Repose Thy Faith in This Sweet Queen...
Tuesday, 31 July 2012
SPRING CLEANING - CLEAR THE DEBRIS
Orgs, stay in your best product lines!!
*strong portfolios, high margins, niche markets..
THE "DOGS OF THE DOW" = From run-off to write off.
Aim to be No 1 or 2 in EVERY market you enter...
Employees/FL need to see the Big Picture. Quicksand slows you down.
TRANSITION - SHORT AND SHARP
Scalpel not hara-kiri.
LESSON
DO NOT BECOME KODAK OR GM!!!
To be somewhat rude, CUT THE CRAP!!
Monday, 30 July 2012
BLUEPRINT CROSS FUNCTIONAL STRATEGY ('CFS'): CROSS CHANNEL METRICS
IDEA IN BRIEF
Let's adopt the metaphor of the Channel Tunnel, and how that tunnel relates to inter-functional, cross departmental collaboration.
MISSION
Collaborative targetting from departments/functional lines/business units to collectively hit target zone
(eg increased sales, beter customer service, working capital etc)
ASPIRATION
SEAMLESS EXECUTION
GOAL - TELEOLOGY
Alleviate bottlenecks. Eliminate (or reduce) siloes. Breaking down "Border Protection" in a boundaryless organisation.
EG PLANNING
Ops responsible for hardship metrics (and vice versa); compliance responsible for hardship/legal/risk, etc with all permutations.
- To the appropriate degree
(based on regulator + operational risk as well as risk appetite).
IMPLEMENTATION
* Appropriate mix of cross-functional incentives and targets = inter-managing dept results.
LEARNING
SME and team-based learning (individual and collective) setting:
CROSS-ANALYTICS --- CROSS METRICS
FOCUS = SHARED LOAD . RAPID WINS
RESULT
Trained pilots (individual contributor + line) ready to fly at exponential, safely increasing altitudes.
COLLECTING THRU THE CYCLE: THE 'KISS KIT' ( 0 )
Due to rapid devereraging in credit markets, Linkedin is currently featuring several articles regarding debt collection and consolidation servicing.
Having worked in Collections, I am a rabid fan of 'Universal' agents. These are agents with the ability and, TRAINING, to manage and prosper through the business cycle. Universal agents, as such, acquire the universal, 360 perspective and nous to generate revenue and increase efficiencies, thereby expanding the business as a whole. They understand their product/business line is only part of a wider whole to which they actively subscribe and contribute. Hence, Universal agents achieve the wider mission of the company with hearts and heads: they are brand ambassadors and solution wizards.
HOW??
Whether personal, margin, insurance or auto lending and collection, Universal agents are highly skilled inbound-outbound, lateral-thinking men and women who can deliver exceptional service from front to back in their business, while fishing and locating best prospects for future growth. They can cross-sell product lines, eg income insurance, personal debt consolidation, appropriate lending facilities while encouraging responsible consumer and lending behaviour. Effectively, they self-manage..
THE 'KISS KIT'
KISS: Keep Insuring Stellar Service. Universal agents manage all levels of the credit cycle through to write-offs. They aim to please, even in context of delinquency. That heavily indebted "burden" walks away with a smile on his/her face at the level of consideration and quantum of service they have received. They may even be "Wowe'd"! Customer delight is a full time gig :)...
KIT: Keep in Touch. Universal agents use social media, follow-up to listen to the customer, and respond with agility. They internalise the Voice of the Customer. That lumbering 90+ defaulter restructures to deliver profitable growth.. For the Customer, Universal agents are die-hard fans.
INNOVATION/COLLABORATION
By the same token, Universal customer service-collection agents partner with all ends of the business. They can draw - indeed, eagerly draw - on legal and risk expertise to reduce inefficiencies, streamline operations/targets while generating leads.
FINALLY..
They are passionate about the Company's culture, and dedicated to its Mission Statement.
And, naturally, THEY ASPIRE TO WIN :)!!
