tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-91156446058333841382024-03-13T21:16:17.380+01:00X de XavierUnos y ceros. A veces, en el orden adecuado.-Xvhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12954073038736466058noreply@blogger.comBlogger20125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9115644605833384138.post-18824264714964972272010-02-19T16:20:00.002+01:002010-02-19T16:41:52.048+01:00Secretaries<div>From <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/157851441X">The Attention Economy : Understanding the New Currency of Business</a>:</div><blockquote><i>Expect to see personal assistants whose primary job is to sift through information and eliminate unnecessary drains on high-powered knowledge workers' attention (perhaps we will call them "secretaries").</i></blockquote>As far as I'm aware, we haven't reached that point yet, and most business still value more cost-cutting on support staff than having people waste their attention in business logistics. Does not look that <a href="http://domino.watson.ibm.com/comm/wwwr_thinkresearch.nsf/pages/20050302_think.shtml">diffused complexity</a> is planning to go away any time soon.-Xvhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12954073038736466058noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9115644605833384138.post-5686453768867118552009-11-30T23:58:00.004+01:002009-12-01T00:37:09.816+01:00Carrots & Sticks? Autonomy, Mastery, PurposeFun and surprising <a href="http://www.ted.com/talks/dan_pink_on_motivation.html">TED Talk by Dan Pink on Motivation</a>. <div><br /></div><div>Experiments show that extrinsic motivators (carrots and sticks) work great for simple/mechanical-like tasks, probably by providing a narrow focus. But... rewards make performance <span style="font-weight:bold;">worse</span> for creative/complex tasks!!!</div><div><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.nathaliemagniez.com/cartoons/motivation"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width:400px;" src="http://www.nathaliemagniez.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/danpink.png" border="0" alt="Cartoon by Nathalie 0Magniez" title="Cartoon by Nathalie Magniez" /></a><br />It's a funny coincidence that today I picked up a free copy of the <a href="http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703294004574511223494536570.html#articleTabs_video%26articleTabs%3Dvideo">The Wall Street Journal and it had an article on executive bonuses</a>. Huge expensive carrots that, according to the experiments above, lead to less ability to deal with complexity.<br /></div>-Xvhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12954073038736466058noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9115644605833384138.post-57639476899839015572009-11-12T09:36:00.004+01:002009-11-12T10:02:24.499+01:00"because" vs "in order to"<a href="http://www.thinkers50.com/biographies/43/2009">Charles Handy</a>, in <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Age-Unreason-Charles-Handy/dp/0875843018"><span style="font-style:italic;">The Age Of Unreason</span></a><br /><i><blockquote>Continuous change is comfortable change. The past is then the guide to the future. An American friend, visiting Britain and Europe for the first time, wondered, "Why is it that over here <b>whenever I ask the reason for anything</b>, any institution or ceremony or set of rules, they always give me <b>an historical answer, 'because'</b>; whereas in my country we always want <b>a functional answer, 'in order to'</b>. Europeans, I suggested, look backward to the best of their history and change as little as they can; Americans look forward and want to change as much as they may.</blockquote></i><br />I'll keep an eye opened to see what answers I give to myself, and what answers I hear from other people. Being an in-order-to person looks to me like a very nice goal.-Xvhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12954073038736466058noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9115644605833384138.post-68724599803705109852009-11-04T11:25:00.003+01:002009-11-04T11:41:34.750+01:00Charles Handy and Potfolio Lifes<blockquote><span style="font-style:italic;">What interested me was not the downsizing or the re-engineering itself, but the consequences for our individual working lives. Organizations, it seemed to me, would increasingly dispense with our services in our mid-lives as they concentrated on fewer and younger people in their cores, with only a few wise heads to keep the show on track. The rest of us would have to develop what I called 'portfolio' lives, a mix of different bits and pieces of work, some for money, some for fun, some for free.