The weekly round up:
- Refuse to be Terrorized – This post is nearly five years old … have we learnt anything yet? The object of terrorism is causing fear, and our governments and press do a better job of it than most terrorists. Yes, it’s a risk … but it’s a tiny portion of the risk we face every day, so let’s get a reasonable perspective on it.
- What’s the difference between empowerment and autonomy? | Management Innovation eXchange – Dan Pink on MIX putting up the idea that “empowerment” is just an insidious and more subtle form of control, given that more often than not, the smart worker has the power already. “Autonomy” is not only more human, but is more efficient, since it goes “with the grain” so involves less friction.
- Rebecca MacKinnon: Let’s take back the Internet! – In this TEDGlobal talk from Edinburgh July 2011, the intermediary role the Internet plays between people and their governments is explored, with some warning that we as yet haven’t had the Internet’s “Magna Carta” moment, and we don’t yet run the Internet with the “consent of the networked”. We’re missing the political mechanisms that would ensure that governments and technology work for the benefit of the public on the web.
- Why America’s Not Creating Enough Jobs–And How to Fix It – Since 1965, US companies have suffered a steady, 75% decline in return on assets. Since 1970, returns to workers in jobs, and in a share of productivity gains, have similarly declined. Coincidence? I suspect not …
- The Future of companies & the modern workforce – A video conversation with John Hagel about the future of companies and workforce. Takeaways:
- after decades of making our supply chains efficient via reduction of supply partnerships, deeper trust-based relationships with possibly many more partners will lead to greater agility and specialisation.
- large companies are still necessary where there are large infrastructure requirements, but many small companies will be able to flexibly scale via loosely-coupled partnerships brokered over the internet
- the next decade will see increasing pressure on companies that maintain an industrial-age business model that emphasises efficiency over effectiveness and agility
- Why a Rise in M.B.A.s Coincided with the Fall of American Industry – What happens when senior management becomes more and more abstracted from the business’ product(s). In the end people deal with the things they are most comfortable with, and ultimately MBAs deal with finances and organisational structures … not the product; so the product suffers. When that happens, all the case studies in the world can’t help you. Who is more interested in products? Engineers …