Having Problems with Foreign Direct Investment?
What are some of the barriers?
Leverage. ROI.
It is easy to see that start up costs in some countries are much lower than start up costs in another.
If the other country does not have the physical plant for example, it will be cheaper to build that plant in the other country.
Currency considerations are another factor
Incentives from a country with little industry are greater than they are from a country where you will compete with the locals.
Market penetration. Would people in countries in the region be more inclined to buy from countries in the region or from western nations.
Partnering. It is easier to partner with business in some countries where western technology is not readily available by making that technology available.
Just a few thoughts.
Regards,
Slim
mail slimfairview@yahoo.com
Copyright (c) 2011 Slim Fairview
Showing posts with label Finance. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Finance. Show all posts
Friday, February 18, 2011
Thursday, February 3, 2011
Watching the Process
The Process
Management, Project Management, Process Management, each a process. Can you isolate the moment you realised that?
I was in the second grade. We were out in the playground for recess. We were playing kickball.
Recess was unstructured. There was no micromanagement of children then.
The two usual classmates were captains. This was SOP. Then, one day, one of the teams had a co-captain.
While some of the other boys in my class complained, “Why do they always get to be captains?” “They always pick their friends. That’s not fair,” I observed the process.
The captains were the natural leaders. This was because they were good at the game and good at picking players. (Athletes will routinely hang out with athletes. Question: Are they picking their friends, or good athletes, or both? Answer: both.)
We root for the underdogs; but we want to run with the winners. Good at sports or bad at sports, each of us wants to be on a winning team.
However, we now had co-captains. I was less concerned with why. I simply wanted to be on a winning team. That was over 50 years ago. I still remember the day. However, we never stop learning. It was only a few weeks ago when I thought about that day that I realised something.
If you are a good athlete, and I am a good athlete, and we have three powerful players in the class; Tom, Dick, and Harry, and we toss a coin for first pick, the following are the possible results:
You have three power players: I have two power players.
I have three power players: you have two power players.
It comes down to the toss of a coin.
Plan B. I have a co-captain. It doesn’t matter who wins the toss. Either way, I have three power players on my team and you have two on your team.
Now, that was not the end of the lesson. That was the beginning.
1. We learned not only about leadership, but also about followship.
2. We learned the art of negotiation and the result of having good leaders.
3. We also learned how to get along without being micromanaged by parents.
4. There was a lesson in conflict resolution and the value of cooperation.
It went on from there.
Some of my classmates complained. They, however, had no viable alternative. They also had no appreciation for the objective assessment of what was happening.
Some had inflated views of their own skills. (If he can do it, so can I.) Yet, none ever explained why others never gravitated to them as leaders.
There was more to be learned by watching the process.
1. How did some classmates interact with others?
2. How did some interact with the teacher?
3. How did the teacher interact with some students as opposed to others?
For the last one, I can offer some insight. If the objective is to encourage a student to participate, the teacher calls on the quiet one. If the objective is to teach the class how to solve a problem, the teacher calls on the student most likely to have the correct answer.
There is much to be said for participation. There is little to be said for sitting on the sidelines. However, as Yogi Berra once said, “You can see a lot by just watching.” To which I shall add, “You can hear a lot by just listening.”
What does this have to do with project management?
Perhaps you shouldn’t be managing projects.
Regards,
Slim
Copyright © 2011 Slim Fairview
Friday, January 21, 2011
Internet Disconnect? NO!
Internet Disconnect? Nooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo.
Among my "skills set" in addition to starting out life as an English major, and transferring schools to major in Finance, I also left the corporate world to write an unpublished (able) novel. I took unique jobs. Steel Fabricator. 10 hours a day on a brake-press, a spot welder, etc.
Plan B. 8 - 10 hours a day at a keyboard.
A. Hot, dirty, heavy, low pay, long hours.....
B. Keyboard, share ideas, connect with people globally!
Type a novel, enter an email, click attach and away we go. See an article -> twitter. Share it with thousands. (Okay, only seven.) Copy paste, high-light, add a link, add a mail to. Or, copy paste a photo, a graph, a chart, or a dozen links to same. Sit down to dinner with a friend across town, across the country, on the other side of the world. Free. (Did I hear someone say skype?)
I heard a rumour you can even run for President using the Internet.
http://slimviews.blogspot.com/
Regards,
Slim
Among my "skills set" in addition to starting out life as an English major, and transferring schools to major in Finance, I also left the corporate world to write an unpublished (able) novel. I took unique jobs. Steel Fabricator. 10 hours a day on a brake-press, a spot welder, etc.
Plan B. 8 - 10 hours a day at a keyboard.
A. Hot, dirty, heavy, low pay, long hours.....
B. Keyboard, share ideas, connect with people globally!
Type a novel, enter an email, click attach and away we go. See an article -> twitter. Share it with thousands. (Okay, only seven.) Copy paste, high-light, add a link, add a mail to. Or, copy paste a photo, a graph, a chart, or a dozen links to same. Sit down to dinner with a friend across town, across the country, on the other side of the world. Free. (Did I hear someone say skype?)
I heard a rumour you can even run for President using the Internet.
http://slimviews.blogspot.
Regards,
Slim
Thursday, January 20, 2011
Frank Investment Strategies
Investing?
Here's the metaphor.
Two friends stop off at a hot dog stand. Ahead of them, they see a man order a hot dog. One says to the other, “I bet he has mustard.” His friend says, “Ketchup.” The man puts mustard on his hot dog. The first friend wins.
They follow him down the street to a pretzel stand. The first man bets that he buys a pretzel with no salt. The second says with salt. The man buys it with salt. The second man wins.
Down the street, the man stops for ice cream. The first man says, “Chocolate”. The second man says, “Vanilla”. The first man wins when the guy in front of them buys a chocolate ice cream cone.
You know all this because you are following the two men and listening in as they make their wagers.
The next thing you know, you are calling your friend on the phone and inviting him to meet you for lunch at the hot dog stand.
When you get there, you see the same two men you saw the day before. They make the same wager. You turn to your friend and say, “I bet the man on the left wins the bet.” Your friend says, “You’re on.”
You bet that the man on the left will win the wager each time.
You win two out of three bets. You come out ahead.
Do you now have some idea of how our investment industry is changing?
You win two out of three bets. You come out ahead.
Do you now have some idea of how our investment industry is changing?
Regards,
Slim
Mail: slimfairview@yahoo.com
Copyright © 2011 Slim Fairview
Slimviews is an non-profit, unfunded, unsupported, and, alas, unprofitable web log by Slim Fairview
http://slimviews.blogspot.com
Commentary on Global Political and Economic Events by Slim Fairview. Read my blog today or hear it from experts in a month or two. Slim
Wednesday, January 19, 2011
Starving Nations and Food Equations
A Metaphor:
If one person in the group does not have enough food to eat, he may die.
For a while, that means more food for the rest of the group. However, that also means one less person to work the farm. That means less food to eat. Less food to eat means someone will die.