</span></blockquote><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/xverges/4071388785/" title="Portfolio Lifes by -Xv, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2765/4071388785_4f71277e8c.jpg" width="400" alt="Portfolio Lifes" /></a><br />That quote was from Charles Handy, in the <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/work/handy/handy.shtml">second episode</a> of his <a href="http://xdexavier.blogspot.com/2009/11/handy-guide-to-gurus-of-management.html">Handy Guide to the Gurus of Management</a>, hardly about management, but about society.-Xvhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12954073038736466058noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9115644605833384138.post-86187317115600139102009-11-03T15:50:00.004+01:002009-11-03T16:23:53.857+01:00The Handy Guide to the Gurus of ManagementFrom <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/index.shtml">BBC's Learning English</a>, <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/work/handy/">The Handy Guide to the Gurus of Management</a>, an old (2002?) and delightful audio series.<div><br /><div><b>Do not miss it</b>. </div><br /><div>It is written and narrated by <a href="http://www.thinkers50.com/biographies/43/2009">Charles Handy</a>. Listening to Handy's voice is a pleasure. And it does not matter if you don't care about businesses or management: most of it is about society and some of the changes in our world during the last half century. </div><div><br /></div><div>Each episode is less than 15 minutes long, and has a full transcript.</div></div>-Xvhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12954073038736466058noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9115644605833384138.post-23928791191333048602009-10-07T07:19:00.009+01:002009-10-07T08:25:42.636+01:00Bonuses<a href="http://www.mintzberg.org/index.html" title="mintzberg.org">Henry</a> <a href="http://www.economist.com/businessfinance/management/displaystory.cfm?story_id=12918770" title="His profile as a a management guru in The Economist">Mintzberg</a>:<br /><br /><blockquote><span style="font-style:italic;">Executive compensation has become <b>a polite form of thievery</b>, or, if you prefer, legal corruption. Executives get paid extra when the stock price goes up (bonus) and when it goes down (golden parachute); they get paid extra for staying in their job (retention bonus <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">(...)</span>), and for just doing their job (a bonus for signing a merger <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">(...)</span>).<br /><br />As for the argument that if you don’t pay the bonuses, you don’t get the right person, I counter that if you do pay the bonuses, you get the wrong person. You get someone who is willing to single him or herself out from everyone else, at the expense of teamwork (...). The CEO, like everyone else in the company, has a job to do and should be paid for doing it. (...)<br /><br />For the sake of sustainable enterprise: Executive bonuses should be eliminated. Period.</span> </blockquote><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">From </span><a href="http://www.mintzberg.org/pdf/execbonus.pdf"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">http://www.mintzberg.org/pdf/execbonus.pdf</span></a>-Xvhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12954073038736466058noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9115644605833384138.post-12317470931025167362009-10-05T09:22:00.006+01:002009-10-05T09:37:07.496+01:00Once things have happened once<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Frankel">Charles Frankel</a>, in <a href="http://www.amazon.com/High-Foggy-Bottom-Charles-Frankel/dp/0060113383/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=english-books&qid=1254730365&sr=8-1">High on Foggy Bottom; an Outsider's Inside View of the Government</a><br /><blockquote><span style="font-style:italic;">Once things have happened, no matter how accidentally, they will be regarded as manifestations of an unchangeable Higher Reason. For every argument inside government that some jerry-built bureaucratic arrangement should be changed, there are usually twenty arguments to show that it rest's on God's own Logic, an that tampering with it will bring down the heavens.</span></blockquote><br />Likely to be a valid statement also for individuals-Xvhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12954073038736466058noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9115644605833384138.post-25966814973284914352009-01-28T18:55:00.003+01:002009-01-29T00:53:08.960+01:00Could someone please clone that man?