Having worked in Collections, I am a rabid fan of 'Universal' agents. These are agents with the ability and, TRAINING, to manage and prosper through the business cycle. Universal agents, as such, acquire the universal, 360 perspective and nous to generate revenue and increase efficiencies, thereby expanding the business as a whole. They understand their product/business line is only part of a wider whole to which they actively subscribe and contribute. Hence, Universal agents achieve the wider mission of the company with hearts and heads: they are brand ambassadors and solution wizards.
HOW??
Whether personal, margin, insurance or auto lending and collection, Universal agents are highly skilled inbound-outbound, lateral-thinking men and women who can deliver exceptional service from front to back in their business, while fishing and locating best prospects for future growth. They can cross-sell product lines, eg income insurance, personal debt consolidation, appropriate lending facilities while encouraging responsible consumer and lending behaviour. Effectively, they self-manage..
THE 'KISS KIT'
KISS: Keep Insuring Stellar Service. Universal agents manage all levels of the credit cycle through to write-offs. They aim to please, even in context of delinquency. That heavily indebted "burden" walks away with a smile on his/her face at the level of consideration and quantum of service they have received. They may even be "Wowe'd"! Customer delight is a full time gig :)...
KIT: Keep in Touch. Universal agents use social media, follow-up to listen to the customer, and respond with agility. They internalise the Voice of the Customer. That lumbering 90+ defaulter restructures to deliver profitable growth.. For the Customer, Universal agents are die-hard fans.
INNOVATION/COLLABORATION
By the same token, Universal customer service-collection agents partner with all ends of the business. They can draw - indeed, eagerly draw - on legal and risk expertise to reduce inefficiencies, streamline operations/targets while generating leads.
FINALLY..
They are passionate about the Company's culture, and dedicated to its Mission Statement.
And, naturally, THEY ASPIRE TO WIN :)!!
Sunday, 29 July 2012
PRODUCT PLACEMENT ---- EQUITY DRIVE (UNDERIVATIVE FUEL) ---- EL DORADO
From the valley to the summit /
DARK COMMANDER: AMONGST THE LIVING +++
She comes to me like a sandstorm in an hourglass, a whirlwind of desire...
Les Djinns
'Murs, ville
Et port,
Asile
De mort,
Mer grise
Où brise
La brise
Tout dort.Dans la plaine
Naît un bruit.
C'est l'haleine
De la nuit.
Elle brame
Comme une âme
Qu'une flamme
Toujours suit.La voix plus haute
Semble un grelot.
D'un nain qui saute
C'est le galop.
Il fuit, s'élance,
Puis en cadence
Sur un pied danse
Au bout d'un flot.La rumeur approche,
L'écho la redit.
C'est comme la cloche
D'un couvent maudit,
Comme un bruit de foule
Qui tonne et qui roule
Et tantôt s'écroule
Et tantôt grandit.Dieu! La voix sépulcrale
Des Djinns!... - Quel bruit ils font!
Fuyons sous la spirale
De l'escalier profond!
Déjà s'éteint ma lampe,
Et l'ombre de la rampe..
Qui le long du mur rampe,
Monte jusqu'au plafond.C'est l'essaim des Djinns qui passe,
Et tourbillonne en sifflant.
Les ifs, que leur vol fracasse,
Craquent comme un pin brûlant.
Leur troupeau lourd et rapide,
Volant dans l'espace vide,
Semble un nuage livide
Qui porte un éclair au flanc.Ils sont tout près! - Tenons fermée
Cette salle ou nous les narguons
Quel bruit dehors! Hideuse armée
De vampires et de dragons!
La poutre du toit descellée
Ploie ainsi qu'une herbe mouillée,
Et la vieille porte rouillée,
Tremble, à déraciner ses gonds.Cris de l'enfer! voix qui hurle et qui pleure!
L'horrible essaim, poussé par l'aquillon,
Sans doute, o ciel! s'abat sur ma demeure.
Le mur fléchit sous le noir bataillon.
