Great presentations need great impact moments

Here’s one example from David Siegel – writer, speaker, strategist in the US:

The scene: a meeting of the Direct Marketing Association that took place last October. In a banquet room in Toronto, before an audience of roughly 2,500 people, Siegel is introduced as one of the world’s leading Internet strategists. Rather than begin his talk from the podium or unveil a deck of PowerPoint slides, he walks around the room and asks to borrow a nice watch. A volunteer named Ted offers his Rolex.

“Thank you, Ted,” Siegel says, taking the Rolex. “Now, this watch represents your existing business model: It’s finely crafted, and it runs like clockwork.” Then he takes out a clear plastic bag. “And this, Ted, represents your current distribution network. It completely surrounds the business model.” Siegel places the watch in the bag and then places the bag on the stage. Then he puts on a pair of safety glasses and takes out a sledgehammer. “And this, Ted, is the Internet.” He asks Ted if he thinks that his current distribution network can protect his business model from the impact of the Internet. Ted reluctantly says no. “Right!” shouts Siegel, as he brings the hammer crashing down. Then he removes his glasses and holds up the bag, which is now filled with hundreds of watch pieces. “Now, what have we learned at Ted’s expense?” he asks.

Source: Fast Company, August 2006

Japanese Boomers are starting to get stylish

A week ago I was asked a question in the UK: “Does Japan exhibit generational characteristics”. A quick search on Google and this blog will indicate that the answer is YES. Especially when talking about Gen Xers and Millennial kids. However, there has often been a question mark about the Boomers – born post World War II and into the 1950s and 60s. That generation of Japanese workers still seems to have been ingrained with the work culture of the grey-business-suit, system-will-provide, company-for-life mentality that has served Japan so well and made it a dominant world force.

Fortuituously, I ran across a report in the New Zealand Herald that talked of this Japanese Boom Generation. You see, just like their global contemporaries, they are facing retirement soon. And, there is more than a sniff of a chance that the system will NOT provide after all. They’ve also had nearly two decades now of realising that their companies are NOT going to keep them for life. And just like all people in their 50s, their thoughts are shifting to “what is my legacy?”. All of these factors, and more, are causing classic Boomer behaviours to manifest – even in Japan.

Read the report about “Stylish granddads rewrite dress rules” here.
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Home Ownership is Generational

A new study of homeownership shows the vast differences among different generations in how long they stay in homes.

The study commissioned by Coldwell Banker Real Estate Corporation found that Americans earning at least $75,000 are buying more houses than their parents at a comparable age, with each generation outpacing the home purchase trends of the previous generation.

According to the “Coldwell Banker 2006 Homeownership in America Study,” 66% of survey respondents in the Silent Generation (defined by them as aged 61 and up) have owned between two and five homes. Already, 66% of Baby Boomers (defined by them as aged 42 to 60), have owned a similar two to five homes. 48% of Generation X’ers (defined by them as aged 32-41), and 36% of “Echo Boomers”/Millennials (defined by them as aged 31 and younger), have owned between two and five homes.

Fully 58% of respondents have owned more homes than their parents did when their parents were at a comparable age.

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Women in Parliament

The Inter-Parliamentary Union tracks women’s representation in the world’s Parliaments on an ongoing basis. You can see the latest stats here.

The top 10 ranking countries are: (10) Mozambique, (9) Argentina, (8-) Spain, (8-) Cuba, (7) Netherlands, (6) Denmark, (5) Finland, (4) Norway, (3) Costa Rica, (2) Sweden and (1) Rwanda. South Africa is 14th, the UK is 51st, and the USA 67th. Afghanistan is 25th.

The global average is. See global stats here.

In 1985, 189 governments committed to ensuring women’s equal access to and full participation in power structures and decision-making in government. Since 1985, this has seen a 0.6% increase annually. At this rate, it will take 72 years to achieve this goal!!

But some countries are doing better than others. Spain, for example, has recently moved up this list quite dramatically – see a report below.

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Battle of the sexes

I thought we lived in an enlightened era … where men and women exist together in harmony. After reading this article (link below) I’m not so sure?