<blockquote>sunlight is said to be the best of disinfectants</blockquote><blockquote>in the face of doubt, openness prevails</blockquote>Lots and lots of organizations, both corporations and public administrations, could learn from these quotes. Taken from a <a title="Freedom of Information Act" href="http://www.whitehouse.gov/the_press_office/FreedomofInformationAct/">memo by Barack Obama for the heads of executive departments and agencies</a>. I bet that my <a href="http://xdexavier.blogspot.com/2008/02/ms-envidia.html">honeymoon phase</a> will be over sooner or later... but, in the meanwhile, would you dear lucky Americans mind cloning several hundred <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/President_of_the_United_States" title="President of the United States">POTUS</a> and sending them all over the place?<br /><br />Yay for transparency!-Xvhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12954073038736466058noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9115644605833384138.post-61951872900661391612008-12-10T23:21:00.003+01:002008-12-11T00:39:31.296+01:00Pushing agility from the business side?<div style="padding: 3px; text-align: left;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/xverges/3099036368/" title="Pushing agility from the business side?"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3094/3099036368_8e1f12a965.jpg" style="border: 2px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); width: 400px;" alt="" /></a><br /><span style="margin-top: 0px;font-size:0;" ><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/xverges/3099036368/">Pushing agility from the business side?</a>, originally uploaded by <a href="http://www.flickr.com/people/xverges/">-Xv</a>.</span></div><p>A possible scenario:<br /><br /><b>1.</b> IT happy with status-quo: Big Design Up Front and Waterfall.<br /><b>2.</b> Stakeholders accept non-agility as a fact of life.<br /><b>3.</b>Tell stakeholders that they are entitled to learn, to defer<br />decisions until the have more info, to change their opinion. That some<br />of their competitors use those right to their advantage.<br /><b>4.</b> Stakeholders will push agility upon IT<br /><br />Just in case it helps Ferran Rodenas to get some idea to <a href="http://www.rodenas.org/blog/2008/12/09/thoughts-on-software-development-methodologies/">break the status-quo</a></p>-Xvhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12954073038736466058noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9115644605833384138.post-1177585550156180322008-11-17T05:37:00.007+01:002008-11-17T06:34:01.544+01:00Kyrgyzstan existe<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/flags/kg-flag.html"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px;" src="https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/flags/kg-lgflag.gif" alt="" title="The 40 rays or lines are the 40 tribes of Kyrgyzstan who united to fight Chingiz Khan or Genghis Khan (Temujin), the Mongol Leader who conquered most of Asia in 1200. The center figure is the view from inside the yurta looking up at the rising sun." border="0" /></a><br /><br />Intercambio de mails con un amigo al que he visto sólo una noche en los últimos 15 años. Está en viaje de negocios:<br /><blockquote>Pue si hijo si, no hay nada mas triste que en Kyrgyzstan y con jet lag...</blockquote><br />Kyrgyzstan??!! Kirguistán, Kirguizistán o República Kirguisa??!! De la <a href="http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kirguist%C3%A1n">wikipedia</a>, algunos datos no especialmente relevantes:<br /><ul><li>5 millones de habitantes</li><li>la "Suiza de Asia central", no por el chocolate, los bancos o los relojes, sino por no tener mar y porque un 80% de su territorio es montañoso</li><li>aunque ilegal, aun se practica el rapto de novias. En un principio, en un país donde eran habituales los matrimonios pactados, el novio procedía a un rapto consesuado con la novia con la que quería casarse si no podía pagar el precio del mismo o la familia de ella se oponía a la boda. Por otra parte, algunos de estos raptos ya no son consensuados, sino que se tratan de raptos reales.<br /></li><li>un amor de clima: el lago Issyk-Kul (el segundo lago de montaña más grande del mundo, tras el Titicaca) tiene gran amplitud térmica, con un mes frío, enero, con medias inferiores a -25ºC, y un mes cálido, julio, con medias superiores a los 45ºC. </li><br /></ul>Si su bandera no es la más chula del mundo, seguro que está en la final. Los cuarenta rayos de sol representan las cuarenta tribus que se unieron para luchar contra Genghis Khan. La parte central es lo que se ve dentro de una yurta cuando sale el sol.<br />Y, diga lo que diga el pobre Jose, en <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/tags/kyrgyzstan/">flickr he visto cosas</a> que me hacen tenerle envidia.