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@tremayneflanders
Introduction to my Personal Website
Hello, Its been a while since my last post. I was really busy, yet today I have some exciting news. I have added my own personal website as a part of my online portfolio and for personal brand development purposes. The website can be found at www.tremayneflanders.com and I am also exploring Medium.com for my blog. I can be found at www.medium.com/@tremflanders. I look forward to your feedback. Regards,
In pursuit of Technology Readiness
In my series entitled "In pursuit of Technology Readiness", I will be posting tidbits of information to motivate discussion on the topic.I start off with the quote from the CEO of Cisco made in the Global Information Technology Report 2014: "According to analysis conducted by Cisco, the Internet of Everything represents a US$19 trillion global opportunity to create value over the next decade through greater profits for businesses as well as improved citizen services, cost efficiencies, and increased revenues for governments and other public-sector organizations." - John Chambers, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Cisco If there was just enough resources to invest in one area to prepare Trinidad and Tobago for the next wave of technological innovation what do you think it should be? In other words, what do you think Trinidad and Tobago can do to improve its network readiness index?
Before writing this blog post I decided to apply one of Steve Jobs’ ideas: “Deciding what not to do is as important as deciding what to do.” [1997] This is not a post about Steve Jobs as a person, ...
One of my favorite part's of this reading is the 8th point where he makes reference to Shunryu Suzuki's idea that:
“In the beginner’s mind there are many possibilities, but in the expert’s there are few.”
Research has shown that the most innovative people are those who are not so experienced in their chosen industry but yet not too "green" either. So to me, the best innovators are like those sun-ripped mangoes :)
In 1991, Cuba’s economy began to implode. “The Special Period in the Time of Peace” was the government’s euphemism for what was a culmination of 30 years worth of isolation. It began in the 60s, with engineers leaving Cuba for the Unites States, and continues in part today, under the longest trade embargo in modern history.
http://www.sciencedump.com/content/cubas-diy-inventions-30-years-isolation
User Experience 101 courtesy General Assembly
A typhoon, basketball and your company
I recently viewed a video posted on Vimeo by the Samaritan’s Purse International Relief Organization about the recent devastation of Typhoon Haiyan in the Philippines. The following is the caption accompanied with the video link:
"Since we began rebuilding w/ the Filipino people in the days after Typhoon Haiyan, nothing has been more endearing than their resilience & their love of basketball. Collectively, they’ve found comfort in a game, & to this day, they continue to rebound.
Please give to our continued relief effort & share this video all over the interwebs. We have a team in place to help with the most recent typhoon. To find out more about how you can help, check out these links:
samaritanspurse.org sptv.org twitter.com/samaritanspurse facebook.com/samaritanspurse
© Samaritan's Purse. 2014"
Firstly, I will like to encourage you to join in the effort and follow the links above and spread the message.
Secondly, the video provoked much thought about the human spirit. In the video, the devastation of the typhoon is quite apparent. More apparent was the Filipino people's love of basketball and how this love of basketball has helped keep them in such a devastating time. This love of basketball has brought out the resilience of the people in the rebuilding process and helped them recognize that the same teamwork that is required in the sport that they love, is the same teamwork required to repair and restore their communities. Being able to make the connection certainly will bring a level of hope to the people that it is possible. Clearly, the Samaritan's Purse are understanding what motivates the people and are communicating the right messages to help spur them on to great things.
Are your employees motivated?
This begs the question: What activities have your company been undertaking to continually identify with what motivates your people? Many times organisations can be lulled into a false sense of security by offering good financial compensation packages to employees as a means to attract the best talent. While everyone certainly wants to be paid well, it is becoming more apparent that the modern workforce is motivated by many things beside a great salary. A recent Forbes article based on a Gallup poll, noted that "unhappy employees outnumber happy ones by two to one worldwide." And only "13% of workers feel engaged by their jobs." In these modern times, where information is just but a click away and social networks such as LinkedIn continue to grow, employees are becoming more socially conscious about their careers and are shifting away from settling in one job for their entire career. While this may have some benefits to employers , the crucial ability to attract, motivate and retain the top talent becomes even more strategic and critical.
What insight does the video offer?
