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Green Banking

ICICI Bank has started to become an internationally watched brand, since it was featured in “The Fortune at the Bottom of the Pyramid” (a book by Prahald, available at Amazon.com or Kalahari.net). It is one of the largest banks in the world, by size of customer base and branches (nearly 90,000 of them!!).

Based in India, this bank has recently launched a “green” initiative, called GoGreen. If you sign up for email statements, they will plant a tree in lieu of the savings they make by not having to send you printed paper through the mail. This is a great example of a corporate using green issues to develop a competitive advantage. Its small, but it shows commitment to the planet, not just to shareholder wealth.

Imperial Ambitions: Conversations on the Post-9/11 World

January 5, 2007 Barrie Bramley Book Reviews, Ethics, Future Trends 1 Comment

Just before going on leave I picked up a couple of books to read while I was away. I’ve never read a ‘Noam Chomsky‘ (apparently he’s one of those must read human beings before you die) and found this one, “Imperial Ambitions: Conversations on the Post-9/11 World“. I chose it because it’s written in conversation style (interview by David Barsamian) around issues pertaining to the US imperial ambitions for the rest of us.

“I think not only the region (Middle East) but the world in general correctly perceives the U.S. invasion as a test case, an effort to establish a new norm for the use of military force.”

It felt like it could be an easy ’slide’ into Noam, and it was. What surprised me was that it didn’t turn out to be a monster, thud-factor, academic read that I was going to have to work hard at getting my mind around. It turned out to be a straight forward, in your face, heck of an interesting read. He, in fact, spoke regularly of academics and I enjoyed his abuse of them and their role in making things more complicated than they should be.

If you’re looking for an easy to read overview of Noam Chomsky’s view of the world post-911, and haven’t read anything of his before, then I’d recommend this as a good starting place.

His book left me with a few paradoxical thoughts. One being that on one hand the voice of the average person has never counted for more and has the ability to change things; sharply contrasted with the idea that there are powerful people and governments out there, and that if they can take out an entire country, they don’t even work up a sweat when contemplating me.

“The new doctrine was not one of pre-emptive war, which arguably falls within some stretched interpretation of the UN Charter, but rather doctrine that doesn’t begin to have any grounds in international law, namely, preventative war. That is, the United States will rule the world by force, and if there is any challenge to its domination-whether it is perceived in the distance, invented, imagined, or whatever-then the United States will have the right to destroy that challenge before it becomes a threat. That’s preventative war, not pre-emptive war.”

Don’t Retire, Rewire

December 12, 2006 Lynda Book Reviews, Boomers RetYrement 3 Comments

5 Steps to fulfilling work that fuels your passion, suits your personality and fills your pocket. By Jeri Sedlar and Rick Miners. ISBN 0-02-864228-7

Rewire your brainThe 5 steps of the Rewire process – a formula we have used successfully with our clients – are as follows:

  1. Seeing the opportunity: Retiring is a going from and rewiring is a going to.
  2. Identifying your ‘drivers’
  3. Linking the drivers to your activities.
  4. Creating your rewired vision.
  5. Developing your action plan.

The real workforce challenge for the future is not a shortage of workers but an abundance of older workers who would like to keep working. Don’t Retire, Rewire offers practical advice to help employers engage those workers in new ways and to help older workers understand the arrangements that best meet their needs.

I enjoyed this book. It was practical and helps a person to plot direction and create a new and exciting future.

Recommended reading on Talent

October 17, 2006 Graeme Codrington Book Reviews, Talent No Comments

The Economist recently had a Survey of Global Talent. It was superb. At the end of the survey, they gave a list of sources and recommended reading. Here it is for your reference purposes (PS – purchase the Economist survey online here):

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Lessons in Leadership: Perot Systems

September 12, 2006 Graeme Codrington Book Reviews, Leadership No Comments

I am a serious fan of the magazine, “Fast Company”. Its one of the best out there. There is a fantastic new book that is a selection of their choice of the top articles from the last ten years of the magazine. Highly, highly recommended. “Fast Company’s Greatest Hits: Ten Years of the Most Innovative Ideas in Business” (get it amazon.com or kalahari.net).

The first article is entitled, “Everything I Thought I Knew About Leadership Is Wrong”, by Mort Meyerson. Here are some important insights about leadership (pg 12 & 13):

“In a world where the lines between companies, industries, and even nations get blurred, a leader builds an effective organisation around values and work style. And the leader learnt to define success in business as both producing financial strength and a generating team of people who support and nurture each other.”

