New Year, New Decade

2000 will soon be ten years old. Welcome to the new decade! (Yes folks, there is no year zero, therefore the calendar decade of the Gregorian calendar begins at year 1 and ends at year 10.) Ok, where have we been and where are what's next? Retrospective and Foresight Looking back cannot really show the ... Read more

Everyone is smarter than me

I love Spolsky's blog. He has also written articles for Inc, such as the one on competition and strategy called Fire and Motion. In the article there is a great quote about how management for his company is not about employees quickly obeying directives. The biggest problem is getting people to tell me when I'm ... Read more

Sakichi Toyoda and the Five Whys Root Cause Analysis

Sakichi Toyoda and the Five Whys Sakichi Toyoda, the founder of Toyota Motor Company, is considered one of the greatest if not the greatest inventor of Japan and the father of Japanese Industrialization. His impact on the world should not be underestimated. As with most historical figures, our tasks are different because we live in ... Read more

The Next 40 Years

This is the sort of post that generally makes me laugh out loud. No one can predict anything like 40 years out. I myself routinely mock anyone who tries to do such a thing. However... However, it is possible to draw out trend lines, even though we can be certain they will shift. And in ... Read more

5 Archetypes of Organizational Culture

According to Freire (2007) there are Five Archetypes of Organizational Culture. Naturally, these cultures are based on, developed and perpetuated by leadership. Those he names: Customer-Centric - The Customer is everything One-Team - Oneness is everything Innovation - Learning is everything Achievement - Getting the job done is everything People-First - Our people are everything ... Read more

The Six Mistakes of Man – Cicero

The delusion that personal gain is made by crushing others. The tendency to worry about things that cannot be changed or corrected. Insisting that a thing is impossible because we cannot accomplish it. Refusing to set aside trivial preferences. Neglecting development and refinement of the mind, and not acquiring the habit of reading and studying. ... Read more

Habitum Alteram Naturam – Part 3

Simplicity and Complexity Habits are simple, nature complex. This formulation is meant to help understand how to talk about and act regarding the future. Change is necessary, and it is even possible. How do we conceive of this possibility? How do we talk about it? The real question regarding talk, is to what degree is ... Read more

Habitum Alteram Naturam – Part 2

Talkin' 'bout the future Talking about the future has two senses, the first is along the lines of "just talk" as opposed to action. The second sense has talking as a part of bringing the future into being. The best way to predict the future is to create it. --Peter Drucker The Monk There is ... Read more

Futurology and Development

Any future must and will actually come from places like Manila and Bangkok. At the very least it will find a home there. The present discourse around futurology is predominantly driven and reflected of the developed world. The future is a developed future along the trajectory of current developed nations. And thereby leaves the most ... Read more