Posts from — May 2009

This site is always trying to provide useful information, raising awareness, and bringing useful resources to the readers and visitors. This time, Dr. Charles M. Savage, from Munich, Germany, allowed me to publish an article he has created recently. To learn more about Charles and the amazing things he does, take a look at http://www.kee-inc.com

“Failing to Notice” the “Peak Brothers?”

*In a Foreword by Stephen Covey for Alex Pattakos, Prisoners of Our Thoughts, Viktor Frankl’s Principals at Work. San Francisco: Berrett-Koehler, 2004.

No one’s failed to notice the results on the election.  Undoubtedly, there is new energy and excitement that India will get moving again, and rightly so.  And certainly the ICMCI India community will be busy supporting many companies as they seek to grow domestically and internationally.�
Amidst this excitement, might there be something we’ve “failed to notice?” 

Perhaps we’ve not really notice the “Peak Brothers:” Peak Oil, Peak Phosphates, Peak Lithium and Peak Water?  Back in 1956 M. King Hubbert, a geologist for Shell, computed the availability of petroleum resources in the US and came to the conclusion that have of these would be used up by the early 1970s.  He was on target, as the US resources peaked in 1972.  Next he applied his model to the world and in 1976 showed this graphic:

Look carefully at this graphic.  King says if we go back 5 thousand years and ahead 5 thousand years, the “Washington monument like spike shows the episode of our discovery and use of petroleum projects.”  He added, “This is the most disturbing thing in human history!”   

Do we know this or have we “failed to notice?” 

In a similar way, if we put “Peak Phosphates” into Google, we’ll find that this resource is about to peak just at a time when we need more fertilizers to feed another billion people coming in the next 14 years.�
Likewise, try “Peak Lithium” and we’ll find that the key ingredient for electric cars is more limited than we might have though.  And yes, there’s still a lot of water, but only about 1% is readily accessible, so “Peak Water” is a growingly troublesome challenge.  Certainly, as the glaciers on the Himalayas melt, one of India’s key rivers will be profoundly impacted.

Might the ICMCI Delhi “notice” the pending impact of these “Four Peak Brothers” and begin to help your clients prepare for the challenging times ahead?  After all, with wise judgment, we might be able to live on this planet for the next 800 million years.   But certainly not if we don’t “notice” these four challenges!
Dr. Charles M. Savage, Munich, 2009

If you like to review some more infomration on the topic of the “Peak Brothers”, you might want to start by spending 10 more minutes with this video:

Axel Meierhoefer

This course to attain “Crucial Leadership Wisdom” was provided to me by a good friend. Sadly he couldn’t tell me who the original author is. That’s the reason I can’t give credit to him/her. Nevertheless, you should pay close attention, as this is a course worth learning from, if you ever want to become a successful leader!

CRUCIAL LEADERSHIP WISDOM COURSE

Lesson 1

A man is getting into the shower just as his wife is finishing up her shower, when the doorbell rings.

The wife quickly wraps herself in a towel and runs downstairs.

When she opens the door, there stands Bob, the next-door neighbour.

Before she says a word, Bob says, ‘I’ll give you $800 to drop that towel.’

After thinking for a moment, the woman drops her towel and stands naked in front of Bob, after a few seconds, Bob hands her $800 and leaves.

The woman wraps back up in the towel and goes back upstairs.

When she gets to the bathroom, her husband asks, ‘Who was that?’

‘It was Bob the next door neighbour,’ she replies.

‘Great,’ the husband says, ‘did he say anything about the $800 he owes me?’

Moral of the story

If you share critical information pertaining to credit and risk with your shareholders in time, you may be in a position to prevent avoidable exposure.

——————————————————————————–

Lesson 2

A priest offered a Nun a lift.

She got in and crossed her legs, forcing her gown to reveal a leg.

The priest nearly had an accident.

After controlling the car, he stealthily slid his hand up her leg.

The nun said, ‘Father, remember Psalm 129?’

The priest removed his hand. But, changing gears, he let his hand slide up her leg again.

The nun once again said, ‘Father, remember Psalm 129?’

The priest apologized ‘Sorry sister but the flesh is weak.’

Arriving at the convent, the nun sighed heavily and went on her way.

On his arrival at the church, the priest rushed to look up Psalm 129. It said, ‘Go forth and seek, further up, you will find glory.’

Moral of the story

If you are not well informed in your job, you might miss a great opportunity.

——————————————————————————–

Lesson 3

A sales rep, an administration clerk, and the manager are walking to lunch when they find an antique oil lamp.
They rub it and a Genie comes out.

The Genie says, ‘I’ll give each of you just one wish.’

