OK - so I'm in Singapore this week & I finally got to meet Patrick, Paolina & Edgar from Straits Knowledge / Green Chameleon (thank you for lunch, people). Goh Su Nee (thanks for the lift home) of NTU / IKMS & Denise Quay (thanks for making it happen).
Given that 4 of us are (or have been) librarians, the conversation get a bit old skool (ah MARC, AACR2).
It was in the restaurant where we went to dinnerr that I encountered the story of the Samsui women for the first time.
Thursday, July 20, 2006
Thursday, July 13, 2006
Happiness
Simon Reynolds points to an article on happiness studies in the New Yorker. And a Princeton study tells us that Happiness & Money are not linked.
I think most people pursue cash for reasons other than the pursuit of happiness. We are not hard-wired by evolution to be happy but to survive & reproduce. These activities involve competition for status & resources. I don't think we can ever escape that.
As for happiness, as Darrin McMahon observes, the expectation that we have a right to be happy is a comparatively recent one.
What does this mean for organisations? Should they spend time trying to ensure that their employees are happy?
I think most people pursue cash for reasons other than the pursuit of happiness. We are not hard-wired by evolution to be happy but to survive & reproduce. These activities involve competition for status & resources. I don't think we can ever escape that.
As for happiness, as Darrin McMahon observes, the expectation that we have a right to be happy is a comparatively recent one.
What does this mean for organisations? Should they spend time trying to ensure that their employees are happy?
Larfs
Euan on levity
My sense of the ridiculous gets me into trouble. Many people have a hard time understanding that you can be funny & serious at the same time. It's one or the other.
And business is serious. And I am important.
Oh Yes.
My sense of the ridiculous gets me into trouble. Many people have a hard time understanding that you can be funny & serious at the same time. It's one or the other.
And business is serious. And I am important.
Oh Yes.
Passion
David Rymer talks about passion.
Lots of business people talk about "passion". Passion for the customer, passion for excellence, passion for innovation. Passion all over the place - apparently. Do we believe them?
Passion has its positives (joy fulfilment) & negatives (obsession, delusion). If organisations say they want passion, do they mean it? Are they prepared to deal with the consequences?
I have met lots of genuinely passionate people in businesses. I have also met many who could not give a toss. The small-minded would say that Australian passion did not allow the team to win the World Cup...
Monday, July 10, 2006
Rumours
No, not a Fleetwood Mac reference. This post from Trevor has got me thinking. Whilst the report is OK, it assumes that 1. rumours are bad and 2. the key reponse of management to rumours is to squash them.
Whilst there is some very sound advice here (e.g. if you tell the truth regularly then people might trust you more) there is a missed opportunity. Does the nature of the rumours circulating through your organisation tell you anything about values, culture, employee attitudes, etc? Should not be trying to systematically understand what drives rumour patterns in you organisation without being invasive about it?
Whilst there is some very sound advice here (e.g. if you tell the truth regularly then people might trust you more) there is a missed opportunity. Does the nature of the rumours circulating through your organisation tell you anything about values, culture, employee attitudes, etc? Should not be trying to systematically understand what drives rumour patterns in you organisation without being invasive about it?
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