La maison crie et chancelle penchée,
Et l'on dirait que, du sol arrachée,
Ainsi qu'il chasse une feuille séchée,
Le vent la roule avec leur tourbillon!Prophète! Si ta main me sauve
De ces impurs démons des soirs,
J'irai prosterner mon front chauve
Devant tes sacrés encensoirs!
Fais que sur ces portes fidèles
Meure leur souffle d'étincelles,
Et qu'en vain l'ongle de leurs ailes
Grince et crie à ces vitraux noirs!Ils sont passés! - Leur cohorte
S'envole et fuit, et leurs pieds
Cessent de battre ma porte
De leurs coups multipliés.
L'air est plein d'un bruit de chaînes,
Et dans les forêts prochaines
Frissonnent tous les grands chênes,
Sous leur vol de feu pliés!De leurs ailes lointaines
Le battement décroît.
Si confus dans les plaines,
Si faible, que l'on croit
Ouïr la sauterelle
Crier d'une voix grêle
Ou pétiller la grêle
Sur le plomb d'un vieux toit.D'étranges syllabes
Nous viennent encor.
Ainsi, des Arabes
Quand sonne le cor,
Un chant sur la grève
Par instants s'élève,
Et l'enfant qui rêve
Fait des rêves d'or.Les Djinns funèbres,
Fils du trépas,
Dans les ténèbres
Pressent leur pas;
Leur essaim gronde;
Ainsi, profonde,
Murmure une onde
Qu'on ne voit pas.Ce bruit vague
Qui s'endort,
C'est la vague
Sur le bord;
C'est la plainte
Presque éteinte
D'une sainte
Pour un mort.On doute
La nuit...
J'écoute: -
Tout fuit,
Tout passe;
L'espace
Efface
Le bruit'.
Victor Hugo
("Murs, ville et port.")
[XXVIII., Aug. 28, 1828.]
'Town, tower,
Shore, deep,
Where lower
Cliff's steep;
Waves gray,
Where play
Winds gay,
All sleep.
Hark! a sound,
Far and slight,
Breathes around
On the night
High and higher,
Nigh and nigher,
Like a fire,
Roaring, bright.
Now, on 'tis sweeping
With rattling beat,
Like dwarf imp leaping
In gallop fleet
He flies, he prances,
In frolic fancies,
On wave-crest dances
With pattering feet.
Hark, the rising swell,
With each new burst!
Like the tolling bell
Of a convent curst;
Like the billowy roar
On a storm-lashed shore,--
Now hushed, but once more
Maddening to its worst.
O God! the deadly sound
Of the Djinn's fearful cry!
Quick, 'neath the spiral round
Of the deep staircase fly!
See, see our lamplight fade!
And of the balustrade
Mounts, mounts the circling shade
Up to the ceiling high!
'Tis the Djinns' wild streaming swarm
Whistling in their tempest flight;
Snap the tall yews 'neath the storm,
Like a pine flame crackling bright.
Swift though heavy, lo! their crowd
Through the heavens rushing loud
Like a livid thunder-cloud
With its bolt of fiery might!
Ho! they are on us, close without!
Shut tight the shelter where we lie!
With hideous din the monster rout,
Dragon and vampire, fill the sky!
The loosened rafter overhead
Trembles and bends like quivering reed;
Shakes the old door with shuddering dread,
As from its rusty hinge 'twould fly!
Wild cries of hell! voices that howl and shriek!
The horrid troop before the tempest tossed--
O Heaven!--descends my lowly roof to seek:
Bends the strong wall beneath the furious host.
Totters the house as though, like dry leaf shorn
From autumn bough and on the mad blast borne,
Up from its deep foundations it were torn
To join the stormy whirl. Ah! all is lost!
O Prophet! if thy hand but now
Save from these hellish things,
A pilgrim at thy shrine I'll bow,
Laden with pious offerings.
Bid their hot breath its fiery rain
Stream on the faithful's door in vain;
Vainly upon my blackened pane
Grate the fierce claws of their dark wings!
