Speakerrate – tell that speaker what you thought of him

For a while now, we’ve been talking about going “beyond the hype” of social media (see an article I wrote about this, and our presentation/workshop of the same name). Our argument is that the concepts behind social media will shape the world of work in profound ways. Collaboration, sharing for mutual benefit (and limited, if any, financial reward), real-time feedback loops, relationship without obligation, location based connections, crowdsourcing and getting the minds of many to work for you – these are the types of concepts that will shape the new world of work in the next decade. The fact that social media can help us communicate better is just the (obvious) starting point.

It’s one thing to say this. It’s another thing, of course, when it comes to one’s own industry. And that is what has now happened to me. I spend a lot of my time speaking at conferences, strategy sessions and staff events. And now audiences can use SpeakerRate.com to rate every performance, every talk, on both content and delivery – and do it real time.

SpeakerRate is a community site that is aimed at event organisers, attendees and speakers. Event attendees can provide constructive feedback for the speakers they’ve heard as well as track the talks they’ve attended and research upcoming talks. Speakers can get constructive feedback directly – and immediately – from attendees and find out how they can improve their content and delivery for next time. They can also establish a SpeakerRating, which will help them grow their reputation. Organisers can research and choose the best speakers and presentations for their next event. It is being developed by Pointless Corp., a sandbox at Virginia-based Viget Labs.

I think it’s fantastic, and have signed up already (so, why not go and rate me?).

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Volcanic ashclouds, conferences and keynote speakers

The disruption to flights in Europe gives us an unprecedented opportunity to innovate at conferences. I speak/facilitate regularly at conferences and away day strategy sessions. Some might think it’s a strange way to make a living, but I love it. Well, all except the travel anyway. And in a week like this one, when Europe’s skies have been emptied by a cloud of volcanic ash from Iceland, it is immensely frustrating. So far, two conferences I was due to speak at have been cancelled. I am sure there will be more fallout as this week unfolds.

But last night, in a Facebook status update conversation with one of the world’s most travelled keynote presenters, the leadership expert, Paul Bridle, I got a different perspective.

Paul was due to speak at two events this week in the USA. Both conference organisers are going ahead with their events, and still want Paul to be involved, so they are hooking up with him via Skype. He’ll speak live via video linkup, and even be able to take questions from the audience. If I was him, I’d pre-record the main keynote and provide the conference organiser with a high quality video file to play – this overcomes any bandwidth and connectivity issues. But then, Paul needs to be available live – possibly to do a live intro and outro to the video, and to take the Q&A session. Paul, like myself and many keynote presenters, has access to good video recording (I have a home studio with green screen, lights and multiple cameras – and also have a video producer brother who lives around the corner).

Anyway, my thought was this: maybe this latest disruption to air traffic around Europe will force some conference organisers to try something innovative – like video-based speakers. And they’ll discover that this works. Maybe then in the future they’ll try it again. This could be a game changer for our industry. It will change how we prepare and deliver our value as speakers and experts. It will change how we package our content. It will change the dynamics of an event. Of course, we will lose out on the informal interaction with delegates after the talk – but there are ways we could do that digitally too (Skype terminals available after the presentation, for example).

It will also allow those of us who speak to reduce our prices. Some people wonder how we can charge what we do “for an hour’s presentation”, but they don’t factor in that an hour keynote can actually be three days out of the office. That’s three unproductive days in airports, on planes and sitting around waiting in hotels. We do need to be compensated for that. But not if we can do a keynote from the comfort of our home studio. Most keynotes are set up as one way communication (it’s the nature of the beast for large audiences), and any interaction tends to be digital anyway. This could happen at a distance quite easily.

We just need a reason to innovate. Maybe the Iceland volcano is just such a reason. I look forward to hearing from conference organisers and presenters who are forced to innovate in this way in the week or two ahead. Did it work? What were your experiences? And maybe most importantly – would you do it again?