The article that kick started this raging debate … Why men shouldn’t marry career women.

However it was on glancing through some of the “reader comments” that I got a glimpse of what I can only describe as shocking, childish, petulant and sad. I hope that this reflection of comments is representative of a minority of people. Else we’re in trouble deep!

http://www.forbes.com/home/2006/08/23/Marriage-Careers-Divorce_cx_mn_land.html

Now I feel REALLY safe

I have travelled quite a bit since the terrorist plot to blow up planes was uncovered two weeks ago in England. In fact, I actually landed at Heathrow on the Thursday morning it all went down, and was kept waiting on Heathrow’s runway for 2 hours before being allowed to park and disembark (if you watched BBC or Sky News that morning, you would have seen us sitting on the runway, as the SAA Boeing we were in was in the TV’s crew background). This was NOT fun, as I had my wife, mother-in-law and three daughters (all under 8 years old) with me.

There has, of course, been the usual panic and reactions from everyone. Firstly, the British Security chaps banned ALL hand luggage – yes, everything. You couldn’t even take a magazine on board with you. Now, they are allowing everyone to take one piece of baggage on board, but it is smaller than what was previously allowed, by a few centimetres (see photo). Since the terrorists are believed to have been creating bombs in soda (fizzy drink) cans, I wonder how this will help. It makes no sense.

I really do believe that this is an irrational bit of policing. What difference could it possibly make? None. But they have to be SEEN to be doing something, so they reduce the size of hand luggage by 20%, and now I am supposed to fell safe? What are they thinking, and why do we all just accept it? (It is, however, another instance of how so far out of touch the airline industry is from its customers…).

Innovation doesn’t have to be from the edge

The innovation focus of the past decade has been on disruptive innovations and on the “big ticket” items. Most big corporates have not been interested in anything less than multi-million dollar bottom-line guaranteed innovations. Yet, it is probably easier, certainly more exciting, and absolutely more inclusive to also consider incremental innovations. A hundred of these innovations, made by people at every level of an organisation, over an extended period of time, could actually produce the same bottom line results, with much more residiual, internal value created along the way.

An advert that flighted on South African TV a few years ago illustrates the point. It told of the true story of how NASA spent millions of dollars trying to develop a pen that would write in the zero gravity conditions experienced in orbit by their astronauts. The Russians, however, had a solution that saved them all that R&D and money – they used pencils!

As simple as this stiry might be, I really do believe that some companies have lost the plot on innovation. And, lets be honest – for all their efforts, energy and resources, they haven’t really come out with anything to impress their customers in a long time now. Yet, they pursue the “big hit wonder” with mystic fervour. It smacks of desperation at times.

The Pension Crisis in America (and elsewhere)

I was working through some archives recently, and rediscovered this gem by Thomas Friedman (now famous for “The World is Flat”), written during campaigning for the last US presidential elections:

Sometimes it’s useful to stand back and ask yourself: If I could vote for anyone for president other than George W. Bush or John Kerry, whom would I choose? I’d choose Bill Cosby – on the condition that he would talk as bluntly to white parents and kids about what they need to do if they want to succeed as he did to black kids and parents a few months ago.

The one thing that has gone totally missing, not only from this election, but from American politics, is national leaders who are actually ready to level with the public and even criticize their own constituencies. The columnist Michael Kinsley once observed that in American politics “a gaffe is when a politician tells the truth.” We could use a few really big gaffes right now. Because we have not one, but three baby booms bearing down at us, and without a massive injection of truth-telling they could all explode on the next president’s watch.
The leading edge of the American baby boom generation is now just two presidential terms away from claiming its Social Security and Medicare benefits. “With unfunded entitlement liabilities at $74 trillion in today’s dollars – an amount far exceeding the net worth of our entire national economy – and with payroll taxes needing to double to cover the projected costs of Social Security and Medicare, how can any serious person not call entitlement reform the transcendent domestic policy issue of our era?” asks former Commerce Secretary Peter G. Peterson, whose book on this subject, “Running on Empty,” provides a blueprint for a bipartisan solution to this problem for any president daring to lead.