‘Me first! Me first!’ says the admin clerk. ‘I want to be in the Bahamas , driving a speedboat, without a care in the world.’

Puff! She’s gone.

‘Me next! Me next!’ says the sales rep. ‘I want to be in Hawaii , relaxing on the beach with my personal masseuse, an endless supply of Pina Coladas and the love of my life.’

Puff! He’s gone.

‘OK, you’re up,’ the Genie says to the manager.
The manager says, ‘I want those two back in the office after lunch.’

Moral of the story

Always let your boss have the first say.

——————————————————————————–
Lesson 4

An eagle was sitting on a tree resting, doing nothing.

A small rabbit saw the eagle and asked him, ‘Can I also sit like you and do nothing?’

The eagle answered: ‘Sure, why not.’

So, the rabbit sat on the ground below the eagle and rested. All of a sudden, a fox appeared, jumped on the rabbit and ate it.

Moral of the story

To be sitting and doing nothing, you must be sitting very, very high up.
——————————————————————————–

Lesson 5

A turkey was chatting with a bull.

‘I would love to be able to get to the top of that tree’ sighed the turkey, ‘but I haven’t got the energy.’

‘Well, why don’t you nibble on some of my droppings?’ replied the bull. They’re packed with nutrients.’

The turkey pecked at a lump of dung, and found it actually gave him enough strength to reach the lowest branch of the tree.

The next day, after eating some more dung, he reached the second branch..

Finally after a fourth night, the turkey was proudly perched at the top of the tree.

He was promptly spotted by a farmer, who shot him out of the tree.

Moral of the story

Bull Shit might get you to the top, but it won’t keep you there.

——————————————————————————–

Lesson 6

A little bird was flying south for the winter. It was so cold the bird froze and fell to the ground into a large field.

While he was lying there, a cow came by and dropped some dung on him.

As the frozen bird lay there in the pile of cow dung, he began to realize how warm he was.

The dung was actually thawing him out!

He lay there all warm and happy, and soon began to sing for joy.

A passing cat heard the bird singing and came to investigate.

Following the sound, the cat discovered the bird under the pile of cow dung, and promptly dug him out and ate him.

Morals of the story

(1) Not everyone who shits on you is your enemy.

(2) Not everyone who gets you out of shit is your friend.

(3) And when you’re in deep shit, it’s best to keep your mouth shut!

THUS ENDS THE QUICK MANAGEMENT COURSE

I hope you enjoy your long weekend and take time to reflect on the important new wisdoms you gained from this crucial course.

Finally, and maybe to some extent due to the global challenges we all currently face global warming is accepted as a fact of life by the vast majority of all people. A lot of business establishments and entities have started to express their interest in this phenomenon. The concern is how all these impacts can affect not just our generation but the future generations as well.

It starts with the place we spend a considerable amount of time each day, assuming we are lucky enough to still have a job. Creating an office or a workplace that is not just functional but green is a challenge for most people. Here are a few ways that you can start to help your company/business to switch to green.

Steps to start switching green:

• Have an Eco-friendly office space- I know how much you are longing to have the best set of furniture for your office, but you don’t have to worry. There are a number of furniture companies in the market right now that can provide you with a wide variety of exquisite furniture using recycled materials. There is definitely no harm in trying.

• Avoid the use of lead in your office- Go natural! You don’t need to paint furniture’s and offices with those lead containing materials, because aside from destroying the environment, it will also harm your health as well. If you want to decorate your office you can go for pictures and added ornaments that are eco-friendly as well.

• Switch to using eco-friendly office materials- Nowadays mouse pads, clipboards, binders are now made of recycled materials. These materials are now made of old computer motherboards and circuits. Though they may be a little bit pricey, but always bear in mind that being eco-friendly can definitely help and that is beyond price.

• Switch used papers into new and reusable ones- a lot of companies are very guilty of using too much paper, offices and hospitals for example use to much paper even for just a few scratches. It may seem a bit expensive to hire a recycling company. But this would be a good option, you can ask them to collect all the used paper that you have and recycle them, this way it would be cheaper and you are also saving the environment.

• Switch to refillable inks- computer inks are like water for a growing company, so it would be best to use those refillable inks. This way you do not use up much of those plastics that are used when you buy the brand new ink cartilages. You can also save much because it will then be cheaper and at the same time you’re saving the environment.

With the “Switch to Green”- program, which more companies are now taking part in, it won’t be long till we will be able to change the fate of our depleting ozone layer or the unpredictable weather caused by global warming.

So if you would want to be certain that we all have a realistic chance to survive this global challenge and save our Mother Earth, not just for us; but for our children; - then take the steps I have listed for you, and begin your own Switch to Green.