For a while, that means more food for the rest of the group. However, that also means one less person to work the farm. That means less food to eat. Less food to eat means someone will die.
Soon, there won't be enough people to work the farm. That means there won't be enough food to eat.
Get the idea?
Slim
Mail: slimfairview@yahoo.com
Copyright (c) 2011 Slim Fairview
If one person in the group does not have enough food to eat, he may die.
For a while, that means more food for the rest of the group. However, that also means one less person to work the farm. That means less food to eat. Less food to eat means someone will die.
For a while, that means more food for the rest of the group. However, that also means one less person to work the farm. That means less food to eat. Less food to eat means someone will die.
Soon, there won't be enough people to work the farm. That means there won't be enough food to eat.
Get the idea?
Slim
Mail: slimfairview@yahoo.com
Copyright (c) 2011 Slim Fairview
Tuesday, January 11, 2011
Project Management of the--oops! Gotta run!
Project Management of the future is the ability to embrace change quickly. People who will be a part of the team will access information faster from better-informed sources than can be imagined.
It doesn't matter whether you are in IT or construction or in portfolio management.
Whatever the task, whatever the goal, the team will be able to leverage technology at a very rapid rate.
While one company is looking to complete a project, it will be obsolete before it is launched because another company launched the product yesterday.
Some companies will shoot themselves in the foot by launching a product too quickly with limitations while another company will release a product that not only can perform the function but also has additional bells and whistles besides.
There must be a massive shift in the paradigm. You can't hit the ground running. You can't hit the ground at all.
In IT, it is all about tech-talk. The team will know the language, will be clutching to their p-pads, twittering their thumbs, and coming up with answers before the manager finishes asking the question. And those answers will make the next question unnecessary.
People will know what needs to be done before they get their assignments.
Meanwhile, upstairs, the boss is waiting to get a one page summary while the company across town will have his updates tweeted to him. One page, 140 characters. Your choice. Let's move on to the next item on the agenda.
Sincerely,
Mail: slimfairview@yahoo.com
Copyright (c) 2011 Slim Fairview
Monday, January 10, 2011
Contact
Contact Information:
For Global Interests: tilden9@yahoo.com
For Domestic Interests: slimfairview@yahoo.com
Thank you.
Sincerest regards,
Slim
For Global Interests: tilden9@yahoo.com
For Domestic Interests: slimfairview@yahoo.com
Thank you.
Sincerest regards,
Slim
Saturday, January 8, 2011
Distortions of Graphic Proportions
View the graph to the left. Do you see how slowly the spending is rising?
View the graph below it. Do you see how quickly the spending is rising?
Actually, in each instance, spending is rising by 100,000 dollars per year.
However, the percentage changes. It increases by 100% then by 50% then by 33.34%.
With each subsequent year, the percentage decreases.
When we watch television, regardless of which network or cable station we watch, those on either side of the issue use the same tools to distort the picture.
If spending decreases from $100,000,000 to $80,000,000 the cut is 20%. However, if the spending increases, from $80,000,000 to $100,000,000 the increase is 25%. Either way, we are talking about $20,000,000.
When Joe six-pack opens a bottle of Blue Ribbon beer and begins reading the Post, he sees that spending is rising modestly as evidenced by the bright red graph.
Across town, Bill six-pack opens up a bottle of Blue Ribbon beertm and begins reading the News. He sees that spending is sky-rocketing as evidenced by the bright red graph.
When they watch television, each watches a different cable station. However, each host has invited someone from the left and someone from the right. Each hears half the truth from one guest and half the truth from the other guest.
A message to the illustrious members of our most august fourth estate:
It behooves you to print both charts, with numbers, with percentages,
to show that both graphs show the same information.
Further, it is important to demonstrate that a 20% cut of $100,000,000 and an increase of 25% of $80,000,000 both involve $20,000,000.
As long as spin doctors engage in linguistic legerdemain, mathematical manipulations, and distortions of graphic proportions, the country will not only remain but become increasingly polarized.
Regards,
Slim
Mail: slimfairview@yahoo.com
Copyright (c) 2011 Slim Fairview
* "Blue Ribbon Beer" is a registered trademark. No solicitation was made and no compensation was received for this reference.
Wednesday, January 5, 2011
More to View
Slim Fairview's PowerPoint Presentations on SlideShare.
Global Management: A Shift in the Paradigm of Corporate America.
The Future of the G-20 in Good Times and Bad
Preview: Fairviews: The Quotations of Slim Fairview
The Multiplier Effect: Illustrated
Regards,
Slim Fairview
Also available on LinkedIn.
Mail: tilden9@yahoo.com
copyright (c) 2011 Slim Fairview
Global Management: A Shift in the Paradigm of Corporate America.
The Future of the G-20 in Good Times and Bad
Preview: Fairviews: The Quotations of Slim Fairview
The Multiplier Effect: Illustrated
Regards,
Slim Fairview
Also available on LinkedIn.
Mail: tilden9@yahoo.com
copyright (c) 2011 Slim Fairview
Tuesday, January 4, 2011
ECONOMICS ILLUSTRATED: A Primer in Economics, by Metaphor
Primer in Economics by Metaphor:
This is how economics evolved. This is a metaphor.
Bill is a cave dweller back in primitive days. He lives in a cave. He lives in a community among other cave dwellers. Some hunt, some gather, some cook, but not Bill. Bill crawls in the dirt, using his hands to make holes in the dirt. He drops seeds into the holes. When he is finished planting, he goes out to gather. He is not good at hunting so he only gathers. The seeds grow. Bill and his friends share. All, barely, subsist.
However, Bill has a neighbour, Tom. Tom is a hunter. He works hard. Hunting is dangerous. Some of his friends have been killed hunting. Still, he does it.
Now, Bill and Tom have a neighbour Jack. Jack thinks. He thinks what Tom does is dangerous and only marginally profitable. He thinks what Bill does is not the most effective way of doing what he does. Jack comes up with an idea.
Jack takes a stick; he walks across the field poking holes in the ground. Then using a hollow reed, he drops a seed through the reed into the hole. He plants many seeds.
When Jack is through, he gathers. Because he has more time to gather than Bill does, Jack gathers more food than Bill does. Jack has more food to share, so he trades food with Tom who hunts. This causes Bill a problem. He does not have enough food to buy meat from Tom, so he eats less.
Jack’s farm prospers. He not only gathers and trades he now reaps and trades. He trades food with Bill for labour. Bill now works on Jack’s farm in exchange for food.
Jack now has twice as much food so he stops gathering. He cultivates more land. He grows more food. Now he can trade more food for more labour. The gatherers find Jack’s steady supply of food to be a better alternative to gathering.
Tom, seeing how the investment system works, and with meat scarce and vegetables in plentiful supply, he charges Jack more for the meat. Jack pays happily. In addition, with the lessons he’s learned, Tom teaches others how to hunt, where to hunt, and supplies them with the tools to hunt. They pay for their lessons with some of their meat. He pays them for hunting with some of the vegetables.
Tom’s hunters increase the quantity of meat. Jack’s farmers increase the quantity of vegetables.