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Some formal stuff on change

It’s a rare occurance that we point towards formal academia that underpins the stuff we speak of on ?ic and in our TomorrowToday frameworks. So, as a treat, I’d like invite you to step away from our uber-sexy TmTd language and delve into some academic viewpoints. Why, you may ask? Well, it’s because a few customers of late have asked me what research and background we draw on in our frameworks. Somehow, the answer of “killer experience and superior intelligence” have not ellicited the responses I was hoping for. Oh, and because I sometimes find comfort in reading academic stuff. So, let me point you to a journal article on Organizational Change & Development by Weick & Quinn (from Michigan Business School). Yep, I can already hear you yawning. Let me say that I found this article very useful as it provides some background to what we say around the current age of discontinuous change, how we “do” change in organisations and what role culture plays in the midst of change. Here’s a snippet:

The basic tension that underlies many discussions of organizational change is that it would not be necessary if people had done their jobs right in the first place. Planned change is usually triggered by the failure of people to create continuously adaptive organizations.

Download the .pdf here.

Proteas Return home

I read an article on the Proteas (South African Cricket Team) return home from Colombo in Sri Lanka due to a bomb blast in a nearby shopping centre. There have been mixed reports as to the validity of their return home. In an interview with Tony Greig (legendary commentator and player for England) he felt that the players were dictating to the government, the international cricket council and the fans all around the world. The question he raised was if a security report came and assured the players of their safety why did they still want to come home? Even more so, why were the players suddenly becoming loyal to themselves and not to the sport?

If you speak to a boomer or someone from the silent generation, which Tony Greig is from this generation, he or she would ague that the sport comes first and that today’s players are becoming soft. They are getting was whole lot of new incentives, they are being paid more, playing less days, and allowed to travel with wives, girlfriends, stay home with pregnant wives and not even return to honour their badge or the team. He relayed a story of how they received direct threats from rebel groups and got told by the British council that they should keep the matter under wraps and should continue to play. It was maybe then more appropriate to respect and show commitment to the higher authority yet we clearly see a differing value system come thru in the newer generation of players.

Today’s talented cricketers ague that, they should be allowed to travel when it suits them. That they compete well on the field and that their loyalty is firstly to themselves and to no badge or any council for that matter.

The bomb blast incident has just become the typical age-old debate, who are today’s players loyal to? I’m certainly convinced that it was the right decision to come home and that players today will remain loyal to one person and that is to them.

Just because they are black does not mean they are right

Jim Collins – Good to great suggests that it is imperative for one to select the right people or get the right people on the bus as means of a developing a great company. In a South African economy where legislation like BEE is rife, it is important to understand this process and be rigorous about selection. Is then the new black talent is a highly sought after commodity in the workplace today?

As a black South African there are often numerous offers to form part of Business boards all in the name of BEE. Skin colour, it seems, is now at times a greater competency that skill. I wonder what the price of all this is going to be?

In the new economy, relationship building with staff will be critical, There is a new black kid on the block who does not want to be insulted by all these extravagant offers in the business world? The deal and warning to companies is that it is still essential that the right people come on board than just on the merit of skin colour. It is becoming still more about skill and deliverables. Younger X’er South Africans still want to be valued on their deliverables. It is an educated group of individuals who model boomer values in their drive and need for achievement in the highest level. In some ways this group of South Africans is now entering the market and revolutionising the way business is done in the quest to remain African yet competent and competing with the best in the world. The come armed with credentials and connection with senior members in established companies and government.

The abuse of the system will still continue here companies still get a few black faces on their board. This is dangerous as the nature of the relationship has a lot of exploitation companies should also expect to be exploited by the same black faces on the board. The fancy BMW’s and other unwarranted incentive come in to play and these are maybe in some way exploitation on the part of companies.

Companies who will become great on the economy will need to embrace the authentically the idea of development and empowerment. Skills shortage is a greater issue, as was the admission of the president in the State of the nation address. Empowerment that is sustainable has everything to do with imparting valuable to skills to the Previously Disadvantages. We need to engage the new emerging black graduate. If we are not just going to window dress we need to ensure that skills imparted and that there are still competency requirements that are met.

