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Archive for October, 2013

Blog Action Day: Human Rights

Wednesday, October 16th, 2013

kg_charles-harrisHuman Rights – something that is often talked about but little is done to define or uphold.

What is human rights?  It seems so right yet appears such a fable.   Most of the time we hear about human rights from some government official speaking about how some other government is negligent.  Yet it is never defined.

Is it privacy rights?  The right to use the internet without being monitored?  Is it the right to healthcare and education?  Is it having food, shelter, safety from violence?  Or is it to uphold human dignity?

We never quite know since it is never defined properly, or has so many definitions as to become worthless.  Is it the right for poor African Americans to be treated fairly under the law?  Male African Americans?  Why does the US with ¼ of the population of China have more than three times the amount of persons incarcerated?  Mostly black and Latino males?  Is this human rights?

Confusion is maybe the name of the game – as long as we don’t know what it is, it is a useful tool for controlling our thoughts and actions.  Who is it that want to make us act without thinking?  Who is it that defines another human being as an enemy and want us to take hostile action towards him/her?

Are there universal human desires?  For such things as food, safety, love, nurture, communion?  If there are, why are they not fulfilled?  Why do we allow ourselves to be derailed from attaining these and passing them on to others?  Is there any doubt that today we can easily feed the world and no one needs to go hungry?  Or that we can eradicate most of the common diseases that kill children?

We choose not to.

Isn’t there a gift in giving?  Why does it suit us to hoard “things” – money, land, items and safety?  If we recognize the universal desires and needs of our fellow humans, why don’t we work to get and give?  What is it that prevents us?

Ultimately, we want to receive from others, but need to be aware that giving is also receiving.  Can we reasonably expect to receive without being generous?  What is the origin of our selfishness?  Don’t we know better?

Neglecting to provide food to the hungry, clothing to the naked and safety to the threatened is antisocial behavior and lack of empathy.  Which of us have any remorse about this behavior?

Our conduct is very similar to the definition of psychopathy – “a personality trait or disorder characterized partly by enduring antisocial behavior, a diminished capacity for empathy or remorse, and poor behavioral controls” (Wikipedia).  All wealthy people and governments have the possibility to address the needs of human rights.  I define almost all of us living in North America and Europe as relatively wealthy, as well as large, affluent, segments of the developing world.

For whatever reason, we choose to exhibit this behavior.

Is there such a thing as human rights?

To psychopaths?

KG Charles-Harris is CEO of Emanio and a special contributor to MAPping Company Success.

 

Ducks in a Row: What Does Your Advertising Reveal?

Tuesday, October 15th, 2013

http://www.flickr.com/photos/recoverling/2455570917/Just as a company’s culture reflects its values, its advertising typically reflects its culture.

Most ads are relatively generic, cars, food, even drugs; with minor changes to the words or voiceover you can interchange competing products almost unnoticeably.

Most companies prefer to play it safe, whether in advertising or culture, sticking with the idea that “if it works for them it will work for us.” Call it the no/low risk approach.

Back when Apple’s culture was cutting-edge, so were its ads—remember the ad introducing the Mac? It was shown only once during the 1984 Super Bowl, but is remembered 30 years later.
A far cry from the safe, generic iPhone ads of today, which are quickly forgotten.

According to a new ad from Guinness, “The choices we make reveal the true nature of our character.”

A great mantra and absolutely true—for individuals and corporations.

Guinness’ new ad chose to go against every cultural norm found in beer advertising.

Did it work?

Flickr credit: recoverling; YouTube credit: Guinness

If the Shoe Fits: Setting Up for Success or Failure?

Friday, October 11th, 2013

Friday series exploring Startups and the people who make them go. Read all If the Shoe Fits posts here

5726760809_bf0bf0f558_mAs a founder you

  • identified a market itch;
  • crafted a way to scratch it that will delight and de-stress;
  • polished the vision so people would get it;
  • wowed investors to get funding;
  • hired the best talent you could find; and
  • worked your tail off building them into a team.

