Looking Around the Corner: Changing Perspective, Changes Everything!

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Who would not like to see what is around the corner? If we were cameras, we could just change our perspective and we would be able to see around the corner. Of course we can change our positions as well. Probably the most helpful thing we can do with our minds is to change perspective. In many cases, all

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Parkinson's Law and ROWE in Government

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I was recently found Parkinson’s Law, “Work expands so as to fill the time available for it’s completion.” So I got on Amazon and bought a used copy of the book since it’s out of print. It was written in 1957 and is largely about the problems with government administration. Nothing much has changed since then. Parkinson talks about how bloated the British Admiralty became between 1914 and 1928. Ships in service decreased by 67.74%, men in the service decreased by 31.5% and dockyard officials increased by 40.28% while Admiralty officials rose by 78.45%. He says there are two reasons for this. “An official want to increase subordinates not rivals” and “Officials make work for each other.”
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Are Rules and Incentives Killing Health Care?

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Do you believe your doctor puts your health ahead of profits? Does the red tape of health care affect the quality of the care you receive? These questions and more are addressed in a new book by Barry Schwartz and Kenneth Sharpe called, Practical Wisdom. They say that professions like medicine should be a calling, not something that you do to make money. Doctors need income and considering the cost of medical school and malpractice insurance it needs to be substantial, though money should be a side benefit for practicing medicine, not the primary motivation.
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Practical Wisdom and Why Education is Doomed!

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Our children are being systematically turned into automatons that pass tests. That is, if their teachers think they have a chance of passing the test this time around, otherwise they’re left to ferment in the classroom. I don’t usually write about a book until I’ve finished it and then I do a Reading List entry first. I received an advance copy of Barry Schwartz’s and Kenneth Sharpe’s Practical Wisdom just before Christmas and it’s been making me crazy!
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Innovation is a Virus

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We have been told by patent holders, mostly large corporations, that intellectual property rights encourage innovation. Copyright laws have been extended from 14 years to up to life plus 70 years. Competition is said to accelerate creativity. Do these ideas serve innovation or corporate greed?
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Fear, What is it Good For?

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What Are You Afraid Of? I spend very little time being afraid. It’s not a good or bad thing, just the way I’m wired. I’m not afraid of being hurt or dying. Not afraid of heights, crowds, spiders, water or anything else I can think of in the physical world. I used to have a fear of success and a fear of being alone. The former I got rid of in my mid 20’s, the later in the last few years. At least I thought I’d gotten rid of my fear of success.
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You Mean I Don't Have to be Dumb?

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Is your IQ fixed? Can anyone learn to play the violin or compete in a triathlon? Is a paticular gift a requirement to learn these things? It turns out that intelligence, sports ablity, music ablity, just about any ability can be learned, according to 25 years of research by Carol Dweck a former Columbia and current Stanford Psychologist. You are what you think. Perception is reality.
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Zappos: Happy People, Delivering Happiness and Shoes.

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Tony Sheih, CEO of Zappos has just written his first book,’Delivering Happiness, a Path to Profits, Passion and Happiness.’ It chronicles Tony’s life, from childhood entrepreneurial efforts, to college and his time at LinkExchange. In some ways it reads like Ricardo Semler’s’Maverick, The Success Story Behind the World’s Most Unusual Workplace,‘“Both books talk about lessons learned, mistakes made and happy coincidences that lead them to success.
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Uncle Sam Goes ROWE!

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The US Office of Personnel Management (OPM) is launching a Results Only Work Environment pilot program for 400 of its workers. Currently there is only one government entity running under ROWE: Hennepin County, Minnesota. Imagine letting government workers work when they want, how they want and with whom they want? What’s a ROWE you ask? From the book, ‘Why Work Sucks And How To Fix It.’ 13 Guideposts of a ROWE:
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