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CNN’s 6 job market trends for 2010

CNN Living recently carried an article by CareerBuilder.com’s Matt Ferguson. In it, he suggests that there are six key workplace trends that employers should be watching. Read his article here.

I like his list:

1. Hiring contract workers — Be open to job listings that indicate “contract” or “freelance” work. Still cautious of hiring of permanent staff, 25 percent of employers expect to employ contract workers or freelancers in the second quarter to help fill productivity gaps. Thirteen percent said they are likely to hire these workers on a permanent basis.

2. Offering internships — No matter your age, consider applying for an internship for the experience and exposure. Employers are upping their number of interns to cost-effectively add resources in the interim. Nearly one-quarter of employers said that they will be hiring interns at their location in the second quarter.

3. Hiring for social media — Market your social media savvy. As social media rapidly gains popularity among consumers and businesses, employers are taking notice and plan to add jobs and responsibilities related to Web 2.0. Nearly one-in-ten employers plan to hire a new employee in the second quarter to focus on social media. An additional 13 percent plan to add social media management to a current employee’s responsibilities.

… Continue Reading

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TomorrowToday Breakfast presentation – 6 May 2010, JHB

You are invited to an informal business breakfast on the 6th May, in Woodmead Johannesburg. Join the TomorrowToday team as they share their latest research, which uncovers the 5 key drivers of disruptive change found in almost every industry today. Organisations and Leaders who understand the implications of each of these trends, will gain significant competitive advantage as they anticipate the changes and thrive in an ever changing world.

PRESENTATION LINE UP

Keith Coats -a futurist and recognised expert on leadership development. Strategic Leadership is a critical component for any successful business. In order to lead effectively, we need to rethink leadership and strategy at every level. To do this Keith asks the question: What is leadership in this new world of work and how do you learn it? Keith has formally taught, written and consulted on the topic in settings such as the USA, China, Japan, Sweden, Vietnam, UK, Thailand, Russia, Brazil and Africa, He will offer some recent thoughts and insights on this vital question gleaning from his vast international experience.

Barrie Bramley has a passion for understanding and developing talent, while also leading our team as the social software activist, assisting organisations to understand and work with this phenomenon. Barrie will share his latest insights on the remarkable new world of social media and communications technologies, as well as institutional changes in the world of work ‘ how the ‘rules of the game’ are changing.

Dr Graeme Codrington, now based in London, England, will be joining the breakfast session live and in person. Graeme’s international work, based in the financial and cultural heart of Europe and travelling to 15 countries every year, gives him a valuable perspective on the new world of work. Graeme has a passion for understanding how the changing world impacts on people and how they live, work, relate, interact and thrive. Graeme will talk about demographics, the environment, business sustainability and shifts in social values.

Collin Smith is an associate of TomorrowToday South Africa, with expertise in BEE, business development and generational interactions. His current key focus is ‘Generation Y’, the new generation of young people currently entering the world of work.

TomorrowTraining – Being experts in societal change, generational clashes, people adaptability and communication. TomorrowTraining can offer you and your colleagues a wealth of information, skills transformation and applications tailor-made to suit your line of work in the context of the new world of work. Essentially we can provide your workforce with skills that will enable them to do things differently in order to increase productivity. TomorrowTraining will give a brief overview of their course portfolio, and be available to interact with you at the breakfast.

Date: Thursday 6th May 2010
Time: 08H00 for 08H30 – 11H00
Venue: Pembi Woodmead Conference Centre
Building 21C, The Woodlands, Western Service Road, Woodmead, Sandton
Cost: R550 per person

To secure your place at this exclusive event:
Send your RSVP to Vicky , Jude or Laura by 30th April 2010
Deposit your R550 into the bank account listed below: using your company/name as reference

TomorrowToday.biz
Standard Bank Edenvale
Branch Code ( 01-63-42-00) Current account 220 105 065

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Are you wasting your money on leadership development?