The economy has no time for short term fixes of window dresses for us to have a broad based economic empowerment we need to transfer skills. Not in a token way but in real genuine way to see the

Gurus

The reason businessmen speak of gurus is because they cannot spell the word “charlatan”.

Courtesy of The Witch Doctors by Micklethwait & Wooldridge. For those of you that want to make sure that somoeone actually said this, please note that I have intentionally left out the reference to American businessmen because the example is equally relevant on a global scale.

Symphony Orchestras & Culture

If Pete Laburn has ever cornered you into a coffee shop, he has no doubt told you about Orchestras & Jazz Bands. It is a metaphorical analogy that compares companies (and how they have adapted to our age of discontinuous change) to the difference between orchestras and jazz bands. But let me not steal Pete’s thunder. For now, my point is that there is a definitive way in which musical organisations mirror and relfect what happens in companies. The modus operandi is different, but the structural, systemic processes are similar. In doing some reading on organisational culture I stumbled upon the Symphony Orchestra Institute. The SOI was founded by Paul R. Judy who “was motivated by a lifelong passion for classical music and a keen interest in how organizations functioned, coupled with a serious concern about the longer term effectiveness and sustainability of the existing American symphony organization model.” The SOI is a great example of an organisation that understands the dynamics of culture and how they play out in organisations. I recommend reading their series on Organisational Culture.

IBM Puts Dollars Behind the Crowd

IBM CEO Samuel Palmisano has announced what he calls an Innovation Jam – an attempt to come up with new business and product ideas by leveraging the collective intelligence of IBM’s 100,000-strong ‘crowd‘.

According to Yahoo! Business, IBM has “used these online brainstorming sessions to mine for new business opportunities in 2001, to exchange ideas about good management in 2002, and to discuss IBM values in 2003″ – this is not a new idea, but is unique in that IBM is looking for ideas from clients, suppliers, consultants, resellers, employee family members, etc. They are going open source with innovation – 2 x 72 hour sessions in which stakeholders pump ideas into the system – “IBM won’t own any of the nuggets that emerge” – but are willing to put up to $100 million behind the strongest concepts.

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Significance in the Connection Economy

When we speak about a sense of significance, this could be an implied point anyway, that significance needs not be found in the workplace only. Reading an article this morning on companies that promote and belief in social awareness, I realized that today’s talent will also be find significance in projects outside work.

It is very difficult to be passionate and fulfilled whilst doing an audit, yet if you were making enough money to support a project and something that spoke to one’s purpose, today’s talent may give loyalty in exchange for that. Kind of work-purpose integration.

Co-incidentally I’m meeting more people who are starting companies in order to fuel or support something they feel passionate about. My question really after all this is,” is Today’s talent use their work as something that funds their economic engine, in order that they may do something more purposefull with their lives in other forums?”

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Traditional media using Citizens

 They breaking story around the 1 people arrested in London this morning had me all over BBC’s web site. What was interesting that i’ve not seen before was a bit at the end of the main article asking for people’s experiences around delayed flights and even for photos.

After 911 and the London Bombing last year there was publicity around the use of ‘Citizen Media‘, as people sent their stories and pics (their initiative) to ‘Traditional Media’. But here for my first time I see a formal request.

Have you been affected by the new security measures, seen disruption at an airport or witnessed any police raids? Please use the form below to tell us about your experiences

You can send your pictures to us by emailing them to yourpics@bbc.co.uk or by MMS: 07725 100 100

The merits and demerits of being a black woman

The joke goes that the easiest person for a personnel agency to place in South Africa these days is a disabled, lesbian black woman with tertiary qualifications. Not a very good joke, I’ll grant you, but indicative of the struggle to rectify the imbalances of the past in my home country. The point being that there is inherent, systematic discrimination built into our systems, and we can only change this by being intentional and conscious about our actions and attitudes. There is no easy way to fix discrimination, or to develop true diversity.

