Friday, April 30, 2010

UK Election 2010

Well what an interesting election it has been!
I wonder what we will all be saying in a weeks time when its all over?

Heres some of the current indicators:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/election_2010/default.stm

http://today.yougov.co.uk/politics

http://www.ipsos-mori.com/researchspecialisms/socialresearch/specareas/politics/generalelection2010.aspx


The conservative are edging ahead at about 34% labour are neck and neck with libdem at around 27/28%. The conservatives really need to hit 40%+ to then think its going to happen next week.

The talk is of a hung parliament especially since the "game changing" debates on TV and the big up take on the lib dem. I wonder who's breakfast they have really eaten.

With the big issues of the Euro P.I.G.S only now coming into focus, we have much to worry about outside our own domestic politics and finances.

With the US looking better with Obama and their economy moving, there is hope.

China's growth aroung 11% is amazing.

What does it all mean, which way should confidence go without deluding ourselves.

Personally i think people are waking up to the fact that who ever was in for the last 13 years, the only real answer is change. when push comes to shove Im sure LibDem will take seats from conservatives and labour but overall they will win many second places at the expense of labour in third place. So long as Cameron sticks to the style and substance so for then i think he will have the mandate to get on a fix the deficit and address many of the economic, social and enviromental issues we need to solve. First off we need a sustainable approach from short to long term. Heres waiting for the 6th!!

Friday, April 23, 2010

What Matters: Innovating at scale in the social sector

Yunus as we all know is a great leader and innovator!

What Matters: Innovating at scale in the social sector

Not just a lesson for social innovation but for any entrepreneurial innovation!!

Quote:

Leadership
Creative Discipline
Alignment

Spot on!!

Wednesday, April 21, 2010

Perfect Storm!

Among Economist, Academics and Politicians there has been much talk and white papers written about the "perfect storm" of the global economy and the banking crisis.

At the time (and you have to question the word "time" as many knew about it before they let on to the rest) it was difficult to separate out the reality from people wanting to "spin" for their own self interest be they in industry, finance, politics, the media etc etc. There were, are and always will be people spinning it from either side ie over negative or over positive.

However two years on from the financial scandal and the UK political scandal its still hovering and merging with the other scandals, be that the catholic church and child abuse, the scientific community and the Climate change lobby regards real data, the Volcano in Iceland and the closure of Europe and the UK fly zones with all its impact on people and the economy (or not). Add to that the continuing armed struggles in Afghanistan and Iraq, the wide risk and fear of terrorism, the unrest in Palestine, the concerns about Iran and nuclear weapons, the state of the Euro (re Greece, Ireland and what some unkindly call the PIGS facing the IMF Portugal, Ireland, Greece and Spain) and the alignment of economies without aligned fiscal and monetary policies. The "Perfect storm" does seem to continue to brew. What is interesting is "have we been through it, or is it approaching"?

If 10 years ago anyone would have predicted the experience of 2010 very few would have believed it. The UK closes it airports for a week, hundreds of thousands are stranded abroad! The Pope is asked to close the club! More politician step down at an election on all side than ever before! (incentives maybe?) etc etc. Fewer still would think that most people could and would continue with their lives and business as usual. For me its a reminder of the resilience and determination of people, of individuals to keep going. Amazing!! Teams, groups, organisation, businesses and political parties take their hit, some fall and die others are born or grow from it. This is part of the natural process.

I remember as a young child seeing news reports of earthquake zones and thinking isn't it amazing that at times of great tragedy people get stuck in and do wonderful things to help and save others. In fact we see things in that way but the truth is it happens everyday. These crisis and perfect storms at a micro and macro level are common events and the good will of people is an everyday event as is the life cycle of everything from the joy and excitement of birth and growth (not just of people but also of business, social change, technology etc) to the decline of aging and eventual death of everything.

Im just documenting this here as a marker for myself, not knowing what 2011 or 2020 or 2100 will bring. Im sure interested and believe very much that the entrepreneurs and the generation Y are going to be the pivotal leaders of change, that deliver what i think will be the new triple bottom line of the next generation, where economic, social and environmental responsibility is seen under a new light, all carefully understood to be intertwined and hopefully not institutionalised in any one approach or dogma. I hope!