Behaviourist B.F. Skinner maintained that education is what survives when what has been learnt has been forgotten. There has been much written about the need to create learning organisations and more resources than fleas on a stray dog have been spent on leadership formation (learning) within organisations. The fact that leadership formation assumes such a high priority within most organisations is fully justified but in terms of how it is done, is it money well spent?

In the face of this learning avalanche, a nagging question persists: Is the effort surrounding leadership formation producing learning or education (as per Skinner’s definition)?  In other words, are organisations and the individuals within them, better off for all the attention on leadership development? Are our leadership programmes really making a significant impact on the way we think, do business, and live our lives? … Continue Reading

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Presenting TomorrowTraining

If you have been following Keith, Barrie, Graeme and Dean’s informative, intriguing, interesting and investigative antics via ezine over the past while, you are no doubt becoming familiar with what the New World of Work implies. You have probably been introduced to some of the challenges people face, in the vein of feeling like nobody really understands your perspective because you all labour away in multi-generational workplaces. The Tomorrow Today team have surely talked you through how the economy has changed over the last 100 years, from agricultural, to industrial to service-orientated to where we are today: in an emotional or connective economy. What’s fascinating now is how people’s collective behaviour has shifted in response to a more EQ based mindset in reaction to a need to build relationships because ultimately we are all emotional beings in a competitive market. We can access knowledge at the push of a button, so really to cope with the New World of Work one has to develop versatile and diverse skills, an open-minded attitude and appropriate values for this contemporary climate. Selling, in particular, in this connective economy requires a completely different focus and big players like Coca Cola; Pepsi Cola; JP Morgan and American Express have been selling charity to attract attention to themselves because consumers increasingly want to give back as they spend. Is this in response to what the world needs environmentally or are people just discovering their philanthropic side?

Being experts in societal change, generational clashes, people adaptability and communication Tomorrow Training can offer you and your colleagues a wealth of information, skills transformation and application tailor-made to suit your line of work in the context of the new world of work. Essentially we can provide your workforce with skills that will enable them to do things differently in order to increase productivity. Whether it’s working with your sales team, your call centre, your receptionists, your management teams, internally and interdepartmentally or with your clients, we can help you communicate more effectively. Whether that’s formally or informally, verbal or written communication, the insights we provide will prove invaluable to you as you progress through this ever-changing, fast paced, technologically driven, competitive global village that the world has become. We will help you see how this change is exciting and can be used to your advantage, rather than something to be afraid of.

For more information, to request details of our courses or to make a booking, please contact Laura Eickhaus in South Africa, or Dean van Leeuwen in the United Kingdom.

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Knowing What You Don’t Know is Important

Yes it’s true. I’m getting coached in ‘Social Media’. “About time” some might say but it’s not just about how to engage in the various kinds of social media available – it’s about learning how to, ‘connect the dots’. It is about understanding how to work with all the options in an integrated manner that makes professional and personal sense. I suspect many more of my ilk could do with some time with my Coach and the reality is that knowing this stuff simply isn’t optional – it’s an imperative.

W. C. Howell is credited with the model with which most of us are familiar when it comes to acquiring a skill. The model moves from a level of ‘unconscious incompetence’ to ‘conscious incompetence’ to ‘conscious competence’ to ultimately, ‘unconscious competence’.  So what does this look like when applied to my development path in the area of social media education?