The difficulty is that the starting point is within us. Most of us are not even aware of our discriminatory bias. Ask yourself: “when a taxi drives like a maniac and pulls in front of you, nearly cutting you off the road, who do you mentally picture is driving that vehicle?” Depending on your city, you might answer: Johannesburg: young, black male (unlicensed, arrogant, rude, and probably armed); Sydney: middle-aged, Asian (can’t speak English); London: middle-aged, Pakistani; New York: unknown origin, but “not from here” and can’t speak English (maybe even an alien?). In each case, we might be right, but we could also be hopelessly wrong. Yes, we can have a bit of fun with the issue of discrimination… But, lets be aware of our own latent prejudices. That’s the starting point, and its more difficult than we can ever know to overcome them.

That’s why external pressures have to sometimes be imposed. In South Africa, right now, that means that being a talented black woman is a great thing to be. Yet, the prejudice might stop your career reaching the heights it should.

In an article entitled, “Subtle Forms of Discrimination Driving Women of Color from Top Law Firms” on BlackAmericaWeb.com, Monica Lewis reported on 7 Aug 2006 that the American Bar Association and the National Opinion Research Center at the University of Chicago released a report last week during the bar association’s annual convention in Honolulu. The report found that women of color frequently experience subtle forms of discrimination in US law firms, prompting them to leave lucrative and coveted jobs with some of the nation’s best law firms. (Read more below).

Our view is that it is absolutely essential to build real diversity muscle into an organisation. This doesn’t just mean getting people with different skin colours or anatomical bits into your boardroom – because its all too easy to subtly (and not so subtly) promote only those blacks and women who act and think like white men. And its easy for them to start doing so once they learn the rules. To put it another way – its often the best ones that leave, because they see the game and refuse to play it. NO. We need REAL diversity – of worldviews – hard coded into our companies. That is a key ingredient to resilience, multi-national and multi-market success, and to a sustainable competitive advantage in the future.

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Motorola – creating flexibility

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.

Apparently, non-traditional working hours are the norm, driven by a vision of seamless mobility where what you do is more important than where you’re at. They also have a “Mobile Zone”, which brings the workplace closer to home via seamlessly connected workstations, thus making the daily commute an option rather than a “must do”.

I’d be interested in finding out more, if anyone knows. Typical of pretty much every company I know, Motorola do not develop their “employer brand” on their website (they know how to market their products, but not themselves as an employer of choice). They have a fairly imposing webpage, entitled “Ethics and Code of Business Conduct“, but this is a dry and imposing document, and not attractive at all. So, their website is no help in learning about their employment approach to work-life balance.

Ah well, I suppose I shouldn’t complain. Helping companies build their employer brands is part of how I make a living, so it should probably be exciting that I have such a huge market of companies who just don’t get it. But, to be honest – it sometimes depresses me…

Dean Jones sacked after ‘terrorist’ remark

Pardon me for a parochial comment (about cricket and about South Africa), but this caught my eye…

Dean Jones, the former Australia Test batsman turned TV commentator, has been sacked by his employers, Ten Sports, after calling Hashim Amla a ‘terrorist’ on live television during the fourth day’s play between Sri Lanka and South Africa at Colombo. When Amla, who is a devout Muslim, complete with full beard, took the catch to dismiss Sangakkara, Jones was heard to say “the terrorist has got another wicket”.

Jones is distraught and repentent (see his statement below), but he is also fired. In a connected and flat world like the one we live in, you can’t get away with any form of prejudice like that. And public commentators (of any sort) cannot get away with private prejudice for too long either (long live the impending death of spin doctors everywhere!!).
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Proof that the Boomers still rule the world

Just in case you still needed proof that Boomers are not just going to slip into retirement quietly, proof comes from the world of Hollywood. A flurry of movies is expected over the next few months – all of them remakes of classic Boomer TV shows. Right now on circuit, we have “Miami Vice“, but expect “The A-team” (2006), “Dallas” (2007), “Magnum PI” (2007), and “Knight Rider” (2008) to hit the circuits soon.