However, there is another problem. It takes time to make tools to farm the land, weapons to hunt for meat, and it takes time to make clothes from the skins.
Enter, James. James also thinks. He sees an opportunity. He agrees to supply the hunters and the farmers with tools and weapons and clothes.
He gets together with some of the less successful hunters and gatherers and promises to pay them in meat and vegetables in exchange for their labours making tools and weapons and clothes. They don’t have to hunt. They don’t have to gather, and they can eat. That works for them.
James begins his business. Soon, more people are making tools, weapons, and clothes. More people are farming. More people are hunting. However, things are a bit dull despite the prosperity. Enter the arts. (It will be centuries until things become dull because of the prosperity.)
Tom, Jack, and James can afford to take time to pursue the arts. However, they are not very good at it. Enter, Dave.
Dave tells stories. He is paid with food.
Susan can paint. Susan is paid with food.
Peter, Paul, and Mary can sing. They are paid with food.
Mark and Lorraine get an idea. They seek out people who can tell stories. They arrange for storytelling. They charge people to come to listen to the stories and pay the storytellers with a part of the profits.
Susan, who can paint, teaches promising students to paint and helps them sell their paintings taking a commission on the sales.
Things are moving along reasonably well with the exception of dragging around sacks full of food and dead carcases. Moreover, there is quibbling. They agree to seek a solution from the elders. There, they listen to the elders suggest the formation of a council.
With time on their hands, and the evidence of intelligence, Jack, Tom, and Dave become leaders appointed by the elders. For whom everyone has respect.
Together they create a medium of exchange. Then, they issue an RFP and subsequently someone creates a food storage system. The people start schools where the experienced hunters and farmers can teach hunting and farming. Singing, storytelling and painting are also taught. However, there will always be troublemakers. At first, they are handled by a few of the leaders. Then the leaders appoint a shire reeve who calls a posse comitatus to handle problems when they arise.
Some people are smarter than others are. However, they are not creative; but they are inventive. They invent ways to make tools using metals. Some invent more expansive tools and machinery. They learn to grind wheat and make bread. Others figure out how to harness the water to turn gristmills. Others are natural born salesmen. They go out to sell the products of the industrious people of the community.
The community grows. Soon, other communities follow suit. People take what they have learned, their stock-in-trade, to other communities to help them plan their communities.
Some communities with more of something to sell sell it to those communities with more of something else to sell in exchange. Foreign trade is born. Treaties are signed. Thus, civilisation arises from the very dirt that Bill used to crawl in digging holes with his hands to plant seeds.
This is the entry to understanding economics.
Regards,
Slim Fairview
This is how economics evolved. This is a metaphor.
Bill is a cave dweller back in primitive days. He lives in a cave. He lives in a community among other cave dwellers. Some hunt, some gather, some cook, but not Bill. Bill crawls in the dirt, using his hands to make holes in the dirt. He drops seeds into the holes. When he is finished planting, he goes out to gather. He is not good at hunting so he only gathers. The seeds grow. Bill and his friends share. All, barely, subsist.
However, Bill has a neighbour, Tom. Tom is a hunter. He works hard. Hunting is dangerous. Some of his friends have been killed hunting. Still, he does it.
Now, Bill and Tom have a neighbour Jack. Jack thinks. He thinks what Tom does is dangerous and only marginally profitable. He thinks what Bill does is not the most effective way of doing what he does. Jack comes up with an idea.
Jack takes a stick; he walks across the field poking holes in the ground. Then using a hollow reed, he drops a seed through the reed into the hole. He plants many seeds.
When Jack is through, he gathers. Because he has more time to gather than Bill does, Jack gathers more food than Bill does. Jack has more food to share, so he trades food with Tom who hunts. This causes Bill a problem. He does not have enough food to buy meat from Tom, so he eats less.
Jack’s farm prospers. He not only gathers and trades he now reaps and trades. He trades food with Bill for labour. Bill now works on Jack’s farm in exchange for food.
Jack now has twice as much food so he stops gathering. He cultivates more land. He grows more food. Now he can trade more food for more labour. The gatherers find Jack’s steady supply of food to be a better alternative to gathering.
Tom, seeing how the investment system works, and with meat scarce and vegetables in plentiful supply, he charges Jack more for the meat. Jack pays happily. In addition, with the lessons he’s learned, Tom teaches others how to hunt, where to hunt, and supplies them with the tools to hunt. They pay for their lessons with some of their meat. He pays them for hunting with some of the vegetables.
Tom’s hunters increase the quantity of meat. Jack’s farmers increase the quantity of vegetables.
However, there is another problem. It takes time to make tools to farm the land, weapons to hunt for meat, and it takes time to make clothes from the skins.
Enter, James. James also thinks. He sees an opportunity. He agrees to supply the hunters and the farmers with tools and weapons and clothes.
He gets together with some of the less successful hunters and gatherers and promises to pay them in meat and vegetables in exchange for their labours making tools and weapons and clothes. They don’t have to hunt. They don’t have to gather, and they can eat. That works for them.
James begins his business. Soon, more people are making tools, weapons, and clothes. More people are farming. More people are hunting. However, things are a bit dull despite the prosperity. Enter the arts. (It will be centuries until things become dull because of the prosperity.)
Tom, Jack, and James can afford to take time to pursue the arts. However, they are not very good at it. Enter, Dave.
Dave tells stories. He is paid with food.
Susan can paint. Susan is paid with food.
Peter, Paul, and Mary can sing. They are paid with food.
Mark and Lorraine get an idea. They seek out people who can tell stories. They arrange for storytelling. They charge people to come to listen to the stories and pay the storytellers with a part of the profits.
Susan, who can paint, teaches promising students to paint and helps them sell their paintings taking a commission on the sales.
Things are moving along reasonably well with the exception of dragging around sacks full of food and dead carcases. Moreover, there is quibbling. They agree to seek a solution from the elders. There, they listen to the elders suggest the formation of a council.
With time on their hands, and the evidence of intelligence, Jack, Tom, and Dave become leaders appointed by the elders. For whom everyone has respect.
Together they create a medium of exchange. Then, they issue an RFP and subsequently someone creates a food storage system. The people start schools where the experienced hunters and farmers can teach hunting and farming. Singing, storytelling and painting are also taught. However, there will always be troublemakers. At first, they are handled by a few of the leaders. Then the leaders appoint a shire reeve who calls a posse comitatus to handle problems when they arise.
Some people are smarter than others are. However, they are not creative; but they are inventive. They invent ways to make tools using metals. Some invent more expansive tools and machinery. They learn to grind wheat and make bread. Others figure out how to harness the water to turn gristmills. Others are natural born salesmen. They go out to sell the products of the industrious people of the community.
The community grows. Soon, other communities follow suit. People take what they have learned, their stock-in-trade, to other communities to help them plan their communities.
Some communities with more of something to sell sell it to those communities with more of something else to sell in exchange. Foreign trade is born. Treaties are signed. Thus, civilisation arises from the very dirt that Bill used to crawl in digging holes with his hands to plant seeds.