“So what is my job as a leader? The essence of leadership today is to make sure that the organisation knows itself. There are certain durable principles that underlie an organisation. The leader should embody those values. They’re fundamental. But they have nothing to do with business strategy, tactics, or market share. They have to do with human relationships and the obligation of the organisation to its individual members and its customers.”

“The second job of the leader is to pick the right people to be part of the organisation and to create an environment with those people can succeed. That means encouraging others to help develop the strategy and grow the philosophy of the company. It means more collaboration and teamwork among people at every level of the company.” It means being a coach rather than an executive.

“The third job of the leader is to be accessible. I want to be open to people in a broad range of their experiences in life if they need it, and I want to be accessible for two-way communication that’s honest, open, and direct.”

The World We’re In

September 11, 2006 Graeme Codrington Book Reviews, Connection Economy No Comments

Here’s a great description of the “connection economy”:


A profound, but silent, transformation of our society is afoot. Our industrial system is generating more goods and services than at any point in history, delivered through an ever-growing number of channels. Superstores, boutiques, online retailers, and discount stores proliferate, offering thousands of distinct products and services. This product variety is overwhelming to consumers. Am Ibuying the right digital camera? Am I getting the best treatment for my chronic ulcer? Am I signing up for the right service? Simultaneously, thanks to the propagation of cellphones, web sites, and media channels, consumers haveincreased access to more information, at greater speed and lower cost, than ever before. But who has the leisure and the proficiency needed to sort through and evaluate all these products and services? The burgeoningcomplexity of offerings, as well as the associated risks and rewards, confounds and frustrates most time-starved consumers. Product variety has not necessarily resulted in better consumer experiences.

For senior management, the situation is no better. Advances in digitisation, biotechnology, and smart materials are increasing opportunities to create fundamentally new products and services and transform businesses. Major discontinuitiesin the competitive landscape – ubiquitous connectivity, globalisation, industry deregulation, and technology convergence are blurring industry boundaries and product definitions.These discontinuities are releasing worldwide flows of information, capital, products, and ideas, allowing non-traditional competitors to upend the status quo.At the same time, competition is intensifying and profit margins are shrinking. Managers can no longer focus solely on costs, product and process quality, speed, and efficiency. For profitable growth, managers must also strive for new sources of innovation and creativity.

Thus, the paradox of the 21st-century economy: Consumers have more choices that yield less satisfaction. Top management has more strategic options that yield less value. Are we on the cusp of a new industrial system with characteristics different from those we now take for granted?…. The answer, we believe, lies in a different premise centered on co-creation of value. It begins with the changing role of the consumer in the industrial system.

The most basic change has been a shift in the role of the consumer – from isolated to connected, from unaware to informed, from passive to active. The impact of the connected, informed, and active consumer is manifest in many ways.”

The Future Of Competition: co-creating a unique value with customers, by C K Prahalad and Venkat Ramaswamy

Book Summary: The Discipline of Market Leaders: Choose Your Customers Narrow Your Focus, Dominate Your Market

I found this in my archives. A great book, and important info for any business.

The Discipline of Market Leaders: Choose Your Customers Narrow Your Focus, Dominate Your Market
by Michael Treacy and Fred WiersemaAddison-Wesley, Reading, Massachusetts, 1997 edition

Buy it at Amazom.com or Kalahari.net.

“The message of The Discipline of Market Leaders is that no company can succeed today by trying to be all things to all people. It must instead find the unique value that it alone can deliver to a chosen market. Why and how this is done are the two key questions the book addresses.” (p.xii)

The authors maintain that there are three different types of ‘value discipline’ that successful companies can adopt to command leadership in their markets. Which of these (if any) is taken by any particular firm depends upon the sort of product or service that they provide, and upon the organizational culture that they maintain. These three ‘value disciplines’ are summarized in the chart below:

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I write what I like

June 26, 2006 Aiden Choles Book Reviews, Generations 6 Comments

Steve BikoIn our Mind the Gap framework we speak of how Xers cannot remember insitutionalised apartheid. I am one of them. Graeme posted earlier about the Youth Day public holiday on 16th June here in South African that commemorates the youth riots of 16th June 1976. Being a white 26 year old South African I have found the last decade and a half of transformation quite bland. This is for a few reasons. In part, I was sheltered from the news and experience of emergency state-like events of the 1980s because of propogandised media and the comfort of white suburbia. And then, as Barrie would say, a fish does not know it is wet as it has no benchmark of dryness to measure against. I grew up, and began my conscious awakening amidst the changes in South Africa, not really knowing where we had come from in terms of institutionalised apartheid.