But deep down you believe that teamwork is actually a lot of people doing what you say.

What are your odds for success?

Image credit: HikingArtist

Entrepreneurs: Can Anyone Escape Their Box?

Thursday, October 10th, 2013

http://www.flickr.com/photos/mr_t_in_dc/3168458692/Everybody has a box.

And no matter how hard you try you’ll never really think outside it.

But you don’t have to.

As with most things, the good and bad of boxes rests with how you view them.

It’s not the box that matters, but its size and how you address that.

Steven Spielberg’s box is immense, far larger than most, yet he is constantly enlarging it, as did Steve Jobs.

And therein lays one of the secrets of a creative organization.

It’s not about encouraging your people to “think outside the box,” it’s about helping each to understand his/her own box and how to enlarge it.

Because that’s how it works.

As soon as you step outside your box, a new one forms. Once you totally use up its content and find its sides you go outside that box, a new one forms and the process begins again.

It takes work, but the process can continue throughout life—although some never start and some get comfortable in a certain box and retain it.

There will always be a box, but with effort it can be enlarged enough to encompass galaxies—and even entire universes.

Sharing this knowledge with your team and providing a culture in which they are encouraged and helped to expand their box is the hallmark of a great founder.

Flickr image credit: Mr. T in DC

The Tao of Life

Wednesday, October 9th, 2013

http://www.flickr.com/photos/wespeck/4574733303/

We learn through words and can often learn more by deconstructing them.

Just as one of the most critical managerial (human) actions is found in its own anagram the Tao of another is found within the word itself.

The word is LIFE.

The Tao of life is IF.

IF you think/say/do this instead of that the Tao changes.

The IF isn’t always conscious or obvious.

But it is there.

It’s up to you to choose consciously.

Flickr image credit: gfpeck

Ducks in a Row: the Fallout of Family-style Culture

Tuesday, October 8th, 2013

http://www.flickr.com/photos/shankaronline/8454251331/

A recent study found that Millennials want their bosses to act more like a parent and a whopping 71 percent want co-workers to be a second family.

And companies are rushing to provide the desired environment.

…training its managers to respond and give more guidance, like a parent would, and show young workers a path to upward mobility. (…) “We are a social-networking generation, which is why communication is so important to us,” said Jeremy Condomina, a 27-year-old business analyst and computer-system trainer with Dade Paper in Miami. “Whether or not we hang out outside of work, we want to know that we have a work family and even if we step on toes, it’s going to be OK.”

But what happens when

  • A ‘sibling’ is terminated?
  • The economy falters/crashes and half the ‘family’ is laid off?
  • The much loved parent-boss abandons her family for another?

These events cause trauma in battle/life-hardened Boomers.

How they will affect a cossetted generation in which everyone received an award no matter what.

Flickr image credit: oldandsolo

The Literary Fiction Edge

Monday, October 7th, 2013

http://www.flickr.com/photos/nauright/6805058574/

Are you looking for an edge when interviewing, whether as boss or candidate?

Do you see benefit from strengthening your so-called EQ?

What if all it took was the willingness to read?

[The study] found that after reading literary fiction, as opposed to popular fiction or serious nonfiction, people performed better on tests measuring empathy, social perception and emotional intelligence — skills that come in especially handy when you are trying to read someone’s body language or gauge what they might be thinking.

What is ‘literary fiction’? How does it differ from popular fiction or non-fiction stories, like biographies?

In literary fiction, like Dostoyevsky, “there is no single, overarching authorial voice,” he said. “Each character presents a different version of reality, and they aren’t necessarily reliable. You have to participate as a reader in this dialectic, which is really something you have to do in real life.”

Apparently, just as boredom is an excellent source of creativity, engaging with characters who have no obvious, predetermined course and are struggling in a plot that could go many different ways sensitizes you to the subtleties in their thoughts and actions and opens your mind to a myriad of possibilities.