<br /><br /><div style="padding: 3px; text-align: left;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/zsoolt/2085819703/" title="Jurta - Kyrgyzstan by zsoolt, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2320/2085819703_4bc0331030.jpg" alt="Jurta - Kyrgyzstan" width="400" /></a><br /><span style="margin-top: 0px;font-size:0;" ><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/zsoolt/2085819703/">Jurta - Kyrgyzstan</a>, originally uploaded by <a href="http://www.flickr.com/people/zsoolt/">zsoolt</a>.</span></div>-Xvhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12954073038736466058noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9115644605833384138.post-59381911356676189422008-05-20T07:50:00.004+01:002008-05-20T07:57:45.601+01:00Why most organizations grow fat<div style="overflow: auto;"><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.phdcomics.com/comics.php?f=1018"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="http://www.phdcomics.com/comics/archive/phd051908s.gif" alt="" border="0" /></a><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size:85%;">"Piled Higher and Deeper" by Jorge Cham<br /><a href="http://www.phdcomics.com/">www.phdcomics.com</a></span><br /></div><br /></div>-Xvhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12954073038736466058noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9115644605833384138.post-52998532998684628032008-05-01T19:39:00.003+01:002008-05-01T23:58:31.161+01:00Back in the U.S.S.R.<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Soviet_man"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b3/Kolkhoznitsa.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br /><blockquote><span style="font-style: italic;">East Germany may no longer exist, but now we have companies featuring central planning by Troikas, mission statements crafted by apparatchiks, quinquennial planning, no right to choose leaders in companies, no democracy in the workplace, a clear distinction between intelligentsia and peasants (top CEOs make 512 times the median salary and enjoy company 'dachas', jets and limos), and 'state' monitoring (time clocks, dress codes, drug-screening, 'employee assistance' plans, e-mail monitoring, smoking and personal conduct rules, as family-life audits).</span> <span style="font-size:78%;">[1]</span></blockquote>This is not a quote from a labor union leader, an anti-globalization essay or a witty comedian. It's from a proponent of democracy and transparency in the workplace that happens to be <span style="font-style: italic;">a business owner putting his money where his unconventional mouth is</span> <span style="font-size:78%;">[2]</span>: Ricardo Semler, in <a href="http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=_N4CAAAACAAJ&dq=inauthor:Ricardo+inauthor:Semler&ei=5JaLR9XAJJrUswOrpKHQBQ">The Seven-Day Weekend</a> <span style="font-size:78%;">[3]</span>.<br /><br />I loved this book, even if its writing style is not that great. Its main point is showing how Semco, Semler's company is run. When Semler and Clovis Bojikian started changing the traditional command and control ways,<br /><span style="font-style: italic;"><blockquote>"We wanted to demonstrate that the workplace could be a place of satisfaction, not of suffering. Work should be a pleasure, not an obligation. But this wasn’t just some humanitarian thesis. We believed that people working with pleasure could be much more productive.”</blockquote></span>To Semler, <span style="font-style: italic;">it's not about values: it's about competitive advantage</span>.<br /><br />Hurry up and read his book, or take a peek into <a href="http://semco.locaweb.com.br/en/content.asp?content=3">The Semco Way</a> by reading a <a href="http://www.cantanchorus.com/doco/semler3.pdf">1989 article by Semler in the Harvard Business Review</a> or a <a href="http://semco.locaweb.com.br/en/artigos/docs/76.pdf">2006 article about him in Strategy+Business</a>. I'm sure that it will give you lots of food for thought.<br /><span style="font-size:85%;"><br />[1] Soviet/Corpororate parallels quote: It's a funny coincidence that I read this during <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Workers%27_Day">International Workers' Day</a><br />[2] <span style="font-style: italic;">Unconventional mouth</span> quote: by Geoffrey Colvin in a <a href="http://semco.locaweb.com.br/en/artigos/docs/77.pdf">Fortune article</a><br />[3] Even if Semler is a best selling author, I never heard about him until I recently read <a href="http://jaybyjayfresh.com/2008/01/14/governing-the-twitterfolk-shel-israel-disappears-up-own-asshole/">a post by Jon Lister</a>. Thanks so much, Jon!<br /></span>-Xvhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12954073038736466058noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9115644605833384138.post-49880201084728217832007-08-10T18:04:00.000+01:002007-08-10T18:37:44.181+01:00I am thinking nowDo not miss (sorry, louder, DO NOT MISS) this <a href="http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks">TED Talk</a>:<br /><a href="http://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/156">Patrick Awuah: Educating a new generation of African leaders</a>.