Month: February 2008

Categories
Books

Dealing with trouble at the top

TroubleIt is never easy to lead a process of cultural change in a large, established organisation. When Carly Fiorina accepted the role of CEO of Hewlett Packard with a mandate for introducing cultural change, she knew she was in for a struggle. Her book, Tough Choices: a Memoir, gives her perspective on just how great that struggle was.

There are numerous insights for leaders that can be gleaned from the book by observing the way in which the author dealt with issues such as: misalignment of actual behaviour with stated organisational values, failures of communication and co-operation between different business units within the organisation, introduction of change into a conservative environment, passive-aggressive behaviour in the board room, shortage of leadership, and merger with an organisation which had a significantly different corporate culture.

Ultimately, Carly Fiorina was fired from Hewlett Packard. She says, “Life isn’t always fair, and I was playing in the big leagues… I had made mistakes, but I had made a difference… I had made tough choices, and I could live with their consequences.” Any leader of a substantial organisation needs to be tough enough to handle the criticism, conflict and difficult choices which necessarily come with the role. I highly recommend this book because of the helpful way in which it canvases these issues.

Categories
Poverty

Expendable lives

Expendable“One of the most disturbing developments in Kenya over the last two years has been the eruption of violent clashes between different ethnic groups. However, far from being the spontaneous results of a return to political pluralism, there is clear evidence that the government was involved in provoking this ethnic violence for political purposes and has taken no adequate steps to prevent it from spiralling out of control. So far, Africa Watch estimates that clashes have left at least 1,500 people dead and 300,000 displaced. If action is not swiftly taken, there is a real danger that Kenya could descend into civil war.”

That quotation comes from a 1993 Human Rights Watch publication, but it seems to be talking about the current situation in Kenya, with post-election violence having left around 1,500 people dead. Now research by the Independent Medico-Legal Unit on the causes of death has revealed that 43 percent of examined bodies had gunshot injuries in the head, abdomen and chest. The implication is that a disproportionately high percentage of victims were killed by police, presumably following an agenda which was not limited to peace keeping.

The victims of violence in political power struggles are nearly always the poor – those considered by the ruling elite to be expendable. The lives of people who have little influence can safely be sacrificed, especially if they are likely to have voted for the wrong party.

Categories
Future

Australia 2020 Summit

SummitWhat do we want the future to look like? That’s the topic which will be discussed by 1000 of Australia’s best and brightest thinkers at the Australia 2020 Summit in April. There will be ten different topics, with a prominent Australian designated to lead each topic. The identities of the leaders were published yesterday:

  • Professor Glyn Davis – Chair
  • Dr David Morgan – Future directions for the Australian economy
  • Warwick Smith – Economic infrastructure, the digital economy and the future of our cities
  • Roger Beale AO – Population, sustainability, climate change, and water
  • Tim Fischer AC – Future directions for rural industries and rural communities
  • Professor Michael Good – A long-term national health strategy
  • Tim Costello AO – Strengthening communities, supporting families and social inclusion
  • Dr Kelvin Kong – Options for the future of indigenous Australia
  • Cate Blanchett – Towards a creative Australia
  • John Hartigan – The future of Australian governance
  • Professor Michael Wesley – Australia’s future security and prosperity in a rapidly changing region and world

Will the 2020 Summit be something worthwhile and constructive in planning for the future of our country, or will it just be an expensive talkfest? Like the other 20 million non-best-and-brightest Australians who haven’t been invited to the summit, we can sit back and reserve our judgement.

Categories
Present

Kenyan Crisis Negotiations

NegotiateNegotiations are continuing in the hope of securing a settlement to the post-election crisis in Kenya. It is hard to gauge how successful those talks have been, as it is difficult to separate rhetoric and discussions of “possible” ways forward from actual points of agreement. However, the general thrust of the negotiations seems to be towards a power-sharing coalition between the respective parties of the rival presidential candidates, possibly with Mr Odinga being appointed to a newly-created post of Prime Minister, with Mr Kibaki remaining president.

However, when disagreements have descended into the levels of violence and antagonism witnessed in Kenya over the past 7 weeks, it is very hard to bring opposing parties to any form of agreement. According to the latest reports, the opposing parties have agreed on the creation of the post of prime minister and two deputies, and they have agreed to form a coalition which will be dissolved at the end of the present parliament, but all other issues are still under negotiation.

Meanwhile, more than 350,000 people are still refugees as a result of the violence. One consequence is that numerous people, including a number of children, have lost contact with family members, and the Red Cross is engaged in extensive efforts to track missing relatives.

Categories
Past

People Power Day

People PowerHappy People Power Day. On this day 22 years ago, the People Power Revolution, following a series of non-violent mass demonstrations in the streets of Manila, succeeded in toppling the corrupt government of Ferdinand Marcos. On 25 February 1986, Ferdinand and Imelda Marcos fled to the US, effectively handing over the presidency of the Philippines to Corazon Aquino.

In 1983, the Philippine opposition leader Benigno Aquino was assassinated, apparently on the orders of President Marcos. When Marcos called elections for 7 February 1986, Aquino’s widow Corazon Aquino ran for president as the opposition candidate. The Commission on Elections declared Marcos the winner, but independent observers declared Aquino the winner. On 22 February the minister of defence and vice chief of staff of the armed forces delcared their support for Aquino as the rightful president, and over the next few days the popular uprising in support of Aquino increased.