Unconscious incompetence: A what? ‘c-o-m-p-u-t-e-r. Don’t only major international companies and governments have access to this kind of thing?  I’m not sure I’ll need one, but thanks anyway. The future? Yes, yes…(late 1980’s – early 1990’s)

Conscious incompetence: Wow…how do you switch this thing on? It sure takes up a lot of desk space but looks important, even impressive…where did you say I turn it on? How come there is this blue screen…and what’s that noise? Show me how you did that…that’s really cool, I need to be able to do that stuff. Hold on, not so fast…I just need to make a note of that. (mid 1990’s – early 2000’s)

Conscious competence: Sure I’m on Facebook and I even know that ‘Twitter’ isn’t a term of insult nor is it some sort of birdcall heard only in the mating season. Sure I know how to access that information, open multiple windows and load useful software. How did I ever survive without email?  I know how to solve that problem…just reboot…there see, anything else I can help you with? With some concentration and focus I can link some of my technology gadgets and to really impress fellow travelers, even produce my iPod on flights whilst banging away on my laptop keyboard. Laptop? Apple of course.  Check out that cool little Apple logo that lights up on the lid! (mid – late 2000’s)

Unconscious competence: My tweet directs people to my latest blog which drives folk to the article and website resulting in conversations, connections and further helpful information, relationships and opportunities. There, dots connected and a seamless integration of knowing the why and how behind it all. By catching up I’ve actually been able to slow down and I feel an intricate part of an amazing reality that is unfolding all around me…connections, information and well, relevance. (the future)

Knowing what you don’t know is important. It is your learning pathway into Tomorrow, and it is a journey that shouldn’t be delayed. Let me know and I will put you onto a great social media Coach…

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Free video course on Managing Generation Y at work

In December 09, Graeme Codrington recorded a series of short videos on Managing Generation Y at Work. This was done with Success.tv in London. These videos are now available for free:

The videos are:

• The New World of Work – an introduction to what we do, and the concept that drives our thinking
• The New Generation
• Managing Young Talent
• Personalising the Workplace
• Managing Meetings in the digital age

You may also find value in a four minute introduction to our “Mind the Gap” programme for managing multinational and multicultural teams. You will find it here.

Feel free to use these videos in your companies. But, if you’d like more details or have one of our team speak live at your next event, why not contact us and make a booking enquiry.

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Which movie does that come from? (Wonder know more!)

I picked up a tweet recently which talked of a great new resource called MovieClips. Simple concept – you can remember a line from a movie, but cannot for the life of you remember which movie it’s from. You could search the Internet Movie Database or Google, of course, and find a text reference to it.

But why not search a movie database where the output is both the movie AND the clip you were looking for? That’s what Movie Clips does – 3 minute clips from movies with an exciting search feature. They have kicked off with about 12,000 clips, so you won’t find everything you’re looking for. But hopefully it will be supported and will grow. What a great idea!

But, I want to say more about this. When I checked it out, it told me that the content was only available in the USA and Canada, and that I should email them (link was provided) if I was from another country and wanted access. I was disappointed, but sent the email anyway. I expected very little. The next day, I received an email (from a real human being) saying that they had just switched on the functionality for the UK and that I had access. Oh, and could I comment on the speed and usability, too, please. They’re phasing in different countries, so as not to overwhelm their servers. Good thinking! Great service! Excellent connection! Superb product!

I’m already a huge fan! Long live MovieClips. Check them out.

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S+B’s Best Business Books of 2009

Booz & Co’s Strategy + Business ezine is one of my favourites, and one I always make time to read. Last week’s edition looked at the best business books of 2009, selected by their top team, and helpfully categorised.

If you want to read their reasoning, and some excellent background comments, start here. All I am going to do is list the books (and make it easy for you to buy them – choose from Amazon.com, Amazon.co.uk or Kalahari.net – for South Africa):

… Continue Reading

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The James Martin 21st Century School – understanding the future

I am a huge fan of James Martin. Not the celebrity chef. Nor the inventor of the aircraft ejection seat. Nor any of the other famous James Martins. I am a huge fan of James Martin the futurist and author of one of the best books of all time, “The Meaning of the 21st Century” (see a previous post about the book here).

I recently discovered that a think tank “school” has been created at Oxford university, and named in his honour. It’s the James Martin 21st century school. It seems to be a fantastic institution. You can see an 8 minute video of the Dean of the school, ex-South African, Ian Goldin, speaking recently at TED. Follow the school at Twitter/21school.