They have passed!--and their wild legion
Cease to thunder at my door;
Fleeting through night's rayless region,
Hither they return no more.
Clanking chains and sounds of woe
Fill the forests as they go;
And the tall oaks cower low,
Bent their flaming light before.
On! on! the storm of wings
Bears far the fiery fear,
Till scarce the breeze now brings
Dim murmurings to the ear;
Like locusts' humming hail,
Or thrash of tiny flail
Plied by the fitful gale
On some old roof-tree sere.
Fainter now are borne
Feeble mutterings still;
As when Arab horn
Swells its magic peal,
Shoreward o'er the deep
Fairy voices sweep,
And the infant's sleep
Golden visions fill.
Each deadly Djinn,
Dark child of fright,
Of death and sin,
Speeds in wild flight.
Hark, the dull moan,
Like the deep tone
Of Ocean's groan,
Afar, by night!
More and more
Fades it slow,
As on shore
Ripples flow,--
As the plaint
Far and faint
Of a saint
Murmured low.
Hark! hist!
Around,
I list!
The bounds
Of space
All trace
Efface
Of sound'.
Hello Batwoman,
Signed,
The Joker
Saturday, 28 July 2012
Thursday, 26 July 2012
Wednesday, 25 July 2012
GOODY CAT-WOMAN, DANCE THE NITE AWAY........
MEOWWWWWWWWWWW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Tuesday, 24 July 2012
Sunday, 22 July 2012
"WE OWE IT TO OURSELVES" - AUSTRALIA AND CORPORATE BONDS: IOU 2 WE OWE US
[Page under construction, but here are my preliminary thoughts]
This could well be, as George Megalogenis asserts, 'Australia's Moment'.
But we have got to give Oz credit, or make that debt..
The domestic corporate bond market is still under-developed.
With super funds hammered - and largely stagnant in equities - now is the time, say critics, to look at stronger local issuance.
Cf NAB TRU Energy and Murray Goulburn offerings.
Low corporate debt levels. Although our banks are more highly geared qua banking , still have hefty balance sheets through record profits. Nevertheless, the cost of foreign debt has clearly risen, and Europe's woes will only slowly abate. 10-yr Australian bond rate low and we have a sustainable level of government debt with unique terms of trade.
Australian corporates are financially responsible, well-managed and expanding into APAC, even in face of recent downgrades. Eg, BHP. SMEs should also be able to source capital via either private placement or bond issuance if IPOs are down.
I looked for corporate bonds as an investment class but was told by a representative at a major bank that bonds were 1) unavailable or 2) available, only in prohibitive tranches of $100K or more.
As several authors contend, should thus extend corporate debt investment to retail investors.
After all, return on equity and property not going very far at the moment. Little certainty in market.
Time for Australia to enter new economic phase: deepening in debt market.
Have corporate finance, underwriting and structuring expertise. But borkers are 'broken'. Time to look for stronger paradigm, better model? And look to demand..
As Mark Eggleton observes, regulatory and cultural/systemic hurdles to growing corporate bond pool.
Only 1% of Super Funds invested in bonds.
NAB corporate debt, however, returns 2.75% over the benchmark rate.
Extend to SMEs + EDUCATION according to Rick Sawers.
BASEL III
Means we have got to get our game on..
Reduced leverage
Risk mitigation
Diversified out of equities and listless cash
Busting of credit Super-Bubble
Echoed by Will Farrant at Credit Suisse.
Whatever past investor predilection, corporate bonds could offer entry point for Gen Y investors looking for stable, attractive returns.
Feasible entrance into market? Less speculative.
This could well be, as George Megalogenis asserts, 'Australia's Moment'.
But we have got to give Oz credit, or make that debt..
The domestic corporate bond market is still under-developed.
With super funds hammered - and largely stagnant in equities - now is the time, say critics, to look at stronger local issuance.
Cf NAB TRU Energy and Murray Goulburn offerings.