This is the entry to understanding economics.
Regards,
Slim Fairview
PS. I am not Paul Harvey. Still, I am open to becoming a paid blogger, columnist, or commentator.
In the meantime, if anyone finds the monographs on my blog to be especially helpful, please do not hesitate to send me on of those tricked out laptops and few dollars tucked into the envelope with the thank you note.
In the meantime, if anyone finds the monographs on my blog to be especially helpful, please do not hesitate to send me on of those tricked out laptops and few dollars tucked into the envelope with the thank you note.
Sincerely
Slim
Copyright (c) 2011 Slim Fairview
Thursday, December 30, 2010
More on Global Management
Global Planning, eh? Did anyone tell the other guy?
Okay, now you are getting ready to plan globally. You are going to discuss:
Strategic Planning
Innovation
Team Building
Market Penetration
The Visioning Process
Consensus Building
Project Management
and so on.
You will also consider financing, information technology, cloud computing, virtual servers, capital investment. You will achieve consensus the way others achieve nirvana. You will plan your work and work your plan.
You will fail.
Why?
You forgot to tell the other guy.
Read on.
Too many of our efforts are designed to fail. We make great plans, however we fail to understand that what we want to do and the way we want to do it is not the way things are done globally. Also, the global landscape is changing faster than we are.
The best analogy I can come up with in such short time is this:
"If you are going hunting, you get up, get dressed, get your gear, and go out into the field. If you are being hunted, you move more quickly." Slim Fairview
Others are on the move. China, Japan, South Korea, Russia, India, Pakistan, Turkey, Brazil, Argentina, and so on.
Some have not been emerging nations in many years. Then there are the emerging nations. Who will be doing business with whom?
In too many nations, horizontal management does not exist. And there is a reason for this. If you want to debate the causes, effects and remedies, you will be spinning your wheels. Other people don't want to talk about it.
In this country, we are charmed by the promises of horizontal management. In addition, we are always delighted to talk about it. You don't believe me?
Consult. Syn. Confer with, confer, confabulate, confab, and chew the fat.*
*http://www.synonyms.net/synonym/consult
We are hunting for business globally. What about people in other nations? Well, what about people in other nations?
In other nations, those being hunted by poverty, disease, unrest, and a fierce competition for food, have found that things move along more quickly with a vertical management style.
People with very limited resources do share with those among them who have equally limited resources. They are not about to share with you.
MicroFinance $10.00 to the road to prosperity
http://slimviews.blogspot.com/2010/11/microfinance-1000-to-road-to-prosperity.html
Then there are those in the global community who are coming into their own in a big way. Imagine Russia becoming a capitalist country; China, dominating global manufacturing, sales, finance, currency; India a powerhouse of technology. Just don't sit around letting your imagination run amok.
Our business culture has been transmogrified. The change is the difference between the ideologue and the technocrat. (Do not confuse the technocrat with the techno-pimple. He is more focuses on pedantry.)
Transmogrified: Altered, transformed, or mutated into a form that is grotesque or amusing
en.wiktionary.org/wiki/transmogrified
The solution, however, is the problem. That is, as we look to solutions we find that the advise we get is descriptive (see above) and not prescriptive. The articles for we are told to read tell us what the problem is. Some go a step further. Some tell us:
This is what you did wrong.
This is what you should have done.
This is what you should do next time.
The tone:
Client: "But I'm in a jam now!"
Consultant: "What do you want me to do? Solve your problems for you?
The aforementioned bulleted list
Strategic Planning
Innovation
Team Building
Market Penetration
The Visioning Process
Consensus Building
Project Management
has to be handled from a different viewpoint--many different viewpoints. It is necessary to engage many people in the discussions--in the many different discussion.
The expression "The Friendly Way" has been too often interpreted as promoting collusion. People who want to do business with you don't want to compete with you. They want to cooperate with you. (Hint: it takes at least two to cooperate.)
Team building may mean bringing people to agreement. It may also mean bringing agreeable people together. The friendly way would suggest that agreeable people means people who know what they are doing. There won't be consensus building because the goal has been spelled out and each person knows what he or she is responsible for doing.
The visioning process. There is no nice way to say "baloney" unless the word sandwich is attached.
Too often, the visioning process is used to bring different ideas to the fore. The ideas can be discussed. People can agree. Everyone can take his or her share of ownership in the project. This builds commitment to the project and to achieving the goal. (I not only heard this stuff before people started saying it, I heard this stuff before the people who are saying it ever heard it in the first place.)
There is a temptation to believe that people in other nations are naive. However, you are not going to convince them that they were the ones who thought up your idea and therefore should want to work to make it happen.
In this country, when other people listen, we tend to think that they like what we are saying. In other countries, when people listen, it is possible that they are merely being polite. I know this because my parents taught me to be polite.
Instead of the visioning process and shared goals, think in terms of finding out what other people want, the steps necessary to achieve this outcome, and how to make it mutually beneficial.
I am not now purporting to know all the answers. I am merely setting an agenda for action (as opposed to an agenda for discussion) so corporate executives can assign people to the tasks necessary to do business globally.
Sincerely,
Slim
Mail: slimfairview@yahoo.com
http://slimviews.blogspot.com
Copyright (c) 2010 Slim Fairview
Okay, now you are getting ready to plan globally. You are going to discuss:
Strategic Planning
Innovation
Team Building
Market Penetration
The Visioning Process
Consensus Building
Project Management
and so on.
You will also consider financing, information technology, cloud computing, virtual servers, capital investment. You will achieve consensus the way others achieve nirvana. You will plan your work and work your plan.
You will fail.
Why?
You forgot to tell the other guy.
Read on.
Too many of our efforts are designed to fail. We make great plans, however we fail to understand that what we want to do and the way we want to do it is not the way things are done globally. Also, the global landscape is changing faster than we are.
The best analogy I can come up with in such short time is this:
"If you are going hunting, you get up, get dressed, get your gear, and go out into the field. If you are being hunted, you move more quickly." Slim Fairview
Others are on the move. China, Japan, South Korea, Russia, India, Pakistan, Turkey, Brazil, Argentina, and so on.
Some have not been emerging nations in many years. Then there are the emerging nations. Who will be doing business with whom?
In too many nations, horizontal management does not exist. And there is a reason for this. If you want to debate the causes, effects and remedies, you will be spinning your wheels. Other people don't want to talk about it.
In this country, we are charmed by the promises of horizontal management. In addition, we are always delighted to talk about it. You don't believe me?
Consult. Syn. Confer with, confer, confabulate, confab, and chew the fat.*
*http://www.synonyms.net/synonym/consult
We are hunting for business globally. What about people in other nations? Well, what about people in other nations?
In other nations, those being hunted by poverty, disease, unrest, and a fierce competition for food, have found that things move along more quickly with a vertical management style.
People with very limited resources do share with those among them who have equally limited resources. They are not about to share with you.
