prohibit dealing with these issues, a GameBreaking perspective may be needed to break through some of the constraints and become truly customer centric. One of the reasons that we do not take our particular industries forward or find major breakthrough innovations, is that we are too often constrained by our current frameworks � the current way in which we see an industry or problem. The difficulty with this is that the more you understand about an industry and the more of an insider in an industry you are, the less capable you are of stepping outside of those frameworks and those boundaries, and the more constrained you are by them.

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Mail in the dark

Tonight while out with my family for dinner a wind and electrical storm did it’s thing outside. We only discovered this on the way home as we drove over bits of tree spread all over the road. We got home to no electricity, and true to what you might expect (don’t you hate that you can say that in SA) wasn’t able to get anyone on the phone at the Power Department to report the issue or get a status report.

Anyway the thing that was amazing (as you think back over the last 10 years) was that I sat in bed checking mail on my mobile phone. No power, no telephone line, no computer or laptop, just my trusty mobile phone. 44 messages read and processed (including spam), and I get to go to bed with Monday firmly behind me, in touch with everyone who had something to say to me.

These are those moments my children will take for granted and give that look I give my parents when one day I tell them about how “I remember a night back then, when we…..”

Viva technology viva.

Here’s your chance to decide what’s on TV

London – A television drama set in Britain’s urban music scene aims to explore new territory in broadcasting by letting viewers choose how the plot develops.

The six-part Dubplate Drama, to be shown on Britain’s Channel 4 in November, will invite viewers to vote by text message for one of two possible outcomes at the end of each week’s 13-and-a-half minute episode.

The drama will be the first series to exploit viewers’ enthusiasm for audience participation, said youth marketing agency Livity, which is behind the show.

“We did a check around and there is nowhere in the world we could find where there has been viewer-led interactive drama,” Sam Conniff, London-based Livity’s co-founder, told Reuters.

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Change and the seasons

September in Johannesburg is springtime. It’s not much of the season. Winter ends abruptly, and hot weather with pulsing blue skies just arrives one morning. Even the trees seem to burst into leaf overnight. But September always bites back.

There is always one cold snap in the second half of the month. That happened today. It will last for three days, and then summer will be here. It will be another three weeks or so until the daily thunderstorm start.

The amazing thing is that this happens about as regularly as clockwork. And every year the majority of residents of Johannesburg act surprised. They always seem to be caught out by this cold snap.

How can people even begin to deal with constant is change when so many seem to battle with the entirely predictable?

An update from TomorrowConnecting.biz

?ic@TomorrowConnecting.biz is a blog dedicated to understanding HyperNetworking Technologies (blogs, wikis, RSS, etc.) and their impact on society and business.

This week we’ll be running a Blogging 101 series – specifically designed to unpack (in plain English) what blogs are, how they work and why they are worth taking note of. Refer a friend, email a colleague, invite a family member. It will be a worthwhile exercise!

Colour doesn’t matter: Manage for Age, and not Race

This was what Kelly SA concluded two years ago in a research project that looked at the South African work environment. For some reason, Kelly no longer show the results of any of their great research on their website. But never fear, thanks to The Wayback Machine, I have found a copy of the article, and I copy it for you below.

The report is archived here. And credit where it is due: thanks Kelly SA for the fantastic research.

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Democracy comes to China

Screaming fans and SMS votelines are more popularly associated with the crazy Western nations who regularly run “Pop Idols” as it was first branded in the UK) and their spin off shows (such as “American Idol” and South African “Idols“). But now its China’s turn (see BBC report here).

The frightening thing is the numbers. An online song by the Chinese favourite logged up one BILLION downloads from China, Singapore and Malaysia. More than 400 million people are estimated to have watched the final show live, with around 8m text votes being cast (SMS texting was the only way to cast your vote). OK, so that’s an impressive cultural phenomenon.

But, as the Economist reports, its more than just cultural. This is something bigger. You’ve just given a fair portion of the country a taste of democracy. And some of the Chinese media are making sure people understand this fact! Could it be that “Idols” will achieve what the USA and UN have not been able to?

Read the Economist’s brief report below.
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They should pay me to watch their movie

A few weeks ago, my wife and I went to the movies (not as easy as it sounds with three pre-school children at home). We saw “The Island” – a fairly good futuristic thriller about cloning (although it bugs me that future visions of disaster always outdo future visions of happiness).

What really irritated me was the number of not so subtle product placements in the movie. Supposed to be set in the future, we were nevertheless very obviously exposed to at least the following: Nokia (phones), Maxim (magazines), MSN (search engine), Puma (shoes), Mack (trucks), Aquafina (bottled water), Jack (drink), ck (deo), amtrak (trains). There were a few more – these are the ones I could remember (I wrote them down after the movie).

I understand the need for advertising and promotions. What prompted this post was me watching yesterday’s Brazilian F1 and Brands Hatch A1 Grands Prix. The drivers and cars and circuits are covered from top to bottom in promotions. Even one of the teams “lollipops” (the stop/go sign for drivers in the pits) was sponsored by Panasonic cameras (quite a clever use of the equipment, shaping it like a digital camera).
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Beyond National Pride

I was at my daughetr’s school this morning to watch a small play on the Creation (armed with torch and yellow T-shirt, she was part of Day One – when light was created). One of her classmates was wearing a black T-shirt (night), but what got me was the logo on it: “NOT MADE IN CHINA”.

Last week, there was massive media hype about the “Proudly South African” campaign and how it was failing to deliver on promises. Some big companies are seriously reconsidering their investments (which can amount to over half a million rand a year – payment is based on turnover). (See reports at Business Day or SABC News). The campaign is intended to get people to support local businesses. It doesn’t seem as if its working.
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What if leadership can’t be taught?