And so, in recent years I have begun to explore my history as a South African … the history not taught to me when I was in school. I visited Soweto for the first time on June 10th this year. Feeling surprisingly safe, I drove past a sign that pointed to the Hector Pieterson Memorial. I decided then to visit the Memorial before the 16th. The Memorial requires a post of its own, but on the day I picked up a book called I write what I like by Steve Biko. In wanting to get in touch with significant characters of the past few decades, I’d heard a little about Biko and thought this book would be a nice starting point to learn about the man who headed up the Black Consciousness movement in South Africa.

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Ethics, Integrity & Sacrifice in the Workplace

May 27, 2006 Aiden Choles Book Reviews No Comments

The modern day manager finds himself, or herself if you like, in the tumultuous torrent of demands, expectations, requirements, compliance and regulatory pressure. As a sub-text to this malaise, one finds the issues of ethics, integrity and sacrifice as additional priorities in the managers intentions to lead effectively. Managers unite in the call to take these important issues in their “stride” as a qunitessential “lines of duty” in maintaining a profitable workplace. Clarke N. Western has now published this useful handbook that provides solace, encourgaement, practical tips and affirming stories of managers who have successfully navigated the murky mire of Management.

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Managin the Quarterlife Crisis

May 23, 2006 Aiden Choles Book Reviews No Comments

Yes, it exists … and you thought life was tough through your mid-life crisis. The Quarterlife Crisis is an often misdiagnosed period in the life of 20- and 30-somethings when the sheer weight of lifes choices bear down on the young and threatens to render them imobile. Travel, career, relationships, marriage, identity, passion, dreams, location … these are the decisions that Quarterlifers need to address when they are just shy of 30 years of age. Generally defined, the Quarterlife Crisis is that unique crisis of modern 20- and 30-somethings who are faced with overwhelming choices and expectations regarding their future.

Joanne Jowell weaves a wonderfully smooth narrative of her Quartlife experience when she woke up one morning in Cape Town and reliased that there was no script to guide her in decisions around career, home, idenity and dreams. This is a book that many young adults will identify with – Jowell has captured succintly the nuances of becoming an adult in todays changing world. Never before have people in their 20s and 30s had to face the magnitude of life choices and decision-making that we face today.

Jowell outlines her own Quartlife crisis and offers some observations and explanatiosn that will help fellow Quartelifers address the looming crisis in their own lives. Based in futurist observations, Jowell identifies how being a new generation in this world, along with advances in technology, travel, equality and early retirement creates a crisis that many folk don’t recognise, nevermind overcome. The book provides some wonderful to our Being Talented framework.

Buy it from Kalahari or find out more at The Quarterlife.

Enviromental Advocacy is a good cause for retirees

Planet EarthI found an interesting article about people with skills, vision and passion ready to use their skills to help change society. To quote from the back of David Bornstein’s book called How to change the World we are challenged by ” What business entrepreneurs are to the economy, social entrepreneurs are to social change. They are, the driven creative individuals who question the staus quo, exploit new opportunities, refuse to give up and remake the world a better place. Read the article here.

I believe in all sphers of life we are going to see these passionate boomers using their skills and talents to bring about change to society. Social clubs, churches and organisations will have an overflow of willing skilled individuals wanting to stay involved and making a difference.

Peer Pressure

April 3, 2006 Graeme Codrington Book Reviews, Boomers RetYrement, Generations, Talent No Comments

Book coverWhen we think of peer pressure, we often think of teenagers. This is the lifestage when peer pressure is apparently most obvious. But anyone who has kids at school will know that Parent Peer Pressure is just as pervasive and potentially destructive amongst adults. The pressure to conform to other people’s standards raises its heads throughout our lives, in private and professional areas of our lives, and even in our parenting.

An author, Roselind Wiseman, has written about the phenomenon of parenting pressure in a new book, Queen Bees and Kingpin Dads (get it at kalahari.net or Amazon.com).

You can read an interview with the author here.