<br /><br />It's not only about Africa. It's about entitlement[1] and responsibility, education, ethics, critical thinking, incompetence, economic elites, empowerment... in any part of the world. 18 moving minutes that will make you think.<br /><br />I'm keeping a quote from it:<br /><blockquote>Every society must be very intentional about how it trains its leaders</blockquote><span style="font-size:85%;">[1] I was talking about this to someone and could not think of a good Spanish term for "entitlement". He translated quoting something heard in lots of movies when the hero is in trouble while abroad: </span><span style="font-style: italic;font-size:85%;" >I am an American citizen</span><span style="font-size:85%;">. Not that I believe that Americans are worse than in my corner of the world in the entitlement disease, but I thought that it was a very funny and good translation.</span>-Xvhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12954073038736466058noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9115644605833384138.post-67911990866238863872007-08-05T18:30:00.000+01:002007-08-05T17:36:01.182+01:00Menos es más<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Avram_Hershko" title="Wikipedia">Avram Hershko</a>, <a href="http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/chemistry/laureates/2004/">Nobel de Química 2004</a>, en <a href="http://www.lavanguardia.es/free/edicionimpresa/20070802/53378925745.html">la Contra de La Vanguardia</a>:<br /><blockquote>No me gustan los grandes laboratorios ni los grandes presupuestos para investigar (...) Como yo no tengo que pagar a mucha gente, <span style="font-weight: bold;">puedo dedicar mi tiempo a investigar y no a buscar el dinero para retribuir a mi equipo</span>.<br /></blockquote><blockquote>Detesto a los <span style="font-style: italic;">sí señor</span>. Para darme la razón siempre, ya me tengo a mí mismo; lo que aprecio es que me lleven la contraria, pero con fundamento; que me hagan pensar... Ésa es la principal virtud de los buenos júniors, que no dan nada por aceptado y que plantean nuevas preguntas a las viejas certidumbres. (...) Que tengan iniciativa; que no esperen a que yo les dé órdenes, sino que me sorprendan con sus propias y nuevas ideas, y que tengan más ganas que yo todavía de investigar. (...) <span style="font-weight: bold;">Necesito preguntas, no que me den la razón</span>.</blockquote><br />Siempre me gusta ver que alguien progresa en algo técnico sin verse forzado a abandonarlo por la gestión. El <a href="http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Principio_de_Peter" title="Wikipedia">Principio de Peter</a> no siempre se cumple.<br /><br />Equipos pequeños, <a href="http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/7693300/site/newsweek/" title="True Teamwork: Diversity is essential to the success of any endeavor, from scientific research to Broadway musicals.">diversos</a>, con redes sociales extendidas: buenas recetas no sólo para la investigación, sino para cualquier tipo de innovación.-Xvhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12954073038736466058noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9115644605833384138.post-40689873233847189092007-06-23T19:48:00.000+01:002007-06-23T20:17:03.281+01:00Llibres en anglès a BarcelonaVinc d'<a href="http://www.hibernian-books.com/">Hibernian Books</a>, a Gràcia; està la mar de bé i m'he firat un parell de llibres:<br /><ul><li><a href="http://www.schneier.com/book-applied.html">Applied Cryptography</a>, de Bruce Schneier, per 7€</li><li><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Principle">The Peter Principle</a>, per 4€. M'ha fet molta il·lusió, doncs l'havia llegit en castellà fa una pila d'anys, però ja fa molt que no sé on para.<br /></li></ul>M'han parlat molt bé de <a href="http://www.lfant.biz/">Elephant Book Store</a>.-Xvhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12954073038736466058noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9115644605833384138.post-64785405930840091212007-05-15T20:53:00.000+01:002007-05-15T19:56:36.345+01:00Disappointed by "The No Asshole Rule"<a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/1847440002?ie=UTF8&tag=xdexavie-21&linkCode=as2&camp=1634&creative=6738&creativeASIN=1847440002"><br /><img src="http://g-ec2.images-amazon.com/images/I/11K2YXPJH9L._AA_.jpg" style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" /></a><img src="http://www.assoc-amazon.co.uk/e/ir?t=xdexavie-21&l=as2&o=2&a=1847440002" alt="" style="border: medium none ! important; margin: 0px ! important;" border="0" height="1" width="1" /><br />Not that I'm disappointed