During a conversation with the Wayfinder Nainoa Thompson in Hawaii last week the realization of the futility of using the classroom to teach leadership impacted me with new force.

As Nainoa described some of his voyages where he navigated without any modern navigation tools finding tiny islands dotted throughout the vast Pacific the thought occurred to me that trying to teach leadership in a sterile classroom environment is like trying to prepare a soccer team using only the changeroom. This is where our preoccupation with a content-driven approach to education has led us. I am not suggesting that the classroom has no place but rather simply asking whether it has assumed far too important a role resulting in ‘leaders’ well able to articulate leadership but who fail to live it.
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Well done Jhb International

After a long flight home I was waiting for my luggage at Jhb International airport when to my surprise an announcement was made informing me on the progress that was being made in getting my luggage from the plane to me. That’s nice I thought and then was even more taken as further reports followed. Didn’t shorten the waiting time but certainly made it easier… just keeping the customer informed seemed to create greater tolerance and patience. This has never happened to me before so well done Jhb International!

Best of….

My selection of the best posts of the past few weeks:

• The Three C’s of the Connection Economy Women, by Ang – because taking women seriously is not optional
• Dealing with BYTs in the office – lessons from parenthood, by Graeme and Mark Tittley – a great book review about a hot issue
• www.TomorrowConnecting.biz, by Mike – a new blog from TomorrowToday
• Millennials are not just in our homes!, by Vicky – because the Millennials are growing up quickly, and we need to be ready for them
• Where do you get your news from?, by Graeme – because its important to know where to go for information
• Why lawyers shouldn’t be marketers, by Mike – Lego goes nuts
• What next? A mini-lawnmower?, by Mike – how a story can get out of hand – Gillette also gets out of control
• Connection Economy Tools, by Graeme – a look at three important systems needed for success in the connection economy
• Microsoft, Mini-Microsoft and the Talent Exodus, by Mike – how Microsoft is losing talented people
• To meet or not to meet, by Raymond – a look a the internal workings of a virtual organisation

Managing Talented People

I haven’t read this book, but the write ups look good. Its Managing Talented People, by Alan Robertson & Graham Abbey (Pearson, 2003) (Get it at Amazon.com or Kalahari.net).

Check out the great list of questions inspired by the book at: http://www.businesstitles.com/cat/management/mana0247.htm
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This is not a pipe – a note about pictures

We add images to the posts on this blog because we believe that the 21^st century is not just about words/text, but also about images/pictures. Our minds process these in different ways, and adds to the message the associated words bring to us. We’re sometimes asked about the images on this blogsite. So, let me tell you how it works, if you’re interested…

• When someone writes a post, they add a graphic to it (if they know how to, and have one selected), or suggest a graphic to Graeme (who manages the blog), or they simply add the post and wait to see what Graeme selects a graphic.
• Graeme then reads the post, and makes a decision about what type of image might be suitable.
• He then goes to Google Images and does a search to try and find an appropriate image.
• We do not copy the pictures to our website, rather we simply create links to original artwork on the original sites on which they appear. You can see the original by right clicking on any picture, and looking at the properties.
• If the post is about a specific company, we usually put the company’s logo on our site. Some companies have complained about this, saying that we are misusing their intellectual property. We disagree. We’re gaining no value from the logo, and the content links back to them (we always link to their websites, where we can). Interestingly, it is only companies we have complained about that have complained about our use of their logo.

If you have any suggestions about images, just let Graeme know: graeme@tomorrowtoday.biz.

PS – if the title of this post, and the associated image doesn’t make sense to you, just google “This is not a pipe” (click here if you’re lazy).

Volvo Concept car – for women?

I found this post ( http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/050914/lawfns2.html?.v=1) on Volvo presenting it’s first ever car designed by women. My first thought was ‘At last! Someone’s done it’, but as I read through the article I couldn’t shake a nagging thought.

We all know that we’re moving into the ‘age of women’ – from our natural abilities which align themselves to the connection economy, to the fact that we make/influence a huge percentage of purchases, to the fact that most small businesses are being started by women… The list keeps growing. And so on the surface it seems that Volvo is finally getting with the programme and catering to its largest target market.

But then a warning light. ‘Because it’s a concept car, there is no assurance the car will ultimately be mass-produced for retail. Nevertheless, Volvo expects many of its ideas will find their way into future cars’.

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I Have a Dream

I have a dream that in my lifetime, I would see the revolution of the services company as we currently know it. I have a dream that one day our companies will shrug off the inertia of the past, and the single-minded self-enrichment focus of the present. I have a dream that one day our companies will take their rightful place in our human social structures. I have a dream that one day it will be deeply rewarding, exciting, enriching, fun and fulfilling to work for our companies.

If that happens, it will not be the first time in history that the way we do business as human beings has been revolutionised in just a few decades.

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Piracy, the Digital Divide, & Improving Our ‘Lot’

Can the current licensing structures around software, etc actually make it impossible to improve your lot in life without risking HUGE fines? The following is an extract from a post on The GripeLine by Ed Foster.

“A few decades ago, a man could still ‘pull himself up by his bootstraps’ — meaning all it took was some hard work and determination to improve your lot in life. If you already had money and means, you could easily afford the tools and education that it required to move from one station in life to another. If you didn’t have the tools or the education, you could legally obtain them by borrowing them from a neighbor. Even the government was more than willing to give you a hand-up in doing what needed done.

Today it is not necessarily the case, especially in a digital world.
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