James Drogan

"I have watched good kids from good families make bad choices, and kids with no seeming chance make good choices. But one thing I have observed. Very few teenagers make the hard choice without some outside encouragement or help in understanding the known consequences, from some source. They nearly always opt for the choice that involves the most fun and/or the least immediate pain, and then learn later that they now have to make yet another choice as a consequence of the original one. And thus they grow up. So quickly."

John Mauldin, October 9, 2009

In late July I spent a day in a seminar with Edward Tufte on this subject.  A fascinating and sometimes frustrating day with the person generally considered to be one of the masters of this suibject.  Hans Rosling is another master of this.  See Rosling's talks at TED.

This morning I cam across this elegant (i.e., as in simple, powerful) graphic, the Economic Recovery Dashboard, from Russell Investments.  Be sure to "mouse over" (what a phrase) the various elements in the graphic.

In Forces and Managing the Business I try to take a look ahead at the issues the business may face and how they might deal with these issues.  I am not forecasting or predicting, but rather trying to lay out plausible alternative futures to think about as a precursor to acting in the event one of these alternatives develops.  The idea here is to get on and off the value curve at the right times.

To the left is an abstract of the value curve.

The initial idea develops and then, a point A, it takes off, contributing value that may grow at an exponential rate.  iTunes and iPhone are great examples of this.

A point B the growth of value begins to decline.  Of course there is more value that will be added past point B, just as value existed before point A.  However, arrival at point B might suggest that we execute an exit strategy and jump on the next wave of value.

This indicates to me that we should understand the fundamental trends that affect our operations, develop some notion of points A and B, and have plans in place for dealing with the these two "turnings."

We may or may not want to be the first on the value wave (i.e., at t = 0 and v = 0), but we ought not to wait until after A.  We don't want to leave money on the table.

And we may or may not want to be the last off the value wave, but we ought not wait beyond B to move to the next big thing.

This is not absolute advice.  The abstraction posited above must be considered in light of the facts on the ground and the elements of the business configuration.

The above is prelude to suggesting that one ought to develop a discipline for thinking about the future.  A start on this can be had by reviewing Futures Thinking: The Basics from FastCompany.

Those of you with whom I have had career discussions will note some similarity to the construct of role, responsibilities, risks, and rewards.

http://kleiosbelly.wordpress.com/2009/09/11/where-does-love-reside/

What an intriguiding idea!

The abstract for this item is

"Time is a finite resource, but energy can be systematically expanded and renewed. Schwartz and McCarthy of the Energy Project describe how to establish rituals that will build energy in four key dimensions: the body, emotions, mind, and spirit. For instance, harnessing the body's ultradian rhythms by taking intermittent breaks restores physical energy. Rejecting the role of a victim and instead viewing events through three hopeful lenses defuses energy-draining negative emotions. Avoiding the constant distractions that technology has introduced increases mental energy. And participating in activities that give you a sense of meaning and purpose boosts the energy of the spirit. The new workday rituals succeed only if leaders support their adoption, but when that happens, the results can be powerful: individuals respond by bringing all their energy wholeheartedly to work--and both companies and their people grow in value."

This is an article in "Managing Yourself" (HBR Article Collection)" by Tony Schwartz, Catherine McCarthy, Stewart D. Friedman, Donald N. Sull, Dominic Houlder,Peter F. Drucker, 50 pages. Publication date: Apr 01, 2008. Prod. #: 10097-PDF-ENG

Source: Harvard Business Publishing, September 10, 2009

<... the lie--deliberate, contrived and dishonest--but the myth--persistent, persuasive, and unrealistic. Too often we hold fast to the cliches of our forebears. We subject all facts to a prefabricated set of interpretations. We enjoy the comfort of opinion without the discomfort of thought.

Mythology distracts us everywhere--in government as in business, in politics as in economics, in foreign affairs as in domestic affairs. But today I want to particularly consider the myth and reality in our national economy. In recent months many have come to feel, as I do, that the dialog between the parties--between business and government, between the government and the public--is clogged by illusion and platitude and fails to reflect the true realities of contemporary American society.

Commencement Address at Yale University

President John F. Kennedy
June 11, 1962

I've always been somewhat skeptical of technology and have bloged on this matter (search on "Turkle" in this blog).

Via my friends at ythe Schwartz Communication Institute comes "Why Gen-Y Johnny Can't Read Nonverbal Cues" subtitled "an emphasis on social networking puts younger people at a face-to-face disadvantage" from the Wall Street Journal.

It seems to me that becomingly overreliant on technology can have a negative impact on our ability fo communicate.  We need to proceed with caution here.

I've never preferred IE (7.0) as a browser because it is simply slow. There are, however, some instances where the website is so tightly wed to the Microsoft technology that IE simply must be used.

I have been a Firefox advocate for some time, but the last version (3.5.2) I installed seems to conflict with other software in my Thinkpad R60. It seems to not shut down properly and lockup my machine. I first noticed this last week and, in an experiment, tried Chrome.

Very fast, this Chrome. Fast to load the browser and fast to load the sites. Easy to use interface once I got over the strange placement of the tabs.  It is, at the moment, my browser of choice. The only drawback I've found to this point is that Zotero doesn't work with Chrome. Hence, when I need to capture or use citations I return to Firefox.

By the way, the capability of Zotero will cause me to take Endnote off the machine.

I also dallied with Safari, but found the interface hard to become friends with. That's probably just me.

The breadth and depth of data and information regarding technology is, for all practical purposes, fathomless. It is probably impossible, and at least impractical, to know all there is to know.

There is, however, a set of data and information about technology that is highly relevant to one’s role and responsibilities in an organization in an industry.

This note suggests ways to discover that set.

...I had little idea what competencies I would need post-graduation beyond the contents of the curriculum.  In hindsight I was not as well prepared as I could have been.  Most of what I needed was not in the curriculum. I have previously blogged on this in Things They Don't Teach You in School.

Harvard Business provides additional useful insights on these post-graduation competencies in 5 Core Competencies for the 21st Century.

I recommend a read.