MicroFinance $10.00 to the road to prosperity
http://slimviews.blogspot.com/2010/11/microfinance-1000-to-road-to-prosperity.html
Then there are those in the global community who are coming into their own in a big way. Imagine Russia becoming a capitalist country; China, dominating global manufacturing, sales, finance, currency; India a powerhouse of technology. Just don't sit around letting your imagination run amok.
Our business culture has been transmogrified. The change is the difference between the ideologue and the technocrat. (Do not confuse the technocrat with the techno-pimple. He is more focuses on pedantry.)
Transmogrified: Altered, transformed, or mutated into a form that is grotesque or amusing
en.wiktionary.org/wiki/transmogrified
The solution, however, is the problem. That is, as we look to solutions we find that the advise we get is descriptive (see above) and not prescriptive. The articles for we are told to read tell us what the problem is. Some go a step further. Some tell us:
This is what you did wrong.
This is what you should have done.
This is what you should do next time.
The tone:
Client: "But I'm in a jam now!"
Consultant: "What do you want me to do? Solve your problems for you?
The aforementioned bulleted list
Strategic Planning
Innovation
Team Building
Market Penetration
The Visioning Process
Consensus Building
Project Management
has to be handled from a different viewpoint--many different viewpoints. It is necessary to engage many people in the discussions--in the many different discussion.
The expression "The Friendly Way" has been too often interpreted as promoting collusion. People who want to do business with you don't want to compete with you. They want to cooperate with you. (Hint: it takes at least two to cooperate.)
Team building may mean bringing people to agreement. It may also mean bringing agreeable people together. The friendly way would suggest that agreeable people means people who know what they are doing. There won't be consensus building because the goal has been spelled out and each person knows what he or she is responsible for doing.
The visioning process. There is no nice way to say "baloney" unless the word sandwich is attached.
Too often, the visioning process is used to bring different ideas to the fore. The ideas can be discussed. People can agree. Everyone can take his or her share of ownership in the project. This builds commitment to the project and to achieving the goal. (I not only heard this stuff before people started saying it, I heard this stuff before the people who are saying it ever heard it in the first place.)
There is a temptation to believe that people in other nations are naive. However, you are not going to convince them that they were the ones who thought up your idea and therefore should want to work to make it happen.
In this country, when other people listen, we tend to think that they like what we are saying. In other countries, when people listen, it is possible that they are merely being polite. I know this because my parents taught me to be polite.
Instead of the visioning process and shared goals, think in terms of finding out what other people want, the steps necessary to achieve this outcome, and how to make it mutually beneficial.
I am not now purporting to know all the answers. I am merely setting an agenda for action (as opposed to an agenda for discussion) so corporate executives can assign people to the tasks necessary to do business globally.
Sincerely,
Slim
Mail: slimfairview@yahoo.com
http://slimviews.blogspot.com
Copyright (c) 2010 Slim Fairview
Leadership and/or Management
Leadership is innate. Project management can be perfected, perhaps through practise; however, we all know those who have done things badly for most of their lives and careers.
Perfecting project management skills is a job. You have to work at it. However, those with innate leadership abilities, (...the dunces shall rise up in a confederacy...) will improve their project management skills over time by their viewpoint.
I tend to work best when working alone. I have been looked to, to solve a problem or two, which I did. So much of it is common sense. The rest is in a book. (You can download 300 free project management templates) You can fill in the blanks.
However, the real problem with any project is that it involves dealing with many people each with his or her agenda. Too often, that agenda only includes achieving the goal rather than being focused on achieving the goal.
Consultants and committees seem to be the way to go. To the former, I reference Bob Dylan: "You never turned around to see the frowns on the jugglers and the clowns who did tricks for you." The latter I refute with one word. Congress.
Regards,
Slim
Copyright (c) 2010 Slim Fairview
Perfecting project management skills is a job. You have to work at it. However, those with innate leadership abilities, (...the dunces shall rise up in a confederacy...) will improve their project management skills over time by their viewpoint.
I tend to work best when working alone. I have been looked to, to solve a problem or two, which I did. So much of it is common sense. The rest is in a book. (You can download 300 free project management templates) You can fill in the blanks.
However, the real problem with any project is that it involves dealing with many people each with his or her agenda. Too often, that agenda only includes achieving the goal rather than being focused on achieving the goal.
Consultants and committees seem to be the way to go. To the former, I reference Bob Dylan: "You never turned around to see the frowns on the jugglers and the clowns who did tricks for you." The latter I refute with one word. Congress.
Regards,
Slim
Copyright (c) 2010 Slim Fairview
Tuesday, December 28, 2010
GE still talking up idea of bringing home manufacturing. I hope it works.
GE still talking up idea of bringing home manufacturing. I hope it works.
Did the CEO give you a consumer breakdown, or marketing numbers? (I assume we are going beyond washers and dryers, however...for the purposes of discussion...)
How many buyers want innovation?
How many buyers want product differentiation?
What is the cost?
(What about price?)
How long will it take to begin to make a profit?
Any thoughts on market penetration with the new, innovative, and differentiated products?
Brand loyalty?
Competition?
Having broken even, they are now where they were 10 years ago. Do they have the money to invest?
What innovations have taken place over the past ten years?
Does the public want these innovations or did they buy the item based on price, brand loyalty, pre-approved credit, or other considerations?
Whose idea was it to bring manufacturing back to the U.S.?
Now we delve into the empirical method of analysis:
Did that person do the study and arrive at the conclusion that this will have a positive effect. (More Jobs...as opposed to running the company down and causing more people to lose their jobs?)
Did that person come up with an idea, is now trying to sell the idea, and is out seeking the metaphorical "yes men" to supply the company with the numbers they want to see?
(Did they hire a consultant? :-p) lol
Sincerely,
Slim Mail: slimfairview@yahoo.com
ps. just for fun: GE wants to bring manufacturing back to the U.S.
http://slimviews.blogspot.com/2010/12/ge-wants-to-bring-manufacturing-back-to.html
Copyright (c) 2010 Slim Fairview
Did the CEO give you a consumer breakdown, or marketing numbers? (I assume we are going beyond washers and dryers, however...for the purposes of discussion...)
How many buyers want innovation?
How many buyers want product differentiation?
What is the cost?
(What about price?)
How long will it take to begin to make a profit?
Any thoughts on market penetration with the new, innovative, and differentiated products?
Brand loyalty?
Competition?
Having broken even, they are now where they were 10 years ago. Do they have the money to invest?
What innovations have taken place over the past ten years?
Does the public want these innovations or did they buy the item based on price, brand loyalty, pre-approved credit, or other considerations?
Whose idea was it to bring manufacturing back to the U.S.?
Now we delve into the empirical method of analysis:
Did that person do the study and arrive at the conclusion that this will have a positive effect. (More Jobs...as opposed to running the company down and causing more people to lose their jobs?)
Did that person come up with an idea, is now trying to sell the idea, and is out seeking the metaphorical "yes men" to supply the company with the numbers they want to see?
