Volkswagen is a case for critical thinking, not blind following

Here’s an article from Autoblog that combines several of the themes I enjoy writing about: cars, leadership, management and education.    I’ve already hinted at this on my Facebook fan page, where I seem to post some of the pithy things these days. I sometimes try to avoid blogging about the same thing—a lot of […]

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Leaders need to be humble if co-creation is to be effective

I’d been meaning to refer readers to this for a few weeks (it has appeared on my Facebook pages, including the “fan” page—a good place to go if you prefer my musings filtered, without the minutiæ and without clogging up your feeds). My friend and colleague, Dr Nicholas Ind, has been writing about leadership and […]

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A triumphant Olympics was helped by a well organized Olympic Delivery Authority—lessons for business

I’m glad to see that the third Foundation Forum’s notes (originally sent to me by Medinge life member Patrick Harris) are now public, which means I can refer to them. The latest one is on the Olympics, at a forum held in June, where the speakers were Olympic medallist Steve Williams, Dr Pete Bonfield, CEO […]

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Global experience trumps education—Anna Tavis, Brown Brothers Harriman

Every now and then, the Harvard Business Review comes up with some gems. This video, from Anna Tavis, head of talent and development at Brown Brothers Harriman, says that global experience is more important than education if you wish to be successful in business.    She also hints at the importance of differentiation, which I […]

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Google Plus: the penny drops; Facebook announces it’s taking away a feature it took away two months ago

Looks like people are now being more fair and balanced about Google Plus, instead of drinking the Google Kool-Aid as they did at the site’s launch.    Farhad Manjoo, in Slate, writes: Even Google’s own executives seem to have gotten bored by the site. After several public posts in the summer, co-founders Larry Page and […]

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Why do the major parties insist on holding us back?

  In 2002, I did something really stupid. I bought a brand-new, 750 Mbyte Zip drive.    After all, I had had three years of use out of my 100 Mbyte one, and since 750s looked like the way of the future, I had one installed.    I can still count the number of times […]

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Wellington Airport flip-flops again, but pennies drop more quickly in Queensland

Today, those of us on the anti-‘Wellywood’ sign page got some welcome news: that Wellington Airport would reconsider.    But, I had to point out, this is again déjà vu. Last time, the Airport flip-flopped as well, and said it would consult the public.    Given that the resource consent for ‘Wellywood’ was for nine […]

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Another MG Rover gaffe: turning down the Fiat Stilo platform

Robin Capper referred this to me, found on Autocar’s blog and penned by Hilton Holloway. I’ve only taken excerpts: [A senior MG Rover insider] claims MG Rover bosses were offered a life raft shortly after they bought MG Rover for a tenner. Realising that Rover’s L-series diesel engine was hopelessly outclassed, they approached Fiat about […]

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What’s wrong with our values now?

Alistair Kwun always finds great articles on personal identity. The latest is from Wesley Yang in New York, discussing the Asian-American experience, and why, despite having such good grades at school, are there so few Asian-American leaders in the US? (Incidentally, this is a strange term: what do Americans call non-oriental Asians?)    I applaud […]

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National thinks the internet is ‘Skynet’ as copyright amendments pass second reading

This would be humorous if the implications of the copyright amendments were not so serious: Also speaking in favour of the bill, National MP Jonathan Young compared the internet to Skynet, the fictional artificial intelligence network in the Terminator movies that tried to destroy mankind. That was in the National Business Review.    I believe […]

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