Please Just F*ck Off, It’s Our Turn Now

March 27, 2006 Graeme Codrington Book Reviews, Generation Y, Generations No Comments

I’m in Australia, doinga lot of generational work. I always try and pick up the latest local writing on generations, talent and management. Last time I was here, I got “What Was It All For” (see review here). This time, my eye as drawn to bright yellow cover, and in-your-face title by Ryan Heath, “Please Just F*ck Off: it’s our turn now.” This 25-year old journalist, now working and living in London, has written an impassioned appeal to his generation (born after 1970, he refuses to succomb to giving them a label).

See the book at the Publisher’s website: http://www.plutoaustralia.com/p1/default.asp?pageId=352.

Its a Millennial’s rant about Boomers in Australia, and what needs to happen get Aussie to be globally competitive. I have only just started reading it, and seems to be well written with a strong message. More on this one later. (See Publisher’s review below)

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Inter-generational Issues at The Adventure of Strategy

March 12, 2006 Graeme Codrington Book Reviews, Generations No Comments

Rob Millard has a great blog on Strategy. He has recently added an entire category for inter-generational issues onto his blog. Check it out here (I think there is only one entry so far, pointing to a recent post of mine, but it should grow nicely, and is worth watching).

This comes at the same time as my latest reading group is starting on TKB. I’m reading, “Getting Them to Give a Damn” by Eric Chester (buy it online at Kalahari.net and Amazon.com). You can read it with me and a group of other people by going to http://www.tomorrowknowledge.biz/Give_a_Damn.

This looks like a fantastic book from the author of “Generation Why”.

The Toyota Way

March 10, 2006 Aiden Choles Book Reviews No Comments

ToyotaCare of Barrie Bramley’s upcoming book review of the Toyota Way:

‘Is Toyota a conservative company? Yes. Does it seem to be very plodding and slow to make changes? Yes. Is it innovative? Remarkebly so. Go slow, build on the past, and thoroughly consider all implications of decisions, yet move more aggresively to beat the competition to market with exceptional products.’ – Jeffery Liker

The Learning Organization

February 28, 2006 Graeme Codrington Book Reviews, Knowledge Continuity, Organisational Design No Comments

In 1990, Peter Senge wrote one of the most influential business books of all time. “The Fifth Discipline” revolutionised many companies’ approach to knowledge management, and introduced the business world to systems thinking in an accessible way. (Get it at Amazon.com or Kalahari.net).

There is a great summary of the five core disciplines, and, in fact, the whole book, at: http://www.infed.org/thinkers/senge.htm#_The_core_disciplines.

There is a high level executive summary of most of the key concepts related to “Learning Organizations” available at: http://www.skyrme.com/insights/3lrnorg.htm.

Thinking for a Living

February 27, 2006 Graeme Codrington Book Reviews 1 Comment

A book review of a book that is sitting on my reading list: Davenport’s “Thinking for a Living“. (Get it at Amazon.com or Kalahari.net).

I’m really excited about reading this book soon.
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Narrative: high concept and touch

Dan Pink, in his book, A Whole New Mind (get it at Amazon.com or Kalahari.net), captures nicely what relevance Story (which I prefer to call Narrative) has in our economy. In my own words:

The information age was all about managing facts. The connection economy (or as he calls it, the conceptual economy) will be about remembering stories.

Narrative is both high concept and high touch. It is high concept in that it stretches our minds beyond linear, binary modes of dealing with information – concepts and values come alive in the context of a Narrative. Through this process Narrative becomes high touch – there is an emotional connection with Story that transcends the connection with plain information.

If it Ain’t Broke… Break it

January 14, 2006 Graeme Codrington Book Reviews, Innovation No Comments

In their book, “If It Ain’t Broke … Break It!” (Get it at Amazon.com or Kalahari.net), the authors, Louis Patler and Robert J. Kriegel, observed: “Not only is everything changing, but everything exists in relationship to something else that is changing.” If we don’t adjust to that, we will face extinction.

Of course, “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” is conventional wisdom. Yet the fact is that every organisation needs to embrace constant change, which is the basis of innovation (after all, if innovation is not change from status quo, what is it?). The successes of the past and overall health often mask the fact that some changes are long overdue.

Finishing Well – Boomers want to leave a legacy

I was recently recommended a book that sounds fantastic (its on my Christmas stocking filler list). Its “Finishing Well” by Bob Buford (Integrity Publishers, ISBN: 159145395X). (Purchase it online at Amazon.com or Kalahari.net).