(Did they hire a consultant? :-p) lol
Sincerely,
Slim Mail: slimfairview@yahoo.com
ps. just for fun: GE wants to bring manufacturing back to the U.S.
http://slimviews.blogspot.com/2010/12/ge-wants-to-bring-manufacturing-back-to.html
Copyright (c) 2010 Slim Fairview
Tuesday, December 14, 2010
GE Wants to Bring Manufacturing Back to the US
GE HAS ANNOUNCED THAT THEY WANT TO BRING MANUFACTURING BACK TO AMERICA. GOOD LUCK.
We are very susceptible to gimmicks. I just adopted a free-range cat. When he first started hanging around, he would eat whatever was put out for him. After I brought him inside, he remained consistent. Then, he became choosy.
If he left what had been put down, I would simply pick it up, stir it a bit with a fork and put it back down. Then he would eat it. I don't expect that to last too long. He still remembers being skin and bones, as it were. He will forget.
We watched Bill Clinton's Presidential campaign. When he appeared on MTV his hair was brown. When he addressed the AARP his hair was grey. This was noted in the press. It didn't matter. People saw what they wanted to see.
"If people like you, they will overlook your faults. If people don't like you, they will overlook your virtues." -- Slim Fairview
We used to teach reading with phonics. Children learned to read. Now, with apologies to Meredith Willson who wrote, The Music Man....
"You've got trouble here, right here in River City, with a capital T and that rhymes with P and that stands for phonics. Yes, my friends, you've got 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, vowels in the alphabet. With 21 consonants that give you 9 billion, 63 million, aught '9 COMBINATIONS. No wonder Billy can't read trying to remember all that.
"You don't need to know phonics to speak do you? You just think of a word and say it. That is the whole language approach to reading is the think-method to speaking."
We've fallen for every gimmick imaginable in educating our youngsters. (The character of Harold Hill, in the Music Man is what is known in Americana as the lovable rogue. We know he's a crook, but we love him anyway.)
And it is not simply a question of older employees. Having served on committees in organisations whose functions included the "new hire" problem, consensus is that young people lack basic skills. They cannot add, subtract, multiply, divide, or use simple tools: micrometers, calipers, or even rulers.
In addition, at the initial stages of education, the fundamentals are necessary--crucial.
I am good at math because I memorised the times tables. I didn't want to, it took me longer than my classmates because I didn't want to, but I did it (because I had to).
That, coupled with one small tool in math, 3(a+b) = 3a + 3b, means that I can instantly determine the cost of several cans of green beans in a supermarket and do a cost analysis of 3 small cans v. two large cans. Not important? No, the VP Finance is not buying green beans to bring a covered dish to the next board meeting. However, as he, or she learned this (probably in the 5th grade) the concept was learned along with it.
When it comes to teaching youngsters how to think, not what to think, there is a point in time where analysis will come into play.
GE will need young people who can do what I can do. If they haven't memorised the times tables, they won't be able to do much analysis.
While there may be more than a few youngsters coming out of school who are fluent in technology, that won't meet the demand. Hence, the influx of people from countries who value education highly and apply themselves as a means to financial success and social elevation.
No doubt, the technologically literate will run things in this country through a combination of immigrants and outsourcing, and the rest of the students will be taking jobs that pay just enough to hang out at clubs and party.
BTW: The equation above: The distributive property of multiplication (over addition). I actually had to Google the term to be sure I remembered what it was called accurately. That information I can Google. The ability to use that skill cannot be Googled.
We have become victims of our own success. Good luck to GE if they are using the old business model.
If they want to build it here with workers there. It isn't going to work.
If the want to build it here with workers from there, that won't put the unemployed to work.
It will be interesting to see how Harold Hill explains GE's plan to the people of River City. OOPS, I mean to the shareholders and the stakeholders.
Regards,
Slim
Mail: slimfairview@yahoo.com
Copyright (c) 2010 Slim Fairview
We are very susceptible to gimmicks. I just adopted a free-range cat. When he first started hanging around, he would eat whatever was put out for him. After I brought him inside, he remained consistent. Then, he became choosy.
If he left what had been put down, I would simply pick it up, stir it a bit with a fork and put it back down. Then he would eat it. I don't expect that to last too long. He still remembers being skin and bones, as it were. He will forget.
We watched Bill Clinton's Presidential campaign. When he appeared on MTV his hair was brown. When he addressed the AARP his hair was grey. This was noted in the press. It didn't matter. People saw what they wanted to see.
"If people like you, they will overlook your faults. If people don't like you, they will overlook your virtues." -- Slim Fairview
We used to teach reading with phonics. Children learned to read. Now, with apologies to Meredith Willson who wrote, The Music Man....
"You've got trouble here, right here in River City, with a capital T and that rhymes with P and that stands for phonics. Yes, my friends, you've got 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, vowels in the alphabet. With 21 consonants that give you 9 billion, 63 million, aught '9 COMBINATIONS. No wonder Billy can't read trying to remember all that.
"You don't need to know phonics to speak do you? You just think of a word and say it. That is the whole language approach to reading is the think-method to speaking."
We've fallen for every gimmick imaginable in educating our youngsters. (The character of Harold Hill, in the Music Man is what is known in Americana as the lovable rogue. We know he's a crook, but we love him anyway.)
And it is not simply a question of older employees. Having served on committees in organisations whose functions included the "new hire" problem, consensus is that young people lack basic skills. They cannot add, subtract, multiply, divide, or use simple tools: micrometers, calipers, or even rulers.
In addition, at the initial stages of education, the fundamentals are necessary--crucial.
I am good at math because I memorised the times tables. I didn't want to, it took me longer than my classmates because I didn't want to, but I did it (because I had to).
That, coupled with one small tool in math, 3(a+b) = 3a + 3b, means that I can instantly determine the cost of several cans of green beans in a supermarket and do a cost analysis of 3 small cans v. two large cans. Not important? No, the VP Finance is not buying green beans to bring a covered dish to the next board meeting. However, as he, or she learned this (probably in the 5th grade) the concept was learned along with it.
When it comes to teaching youngsters how to think, not what to think, there is a point in time where analysis will come into play.
GE will need young people who can do what I can do. If they haven't memorised the times tables, they won't be able to do much analysis.
While there may be more than a few youngsters coming out of school who are fluent in technology, that won't meet the demand. Hence, the influx of people from countries who value education highly and apply themselves as a means to financial success and social elevation.
No doubt, the technologically literate will run things in this country through a combination of immigrants and outsourcing, and the rest of the students will be taking jobs that pay just enough to hang out at clubs and party.
BTW: The equation above: The distributive property of multiplication (over addition). I actually had to Google the term to be sure I remembered what it was called accurately. That information I can Google. The ability to use that skill cannot be Googled.
We have become victims of our own success. Good luck to GE if they are using the old business model.
If they want to build it here with workers there. It isn't going to work.
If the want to build it here with workers from there, that won't put the unemployed to work.
It will be interesting to see how Harold Hill explains GE's plan to the people of River City. OOPS, I mean to the shareholders and the stakeholders.