The Lady and the Tiger, a short story by Frank R. Stockton, is a good example of characters, story and, in this case, an ending that guarantees deep thinking and lively discussion.

Reading is good brain exercise and choosing to read something with a great story that also gives you a decided edge in both your business and personal life is called a no-brainer.

Flickr image credit: romana klee

If the Shoe Fits: What’s Your Focus?

Friday, October 4th, 2013

A Friday series exploring Startups and the people who make them go. Read all If the Shoe Fits posts here

5726760809_bf0bf0f558_mI read a great article about a guy who is CEO of a private 1.5 billion dollar company that sports a 20% compounded growth rate every year since 1988.

Not bad for someone who focuses on people instead of products and profit.

His name is Bob Chapman and the company is Barry-Wehmiller and he believes that if you create a culture with a relentless focus on building employees so each one achieves everything possible then the products and profits will follow.

Chapman’s sums it up in his tagline.

“We Build GREAT People Who Do EXTRAORDINARY Things.”

This goes back to our conversation about the startup social contract, but goes beyond startup and shows what people-focused value means in the long-term.

Chapman explains his approach in the following TEDx talk and you can learn more at Barry-Wehmiller’s well-stocked YouTube channel.

Image credit: HikingArtist

Entrepreneurs: Shift in Thinking

Thursday, October 3rd, 2013

http://www.flickr.com/photos/ianaberle/4185095125/

Welcome to Unreasonable at Sea, a four-month-voyage that aimed to combine the shipboard campus of Semester at Sea with the entrepreneurial zeal of globalized markets and the do-gooder communal spirit of a hackathon. (Read the article here)

The event, while interesting, isn’t what caught my eye; what did hit me was this remark from an attendee.

Wade Colburn, a college junior from California majoring in biomedical engineering, wasn’t one of them, but he joined this Semester at Sea program mainly because of Unreasonable. “You can do something that’s for, like, the better of the world and still make a profit,” he said. “That was a huge shift in my thinking.”

How sad is that?

Think about it; roughly 20 years old with a medically oriented major and a mindset that was completely focused on profit.

It makes you wonder how he was raised and what values he brings to the table.

One can only hope that the “huge shift in thinking” is permanent and that he shares it with his friends.

What’s your thinking?

Does it also need to shift?

Flickr image credit: Ian Aberle

Can You Change Someone’s World?

Wednesday, October 2nd, 2013

http://www.flickr.com/photos/bonnie-brown/4285989531/

For many LIFE has become life, which they choose to live out on a small screen instead of on nature’s infinite stage.

But for some, that small, smooth screen is becoming an onramp to the infinite stage.

Smartphones and tablets, with their flat glass touch screens and nary a texture anywhere, may not seem like the best technological innovation for people who cannot see. But advocates for the blind say the devices could be the biggest assistive aid to come along since Braille was invented in the 1820s.

Not surprisingly, the iPhone is a leader in assistive apps.

One such is VoiceOver, which reads aloud the name of each app as you run your finger over it, just as a visual label shows when you rollover a menu item.

Many developers either don’t think or can’t be bothered to take advantage of the technology by labeling the buttons on their app, which leaves sight-challenged users literally in the dark.

What those developers haven’t figured out is that this is a substantial market—ten million in the US alone and a globally aging population that guarantees it will grow.

Moreover, it’s a highly networked market where anything new and useful is speedily shared.

Even if you are strictly in it for the money enabling your app to take advantage of the assistive technologies built into iOS and Android is smart, since doing so can differentiate you from the pack and help you access valuable media attention.

Writing an app seems to be a right of passage these days even among non-techies for whom it is a hobby and not a job.

So why not write it for a built-in, accessible market and do a bit of good along with the added income?

Flickr image credit: Bonnie Brown

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