American Management Association or AMA, is a world leader in professional development which helps in advancing the skills of the individual to drive business success. Its history dates back to 1913 with the founding of the National Association of Corporation Schools. In 1922, the group had merged with the industrial relations association of America to form the National Personnel Association. And in 1923 the group chose a new name which is now known as the American Management Association and is using this name up do date.

Many organizations worldwide, including fortune 500, turn to AMA as their trusted partner in professional development and draw upon its experience to enhance skills, abilities and knowledge with noticeable results from day one.

Their mission: to train companies that has never been more critical for advancing careers and achieving organizational success. These ongoing learning’s will enable managers to continuously enhance their professional and personal development and increase their value to their organizations.

AMA has consolidated the five closely related national associations (1973) which are all dedicated to management education into one organization. With this the regents of the University of the State of New York granted recognition to AMA as an educational institution.

They provide managers and their organizations worldwide with the knowledge, skills and tools they need to improve business performance. They also help to adapt to changing workplaces and how to prosper in a complex and competitive business world. AMA also serves as a forum for exchange of the latest information, ideas and insights on management practices and business trends. It disseminates content and information to a worldwide audience through multiple distribution channels and its strategic partners.

Their approach is in improving performance and combining experiential learning with opportunities for ongoing professional growth at every step of one’s career journey. AMA also supports the goal of individuals and organizations through a complete range of products and services which includes seminars. They also have Podcast, conferences, corporate and government solutions and webcast as well.

A webcast (http://www.amanet.org/editorial/webcast/2008/green-leadership.htm#)

has been out in the internet wherein it explores how smart companies are using environmental strategies to innovate, create value and build competitive advantage (American Management Association). In the webcast you will learn about how environmental pressures such as climate change and powerful stakeholder are being driving companies to this go green program. It also describes the strategies and tools the world’s best companies use to innovate and profit in this new environmentally sensitive world.

Still in the article found in the American Management Association, the webcast provides a clear perspective on the AMA’s top 12 most commonly used sustainability-related practices and at the same time illuminate the hurdles that companies face when trying to go green and the reasons why some environmental initiatives fail.

            Andrew Winston, founder of Winston Eco-strategies, along with several leading companies, has worked to encourage companies to use environmental thinking to drive growth. Mr. Winston is a highly recognized expert and highly sough-after speaker on green business. He has consulted with start-ups and fortune 500 companies such as Band of America, Cisco, and IKEA. He is the coauthor of the bestseller, GREEN TO GOLD, which highlights what works and what doesn’t, and Andrew has appeared in the wall street journal, Time, Business Week, Forbes, The New York Times, ABC News and CNBC.

He bases his works on significant in-company business experience, including executive positions and P & L responsibility at global companies, start-ups and dot-coms. Another presenter in the webcast is the president of Jeane Wirtenberg & Associates, LLC, which is a consulting firm specializing in building suitable enterprises through leadership, culture change, collaborations and learning. Jeanne Wirtenberg, Ph.D., is the cofounder and director, external relations and services of the institute fir sustainable enterprise at Fairleight Dickinson University which brings people together to learn how to develop and lead thriving, sustainable enterprises that are “in and for the world”.

Aside from webcasting, AMA has also tried to enhance the leadership skills and develop them to voice out so that they may inspire, influence and achieve results at the same time through a seminar. In this seminar, they have reiterated that leadership goes hand in hand with success. The effective application of skill is particularly essential in an uncertain economy when painful business decisions are made daily.

The seminar is uniquely designed to strengthen your leadership communication skills, you’ll learn practical techniques to shape your leadership messages hone an authentic leadership voice and engage yourself in powerful conversations to achieve results. Aside from the above mentioned benefits if the seminar, you will also improve on your leadership communication skills, be able to build greater buy-in, trust and loyalty as well as demonstrate grace under pressure and defuse tension. You will also have the ability to overcome resistance to change, motivate followers and inspire them to take action and rally support in difficult situations.

AMA’s Green Leadership seminar will help you in implementing and sustaining strategies. You will be able to integrate green and socially responsible practices to leverage short and long term performances. Understanding the current global trends that affect your business, identifying stakeholders and engaging them in the sustainability planning process is a breeze when you have gone through AMA’s seminar. And lastly, you will learn to measure performance results related to your sustainability initiatives.

Those who are asked to attend are mostly those experienced leaders, directors, change agents and influencers as well. In this seminar it will cover understanding the global context, mindset and consciousness; discovering your sustainability directions and analyzing, aligning and applying sustainability strategies is also covered in the seminar. They also cover implementing measurements and metrics systems for sustainability.