by the concept of having zero-tolerance attitude towards assholes, but by <a href="http://bobsutton.typepad.com/">Bob Sutton</a>'s book on it: <a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/1847440002?ie=UTF8&tag=xdexavie-21&linkCode=as2&camp=1634&creative=6738&creativeASIN=1847440002">The No Asshole Rule: Building a Civilised Workplace and Surviving One That Isn't</a><img src="http://www.assoc-amazon.co.uk/e/ir?t=xdexavie-21&l=as2&o=2&a=1847440002" alt="" style="border: medium none ! important; margin: 0px ! important;" border="0" height="1" width="1" />. The back cover promised <span style="font-style: italic;">hilarious examples</span> in <span style="font-style: italic;">a funny, defiant little book</span>. An enjoyable <a href="http://blog.guykawasaki.com/2006/10/you_have_to_lov.html">review by Guy Kawasaki</a> and lots of good ratings in Amazon also made it look like a good read. And I have this dear friend working at Jerk Avenue, and I sort of hoped getting something for her. But the book, aside from making me take a little time to reflect a bit about my own episodes as an asshole [1][2], was just boring.<br /><br />Maybe the problem is that before the first page I was already in agreement with the author, and I did not need the additional 170 pages. Or that I'm lucky enough of not having had to deal with assholes at work in quite a while. Or that I'm not involved in hiring any team. Or that I'm not a certified asshole.<br /><br />Bob Sutton has done a very nice service making explicit the No Asshole Rule [3] and bringing focus to it. But I just did not need that many asshole stories and that much evidence about its virtues.<br /><br /><span style="font-size:85%;">[1] A surprising book in improving my self asshole-ness awareness was </span><span style="font-style: italic;font-size:85%;" ><a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/0141030062?ie=UTF8&tag=xdexavie-21&linkCode=as2&camp=1634&creative=6738&creativeASIN=0141030062">Leadership and Self-deception: Getting Out of the Box</a><img src="http://www.assoc-amazon.co.uk/e/ir?t=xdexavie-21&l=as2&o=2&a=0141030062" alt="" style="border: medium none ! important; margin: 0px ! important;" border="0" height="1" width="1" /> </span><span style="font-size:85%;">(<a href="http://w3.ibm.com/education/protect/CGRedirectorServlet.wss?request_name=services_BooksAction&bkid=1908">link for IBMers</a>)</span><span style="font-style: italic;font-size:85%;" >. </span><span style="font-size:85%;">I'm pasting a comment I made on <a href="http://rooreynolds.com/2006/12/04/reading-list/">Roo Reynolds blog</a>, who said about it, </span><span style="font-style: italic;font-size:85%;" >"it made me think about the nature of selfishness. Not every book does that":</span><span style="font-size:85%;"><br /></span><blockquote style="font-style: italic;"><span style="font-size:85%;">Your minimalist recommendation has made me read Leadership and Self-Deception: Getting Out of the Box . Thanks for that. I liked the storytelling approach, and, as "advertised" by you, it is really making me think. A lot.<br /><br />My 2c for anyone else feeling tempted by the book: it is a book for anyone dealing with humans, no matter if the leadership stuff has any appeal to you.</span></blockquote><span style="font-size:85%;">[2] All this writing about my asshole-ness may convey the impression that I'm a jerk. My mum and I think that I'm quite nice. But the asshole path is always there...<br />[3] If you want the No Asshole Rule enforced, you can <a href="http://kellypuffs.wordpress.com/2007/05/09/vote-for-kellypuffs/">vote for Kellypuffs</a> if you ever find that she is running for some election.</span>-Xvhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12954073038736466058noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9115644605833384138.post-86605641928286600102007-02-12T22:57:00.000+01:002007-02-12T21:53:36.125+01:00Trascender nuestra tribuEn una entrevista a Lluís Magriñà, director del <a href="http://www.jrs.net/">Servicio Jesuita a Refugiados</a> en La Contra de La Vanguardia:<br /><blockquote><span style="font-weight: bold;">No hay libertad sin educación. Ser libre es trascender tu tribu.</span> Por eso la democracia real hoy sólo es factible en los paises en los países donde se generaliza la ensenanza secundaria.</blockquote><a href="http://www.sre.urv.es/web/comunicacio/ca/Directori/Fitxes%20professors/Informacio%20professors/Amiguet%20Lluis/lluis_amiguet.htm">Lluís Amiguet</a>, el entrevistador, escribe:<br /><blockquote>Magriñà nos trae de África algunas lecciones para nuestra democracia moderna y europea, empezando por que sólo somos libres si somos capaces de trascender nuestra tribu, nuestro clan y nuestro partido para elegir al más capaz de cualquier tribu, partido o clan, aunque no sea el nuestro, y dejar que sea él quien nos represente y gestione nuestro intereses.