Smart people leading smarter people
IMD European Business School’s Professor William Fischer recently wrote on what’s needed in Leadership for a better world. He begins with the belief that real professional talent is precious and should be devoted to living up to its promise, in the pursuit of higher-order societal goals. Leader-aspirants should strive to fulfill this objective, and his work in the Virtuoso Team project examined how this can be done.
His research focused on a number of great teams that were defined by big, ambitious, personally-risky goals and a relentless search for the absolute best talent, two things that gave them a head-start on “greatness”. They then applied leadership approaches that allowed their assembled talent to shine as brightly as the leader had anticipated. Among the leadership practices Fischer’s team observed were:
1. Leader as talent-scout
All of the teams that they studied featured a leader who devoted substantial time and energy to identifying potential talent.
2. Listening rather than telling
If you assemble all-stars at each position and pay the premium for doing so, then listening should be the leader’s most important activity.
3. Focus on collaboration and an exchange of ideas (not idea-hoarding)
Ideas have value only if they’re shared. All our teams succeeded because they shared rather than protected ideas.
4. “Fail faster to succeed sooner”
When facing big risks, taking small ones frequently allows a team to move faster and with less chance of catastrophic failure. The use of “prototypes” is a different way of learning, and all of our teams used experimentation and failure to achieve fast-learning.
5. Challenge ideas not the “person”
Virtuoso teams thrive on direct, and impolite, challenges to ideas, without diminishing the individuals.
6. Let individuals soar
Perhaps in our efforts to be inclusive, we’ve allowed the “we’s” to so dominate the “I’s” that we’ve wound up “just average”? If you go to the trouble and expense of finding and recruiting great people, let them be great. Don’t bend them to fit the team.
Fischer’s team believes that one best way of employing leadership for a better world lies within the ability of talented people to fulfill their ambitions in the pursuit of team, organizational or societal goals.
DIY water harvesting
The 2009 Rainwater Guide, developed by the Australian Rainwater Industry Development Group (ARID) has been released for download from the ARID website. The 40-page Rainwater Guide helps Australians seeking information about harvesting rainwater as well as encouraging them to make the right choice when looking into sustainable water options at home. The guide also provides practical tips on working out an expected rainfall collection based on their collection areas and where they live.
Experimenting with Technology and Prototyping
Ralph Kerle, Chairman of The Creative Leadership Forum interviews Dr John Best, Vice President, Technology, Research and Development of Thales, one of the world leaders in weapons development. Thales delivers weapon critical defence systems with a broad spectrum of products and services.
They talk about The Australian Transformation and Innovation Centre (ATIC), a facility where Thales has invested significantly in order to provide an environment where their customers can come in, experiment with the technology and trial the benefits of new products in a safe environment. The importance of prototyping as an essential component in the creative process of product development is also discussed.
Clean Tech network expands
About 100 people enthusiastic about making money from the environment industry converged on KPMG’s offices in the Sydney CDB recently for the launch of the Sydney CleanTech Network. Suits from the finance and profession services scene dominated the crowd, although a smattering of academics, entrepreneurs and government representatives were also busily working the room, forming professional linkages and hearing from several companies chasing funds.
There was a short presentation from Roger Price at Innovation Capital, using the burgeoning success story of Winlabs to illustrate the common traps for companies trying to get off the ground, and explaining how they can be more successful in attracting support and funds from the venture capital community.
“We VCs don’t invest in a technology, we invest in people and businesses,” he said, a cliché that many would-be innovators still seem to miss, thinking a good ideas is all that is required to build ‘the next Google’. Good business planning is critical too.
There were also short pitches from a number of emerging cleantech companies, as well as a talk by Doug Rowe from CMA Corporation – a sizeable metal recycler that, nonetheless, requires more funds and is drumming up support for its capital raising.
What really is Brainstorming?
I&I has used Brainstorming in improvement projects and found the description and comments consistent with his experience.
Devonport passes some wind!
A proposal for an office building with wind turbines has been passed by the Devonport City council at a recent meeting after a similar project at Hobart’s ANZ building had been rejected by Hobart City council recently. Devonport approved plans for new TasPorts offices that can collect rain water and are partially powered by two wind turbines next to the building. The turbines were approved last month by the Sullivans Cove Waterfront Authority.
The council, however, is appealing against a similar proposal for the Marine Board building, which the council says are out of character with surrounding buildings.
Business charts meet music
IMD’s Special Focus on China
Leading European International Business School, IMD has created a special focus on China given its 60 year celebrations on October 1. To link to stories and videos go to:
Cows on low carbon diets
A range of dietary additives are promising to dramatically cut methane emissions by up to 25% from livestock, and could also be cost effective for farmers in terms of improved nutrition and higher yields. "Methane emissions are in fact a loss of energy to the animal and that has a cost to the farmer," Professor Jamie Newbold from Aberystwyth University in the US told CNN. To see the CNN report on video go to: http://www.mootral.com/blog/_archives/2009/9/15/4322086.html
The problem occurs because livestock produce around 250-500 litres of methane gas as a by-product each day, according to a Washington State University study. The new additives, however, contain natural compounds that seem to limit methane production. Mootral, a garlic-based additive that inhibits methane-causing bacteria, is already being produced on a commercial scale by Neem Biotech. Sourced from http://www.environmentalmanagementnews.net/StoryView.asp?StoryID=1034670
Blogs in plain English
Recharge with stormwater
CSIRO scientists have bottled recycled stormwater as pure drinking water under the brand ‘Recharge’. CSIRO’s Water for a Healthy Country Flagship urban water stream leader Dr Peter Dillon said the water was captured in the City of Salisbury in South Australia, then stored in a porous limestone aquifer 160m below ground. When recovered it was found to meet drinking water health standards. The water was first treated by passing it through a reed bed or wetland, which allowed particles to settle out. It was then injected via wells into a limestone aquifer for storage and months of natural slow filtration through the aquifer.
After recovery, the water was rigorously tested in National Association of Testing Authorities (NATA) accredited laboratories. ‘Recharge’ complies with the same health standards as tap and bottled water, and is a marketing drive by CSIRO to promote the fact stormwater harvesting is cheaper, more energy efficient and has a small carbon footprint than many alternative water supplies. Sourced from: http://www.environmentalmanagementnews.net/StoryView.asp?StoryID=1034688
Your Ideas, Innovations or Events?
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