It is written from a Christian perspective, but the focus on a spiritual legacy is but a small part of the overall message of the book. That message is on how to ensure that you leave a legacy as you head towards the later years of life. I believe the book includes a series of splendid interviews with well known people who are “finishing well”.

As the first of the generation of Baby Boomers born after World War II start to retire (and re-tyre) in 2006, this type of information is absolutely critical. I’m looking forward to getting the book.

The World is Flat in Open Source

November 29, 2005 Graeme Codrington Book Reviews, Connection Economy, Global View, Technology No Comments

Social software (see http://www.tomorrowconnecting.biz for a full introduction) is the set of technologies allowing people to collaborate online. Wikis are online tools that allow any registered users to update, add or delete content in a document. All changes are tracked, and old versions archived.

Book coverNow, Thomas Friedman, author of The World is Flat (buy online from Amazon.com or Kalahari.net), wants to put the book’s final edition online as a wiki, and allow readers to interact with the content directly, adding to his thesis about the effects of technology in leveling the global playing fields. This is a case of the medium truly being part of the message. Of course, his publishers must still approve, but it sounds like a great idea.

Read more about the story from FT, here.

Google books is doing something similar, of course, by putting as many out of copyright books online as they can. See previous post on this.

Also check out our Reading Community at TKB (TomorrowKnowledge) and read Friedman’s book with us.

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Google Book Search – Librarian Revolutionaries

I will use GoogleI have just been playing around with Google’s online book search & it is awesome.

They have indexed the actual content of millions of pages of books. When you run a search it actually returns the book to you. You can then go to the physical page in the book where the info is and read a few pages before & a few pages after [I think it is a total of 15 pages that you are able to view per book per search]. They are basically in the process of making libraries redundant.
To get to these pages [still in development form] run a normal search in Google and scroll to the bottom of the page. Click on the link that asks if you want to run the search in Google book search.

To quote Ace Ventura….”Yummy”

The Bottom Half of the Pyramid

Michael Goldman, Lecturer in Marketing, Innovation and Strategy with the Gordon Institute of Business Science, wrote a brief piece about C K Prahalad’s concept of reaching the world’s poor in MarketingWeb. Read it here.

The key is a radical rethink and some serious innovation, especially around the “price-performance” ratio. “This kind of innovation requires an ability to discard traditional approaches to price-performance improvements. It means a relentless focus on tailoring the specific value offering to the needs and context of this market, while rethinking the delivery of the offering to the consumer in order to provide value at a significantly reduced cost.”

Prahalad’s book, The Fortune at the Bottom of the Pyramid: Eradicating Poverty Through Profits (buy it at Amazon.com or Kalahari.net), suggests 12 innovation principles that every business should consider. See the summary below.
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Vote for your favourite business book

November 17, 2005 Graeme Codrington Book Reviews No Comments

We’re taking a poll at our main website at the moment, on the most influential business book of our age.

You can go http://www.tomorrowtoday.biz to check it out, and add your vote. The poll is down the right hand menu of the main page.

See below for the list, and use this blog post to add your own entries if you think we missed one.
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China’s Generation Y

October 24, 2005 Graeme Codrington Book Reviews, Connection Economy, Future Trends, Talent No Comments

I don’t often recommend a book before reading it myself, but this book has caught my eye, and I wanted you to know about it. I have ordered a copy, and will review it in detail in a few months’ time.

It is China’s Generation Y by Michael Stanat ( (get it online at Amazon.com).

The book is unique in that it is the first book written on China’s Generation Y and one of the few well-written non-fiction books written by a teenager (the author is 17). The book is based on extensive research sponsored by SIS International Research, New York (www.sisinternational.com) and assisted by CBC Market Research, Shanghai (www.cbcnow.com). Fun, fast, and captivating, China’s Generation Y is the ultimate guide that Westerners will need to be able to work with the leaders of the future.