The school’s aim is to tackle the toughest challenges of the 21st century, and provide input and resources for the Oxford university community on these issues (see the list below). They aim to formulate new concepts, policies and technologies that will make the future a better place to be. Very nice!

… Continue Reading

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Help! Linking Theory & Practice

I am attending a leadership symposium titled, Indigenous Knowledge and Leadership in Africa Colloquium: Leading in Africa hosted by the University of KwaZulu-Natal Leadership Centre and Africa Ignite. Gathered here are some of the Continent’s most impressive minds when it comes to the subject of African leadership.  Academics are a strange lot. They are a unique species with their own norms and ways of interacting and engagement. They have a hard language to understand, one they use effortlessly but one that can be somewhat exclusive and act as an intimidating ‘barrier to entry’. If you want to enter, to engage…you best learn the language. Speaking simply comes a distant second to complex terminology. Perhaps this is true of all knowledge enclaves be that accountants, lawyers, the medical fraternity and yes, consultants.

The challenge is that theory needs to inform practice and one without the other creates problems. As I listen to what can only be described as ‘deep knowledge’ I am challenged by how best to ensure this is translated, applied and expressed in ‘mainline’ leadership streams. This wisdom seldom impacts the corporate reality where it is so needed. Responsibility for this failure rests with both ‘sides’ and this ‘failure’ creates a new opportunity.

On the side of academia, there is the need to work harder to connect their knowledge by way of application to ‘the real world’ from which they extract their knowledge in the first place. They need to find ways to invite greater diversity into their discourses and deliberations. They need to open the greenhouse door to others who would benefit from witnessing firsthand the growth in knowledge as it occurs. They need to work harder at the ‘so what?’ question and look to connect their deep knowledge to a pragmatic context. They need to ‘interrogate’ (a popular academic word) the process whereby their own insights and understanding finds practical expressions. And just to answer the anticipated answer already forming on the lips of academics: Publishing journals isn’t the answer. Such publications serve to fuel internal debate and form part of the peer review knowledge process but, for the most part, remain secret code hidden and inaccessible to those who need it most.

On the other side, executive leaders need to do more to become learners and to engage in a learning process through which current assumptions and paradigms can be challenged and informed. All too often corporate leaders are seduced by the operational demands they face and so choose what they know (and the area in which they feel competent) over the opportunity to learn and explore unknown terrain. The learning journey is all too threatening to many senior leaders who for the most part give lip service to the need to learn.

And so the gulf widens. The two sides view each other with suspicion and an initial sense of helplessness as to how to embrace the value and lessons embedded within each reality, gives way to a denial that one has anything worthwhile to learn from the other.

This gives rise to the ‘opportunity’ that this divide creates. The opportunity is for bridge-builders, for interpreters to step into the gap: Those capable of translating the best of both sides for the benefit of both sides. Who are these people? I am not sure but one challenge they will face is how to develop and maintain credibility with both sides. Some attempts at translation have met with distain by academia, viewed as a type of ‘commercial sell-out’. ‘ In the same way, anything ‘theoretical’ carries little weighting in the fast paced and measured pragmatic world of the corporate.

So, fancy yourself as a ‘bridge-builder’? A start might be to attend some relevant symposium should you have a large desk and corner office; on the other hand, if your office is filled with strange trinkets and ‘stuff’ – as well as piles of papers, journals and books, best try to get into a board room sometime soo

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A Sandpit to Entice

Just been part of a conversation that happens all too infrequently. You know, one of those conversations that leave you buzzing, unable to sleep or concentrate on the ‘next thing to be done’. A conversation that ‘gets the juices going’ – a conversation in which you suspect the seeds of greatness sit; A conversation in which you see and sense the future. Around the table sat a person with years of experience of managing the Comrades Marathon, an Everest of event management if ever there was one. The other place at the table was taken by one of the most respected Educators in South Africa, a man who has presided over some of the best that SA schools have to offer. The subject? The need to rethink…to seriously rethink, how we go about leadership education.