Beyond the obvious message of teamwork required to achieve success, the video highlights the power of motivating people to great achievements through initiatives that are mutually rewarding: by engaging the Filipino people in their passions, Samaritan's Purse is able to tap into their conscience to communicate that they are capable of overcoming the challenges through teamwork, as they are all too familiar with by their understanding of basketball. Similarly, your organisation must find the common denominators that motivate your human resource to persevere and achieve, effectively cultivating and communicating the right messages continuously throughout the entire corporation. Your human resource management practices must strategically view the employees as more valuable assets than any physical or capital asset. Companies that integrate human capital investments into their financials are more poised to see the return of that investment. After all, its the people who make the show go on.
Some useful tips
Whether you are now starting or an established business, here are three key strategies that you should center your HRM activities upon:
Consider your employees as investments - Such an approach helps to ensure HR practices and principles are clearly in sync with the organization's overall strategy, forces the organization to invest in its best opportunities, and ensures that performance standards are met.
Identify mutually beneficial opportunities and take advantage of them - For example, stock ownership programs attempts to strategically invest in the people and the organization, by making employees owners of the company. This resolves potential conflicts as to how best to allocate profits, whether to issue bonuses or reinvest into the business.
Center your competitive advantage around your HR strategy - How did Google, Apple and the likes become so dominant in their respective markets? Ask anyone if they are interested in working in these companies and why, and I guarantee that the company culture is one of the most alluring factors. Why leave to become an entrepreneur, when you already feel like an entrepreneur within the organization? Many of Google's innovations have been derived out of their HR strategy that allows employee's 20% of their work time to work on their own ideas.
Conclusion
If you have not been practicing any of those few strategies identified, maybe its time that you re-evaluate your HR strategy to better position your company to be able to rebound in the face of challenging circumstances. You never know when a "typhoon" may come.
As the numbers increase for people who are unhappy and not fulfilled in their jobs, it's not surprising to see the world of entrepreneurship gain more attention. You are reading an article fromtheWas 2014 the year of the entrepreneur?series, to read more about this you can visittheseries homepage. A...
21 tools that will help your remote team work better together Owen Williams, thenextweb.com
Working as a remote team can be difficult, but doesn’t have to be. Here at The Next Web, much of our team is remote.
We have staff in the UK, India, The Netherlands, USA and New Zealand all working together across time zones successfully, even…
Collaboration tools for remote team productivity.
“Most people view salespeople as self-centered, Lone-Ranger types. The best salespeople I know are generous. Generous people enjoy the law of reciprocity. When you give, you get"
Colleen Stanley, founder and president of SalesLeadership, Inc
David Brooks: Should you live for your résumé ... or your eulogy? Interesting TED Talk presentation by David Brooks.
IDEO project with BBVA: The Future of Self-Service Banking IDEO is an outstanding company and one I highly regard and hope to emulate. This project was published in 2010 and was implemented. Nevertheless, when we encounter ideas from legendary companies, we sometimes gloss over the flaws. What flaws can you pick up from this design?
We spent a weekend on the most futuristic cruise ship out there, Quantum of the Seas. There are robot bartenders, a skydiving simulator, bumper cars, trapezes, an ice skating rink, and the North...
Normally you want to get away. Online disconnect. Royal Caribbean "disrupts" themselves with innovative cruiseline experience.
http://www.theverge.com/…/7…/quantum-seas-future-cruise-ship
Caribbean Airlines' success starts with the CEO
I have been following the developments of Caribbean Airlines over the pass year and the airline continues to face some significant challenges as they move forward in the 21st century. Notwithstanding the increasingly competitive environment in the region with merger consolidations and new entrants, the airline also faces its own internal struggles as a national and regional carrier. Recently, there were rumblings on the salary of the current CEO and this is to be expected with the increasing pressure for sustainable improvements from stakeholders. While the standard salary for CEOs in the airline industry is a topic for discussion, I preferred to focus on how important is the CEO towards the future of this airline. Clearly, its future depends on sustained profitability and new growth and to achieve this, one must start with the vision of the CEO, an obvious criteria for employment. Once the CEO can convincingly show he has the vision, knowledge, experience and strategies to bring the airline into both profitable and growing positions, then he can negotiate a favorable contract with the right performance bonuses.