Personally, I can think of nothing worse, and this is proof that Hollywood is running out of ideas. But feeding the Boomer machine will make money, so expect more of this kind of quasi-nostalgia from every industry…

A Delicious Fetish

Joshua Schachter once sent me an email. At the time, I had no idea who he was – his response had come from a request I’d sent to the del.icio.us ‘support team’. Del.icio.us is a social bookmarking site, I needed some help figuring out how to use it (being new to the concept) and support@del.icio.us seemed a good place to start.

His email was dated 11 October 2005. Not two months later, on 9 December, Joshua announced on his personal blog that Yahoo! had snatched up his fledgling Web 2.0 startup as part of their extreme 2.0 makeover. Nobody is really sure what was paid, but considering the bulk of the rumours estimated the price at USD30 million, give or take ten percent, Joshua did ok.

I’m not sure what it is about del.icio.us. It certainly isn’t pretty. In fact, it’s arguably one of the ugliest darn sites on the web. It might be the name – the name is downright smart, using the .us domain to complete a sublimely catchy Web 2.0-ish lilt. At least I got excited about that. Perhaps it’s all the extensions and plug-ins the del.icio.us community has created to integrate functionality into popular web browsers and blogging platforms. Then again, it might just be that I have found del.icio.us to be the least flashy, most functional, most valuable, most sustainable Web 2.0 application (and information resource) on the internet.

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Gamer stats – They’re not what you’d expect

A recent survey published by the Entertainment Software Association entitled “Essential Facts” deals with sales, demographic, and usage data within the gaming industry. The full report can be downloaded from 2005 Essential facts. Some of the numbers the report returned are not what you would expect.

- 75% of heads of households play games

- The average age of gamers is 30

- 19% of Americans over 50 play games

- The male / female ratio is 55% male & 43% female [allowing a 2% error margin in the survey]
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Generation X has let truck driving pass by

I must say that I laughed when I first read the title of this article that appeared on Chron.com on 24 July 2006. The tone of the title was that this was a huge lost opportunity to a generation. I can’t say I felt the loss in my soul.

But then maybe it was just because I had just watched “Clerks” again (in preparation for seeing “Clerks II” on the circuit in a few days time). Trucking feels like a McJob if anything does!

“The problem for the trucking business is that young Americans are more focused on quality of life, executives say. Many people would rather work for less money than sit behind the wheel of a tractor-trailer on journeys that can keep them out for days on end.” Damn right.

Talent attraction & retention metaphor

We know the lesson: if you ask your Talent to stay, they won’t. So, the alternative is to create an invitation that “pulls” them towards your organisation in a manner akin to swarming. The metaphor, care of Cognitive Edge, of a swarm of bees is a valuable metaphor: if the beekeeper can capture the swarm after it has left the hive, then it can be put in a new hive and will become productive. Swarming involves creating the equivalent of a bright light and seeing what comes to it.

Unfortunately, a “bright light” can not be conscripted. One needs to tap into the informal talent network in your organisation to understand what that light may be … because that is where the answer lies, and it is there! Again, the argument is to really get into the mind of your talent before instituting cosmetic changes to your culture (ala flexible working hours, relaxed dress code, etc). Cosmetic changes are popular beacuse they provide a false sense of security in believing “right, we have done soemthing”. While these changes have worked for other organisations, your organisation is a different system.

Can uranium enrichment be morally neutral?

NYTimes reports today that Australian Prime Minister John Howard has called for expansion of the country’s capability to produce and export unranium … for economic interests. At a time when urnaium enrichment in countries less ally-friendly to the US, this development potentially adds more sleepless nights in the White House. Howard is quoted as saying, “For Australia not to reap greater income from its vast uranium deposits would be akin to Saudi Arabia not exploiting its oil”. Further, he declared that Australia could become an “energy superpower.â€?

Australia have no intention (publically or officially) to confront Washington’s policy on limiting the enrichment club to a handful, but wish to benefit economically from it’s rich uranium deposits. When countries like North Korea decide to enrich and test, one questions thei intent. When Australia now comes to the party under economic rationale, do we not ask the same question?