The current models of leadership education are tired; they are not doing the job. There is lots of effort and endeavor but nothing much is changing. Imagination has given way to efficiency; conversation given way to curriculum; thinking given way to planning. Something is wrong but leadership education is big business and we all know that rethinking current ‘successful’ business models is not something we like to do.

This conversation will see other voices drawn into the mix. It will see a leadership ‘sandbox’ being build and just wait and watch what emerges from such a playground! The genie is out the lamp…it is going to be magic!

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Was I only dreaming?

Last night I had the wierdest experience. I woke up in the early hours of the morning, wakened by a disturbing moment in a fairly vivid dream (the contents of which are not important for this story). My throat was parched, and I needed a glass of water. I knew I had an empty glass next to my bed on the bedside table, and so, not wanting to switch on a light and waken completely, I stumbled out of bed and peered through my bleary eyes into the pitch darkness of the hotel room, trying to find the glass.

I saw the shadowy outline of the glass exactly where I thought I had left it as I went to bed, and reached for it. But it wasn’t there. The shadowy circle that I thought had been the glass immediately shifted a few inches to the right. I reached for it again. It wasn’t there either. Now I became half aware that my brain was telling me where it thought the glass was, rather than actually showing me what was on the table. I ignored what I thought I could see, and swept my hands across the table until I found the actual glass.

OK, so this was not a science experiment. But it did remind me of a TED video I watched recently on optical illusions and why we need to be carefully of thinking we can know anything objectively and how we learn. Check out Beau Lotto on Optical Illusions. You can also see another example of an illusion here. Finally, there is just a fun look at optical illusions here.

When we are developing strategies and looking at the world around us, we need to be careful not to allow our brains to tell us what it thinks we want to see there. It happens all the time. Watch the TED videos – they’ll amaze (and humble) you. Then, check out our presentation on “Seeing the world through other people’s eyes“.

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How, when and why I Tweet and Blog

I’m often asked how I use social media, so I thought it might be helpful to do a quick blog about it. Not because you really care about me, but because it might help spark some thoughts about how you use social media and because it might help you get more out of this website and TomorrowToday’s other resources.

Firstly, then, this blog site. I use it as my filing cabinet for good ideas and good stuff I’ve seen. I focus on tracking trends that are shaping the new world of work, with a particular focus on demography and shifting societal values. But I’m also interested in the impact of other major forces, such as technology, institutional shifts, the environment and ethical consumption. I use this blog as a way of capturing case studies, ideas, trends and especially for writing up bits and pieces that I can later use in longer articles, white papers and books. The categories on the right hand side are linked to existing and expected frameworks (which we use as presentations or workshops with our clients).

As an author, I try and keep a discipline of writing about 200-400 words every day. Sometimes these words are rubbish – those are filed in fragmentary documents on my hard drive. Sometimes they start something that then inspires me to develop an article length entry – most recently, for example, I wrote a monster entry about Good to Great – that took nearly a week to complete. But every now and again, the 200-400 words produce a great thought – and that becomes a blog entry. My aim is one of these every other day.

Our blog has an automatic widget that then reports the new blog entry on Twitter (the feed is at @tomorrowtodayza). I wait about 30 minutes and then Retweet that auto notice using my own Twitter account (@codrington).

… Continue Reading

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From Hawaii: The Real Learning for Teams

Had an insightful conversation today.

As with any education programme orientated around leadership, standard practice is to have participants work in groups, teams or in business-speak, cohorts. Where do they come up with this terminology, some of which is part of the problem but that is another subject!

There are always two main arteries to such group work: The end product (usually some sort of plenary presentation) and then the process itself – the journey towards realizing ‘the end product’.  What happens in a performance driven culture is that the end product – the presentation, becomes the total focus. The pressure to perform, to impress one’s colleagues in many cases becomes a major source of stress. While this is an important aspect to the purpose of the group work, I suspect the ‘real learning’ gets missed.

