Eclectic Change

Stay in Touch – Literally – Read the Paper

For the past few years, I tend to skim the headlines online every few days.  I usually feel rushed and unfocused.  However, for the past three weeks, I have had the greatest luxury (privilege?) to be able to sit down in the morning and read two newspapers from the previous day. My partner has been bringing them home from work for me.  With most people coming back to work in a few days and my own demands, I am not sure that this opportunity will last. I had forgotten how satisfying ...

Japan’s oldest citizens are missing. Should we be surprised?

I find it interesting how often I just accept was is being said without serious analysis and then find myself saying - well that makes sense when the "facts" have been disputed.  I found this happening to me when I read one of the headline this week in the New York Times:  Japan, Checking on Its Oldest, Finds Many Gone. I have no qualms about Japan having one of the oldest populations of citizens but really how many people can there be over 110?  Well, apparently Japan thought she had more than...

The Personality Potion

Image via Wikipedia While I was sitting at breakfast this morning, I noticed the book title that my 7 yr old was reading, TreeTops Stage 13 "The Personality Potion" (If you know the scholastic series, you will know that I am boasting because Stage 13 is for 9 to 10 year old.) It was evident to me that here was a blog post if I ever saw one.  So after every one had left for school and work, I sat down to read this delightful book by Alan MacDonald. The story is about a young boy Dann...

Fancy Hands or Fancy Pants? Not sure.

Life is full of chores and too many little things to do .  There is a new service in town that I read about in Fact Company and I am on my second month of giving them a go.  In principle - this is a fantastic concept and service.  Fancy Hands call themselves personal assistants in the clouds and describe themselves as: Every day there are things you need to get done, but they're not necessarily things that you need to do. Just email us and we'll take care of it. Sounds even better than a vir...

Sometimes you really need peanut butter in the house.

My mother used to say:  "If you make your bed, then you have to lie in it."  As a result of this upbringing, I am a bit of a product of "Calvinism". I tend to think that good things won't last and I always wait for the other shoe to drop.   Friends would say I am a glass half empty kind of person.  (Am I using to many metaphors?) My great fortune in life is that my better half lives life with such optimism and positivity it is almost sickening.  (OK, enough with the metaphors except fo...

Rethinking Teams

I am beginning to think that the whole concept of teams is passé.  Don't get me wrong.  I think that my work with team building will be around for the rest of my career and will remain a major source of my income.  However, that said, as I focus more on collaboration I am beginning to wonder if the way we look at working groups is archaic for the new world of work. What brought me to this conclusion?  It was a number of factors.  As I was writing this series on the basic principles for high p...

Favourite Quotes

Have you noticed that each week I post a new quote?  You can find it in the upper right hand column.  I also record the old quotes under the "Quote" tab above if you are interested. I am also looking for short quotes related to the theme of this blog.  Please feel free to add them below.

Rethinking Leadership

The first follower is an underestimated leader. To be a leader - you may have to be the first follower. The populous believes that you can't be a leader without having followers.  I hate this premise - even if I don't have a good argument to dismiss it. While watching people trying to figure out how to get home in spite of all the airplanes not flying due to volcanic ash, it was clear there was no leader of the pack. Nor was it any individual frenzy.  Everyone took personal responsibility f...

Are your a futurist?

I was very fortunate to be be able to attend the Lift10 Conference for the past three days.   Lift is a series of events built around a community of pioneers who get together in Europe and Asia to explore the social implications of new technologies. Each conference is a chance to turn innovation into opportunities by anticipating the major shifts ahead, and meet the people who drive them. It was extremely eclectic in topic choices and workshops.  What was exciting for me was not to listen...

Rethinking Collaboration

What happens when the objective is clear but the resources and time frames keep shifting?  That is exactly what many of us experienced when we ended up in one location and due to the volcanic ash hovering over most of Europe, we could not travel home or to our next meeting. The news kept reporting how calm everyone was.  I know this to be true.  When I first arrived at the airport early Thursday morning - it was so eerie how quiet it was.  Everyone stood at the departure sign expecting the ca...