On the morning of 25 February, Corazon Aquino was sworn in as the President of the Philippines at Club Filipino, and later the same day Marcos had a swearing-in ceremony at his palace. However, the People Power revolution was now approaching the palace, and at 9pm the Marcos family was whisked away by American helicopters, into exile in Hawaii.

Categories
Faith

Even asking takes faith

AskingJesus seemed to be encouraging a beggar-type culture when he said, “Ask, and it will be given to you. Seek, and you will find. Knock, and it will be opened for you. Because every asker receives. The seeker finds. The knocker gets the open door.” The homeless men I often meet in the city seem to know that about one in every thousand people whom they ask for money will be kind enough to respond positively. But at the end of the day, they will have endured a lot of rejection and abuse, just for the sake of total takings of $20 or $30.

I once had a friend, George, who was an advocate of door-to-door evangelism. He said that the Mormons knew that you would get a positive response in about one out of every 600 homes. So it was just a matter of being faithful enough. But what about the 599 negative responses? Was it justifiable to give 599 people negative experiences in order to give one person a positive experience?

It seems to me that Jesus was not talking about begging or doorknocking; he was actually talking about how we should relate to God. Asking God for something is a matter of faith: do we really believe that God is powerful enough to change the way things are? Do we really have the courage to trust that God can make the future better than the present?

Categories
Books

Listening to good advice

Taking AdviceFew leaders know how to make the most of the advice which they receive, according to Don Ciampa in his book, Taking Advice: How Leaders Get Good Counsel and Use It Wisely. It’s an unusual topic for a book on leadership, but it addresses an issue which should be of interest to all good leaders. As Proverbs 15:22 says, “Plans fail for lack of counsel, but with many advisers they succeed.” (NIV)

Through numerous illustrations and scenarios, the book illustrates how good leaders fail as advice takers, some fundamental principles of advice taking, the differences between strategic, operational, political and personal advice, and the differences between expert, experienced, sounding-board and partner advisers. Towards the end of the book the author concludes that there are three specific success factors for unlocking the full potential of advice:

  • Find and use the right advisers before you need them.
  • Give your advisers access to your schedule and to your thinking.
  • Take on the responsibilities that are yours alone. Don’t expect your advisers to do what only you can do.

Whilst I did not find the book to be the amongst the most compelling books on leadership and organisational management that I have read, I thought that it did a reasonable job of covering one specific area which is not often considered sufficiently – the area of choosing and using advisers well – and for that reason I recommend it.

Categories
Poverty

Insecurity, poverty and disease

DiseaseA recent BBC news article, AIDS Patients Hit by Kenya Crisis, illustrates the vicious cycle caused by insecurity. Victims of violence are displaced from their homes and sources of income. This leads to poverty, and poverty leads to illness whether because the victims are unable to buy adequate food, unable to avoid exposure to disease, or unable to afford medicines or medical care.

The article tells the story of an HIV-positive Kenyan woman of Kikuyu ethnicity who was forced to flee her home after being threatened with gang rape. Now with just one meal a day she is unable to tolerate the anti-retroviral medication. Failure to observe the exact dosage and periodicity of administration of anti-retrovirals results in a loss of effectiveness for those drugs, so that it then becomes extremely difficult and expensive to treat the patient.

More than 600,000 people have been displaced in the post-election insecurity in Kenya, and a significant number of these are HIV-positive. Over 1000 people have been killed directly in the violence, and it seems likely that an even greater number will now be killed as a result of poverty-related disease.

Categories
Future

The world in 2020

GlobalisationIn the year 2020, globalisation will be irreversible, the world economy will be significantly larger, Asia will have a greater economic role, political Islam will be a potent force, environmental issues will be even more important, and there will be an arc of instability extending from Africa through the Middle East to Asia, according to the predictions of the US National Intelligence Council in its Mapping the Global Future report.

By 2020 the average per capita income in the world is projected to be 50% higher than it was in 2000, and the global economy is expected to be 80% larger. However, the benefits will not be distributed evenly. Those who can access and adopt new technologies will benefit most, but the gaps between the rich and the poor are likely to increase. The power of individual governments is likely to decline with improvements in information connectivity, which will cause the proliferation of virtual communities of interest, including communities promoting new forms of identity politics focused on religious convictions such as political Islam.

Increasing globalisation will result in economic convulsions for the middle classes in developed countries, causing more rapid job turnover. Developed countries are likely to become more multi-ethnic, and will face greater challenges in integrating migrants into their societies while respecting their ethnic and religious identities.

Categories
Present

Is any publicity good publicity?

TemptationRiverside Church featured prominently in the news in Melbourne yesterday as a result of the racy title of their current sermon series, “The best sex you’ll ever have”. Responses to the story on The Age newspaper website have mostly been positive, but have ranged from “I think it’s great,” to “Keep the church out of the bedroom!”

The idea of using sex in church marketing is not new, and the current series at Riverside seems to be a copy of similar series run in churches in the US over the past two years. Even the picture advertising the series is a copy. The original idea seems to have come from Granger Community Church, provoking much discussion on the Monday Morning Insight blog two years ago, but the website advertising their series, mylamesexlife.com, is no longer active.

Is any publicity good publicity for a church? I don’t know. A church needs to be a part of the discussion in its local area, rather than being an irrelevant backwater. On the other hand, a church needs to be a place where genuine and authentic community occur, and advertising campaigns which may be perceived as “bait-and-switch” or “playing to the lowest common denominator” may detract from the necessary atmosphere of authenticity.