The ‘real’ learning is embedded in how the group got to the delivery point. It is in the team dynamics, the process of reaching the end goal. Questions that explore this journey seldom get asked and because of that, the very real dynamics of teamwork get ignored. For instance, questions pertaining to leadership in the group and how that evolved, participation, getting stuck and making progress, negotiating differences, handling conflict etc…provide the courageous conversations of real learning in this example.  These tough conversations and analysis this is dependent on the ability to give and receive authentic feedback, and therein sits another problem for without the anonymous forms and HR methodologies to hide behind, many simply do not know how to do this in a constructive, mature way.

My insightful conversation involved an individual who felt excluded from participating in the group process. Repeated efforts to be heard failed, resulting in the individual simply ‘going along’ in silent ‘agreement’.  The group was the poorer for this omission.

The chances of this type of exclusion occurring are significantly increased when working in a diverse or cross-cultural group. The barriers represented by generational difference, cultural differences and personal differences, to name but a few, mean that inclusive cooperation in not easily achieved.

Naturally the APLP programme cannot prevent the difficulties that emerge in doing such group work. However, unlike most executive leadership type programmes, the learning emphasis sits not in the presentation but in the process. Today, having done the presentations, we will be allowing time for unpacking how the respective groups traveled the road towards that goal. It will provide some insightful learning and certainly tee up the opportunity for the teams and individuals to grasp some deep learning. With responsibility for learning resting with the Learner, that will be their responsibility to realize.

I look forward to the session!

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From Hawaii: What Survives?

Education is what survives when what has been learnt has been forgotten (Skinner). The real test of any educational programme can only be truly tested after a significant period of time. This makes a mockery of the way in which the majority of executive educational programmes are currently measured.  The measures are usually immediate and because there is a ‘programme’ mentality towards education in this context, there is seldom a process in place that would allow a more authentic measure, one that stands the test of time.

The implications of this are significant given the investment involved in such programmes coupled with the gaping need to develop adaptive leaders capable of effective leadership into the future. The heart of the issue is one of transferability: How to transfer knowledge from the classroom / learning environment to operational leadership. Whilst leadership pedagogy has shifted somewhat in recent decades from didactic teaching to highly experiential methodologies, nagging questions linger as to whether or not the shift has been sufficient and how best to measure the change. Applying the old measures to new methodologies is clearly problematic.

Three important questions posed to the Asia Pacific Leadership Program (APLP) fellows at the outset by Professor Nick Barker include:

• What do you think I want you to remember 10 years from now?
• What do you think you will actually remember 10 years from now? (Regardless of what I hope you remember). What will actually survive?
• Most important, how will you ensure that you remember a combination of what you want to remember and what I hope you remember?

Responsibility for learning rests with the Learner; Responsibility to provide a structure that develops a learning process rests with the organization; Responsibility to provide the material and learning stepping-stones on the learning journey rests with the Educators.

Certainly, if companies investing in executive leadership education are concerned about achieving greater, ‘bang for their buck’…some urgent questions need to be asked.

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Conferences of the future – more online / more connecting

New and ever improving telecommunication technologies have improved how we communicate. From the first telegrams to virtual reality holographic conference rooms, we’ve come a long way. The key now is not so much the technology (we have the technical ability to put a 3-d representation of a person live on stage anywhere in the world, after all). Of course, we still need better, faster and cheaper broadband to be more evenly spread around the world, but that will happen – sooner rather than later. It’s now more about our acceptance of these technologies, and the user friendliness of their application.

It won’t be too long before a significant number of our conferences go fully digital. That is, the speakers and delegates will all hook up to the Internet, and participate digitally. This will take many forms, the best of which will include video walls and full interactivity.