<br /></blockquote>La idea de Magriñà sobre la importancia de trascender la tribu me hace rebuscar unas notas de hace unas semanas sobre una entrevista en La Vanguardia a <a href="http://www.appadurai.com/">Arjun Appadurai</a> (<a href="http://www.lavanguardia.es/premium/edicionimpresa/20061120/51292802457.html">de pago</a>), en la que hablaba de identidad cultural, globalización y conflicto. Algunos extractos:<br /><blockquote>Los estados nación están perdiendo capacidad, control sobre su economía, y hay una tendencia a enfatizar la esencia cultural. Incluso en la UE, la gente se pregunta que sucederá, por ejemplo, con la identidad italiana. <span style="font-weight: bold;">Esta preocupación puede convertirse en patológica</span>, extrema. Cuando esto sucede hay una búsqueda de un chivo expiatorio al que atacar. Pueden ser emigrantes o minorías internas.<br />(...)<br />Una minoría que se enfada es un objeto perfecto para el enfado de la mayoría. La frontera hacia el genocidio se da cuando las dos cosas se encuentran: <span style="font-weight: bold;">una mayoría enfadada y una minoría enfadada</span>. (...) En las banlieues parisinas, la mayoría todavía no está enfadada. O, al revés, en la India la mayoría está enfadada con Pakistán, pero los musulmanes indios, que son 120 millones entre más de 1.000, tratan de buscar la paz. Lo que sucedió en Yugoslavia o Ruanda tenía que ver con el enfado de minoría y mayorías.<br />(...)<br />La creación de la identidad francesa supuso empujar a otras como la bretona, que era muy fuerte. De ese modo, <span style="font-weight: bold;">si no eres de la identidad mayoritaria, eres</span> separatista, <span style="font-weight: bold;">peligroso</span>, antipatriótico. (...) Hoy, para ser independientes sólo pueden hacer una cosa: crear un Estado. En el cual volverán a chocar las pequeñas identidades. Para la identidad grande, el nacionalismo será una liberación, y, para las pequeñas, represión.<br />(...)<br />Cuando el contacto se hace más intenso, paradójicamente funciona lo que Freud llamaba <span style="font-weight: bold;">el narcisismo de las pequeñas diferencias</span>: aunque la gente sea casi igual, pequeñas diferencias se convierten en muy importantes.<br />(...)<br />La gente necesita identidades locales porque no vamos a ser sólo ciudadanos del mundo, pero hemos de crear constituciones sin el toque de etnia local. (...), <span style="font-weight: bold;">pensar en nuestras identidades locales como en las de una asociación voluntaria, como si perteneciéramos a un club de fútbol</span>, donde no importa de dónde vienes, sólo lo que quieres o te gusta. O como en los clásicos principios del Estado nación acentuar el aspecto geográfico, que es el más sano frente al racial o lingüístico.<br /></blockquote>Me resulta divertido que mencione clubs de fútbol y mayorías y minorías enfadadas. Toda mi vida he pensado que los patriotas son a menudo gente enfadada que parece levantarse por la mañana esperando descubrir la última afrenta que ha sufrido su patria. Y también llevo muchos años sorprendido de que el sentimiento patriótico no esté en el ámbito de lo privado, junto a la religión, tu equipo de fútbol o tus preferencias sexuales y de color de calcetines; en cambio, muchas veces este sentimiento es una parte central de la vida política.<br /><br />La entrevista me ha dado muchas ganas de leer <a href="http://www.fce.com.ar/fsfce.asp?p=http://www.fce.com.ar/detalleslibro.asp?IDL=1915"><span style="font-style: italic;">La Modernidad Desbordada</span></a> (creo que la edición en español es inecontrable; <a style="font-style: italic;" href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/redirect.html?ie=UTF8&location=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.amazon.co.uk%2FModernity-Large-Cultural-Dimensions-Globalization%2Fdp%2F0816627932%2Fsr%3D8-1%2Fqid%3D1164105544%3Fie%3DUTF8%26s%3Dbooks&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;tag=xdexavie-21&linkCode=ur2&camp=1634&creative=6738">Modernity at Large</a><img src="http://www.assoc-amazon.co.uk/e/ir?t=xdexavie-21&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;l=ur2&o=2" alt="" style="border: medium none ! important; margin: 0px ! important; font-style: italic;" border="0" height="1" width="1" /> en amazon.co.uk) y <a style="font-style: italic;" href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/redirect.html?ie=UTF8&location=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.amazon.co.uk%2FFear-Small-Numbers-Geography-Public%2Fdp%2F0822338637%2Fsr%3D8-3%2Fqid%3D1164105544%3Fie%3DUTF8%26s%3Dbooks&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;tag=xdexavie-21&linkCode=ur2&camp=1634&creative=6738">Fear of Small Numbers: An Essay on the Geography of Anger</a><img src="http://www.assoc-amazon.co.uk/e/ir?t=xdexavie-21&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;l=ur2&o=2" alt="" style="border: medium none ! important; margin: 0px ! important;" border="0" height="1" width="1" />. Y quizás también de regalárselos a algunos patriotas de distinto pelaje y patria que conozco.