Low corporate debt levels. Although our banks are more highly geared qua banking , still have hefty balance sheets through record profits. Nevertheless, the cost of foreign debt has clearly risen, and Europe's woes will only slowly abate. 10-yr Australian bond rate low and we have a sustainable level of government debt with unique terms of trade.
Australian corporates are financially responsible, well-managed and expanding into APAC, even in face of recent downgrades. Eg, BHP. SMEs should also be able to source capital via either private placement or bond issuance if IPOs are down.
I looked for corporate bonds as an investment class but was told by a representative at a major bank that bonds were 1) unavailable or 2) available, only in prohibitive tranches of $100K or more.
As several authors contend, should thus extend corporate debt investment to retail investors.
After all, return on equity and property not going very far at the moment. Little certainty in market.
Time for Australia to enter new economic phase: deepening in debt market.
Have corporate finance, underwriting and structuring expertise. But borkers are 'broken'. Time to look for stronger paradigm, better model? And look to demand..
As Mark Eggleton observes, regulatory and cultural/systemic hurdles to growing corporate bond pool.
Only 1% of Super Funds invested in bonds.
NAB corporate debt, however, returns 2.75% over the benchmark rate.
Extend to SMEs + EDUCATION according to Rick Sawers.
BASEL III
Means we have got to get our game on..
Reduced leverage
Risk mitigation
Diversified out of equities and listless cash
Busting of credit Super-Bubble
Echoed by Will Farrant at Credit Suisse.
Whatever past investor predilection, corporate bonds could offer entry point for Gen Y investors looking for stable, attractive returns.
Feasible entrance into market? Less speculative.
NEAT ADS: AUSTRALIANS (AND NEW ZEALANDERS) ARE REALLY CLEVER :) xxxxxxxx
This ad, for Telstra, the national carrier appeared in Business Review Weekly lately. I'm sure Professor Horne would find this very horne-y (!)
Friday, 20 July 2012
RIDE THE LIGHTNING - NEW BREED FACTORY
Thursday, 19 July 2012
SPIRAL-OUT ) ) ) ) ) (IN APPRECIATION OF ROSABETH MOSS KANTER AND HOWARD SCHULTZ)
LATERALUS - TOOL
'Black then white are all I see in my infancy.
Red and yellow then came to be, reaching out to me.
Lets me see.
As below, so above and beyond, I imagine
Drawn beyond the lines of reason.
Push the envelope. Watch it bend.
Over thinking, over analyzing separates the body from the mind.
Withering my intuition, missing opportunities and I must
Feed my will to feel my moment drawing way outside the lines.
Black then white are all I see in my infancy.
Red and yellow then came to be, reaching out to me.
Lets me see there is so much more
And beckons me to look through to these infinite possibilities.
As below, so above and beyond, I imagine
Drawn outside the lines of reason.
Push the envelope. Watch it bend.
Over thinking, over analyzing separates the body from the mind.
Withering my intuition leaving all these opportunities behind.
Feed my will to feel this moment urging me to cross the line.
Reaching out to embrace the random.
Reaching out to embrace whatever may come.
I embrace my desire to
Feel the rhythm, to feel connected
Enough to step aside and weep like a widow
To feel inspired, to fathom the power,
To witness the beauty, to bathe in the fountain,
To swing on the spiral
Of our divinity and still be a human.
With my feet upon the ground I lose myself
Between the sounds and open wide to suck it in,
I feel it move across my skin.
I'm reaching up and reaching out,
I'm reaching for the random or what ever will bewilder me.
And following our will and wind we may just go where no one's been.
We'll ride the spiral to the end and may just go where no one's been.
Spiral out. Keep going, going'..
REORIENT
SELF-BIAS RESISTOR - FEAR FACTORY
'Hey you! Wake up!
Open your swollen eyes
Erosion invades your mind
A cancer that grows over time
Hey you! Rise up!
Rise to fight, eliminate
Burn your fuse to detonate
The human machines of hate
All these years they've tried to break you
To your knees
Anger scours right through your veins
Now it's time to put an end
To all the lies
Now it's time to take control
Of your life
Wake up! Rise up!