There are many reasons to go this route, including: making it easier for people to work from home, reducing commuting time, office space, the need for conference rooms (which often stand empty for long periods of time – especially the big auditoriums), reducing the number of flights around the world and the amount spent on corporate conferencing. So, save money, reduce pollution, save time… why would we not do it?

Of course, what we lose is the time between sessions. Conferences are a lot more than just information transfer meetings. Lots of networking happens, and relationship development. It’s often the time between formal sessions that is most important. We can’t change this, and virtual conferences will not replace this aspect.

However, this means that those people who put conferences together need to know exactly WHY they need to get people together physically. There are good reasons to do this – but these need to find their way into the design of the conferences themselves. This is a challenge for the next few years for this industry.

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Online video training on saving energy and saving money

For some years now, we’ve been tracking the issues related to climate change, global warming and the business case for sustainability. We are convinced that these issues are critical for businesses everywhere – not as a nice to have, but for very good business reasons.

We’ve put our money where our mouth is. Working together with one of our clients in the UK, Sustainable Energy Design Solutions (SEDS Ltd), and an online learning team, the 8.45 Club, we’ve developed a series of online, video-based courses designed to help your company and the people who work for you to not only understand the issues, but also do something about them.

The concept of the 8.45 Club is simple. Courses are delivered in 10 minute segments, just right for 8.45am before work gets going properly at 9am. You get an email at 8.45am, giving you the link to a video (if you don’t have access to high speed broadband, the courses can be delivered on video to you). It takes you a few minutes to watch, and a few more to go through the notes, and then you’re ready for the day. Courses typically have 10 modules, and can be done once per day over two weeks, or 2 or 3 times per week over a few months.

We’ve used this format to develop three courses aimed at helping companies to save energy. Doing this will obviously save money, and ultimately help us to secure the future of the planet and our companies. The courses are:

• The Carbon Reduction Commitment Energy Efficiency Scheme: All you need to know about emissions trading, improving energy efficiency and saving money. NOTE: In October 2009, the CRC Energy Efficiency Scheme was delayed by one year to be implemented on April 2011. There are a few regulatory tweaks as well – the course is currently being redone to take this into account. Please speak to us about the update timetable.
• How to Save Energy and Save Money: All you need to know about emissions trading, improving energy efficiency and saving money
• How to Make the Public Sector Green: All you need to know about reducing energy usage, saving money and improving public service

You would need to choose just one of the courses (if you don’t know which one, then the first one is for you). For just £ 47 per course, you get 13 video modules and supporting materials delivered direct to your inbox. If you have 100 or more people who’d like to do the training, we would be happy to chat about a bulk license rate.

You can see the first two modules of each course for free, before signing up. Just follow the links at the bottom of the main pages.

If you have any questions, please email Graeme Codrington.

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How (not) to do business like Jack Welch

Since leaving GE, Jack Welch has refused to retire gracefully or quietly. He has continued to stay vocal and keep his profile in the media, especially by writing and disseminating business advice. I suppose one shouldn’t begrudge him this – after all, he was branded “Manager of the Century” by TIME magazine, after nearly a quarter century in charge of one of the world’s largest companies.

But, does he deserve to be heard so much? Especially now that the model of leadership he espoused has been shown to lead to disaster. In my mind he is an example of much of what we don’t want in the future world of work.

An article which put my thoughts into words was published a while back in The Economist. It was responding to reports that Jack Welch will be lending his name to a new online MBA course. It highlights some of the concerns I have with a “winner takes all”, “profit at any price” ruthless leadership style Jack Welch espoused at GE. It also hints at probably the biggest issue that all such leaders have – they leave no legacy. When they leave, the empire they created collapses. When Welch left GE, he was asked what his legacy would be. He said that this was a question best asked after his successor had retired. That is the right attitude for a leader to have – the long term view. Unfortunately for Welch, it currently looks as if his legacy is a bad one!

Read The Economist article at their website, or an extract below.
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