            AMA hopes to achieve a world that would gear to a more eco-friendly environment, and companies that would take into consideration the idea of using more environmentally friendly programs. It is a great source for anybody interested in the future of green leadership and how to change a company form traditional approach towards a sustainable business model that is in tune with the environmental needs of the future.

Nowaday’s companies have been very keen in protecting the environment. A lot are geared to changing how companies and their programs can help the environment. We have been hearing a lot of news about how different companies can in some way affect our environment and have not been keeping in mind the safety of the rest of the people. This is why green leadership was established to save the environment and spread the news on how to still continue being a successful company and at the same time be conscious about the environment.

In the lean and green leadership era, initiatives seek to increase and enhance executive discussion and awareness around the ways IT organizations can reduce energy drain and impact business gain by consolidating storage systems, embracing efficient computing practice, and introducing power-saving techniques. In this program leaders will examine ways to address the accelerating energy demands and rampant waste of data center power, along with methods to increase IT yield and data productivity.

A press release dated April 16. 2008 stated that the new BPM forum study finds that IT curbing has failed to curb data center energy consumption despite the increasing number of those concerned. Despite the stated concerns and priorities for making data center operations more environmentally friendly, still only a few organizations have any specific plans in place. Most IT managers give their operations failing grades in reducing energy consumption. Data center energy consumption continues to rise due to rising energy costs amid increasing environmental concern over global warming. Nearly half of IT managers surveyed say that their organizations have run out of energy resources in the past.

BlueArc is a leading network storage company focused on high performance and scalability, and on making environmentally responsible computing both possible and cost-effective.  The company also has the ability to drive server consolidation in reducing complexity, lowering the total cost of ownership and cutting power and cooling expenses at the same time. They have helped companies expand ways to explore, discover, research, create, process and innovate in data-intensive environments. Replacing complex and cost-inefficient and power-hungry products with high performance and environmentally beneficial scalable and easy to use systems is one field that BlueArc has been involved in.

BlueArc has conducted a study assessing issues and opportunities presented by green computing and ways to address accelerating energy and performance demands and perceived waste in the data center. The findings reflect responses from more then 150 IT professionals in an online survey completed February of 2008. The study revealed the following:

• Three-quarters of respondents gave their organization a C grade and found them to be worse in their ability to control IT energy consumption.
• There were no specific plans in place for the data center for almost two-thirds of the respondents.
• About 20 percent of those polled spend more than a million dollars annually on IT energy consumption and 8 percent spend more than 10 million.
• Another 20 percent of respondents set goals of 5 percent energy reduction or less and almost two-third had set goals of 25 percent reduction or less.
• Last year, almost half of those spoiled IT energy consumption increased in their organization and even in their cost of energy.
• And finally, forty-six percent of respondents reported that they had run out of space, power and capacity.

The study gave an overall result which pointed to a gap between what IT leadership knows, what it needs to do, and what it has accomplished to date in terms of environmental responsibility. (Derek Kober, Director of BPM forum). Derek also said that in polling the marketplace and talking with industry leaders, they have heard that there are opportunities for those who deliver on the environmental promise to also save substantial cost and drive revenue opportunities through more efficient and enhanced data performance practices.

The BPM, better known as the Business Performance Management Forum, is a new management mantra that is aimed at bringing business gain to the value chain through enhanced trading partner visibility, flexibility and new levels of verifiable sustainability which applies across the entire demand and supply ecosystem of global corporations.

 Its current programs have been unifying, focusing and controlling complexes which are globally distributed and highly synchronized value networks in turbulent, unpredictable times. They also require real-time operational insights down to the product level, accurate sourcing and sell-through intelligence, and relentless dedication to eliminating waste and realizing new efficiencies in all areas of the go-to-market process.

At the same time these programs have followed the economic, social and regulatory dynamics and are putting real pressure on global companies to be both “lean and green” in their product sourcing, logistics, transportation, distribution and operational practices as well.

Now that there is a growing number of organizations and programs such as the ‘lean and green initiative’ and BlueArc, people have high hopes that these newly formed programs will inspire other individuals and companies to follow in their footsteps. They are role models in environmental preservation.

For anybody interested to find out about some other aspects of this topic, feel free to review a recent article at http://tinyurl.com/dfurmc

We only have one earth, one environment and one world, and if we all work to save, conserve, and use environmentally friendly programs and processes, our children and future generations will have a more sustainable environment than what we are creating if we don’t act in a conscious “Green-Leadership” approach.

I invite everybody using computers, working with data centers and computing-intensive fields to join the movement and become eco-conscious pioneers, so that we can leave the world a better place without loosing any of the comforts and benefits of modern technology.

Axel Meierhoefer & Marie Saycon