Open minds will dominate
Burn your fuse to detonate
The human machines of hate
All these years they've tried to break you
To your knees
Anger scours right through your veins
Now it's time to put an end
To all the lies
Now it's time to take control
Of your life
Hypocrisy
You can't believe
Machines of hate
A disease that infiltrates
Persist for resistance
Resist their insolence
You are a dissident
Burn away conformity
All these years they've tried to break you
To your knees
Anger scours right through your veins
Now it's time to put an end
To all the lies
Now it's time to take control
Of your life
They have tried to break you
They have tried to break you'
Sunday, 15 July 2012
THE ARTLESS POWER OF ART: SPREZZATURA, ONLY FOR THE NONCHALANT
What unites Warren Buffet, Jascha Heifetz, Paul Volcker, Vladimir Horowitz, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Paul Keating and the Renaissance Courtier?
The sly and humble art of sprezzatura..
Sprezzatura, as defined in Baldessare Castilglione's First Book of the Courtier, is the art of non-art. Have you noticed how virtuosi of our socio-economic and cultural orb move effortlessly between, and among their subject-s?
I argue this: great artists and persons of action (not solely renown) achieve, by effortless grace, what the rest of us are denied. With the studied art of the courtier, nevertheless, I contend even we may attain that art.
Heifetz, the peerless athlete bestriding the fiddle;
Volcker, hounding inflation to single-digit subjection;
Horowitz, the wizard of the keyboard (perhaps Jobs deserves a place?);
Keating, deft deliverer of the rhetorical master-stroke;
In Art, in science, in business and in life, I hope we attain to courteous conquest -
With grace and equipoise, may we spring fair Athena from stalwart Zeus' head?
For, as Churchill said, 'Mastery is the prize of the Venture'..
THANKS, WHITNEY! LET'S STAND UP FOR OURSELVES RE WORKPLACE BULLYING...
A wonderful blog appeared in Harvard Business Review regarding an unwonderful subject - workplace bullying. If you want to understand the maxim Homo Homini Lupus and its place in modern organisational life, you must read Whitney Johnson's, 'Bullying Is a Confidence Game', 13 July 2012. This is one step I didn't tread in my last post. However, I am sorry to say I know workplace bullying very well, as I presume (dangerous though it is to presume) do countless other individual contributors. Indeed, it seems bullying extends to other managers, even senior executives..
Whitney Johnson is, from the start, remarkably accomplished. Whitney is an entrepreneur, a double ranked gold equity analyst, a former Merrill Lynch senior manager and partner in Rose Park Advisors with Clay Christensen, the father of disruptive innovation. Which makes it all the more telling that a formidable woman such as Whitney has also been bullied at work. (I will not repeat what Whitney addresses sensitively in her blog).
The fact is, however, bullying often happens surreptitiously. According to Whitney Johnson, your immediate manager may well comes across as sincere, and well-intentioned. Nonetheless, the prudent subordinate ought always to perform preliminary due diligence, meanwhile alert to any signal of an ulterior motive or political agenda. A bullying manager, Whitney adds, will very likely perform an unexpressed SWOT analysis of the intended victim's weaknesses to make him or her more pliant and bewildered. In the face of seemingly 'superior' criticism, we all have a tendency to wilt...
So, how do we collectively address workplace bullying? For my part, Human Resources is the key strategic actor in engendering a hopeful, forward-looking culture throughout any private organisation. I do not consider that HR should be sidelined to a support-role within the corporate matrix. If the Org Chart gets in the way of instilling solid values and managerial discipline, your company is between a rock and a very hard place.
And, let's be clear, managerial or, generally, workplace bullying, through either inducement or intimidation, is rarely direct. As Oscar Wilde quipped, 'The Truth is never pure, and rarely simple'). Far from sticks-and-stones simplicity, Whitney Johnson notes,
'..in the business world, bullying is far more complex.