Regards,
Slim
Mail: slimfairview@yahoo.com
Copyright (c) 2010 Slim Fairview
Friday, December 10, 2010
Innovation and Crisis
In answer to the question about whether or not we innovate more during a crisis, I pose the following answer.
Yes. We do.
Assume for a moment that there is no crisis. Innovation requires a budget. There will be measurables to achieve. We really don't know what needs innovation without some form of market study. Our resources must be allocated in a manner that will be most cost effective. If we have additional funds, would those funds not be better spent on upgrades, marketing, sales, and so on.
If we have a crisis, we know exactly where to devote our precious funds. We know what we must focus on, and we have some indication of what we must achieve. In addition, the group knows we must achieve these goals to avoid becoming victims of the crisis.
Regards,
Slim
Copyright (c) 2010 Slim Fairview
Yes. We do.
Assume for a moment that there is no crisis. Innovation requires a budget. There will be measurables to achieve. We really don't know what needs innovation without some form of market study. Our resources must be allocated in a manner that will be most cost effective. If we have additional funds, would those funds not be better spent on upgrades, marketing, sales, and so on.
If we have a crisis, we know exactly where to devote our precious funds. We know what we must focus on, and we have some indication of what we must achieve. In addition, the group knows we must achieve these goals to avoid becoming victims of the crisis.
Regards,
Slim
Copyright (c) 2010 Slim Fairview
Thursday, December 9, 2010
City of Hope: A Children's Story:
I received the following email from a friend.
Subject: THIS IS THE SEASON OF GIVING, ISN'T IT?
On Capriole's site, caprioleproductions.org a Non-Profit production company, there is a Pay Pal link asking only for tax deductive donations from $1.00 to $ 10.00. or whatever moves people. (Click the "title link" to go to Capriole Productions)
With that stated: IQ2011 we will travel to BR to shoot a 30 minute short, updating the plight of the BR favela kids [street urchins] whose plight has escalated to 1) drug distribution, 2) sex enslaved kids from 6 to 12, 3) murder-for-hire and so forth. This IS A JUST CAUSE. Our footage from the nineties is tremendously outdated and the numbers of kids caught up in this mess has increased radically.
"City of Hope: A Children's Story" is one of good news. Not only is BR's democracy gaining on the drug lords, but faith-based organizations [NGOs] have increased exponentially as have community watch groups and private contributors.
Most remarkable is the Recovered children are now taking the GOOD NEWS back into their own favelas to open their own 'schools of recovery'.
Any amounts are welcome and all showings ,ticket sales, after expenses to locally use Brazilian film people, will be returned into the community.
Won't you help? Any help, either financial or your experienced advice is greatly appreciated.
Sincere thanks,
John
Subject: THIS IS THE SEASON OF GIVING, ISN'T IT?
On Capriole's site, caprioleproductions.org a Non-Profit production company, there is a Pay Pal link asking only for tax deductive donations from $1.00 to $ 10.00. or whatever moves people. (Click the "title link" to go to Capriole Productions)
With that stated: IQ2011 we will travel to BR to shoot a 30 minute short, updating the plight of the BR favela kids [street urchins] whose plight has escalated to 1) drug distribution, 2) sex enslaved kids from 6 to 12, 3) murder-for-hire and so forth. This IS A JUST CAUSE. Our footage from the nineties is tremendously outdated and the numbers of kids caught up in this mess has increased radically.
"City of Hope: A Children's Story" is one of good news. Not only is BR's democracy gaining on the drug lords, but faith-based organizations [NGOs] have increased exponentially as have community watch groups and private contributors.
Most remarkable is the Recovered children are now taking the GOOD NEWS back into their own favelas to open their own 'schools of recovery'.
Any amounts are welcome and all showings ,ticket sales, after expenses to locally use Brazilian film people, will be returned into the community.
Won't you help? Any help, either financial or your experienced advice is greatly appreciated.
Sincere thanks,
John
Tuesday, December 7, 2010
The Cut of His Jib
The Business Decision Making Curve:
In finance we studied the Sharp-Markowitz efficiency curve. The trade-off between risk and return. (Mayonnaise jar, no risk, no return. The fast horse, high risk, high return.)
There seems to be an unspoken curve in business. It is not only a cost curve.
Do we train the guy we've got, hoping he'll be a good manager, or do we hire a good manager who knows little about our operation?
Do we pay for safety upgrades on a hazzard with little potential for disaster, or do we take a chance and simply pay out on the accident?
Do we hire someone safe, with credentials and show little concern for his potential, or do we hire someone with a great potential (or track record) and assume the risks of hiring someone without the bursars stamp on his resume showing he paid his library fines?
The business trade-off seems to be falling on the side of safety the past 30 to 40 years.
When was the last time you ever heard anyone say, "I hired him because I like the cut of his jib?"
Slim
Copyright (c) 2010 Slim Fairview
In finance we studied the Sharp-Markowitz efficiency curve. The trade-off between risk and return. (Mayonnaise jar, no risk, no return. The fast horse, high risk, high return.)
There seems to be an unspoken curve in business. It is not only a cost curve.
Do we train the guy we've got, hoping he'll be a good manager, or do we hire a good manager who knows little about our operation?
Do we pay for safety upgrades on a hazzard with little potential for disaster, or do we take a chance and simply pay out on the accident?
Do we hire someone safe, with credentials and show little concern for his potential, or do we hire someone with a great potential (or track record) and assume the risks of hiring someone without the bursars stamp on his resume showing he paid his library fines?
The business trade-off seems to be falling on the side of safety the past 30 to 40 years.
When was the last time you ever heard anyone say, "I hired him because I like the cut of his jib?"
Slim
Copyright (c) 2010 Slim Fairview
Monday, December 6, 2010
Slim Fairview's Powerpoint Presentations
The G20 in Good Times and Bad. (The Future of the G20)
Global Management: A Shift in the Paradigm of Corporate America
Fairviews: The Quotations of Slim Fairview.
Click the Title for a direct e-link.
or
copypaste:
http://www.slideshare.net/slimfairview
Sincerest regards,
Slim
Copyright (c) 2010 Slim Fairview
Global Management: A Shift in the Paradigm of Corporate America
Fairviews: The Quotations of Slim Fairview.
Click the Title for a direct e-link.
or
copypaste:
http://www.slideshare.net/slimfairview
Sincerest regards,
Slim
Copyright (c) 2010 Slim Fairview
Wednesday, November 24, 2010
Impediments to Executing Strategy
I. The first impediment to executing strategy will be others who do not share your vision.
a. Your vision competes with their vision.
b. Your vision contravenes their assumptions.
1. If their strategy is based on their vision, your vision will threaten their position.
2. If their assumptions are repudiated, their reputation will suffer.
II. There will be challenges to the data you use to substantiate your strategy.
a. If you use the methods they use, your results will challenge their competency
b. If you use different methods to arrive at your conclusions their methods will be challenged.
c. Either a. and or b. will diminish either their self image or their image within the company.
1. If you challenge their self-image they will become hostile.
2. If you threaten their image in the company, they will become devious.
All of the above assumes that the people you work with and work for like you.
