Recently I spent two weeks in the United States attending a conference and I had the opportunity to visit two of the world’s biggest internet companies in San Francisco, Google and Linkedin. Like many tech enthusiasts, I have a bit of a fascination with Silicon Valley and the global internet behemoths that originated there. So…
Month: August 2016
Empathise, ideate, intervene
I have been studying systems thinking in my MBA class this semester and one of our recent sessions dealt with the relationship between adaptive leadership (a topic that forms the basis for an earlier unit in the MBA) and systems thinking. Quite clearly they are interrelated (the originator of adaptive leadership, Ronald Heifetz, is a…
Relinquish control for better leadership
The traditional conception of leadership has the leader as the ‘hero’, standing boldly at the front of those who wish to be led, and possessing common traits of intelligence, drive, vision and integrity. Modern leadership theories see leadership as a more subtle activity, built less on authority and control, and more on self-awareness, emotional intelligence,…
Survival Training
‘You have just survived a crash landing of your aircraft in the jungle’, bellowed the Warrant Officer. It was 3am in the morning, bitterly cold and pitch black. I was one of about 150 officer cadets from the Australian Defence Force Academy, standing on a narrow dirt road in the middle of a thick forest, somewhere…
European carp and systems thinking
Anyone who spends time on the River Murray knows that the introduced pest, the bottom-feeding European Carp, dominates the river ecosystem and has all but destroyed our native species of fish. According to the ABC, carp make up 80% of the fish biomass and cause $500 million of environmental damage each year. To counter the carp’s…
The Pie Floater, Adelaide’s Most Famous Culinary Contribution?
Doesn’t that photo of a pie floater just make your mouth water? Tender beef chunks in a rich gravy, encased in golden, flaky pastry, up-ended in a steaming hot bowl of hearty green pea soup. Optional condiments, often applied liberally, include tomato sauce, vinegar or Worcestershire sauce. There’s nothing I like better than devouring a hot pie floater,…
A Systems Thinking Analysis of Australia’s Use of Offshore Processing Centres for Unlawful Non-Citizens who arrive by Unauthorised Boat
I’ve just listened to Professor Gillian Triggs, the President of the Australian Human Rights Commission, speaking on the ABC’s The World Today (Wed 10 August 2016) about a leak of over 2,000 case documents alleging sexual and physical abuse and self-harm in Australia’s immigration detention centre on Nauru. Just last week, my MBA syndicate group submitted an essay…
10 Technologies that will Change the Way We Live our Lives and Do Business
Modern society is perhaps in the midst of its most tumultuous era of change since the industrial revolution, brought about by accelerating technological advancement and disruptive technologies. And the ride is only going to get more interesting! Technological change promises to continue its exponential climb. Here are ten still-nascent technologies that are set to transform…
What is content marketing?
You may have heard the term content marketing and wondered what it is. What is content marketing? Content marketing is an increasingly important strategic marketing approach for organisations seeking to deepen relationships with their external customers. Quite simply, content marketing is creating and distributing valuable, relevant, and consistent content, to attract and retain an audience. Unlike…
Hands off the schnitzel
For those who haven’t heard (have you been living under a rock?), South Australia’s waste and environmental association, Keep South Australia Beautiful (KESAB), is advocating the abolition of oversized, plate-hanging schnitzels, in an attempt to reduce the amount of food that ends up in landfill. I’ve written previously about my preferred nickname, Schnitzel, so I regard this unprovoked…