The Publisher says:
“Growing up during the information age, China’s Generation Y (born between 1981 and 1995) is unlike any of its predecessors, sporting branded items and increasingly sharing some of the same ideas as Western youth. This generation of teenagers in China will most likely be the political and businessleaders of the world’s next superpower by the year 2025. Based on interviews and surveys conducted in Shanghai by the author, an American teenager, China’s Generation Y provides an exciting look into the lives and minds of China’s youth, showing Western readers who they are, how they got there, and where they are headed. The book brings to life the influences on them – political, cultural, family, economic, and environmental – in such a way that it truly provides a rare glimpse into the minds of today’s youth and tomorrow’s leaders. China’s Generation Y is not only for those who seek to acquaint themselves with this crucial generation, but also for business leaders who wish to cater to the up-and-coming Chinese consumers. Informative and stimulating, this first-of-its-kind book opens up a new horizon for many in the West who will ultimately meet the need and challenge of this emerging Chinese generation.”

See also the book’s official website: http://www.chinageny.com/ – (not Firefox compatible – go to http://www.chinageny.com/html/main.html).
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From our archives: HERE TODAY, GONE TOMORROW

October 24, 2005 Graeme Codrington Book Reviews, Organisational Design No Comments

“Understanding the underlying forces that turn success into failure”

The following thoughts are extracted from Jamshid Gharajedaghi’s book, Systems Thinking: Managing Chaos & Complexity (Pub. Butterworth-Heinemann. 1999) (buy it online at Amazon.com or Kalahari.net).

When the Dow Jones Industrial Average marked it 100th anniversary in 1996, of the original companies listed only General Electric had survived to join in the celebration. Fourteen of the 47 companies exemplified in Tom Peter’s much acclaimed book of the 1980’s, In Search of Excellence, had suffered serious profit erosion within four years.

Everyone can recall cases of great powers, nations, organizations or personalities rising and falling. What then are the underlying forces that convert success to failure?

Gharajedaghi’s suggests that there are five forces that form a hierarchy with each level representing a distinct tendency, but together forming an interactive whole. At each level success plays a critical but different role.
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The Boomer tidal wave is about to hit old age

October 24, 2005 Graeme Codrington Book Reviews, Boomers RetYrement, Future Trends, Generations 4 Comments

The Baby Boomers (born post-World War II and into the 1960s) have been a demographic tidal wave in every life stage they’ve entered so far in life. And now, they’re about to start retiring (or, at worst, re-tyring) and hit old age (although they’ll never admit it). Expect a pile of books to be written about this – its a tsunami for many industries. In the USA, for example, “On 1st January 2006, the oldest ‘Baby Boomers’ around will turn 60. After that, for the next 19 years, another one will turn 60 every 7.5 seconds, causing a demographic tidal wave will affect businesses with greater impact than the aging of any previous generation”, according to generational experts Brent Green & Associates (BGA).

Marketing to Leading-Edge Baby Boomers by Brent Green (Writers Advantage, 2004) (buy it at Amazon.com or Kalahari.net). A book review was posted at TheWiseMarketer (click here to see it – free signup required – or see below).

Another resource we used extensively on this issue when writing our own generational resource two years ago (Mind the Gap, Penguin, 2004 – buy it at our online store, or Amazon.com or Kalahari.net), was Age Power: How the 21st Century Will Be Ruled by the New Old, by Ken Dychtwald (Tarcher, 2000) (buy it at Amazon.com or Kalahari.net).
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What was it all for?

October 17, 2005 Graeme Codrington Book Reviews, Generations No Comments

Anyone interested in generational theory in Australia would do well to get hold of “What Was It All For? The Reshaping of Australia” by Don Aitkin (Allen & Unwin, 2005, ISBN: 1-74114-667-4) (it isn’t available on Amazon, and I can’t find a place to purchase it online – see the publisher page here, but I picked it up at Borders while in Sydney).

Aitken is apparently a well-known Australian social scientist and commentator, especially prolific in the 1970s and 80s. The book is largely the reflections on “the class of ‘53″, his matriculation year. After reconnecting with many school friends at a reunion, he tracks the changes in the past 50 years of Australian history, weaving in social information, facts and stories of his friends. Its an easy read, with some wonderful insights into Australia’s emergence as a real world-class player in the past 50 years. (Read a summary/review onloine here).

His book provides great inputs for anyone wanting to understand the cycle of Generations in Australia, clearly showing all the common generational moments (GI, Silent, Boomers, Xers and Millennials). A great read!

