Points of Contexture

Personal Work Space: to Order, or not to Order?

Since I posted "To Study, Perchance to Dream?" on April 29th,  I have received a number of email and phone comments - enough to know I am not the only one thinking about the issue of personal work space, and how to deal with it, especially in the home.

I came across this article, "An Orderly Office? That's Personal" by Sara Rimer in the New York Times (and yes, it was in one of those "stacks" in a very neat blue file folder, along with some others I had forgotten about!). A well narrated story of one person's struggle, considerations, discoveries and solution.  It rang true for me, and I bet it will for most of you all too. Enjoy!

To Study, Perchance to Dream?

I was reading in my den a few nights ago and realized I had stacks of papers, articles, books and magazines lying in a semi-circle around my chair.  Looking around, I noticed that I had two “current reading” folders of things printed off the Web (I still like to read off paper) brought down from my upstairs office.

And these weren’t just the typical current reading one usually has lying around the favorite chair – some of them were more than three months old.  I realized this when my wife hinted rather subtly that perhaps it was time to shorten the stacks, or better yet, move them to the upstairs office – something about dusting and vacuuming being hindered by the piles (now no longer “stacks”).

I thought I should go upstairs and make room before I started the heavy lifting (yep, there was that much).  To my surprise, I had no reading of any kind on my desk, only client, project and other files I was working on.  Even I could see that something’s going on here I hadn’t thought about before.

An Open Letter: Leadership and Strategy in the Crisis

January 5, 2009

 

To Whom It May Concern:

 

Significant changes in your environment require an immediate strategic review to refocus your competitive advantage.  Strategy is all about future differences, creating your future, the competitive difference you can bring, and how you identify and take advantage of the resulting new opportunities.  In this economic crisis, in this critical moment, how you chose to act and respond will have far reaching impacts for you and your organization.

Now is the time for reconsidered strategy - for your organization, your business units, and your alliances and partnerships – creating precise actions aligned with that strategy, with an eye ready to see the opportunities that are clearly beginning to emerge.

While the jury is out on how long this crisis will continue, one thing is sure:  The world simply will not look nor act the same afterwards.

The Pervasive Expectations of Instantaneous Response

As communications speed up, driven by technology advancements, there is always a trade off - detail for speed, or speed for detail.  Most people opt for speed, which of course means little time for context and understanding.  And one thing critical for tight and concise communication and understanding over time, exformation (explicitly discarded information) doesn't really occur.

 

This means that the biggest issue for technology improved communications (more speed seems to be the choice and  emphasis),  is that there is less and less understanding of what is being communicated faster and faster, with still the expectation of instantaneous response.

 

This is just one of the implications of the pervasive pressure of Expectations of Instantaneous Response.

Strategy in the Current Crisis: Thinking and Acting in the Recession

One of the more interesting topics of recent conversation is the idea that this economic crisis really has no model or pattern that is discernable from past downturns and crises.

 

I was listening to Nassim Taleb (The Black Swan) this past Sunday morning on Fareed Zakaria's (The Post-America World) GPS show: He and the other roundtable members made some very compelling points about the unique nature of the current crisis.  And after listening to some other folks, and thinking about some recent work I have done, there are some critical new ways of thinking you need in this crisis.