Speaking of integrative – perhaps it is worth meditation on not splitting home and work, but rather a holistic approach to your craft that is a seamless and fluid combination of “work” and “non work”. I am consciously going down this path this year – there is no work vs non work, but rather, there is only the main thought of how I want to spend the time …

The ISO 10002:2004 standard is a great set of guidelines for complaints handling. But where are the ISO guidelines for connecting with and celebrating play, happiness, fulfilment, meaning and contribution?

Come to think of it, how much of the ISO standards are there to mitigate “negative” scenarios and situations?

I found this draft standard for fun on the Internet, written by William Stewart. Perhaps this should be a …

“Here is an interesting thought: place an ad in the personals and see if anyone will date your company.” wrote Stefan Engeseth in ONE.

Business is personal. Think of your business as a person. Find a hour or so in your week and write a personals ad for your business. Who do you think this ad will attract? Who don’t you want to attract? Why is your business attracting …

Remember the last time you showed someone from out of town around your city? You start seeing things through their eyes. You notice the little things – the state of the pavements, the state of the general population, the quality of the public transport system, the smells in the air…

We humans are good at taking things for granted – ignoring the things around us that don’t change much …

The conversation we have with others is the relationship!

The following extract is from Susan Scott’s Fierce Conversations – Achieving success at work and in life, one conversation a time. ISBN 0 7499 2381 4.

The phrases “Don’t take this personally” and “Don’t take yourself so seriously” are misguided suggestions. Do take it personally; do take yourself seriously. … Work is deeply personal. Leading is …

The following was prompted by spotting a t-shirt with the slogan “It’s all fun and games until someone gets hurt.”

It’s all “business is just business” until someone gets hurt.

Business is suddenly and rudely no longer just business…
… when jobs are lost.
… when lifesavings vanish into thin air.
… when babies go hungry.
… when homes are taken away.
… when an ex-employee runs amok with a gun.
… when the judge passes …

The following points were inspired by Bruce Mau Design’s An Incomplete Manifesto for Growth. They provide a good foundation to present my thoughts on the conditions necessary to maximise the creative return from an ideas-generation session.

3. Process is more important than outcome. When the outcome drives the process we will only ever go to where we’ve already been.

The journey is the point. Pick …

Looking back on my previous work with decision-makers in situations where we were coming up with possibilities to meet a challenge, I note that one of the most often asked questions was: “Are you saying we should do that?”

This question inevitably comes up when a promising idea surfaces during the course of our conversation. It is interesting that there such an immediate need for the simple, absolute, one, …

By Max McKeown & Philip Whiteley. ISBN 0-273-65614-7.

The table of contents was what caught my attention.

MythPrinciple
You are what you doYou are what you can become
Work comes firstLife always comes first
The boss is superhumanWe are all human
The plan must be secretOnly the goal unifies
People obey ordersPeople do what they want
Orgnisations are machinesThe organisation is a community
All change is goodOnly good …

Some initial thoughts on how a value net can be better than a traditional organisation in today’s world.

Agile – because there is no committee or management tiers, decisions and actions are much faster.
Accountable – each individual takes responsibility for their work; their survival depends on accountability and quality output.
Adaptive – the right individuals can be selected at the right time to produce the right outcome. These individuals can …