The Wisdom of Crowds

October 17, 2005 Aiden Choles Book Reviews, Diversity 1 Comment

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 infamous O-ring that caused the explosion? This is one of the many case studies and examples that James Surowiecki lists in support of his premise in The Wisdom of Crowds (Buy it at Amazon.com or Kalahari.net):

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The remarkable Big Moo

October 12, 2005 Mike Book Reviews, Innovation 12 Comments

You have often heard me rave about Seth Godin here and on the TomorrowConnecting blog. Seth is a widely admired and respected marketing guru and web commentator (I would highly recommend a visit to his blog).

mooSeth recently launched The Big Moo, a book that encourages companies and organisations to “stop trying to be perfect and start being remarkable”. Extremely keen to get my hands on a copy, I was stoked when I heard that the lads at Jo’blog were handing out free advance uncorrected proofs. How did they get hold of free copies, you ask? Well, the answer to that question is just one of the many reasons why this is a remarkable project:

* Before it’s official release, Seth posted this appeal, which announced the book and asked readers of his blog to spread the word that he was making 10,000 galleys (advanced copies) available in packs of 50 to ANYONE who wanted them, with the understanding that they were not for resale and ideall to be shared. Within days he had responses from all over the globe. Jo’blog was just one of them. How’s that for remarkable marketing?

* Another remarkable feature of the book is the collection of authors who contributed essays and short stories to it. 33 leading business thinkers including Tom Peters, Malcolm Gladwell, Jackie Huba and Mark Cuban (to name a few) all contributed freely of their wisdom to compile an easy-to-read selection of meaningful, relevant and inspiring stories (all great resources if you do presentations). None of the essays credit the authors, so there are no preconceived expectations. You know who contributed to the whole, but not who the individual parts belong to.

* None of these contributors charged a fee, and no-one will make a profit from the sales. All proceeds go to three preselected charities. In fact, a school in Nepal has already been built thanks to the Big Moo and it’s authors.

I’ve finished the book and thought it was great. It’s really quick and simple to read, is current and relevant and has some nice new thinking thrown into it. I would highly recommend that you buy a few for your company – they’re not pricy at all.

You can order the book here.

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Posts about Future Trends

A Radical Proposal for Executive Pay

March 15, 2010 Graeme Codrington

A Radical Proposal for Executive Pay

Everyone agrees that something must be done about executive pay. One of the major contentious issues emerging out of the financial crisis is the way that senior executives and manager, especially in the financial industries, are remunerated. These days, executive pay often seems to be unrelated to the company’s performance, and in many [...]

The future of money

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The future of money

For years banks and credit card companies have held a strangle hold over the movement of money and charged exorbitant rates for doing so. Now this is changing and fast.
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Twitter 10 Billion – quality not quantity

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Twitter 10 Billion – quality not quantity

In the last few hours the 10 billionth tweet was tweeted on Twitter. As one would imagine there was all kinds of hype and excitement, as Tweeps with the necesary skills attempted to predict the time it would happen, and I imagine even be ‘the one’?
My last tweet was 9999989724. Wild. Will be at 10 [...]

When social media grows up… it will change everything

March 4, 2010 Graeme Codrington

When social media grows up…  it will change everything

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Twitter recently hosted it’s billionth Tweet and Facebook had over 500 million users [...]

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DeanvanLeeuwen: Whats next for global banks - McKinsey Quarterly http://ow.ly/1lgNo
34 minutes ago
DeanvanLeeuwen: “Worry not the size of the stage on which you will be called to perform, worry that you have something to say!”
39 minutes ago
DeanvanLeeuwen: TomorrowToday's thoughts Twitter 10 Billion – quality not quantity http://ow.ly/1lgBV
40 minutes ago
DeanvanLeeuwen: TomorrowToday's Blog A Radical Proposal for Executive Pay http://ow.ly/1lgzF
41 minutes ago
DeanvanLeeuwen: @magdanieto You are very kind :-) if you know of anyone/company looking for external speakers plse put my name fwd. Looking fwd to ur tweets
45 minutes ago
DeanvanLeeuwen: RT @SeaShepherd: : Do #sharks need protection from us? You betcha http://bit.ly/agH2iM Do your part http://bit.ly/9L0m8c #actnow
54 minutes ago
DeanvanLeeuwen: RT @fastcompany: how Twitter Ads should work http://bit.ly/ciEQcC
2 hours ago
barriebramley: Melanie Minnaar believes children innately grasp what their "Rights" are. Do you agree? http://bit.ly/d8L2kv (via @JoziKids)
2 hours ago