In business, bullies are would-be leaders who, rather than use their talent for assessing strengths and weaknesses in the service of their team and their company, instead look to construct an uncontested fiefdom. There can be a very thin line between a bully and a leader'.
Which, in my estimation, requires all members of an organisation (me included) to be on the look-out for bullying/intimidation and to refrain from indulging or participating in it ourselves..
Let's reserve those arrows for the competition and our organisational goals in pursuit of the Aristotelian 'Good'. For companies, at least, that means managing our human resources appropriately, and deploying them in service of the greater good. In short, deploying resources, effectively, to win :)
Thursday, 12 July 2012
TIME TO COME DOWN ON MIDDLE MANAGEMENT: A HARD AUSTRALIAN TRUTH
Australia has the resources, and the higher-learning base to achieve great results in the APAC region. But all too often, as recent media reports and Treasury forecasts attest, Australian managers hold up the show..
David Gruen, head of Treasury's macro-economic forecasting network, contends that Australian business could lift productivity by as much as 8% with better management practices. International monographs regarding global management performance have appeared, to similar effect, in Forbes magazine and in academic publications.
My personal view is this: times are changing, and Australian management - particularly middle management - needs to get ahead of this change. Top-down, rule-focussed compliance can only deliver so much; there are attitudinal and resource limits to further 'squeezing the lemon'.
What front-line employees and senior stakeholders are desperate for is innovation and critical thinking. These skills cannot be driven by a moribund industrial model with a mindset of "sorry, not done here". As Jack Welch insisted in a recent podcast, large multinationals as well as medium and small-sized businesses require every 'mind in the game' to deliver exceptional performance and results.
And, unfortunately, Australia cannot afford the risk of succumbing to Dutch disease. There is only so long that we can rely, uncritically, upon the resources elephant to continue to watch our back. As Bob Hawke and Paul Keating argued, Australia can do much more than simply 'dig out of the ground'. We can, indeed, achieve resource diversification through alternative energy use and encourage innovation within the resources sector itself. In the process, we could diversify our equity and debt markets to handle more start-ups and green energy solutions. More diversification could be good for exposed super funds too.
In searching for the crux of this management problem - a national emergency, in some respects - I look particularly to the work of Donald Horne. We have the makings of the Lucky Country; in spite of our demographic limitations, Horne would agree, Australians could occupy one of the luckiest of continents if we embrace reform and structural innovation. By jettisoning the branch-mentality of being a colonial backhouse operating under the paradigm of the 'colonial cringe', Australia is positioned to lead at the frontier.
Asia-Pacific, as ANZ and Rio Tinto etc have discovered, is hungry for Australian resources and financial expertise. Market leaders, nevertheless, depend, to a great extent, upon dynamic followers. Large supply-chain effects and networks lead to increased regional activity, for example - something Gareth Evans intuits. We have economic expertise in Professors Ken Henry, Ross Garnaut and Saul Eslake, Shane Oliver et al.
Australian management can do this! Look at the micro-programmes business could institute. Greater rewards/incentives for new design and process improvement; better front and middle-line education in 'boundaryless' behaviour; improved communication at all levels of an organisation; innovation pipelines tied to explicit innovation goals and team targets/bonuses.
Or, quite simply, having fun at work :) Trying new things, inducting new hires to get excited about creative projects - not just the bottom line. Being willing to fail.. And, as Morten Hansen and Jim Collins lay out in 'Great by Choice', combining (and recombining) empirical creativity and discipline to achieve outsized financial results as well as pro-social gains. Reducing corporate inertia, unethical practice and worker absenteeism. Building the future.
C-mon, Australian managers, let's give this a go. In that long-haired, bad-boy entrepreneur, Richard Branson's words, 'Screw it, let's do it'...
David Gruen, head of Treasury's macro-economic forecasting network, contends that Australian business could lift productivity by as much as 8% with better management practices. International monographs regarding global management performance have appeared, to similar effect, in Forbes magazine and in academic publications.