Profitability without growth: Danger of financial ratios
Profitability alone does not always mean that you are on the right track. Often times many companies and even industries have sacrificed growth in the name of profitability. With modern financial ratios (measuring tools) such as Return on Net Assets (RONA i.e. Profit/Fixed Assets + Networking Capital) and Internal Rate of Return (IRR i.e. Profit/Time), there is danger in the manipulation of numbers to reflect favorably on paper to the stakeholders. The problem with ratios is that it gives managers different options to increase the overall number. For example in the case of RONA, I can either increase the profit figure in the numerator, or I can simply get rid of assets on the balance sheet to lower the denominator of the ratio. If I choose to lower the denominator year after year, increasingly outsourcing services that will have traditionally been driven internally by my previously held assets in the pursuit of short term gains, my IRR will improve over time. However in capital-intensive industries such as the airline industry where fixed assets is a critical success factor, taking such an approach can clearly harm one’s chances of innovating and growing, and therefore surviving. Especially if the outsourcing partners (upon whom you are now increasingly dependent) are positioned to leverage on the ill-conceived practice. This is why its important to examine annual reports and follow the business decisions of the company and the developments in the industry.
Conclusion
It is clearly the CEO’s role to act responsibly in the best interest of the airline. Short term measures must not be made that severely compromises the long term viability. External pressure for favorable performance indicators in the short term can be a very tempting option, but a clearly focused and well founded strategy can wield a powerful and compelling defense in the face of such.
The following is a business forecast from Boeing for the Latin American and Caribbean region’s airline industry.
http://www.boeing.com/boeing/commercial/cmo/latin_america.page
Busting clichés: All you need are small steps
Many times over the years, I have struggled with accepting the notion that in order to achieve your objectives when completing a project, one was simply required to take small steps consistently towards the goal, whatever that goal was. When you think about this from a project management point of view, many theories may come to mind: Agile and evolutionary prototyping in software development, lean start-up in business, or lean manufacturing in product development, are just a few. “Get out the building” seems to be the new buzz phrase, and many people seem to believe that once something is started, then they have achieved success.
Exercising Real Options
There, however, is a difference between starting a business and starting a SUCCESSFUL business. This is where company vision and strategy comes in. If you have not clearly crafted your company’s vision, and have not conducted the due diligence in pursuing a particular opportunity, you will have, in essence, poorly managed what we call in entrepreneurial finance your “real options”, essentially bypassing more lucrative or rewarding opportunities to pursue another “opportunity”.
Start vs Success: Minimizing second mover advantage
Therefore, it is imperative that while one must tackle big problems through small steps, these small steps must be guided by a clear vision and robust strategy that acts as a fortress against the threats, both internal and external, to the organization. Because even if you get ahead of the race, as a first mover, more diligent and prudent second starters may just use your initiative against you with a more robust strategy. Therefore while starting and building is very important, employing the right strategy, crafted with sound data, is critical towards building a sustainable business.
The fallacy of Lines of Code per day
We all know that, as a programmer, the one great thing that you look forward to is that time when you experience that eureka moment in your implementation of a solution. The temptation is to always keep your head down in the screen, determine that anytime now you will get it right.
However most experience programmers have already crossed the hurdle of resisting temptation and maintaining the discipline of the software process to execute the activities in software engineering besides coding. In fact, the “more you sweat in the times of peace, is the less you sweat in times of war” principle applies in all of the various software development methodologies we know.
Taking the step further to building your tech start-up (the business development process), this philosophy applies even more, as long as you classify coding as war. “Getting out of the building” is the new buzz phrase, that is critical to channeling your efforts in the most efficient way, towards developing solutions for which customers are willing to pay.
If more software engineers can observe the impact of applying lean principles into their start-up process, perhaps more of them will adjust their productivity metrics from LOC per day to LOC per iteration.
Related link: http://java.dzone.com/articles/programmer-productivity
Make hero out of others - a team builds a business, an individual makes a living - The Entrepreneurial Mind, Chapter 2: Crafting a Personal Entrepreneurial Strategy