<br /><br />Bonus link vagamente relacionado: <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pHZx0CSYb28&eurl=">Changes</a>, animación estupenda (2 min 30 sec, youtube) sobre la identidad y la uniformidad. Via <a href="http://multimaniaco.blogspot.com/2006/11/algo-tiene-que-cambiar.html">César Viteri en Multimaníaco</a>, con comentarios interesantes sobre la gestión del cambio organizativo; a su vez, via <a href="http://vidadeunconsultor.blogspot.com/2006/11/algo-tiene-que-cambiar-para-que-todo.html">Vida de un Consultor</a>; a su vez, via...)-Xvhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12954073038736466058noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9115644605833384138.post-43586755663520315062007-01-19T16:42:00.000+01:002007-01-19T16:47:40.316+01:00Analogies and Connections<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://rtpscrolls.blogspot.com/"><img style="cursor: pointer;" src="http://bellsouthpwp.net/n/a/nastacio/rtpscrolls.png" alt="" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><a href="http://rtpscrolls.blogspot.com/2006/10/welcome-to-rtp-scrolls.html">The RTP Scrolls</a> is a place where Denilson Nastacio and his readers <span style="font-style: italic;">have some fun drawing analogies from unexpected sources, borrowing examples from Mother Nature, mathematics, physics, biology, politics and on occasion, metaphysics</span>.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Burke_%28science_historian%29"><img style="cursor: pointer; float: left;" src="http://clickcaster.com/profile/thumbnail/4492" alt="" border="0" /></a>Denilson's unexpected jumping often makes me think about <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Burke_%28science_historian%29">James Burke</a>'s <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Connections_%28TV_series%29">Connections (<span style="font-style: italic;">an alternative view of change</span>)</a> , one my my favourite TV shows ever (that I haven't had the chance to watch it in 20?! years). The great news for me is that, while googling to write this post, I have learned that I'll be able to <a href="http://clickcaster.com/users/jamesburke">watch some of the episodes</a>.<br /><br />Enjoy!-Xvhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12954073038736466058noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9115644605833384138.post-7773018097538283912007-01-07T15:54:00.001+01:002007-01-07T15:54:58.153+01:00Adolescentes envidiables<a href="http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/giles_tremlett/index.html">Giles Tremlett</a>, antropólogo y corresponsal de <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/">The Guardian</a> en España, en <a href="http://www.innovationsinnewspapers.com/index.php/2006/11/30/the-back-page-problem-la-vanguardias-great-formula/">La Contra</a> (de <a href="http://www.pagina12.com.ar/diario/suplementos/las12/13-1731-2005-01-29.html">Ima Sanchís</a>) de <a href="http://www.lavanguardia.es/">La Vanguardia</a> de hoy (no encuentro el link?!):<br /><blockquote>(En Inglaterra,) los niños aprenden que no deben fiarse de los adultos, y cuando llegan a la adolescencia siguen sin fiarse. Aquí, sin embargo, todavía existe el respeto intergeneracional.</blockquote><blockquote>A los ingleses nos sorprende mucho que en las encuestas, a la pregunta de qué es lo más importante en su vida, los adolescentes españoles contesten que su familia.</blockquote><blockquote>Nosotros somos muy estrictos con los niños pequeños, queremos que se porten bien en todas las situaciones. Aquí están mimadísimos, pero luego se transforman en adolescentes más sanos que los nuestros.</blockquote>-Xvhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12954073038736466058noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9115644605833384138.post-3739765076845137782006-11-22T12:23:00.000+01:002006-11-22T12:36:38.854+01:00Darwin? Photoshop?<a href="http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-6915842737034217262">Evolution - A Dove Film</a> (1 min 17 sec, Google Video)<br /><br />(via <a href="http://www.strangeparty.com/2006/11/20/why-beauty-is-only-screen-deep/">Anton Piatek's Strangeparty</a>)<br /><br /><a href="http://www.campaignforrealbeauty.com/">http://www.campaignforrealbeauty.com/</a><br /><a href="http://www.porlabellezareal.com/">http://www.porlabellezareal.com/</a>-Xvhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12954073038736466058noreply@blogger.com1