My personal view is this: times are changing, and Australian management - particularly middle management - needs to get ahead of this change. Top-down, rule-focussed compliance can only deliver so much; there are attitudinal and resource limits to further 'squeezing the lemon'.
What front-line employees and senior stakeholders are desperate for is innovation and critical thinking. These skills cannot be driven by a moribund industrial model with a mindset of "sorry, not done here". As Jack Welch insisted in a recent podcast, large multinationals as well as medium and small-sized businesses require every 'mind in the game' to deliver exceptional performance and results.
And, unfortunately, Australia cannot afford the risk of succumbing to Dutch disease. There is only so long that we can rely, uncritically, upon the resources elephant to continue to watch our back. As Bob Hawke and Paul Keating argued, Australia can do much more than simply 'dig out of the ground'. We can, indeed, achieve resource diversification through alternative energy use and encourage innovation within the resources sector itself. In the process, we could diversify our equity and debt markets to handle more start-ups and green energy solutions. More diversification could be good for exposed super funds too.
In searching for the crux of this management problem - a national emergency, in some respects - I look particularly to the work of Donald Horne. We have the makings of the Lucky Country; in spite of our demographic limitations, Horne would agree, Australians could occupy one of the luckiest of continents if we embrace reform and structural innovation. By jettisoning the branch-mentality of being a colonial backhouse operating under the paradigm of the 'colonial cringe', Australia is positioned to lead at the frontier.
Asia-Pacific, as ANZ and Rio Tinto etc have discovered, is hungry for Australian resources and financial expertise. Market leaders, nevertheless, depend, to a great extent, upon dynamic followers. Large supply-chain effects and networks lead to increased regional activity, for example - something Gareth Evans intuits. We have economic expertise in Professors Ken Henry, Ross Garnaut and Saul Eslake, Shane Oliver et al.
Australian management can do this! Look at the micro-programmes business could institute. Greater rewards/incentives for new design and process improvement; better front and middle-line education in 'boundaryless' behaviour; improved communication at all levels of an organisation; innovation pipelines tied to explicit innovation goals and team targets/bonuses.
Or, quite simply, having fun at work :) Trying new things, inducting new hires to get excited about creative projects - not just the bottom line. Being willing to fail.. And, as Morten Hansen and Jim Collins lay out in 'Great by Choice', combining (and recombining) empirical creativity and discipline to achieve outsized financial results as well as pro-social gains. Reducing corporate inertia, unethical practice and worker absenteeism. Building the future.
C-mon, Australian managers, let's give this a go. In that long-haired, bad-boy entrepreneur, Richard Branson's words, 'Screw it, let's do it'...
Saturday, 7 July 2012
SELLING YOUR SOUL
So fed up being alone, in this lonely kingdom,
I want to stretch out 'til I feel your Sun..
Tuesday, 3 July 2012
CO-CREATUS (I + I........n)
Veni, Veni, Creator Spiritus! - Gustav mahler, 'The Symphony of a Thousand'
I rave, for we seek to Become
DRIVE, FOCUS, VISION
We had Speed, Self-Confidence and Globalisation of Services..
Now we have preeminent information, innovation, coordination
The continuous loop of SELF/OTHER-REINFORCEMENT?
Now we have preeminent information, innovation, coordination
The continuous loop of SELF/OTHER-REINFORCEMENT?
EXSTREAMS-OF-CONSCIOUSNESS
To be present at the Co-Creation is to stretch beyond all boundaries..
Has the Business of Life met its unbounded-boundary condition, the germ of its own life-cycle?...
Has the Business of Life met its unbounded-boundary condition, the germ of its own life-cycle?...
MATTHAUS PASSION: THE OVERCOMING
"And, behold, the veil of the temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom; and the earth did quake, and the rocks rent"..
Sunday, 1 July 2012
YEARNING
Lost in desert sands
Of juvenile thoughts,
Forlorn hopes, in a darkening wind,
I cannot wait, I need you by my side.
Having braved the storm Splendid gardens lie across that hill
- Short of sworn war is how I swear to you -
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