For now with all the economic and political upheaval, the key issues still remain for me those that are being furthered by the likes of:

http://www.theelders.org/
http://www.longnow.org/

and if i had to pick a top 10 it would be:

1. Respect for and inclusion/empowerment of women - women are great leaders of men.
2. Respect for Nature - earthquakes, volcano's and Tsunami's shape our planet and existence.
3. Respect for people and human rights - people trafficking and exploitation is the biggest cause of unrest everywhere.
4. Respect for diversity and evolving change - new ways of doing things bring on the new world.
5. Respect for renewal - small is beautiful and any institutionalisation eventually leads to bubbles that have to break or be broken.
6. Respect for your own wellbeing - be that related to food, stress, substance abuse or any addictive tendency, people can and do have answers to all these challenges.
7. Respect for young people - they are the future, not to be corrupted by our past ignorance.
8. Respect for science and fact - avoid those peddling spin and fairy tales.
9. Respect for Art, Music and Sport - The human, social and economic benefits of these are huge!
10 Understand the Triple bottom line".... Please, you add yours?


One thing is very clear, when trust is broken or promises of trust are revealed to be what they were, at best, hopes and good intentions and at worst, grooming purely for damning self interests, it helps us to focus on: "what do we understand we trust, and, what do we need to be able to trust better?".


This Millennium particularly with the maturation of the Internet is going to see real change, real access, real dialogue and real people power. Thank goodness for http://www.ted.com/ and Facebook and Twitter and all the others. Lets see where the semantic web and "linked data" combined with augmented reality take us next with the web. "Im trying to be careful with what i wish for as we might just get it!" as the old saying goes!

Id love to hear your thoughts of if you have any cross references beyond many of the things Ive blogged and twittered on in recent year do please share.

Wednesday, April 14, 2010

Twitter Announces Foursquare-Killer, 'Places'

Twitter Announces Foursquare-Killer, 'Places'

Locations based services have been talked about for over 10 yrs now, well before 3G etc but its only now that the potential of mass adoption is kicking in thanks to Twitter and especially foursquare. Lets see....

Tuesday, April 13, 2010

FT.com / Entrepreneurship - One giant step is to move away from the controls

" Many founders of fast-growing businesses at some stage come to a point where they have to let go. This is seldom easy, as Ed Reeves discovered."

This is so often the experience for entrepreneurs trying to bring in the new management layer.

People with personality; because they cant easily fake that at an interview like so many that can spin out their CV!

FT.com / Entrepreneurship - One giant step is to move away from the controls

It also begs the question - why the founder wants to step back and what message that send to the staff and customers if its not done well. Who business is it anyway!! ;-)

Friday, April 09, 2010

Listen

Three great commencement speeches from Harvard that any young entrepreneur should watch.

Surprisingly JKR is a good one to start with, the others ive posted in my blog in previous years:

http://www.ted.com/talks/jk_rowling_the_fringe_benefits_of_failure.html?awesm=on.ted.com_8FR3&utm_campaign=jk_rowling_the_fringe_benefits_of_failure&utm_medium=on.ted.com-twitter&utm_source=direct-on.ted.com&utm_content=ted.com-talkpage

BillG and Steve Jobs at the same venue:

http://nickhorslen.blogspot.com/search?q=jobs

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AP5VIhbJwFs

Wednesday, April 07, 2010

UK Election May 6th 2010

This election should be very interesting in terms of the use of the internet and socialmedia but also in terms of the triple bottom line issues of economy, society and the environment. Im going to checking the radar as to how this all comes together in the next 4 weeks.

The first really obvious thing is the rate at which twitter and facebook are a key channel for the campaigns, Im tracking many for creativity as well as leadership:

http://www.facebook.com/?ref=home#!/conservatives?ref=mf
http://twitter.com/Conservatives

http://twitter.com/WilliamJHague



http://www.facebook.com/?ref=home#!/labourparty?ref=nf
http://twitter.com/UKLabour

http://twitter.com/SarahBrown10


http://www.facebook.com/libdems?ref=nf
http://twitter.com/libdems

http://twitter.com/vincecable

Some of the journalists and media groups are also worth tracking.

I must find some of the other smaller parties or different forums serious or humorous.