If they do not, the job of executing your strategy will be even more difficult.
Regards,
Slim
If you find anything here to be helpful, please don't hesitate to send me a really
tricked out Macbook and to tuck a few dollars into the envelope along with
a thank you note. Slim.
Robert Asken
Box 33
Pen Argyl, PA
18072
or
GoFundMe
Thank you.
Slim.
Mail: slimfairview@yahoo.com
Copyright © 2010 Robert Asken
All Rights Reserved.
a. Your vision competes with their vision.
b. Your vision contravenes their assumptions.
1. If their strategy is based on their vision, your vision will threaten their position.
2. If their assumptions are repudiated, their reputation will suffer.
II. There will be challenges to the data you use to substantiate your strategy.
a. If you use the methods they use, your results will challenge their competency
b. If you use different methods to arrive at your conclusions their methods will be challenged.
c. Either a. and or b. will diminish either their self image or their image within the company.
1. If you challenge their self-image they will become hostile.
2. If you threaten their image in the company, they will become devious.
All of the above assumes that the people you work with and work for like you.
If they do not, the job of executing your strategy will be even more difficult.
Regards,
Slim
If you find anything here to be helpful, please don't hesitate to send me a really
tricked out Macbook and to tuck a few dollars into the envelope along with
a thank you note. Slim.
Robert Asken
Box 33
Pen Argyl, PA
18072
or
GoFundMe
Thank you.
Slim.
Mail: slimfairview@yahoo.com
Copyright © 2010 Robert Asken
All Rights Reserved.
Monday, November 22, 2010
STRATEGIC BREAKDOWNS (In Three Acts)
Introduction:
Nothing succeeds like success.
It is very encouraging to see people using both quantitative and a qualitative approaches to planning. (I find the word strategic to be a word not unlike words like shared vision, visioning process, avoiding group thing, consensus building and the lot. Each expression worthy in its own right--perhaps when first conceived, but not trite. Also, too often a crutch. "There is no expedient to which a man will not resort to avoid the real labour of thinking." Sir Joshua Reynolds. (A favourite of Thomas Edison.)
Speaking of which, Thomas Edison did not need a committee to invent the light bulb.
Then, too, he fell prey to faulty assumptions: AC v. DC. He was too close to his brain-child to see its flaws.
The greatest strategic risk most often overlooked by Executives is that the person in charge of putting someone in charge of managing a project simply is not qualified. That person then relies on more than assumptions. I dislike the word "toolbox" so I will use the word, template.
As Executives began to move to the shared vision, no I in team philosophy they failed to see inherent flaw. The greatest one: "The Player."
.............................THE PLAYER [In Three Acts]...........................
Here we not only read The Player's mind, we are also that fly on the wall.
"Anon."*
Player [speaking to self.] "I have no clue what's going on. I know, I will embrace the concept of horizontal management. We need a committee. I will get on that committee."
[Now, for those of you who are really "into" metaphors:]
Leader: "Okay, group, anyone have any ideas?" [Think outside the box; there are no stupid ideas, questions, etc. Only the stupidity of not saying anything; shared vision; no I in team.]
The Player: "Yes. The world is not round, like this orange. The world is round like this plate!"
[Stolen from a Smother's Brothers skit.]
Leader: "Really? I would like you to share your feelings on that Idea. I think we can all benefit from the discussion even if some on the committee respectfully disagree!"
Player: "I heard it on the Smothers Brothers show!"
Leader: "Anyone else like to comment or share viewpoints? [As long as we are all sitting around wasting time.]
Other Members: "Blah, blah, blah..."
The Player: "You know, after listening to other people, I believe you may be right. The world is round like this orange."
Leader: "Good for you! You see! This method works. We now have a shared vision.!!!! I will tell Mr. Big, upstairs how well we all worked.
Everyone: [privately] "At first we thought he was a real jerk. But we can see he is willing to embrace the ideas of others in the group. He is a team player.
Leader [to boss] "At first I thought he was a real jerk. However, you were right, Sir. This shared vision thing really works. He is a team player willing to embrace a shared vision and see the other members' points of view."
Big Executive: "Great! I always knew I was a great Executive with great Leadership Skills!!!"
End Act I
* Anon. A word often used in literary plays. [Ed. note: We don't want the audience to feel cheated.]
Sincerely,
Slim
copyright (c) 2010 Slim Fairview
Nothing succeeds like success.
It is very encouraging to see people using both quantitative and a qualitative approaches to planning. (I find the word strategic to be a word not unlike words like shared vision, visioning process, avoiding group thing, consensus building and the lot. Each expression worthy in its own right--perhaps when first conceived, but not trite. Also, too often a crutch. "There is no expedient to which a man will not resort to avoid the real labour of thinking." Sir Joshua Reynolds. (A favourite of Thomas Edison.)
Speaking of which, Thomas Edison did not need a committee to invent the light bulb.
Then, too, he fell prey to faulty assumptions: AC v. DC. He was too close to his brain-child to see its flaws.
The greatest strategic risk most often overlooked by Executives is that the person in charge of putting someone in charge of managing a project simply is not qualified. That person then relies on more than assumptions. I dislike the word "toolbox" so I will use the word, template.
As Executives began to move to the shared vision, no I in team philosophy they failed to see inherent flaw. The greatest one: "The Player."
.............................THE PLAYER [In Three Acts]...........................
Here we not only read The Player's mind, we are also that fly on the wall.
"Anon."*
Player [speaking to self.] "I have no clue what's going on. I know, I will embrace the concept of horizontal management. We need a committee. I will get on that committee."
[Now, for those of you who are really "into" metaphors:]
Leader: "Okay, group, anyone have any ideas?" [Think outside the box; there are no stupid ideas, questions, etc. Only the stupidity of not saying anything; shared vision; no I in team.]
The Player: "Yes. The world is not round, like this orange. The world is round like this plate!"
[Stolen from a Smother's Brothers skit.]
Leader: "Really? I would like you to share your feelings on that Idea. I think we can all benefit from the discussion even if some on the committee respectfully disagree!"
Player: "I heard it on the Smothers Brothers show!"
Leader: "Anyone else like to comment or share viewpoints? [As long as we are all sitting around wasting time.]
Other Members: "Blah, blah, blah..."
The Player: "You know, after listening to other people, I believe you may be right. The world is round like this orange."
Leader: "Good for you! You see! This method works. We now have a shared vision.!!!! I will tell Mr. Big, upstairs how well we all worked.
Everyone: [privately] "At first we thought he was a real jerk. But we can see he is willing to embrace the ideas of others in the group. He is a team player.
Leader [to boss] "At first I thought he was a real jerk. However, you were right, Sir. This shared vision thing really works. He is a team player willing to embrace a shared vision and see the other members' points of view."
Big Executive: "Great! I always knew I was a great Executive with great Leadership Skills!!!"
End Act I
* Anon. A word often used in literary plays. [Ed. note: We don't want the audience to feel cheated.]
Sincerely,
Slim
copyright (c) 2010 Slim Fairview
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)