Dave Desforges began piloting "Work From Home" solutions over 3 years ago. His role required identifying additional candidate requirements and necessary remote work practices for both employees and managers at Sun Microsystems. His current work encompasses blending appropriate technology, organizational practices, and workplace environments to support mobile and distributed teams.
Jim McGee is currently a Director at Huron Consulting Group. He has spent much of the last 30 years working to understand, design, and apply information and technology innovations in organizations. Before Huron, Jim taught at the Kellogg School and was one of the founding partners of DiamondCluster International. With Larry Prusak, he was the co-author of Managing Information Strategically (Wiley, 1993). Jim has both an MBA and a doctorate in Information Technology, Organization, and Strategy from the Harvard Business School.
Regina Miller has more than 18 years of experience in Organization Development, Human Resources, Leadership Development and International Operations. Regina recently launched a global consultancy called The Seventh Suite which assists growing companies bolster their competitive edge via aligned strategy and progressive people practices. Her last corporate job was as the VP HR/OD for Oskar (Vodafone) which has been dubbed “one of the fastest growing mobile operators in Eastern Europe.” More info here.
Giovanni Rodriguez - Through a combination of luck and persistence, Giovanni has worked in the company of some of the most interesting and colorful leaders in several worlds: the law, theater, and technology. Today, he is a principal at Eastwick Communications, a Silicon Valley PR agency, where he advises both emerging companies and market leaders on executive leadership, public speaking, marketing strategy and media relations. He has worked for, consulted and advised numerous businesses and organizations including HP, Stanford University, Fujitsu Computer Systems, Cadence Design Systems, VMware, the American Arbitration Association, and the Unified Court System of New York. He is a graduate of Princeton University (Religion and Anthropology), and he has done graduate course work at the Columbia School of Journalism and N.Y.U.
Jim Ware is a cofounder of the Work Design Collaborative and the Future of Work program. He has over 30 years experience in research, executive education, consulting, and management, including five years on the faculty of the Harvard Business School. He was the lead author of The Search for Digital Excellence, (McGraw-Hill, 1998), and holds Ph.D., M.A., and B.Sc. degrees from Cornell University and an MBA (With Distinction) from the Harvard Business School.
Hylton Joliffe alerted me to a great piece in the latest issue of Newsweek on the "secret sauce" in Google's management practices ("Google: Ten Golden Rules"). It's a great recipe for leveraging the talent in your knowledge workers. I wrote about the same issue briefly just last week at the Future of Work blog, stimulated mostly by Intel CEO Paul Otellini's new insights into Google as a recently appointed Google director ("Intel's Inside Scoop on Google"). Getting the most out of your knowledge workers is clearly the key to success in the future. And Google's a terrific role model. And for a more comprehensive Google story, be sure to check out the December 5 issue of Business Week ("Googling for Gold ").
Today's San Francisco Chronicle carries an important story by technology writer Tom Abate ("Tech engineers fear U.S. is falling behind"). It reports on a recent survey by EE Times magazine showing that only 10% of American engineers are confident the U.S. will maintain its technological edge over time. The survey results are available online, at http://www.mcbru.com/news/insight2005.php. This isn't just about offshoring, however. It's also about the U.S. education system, which is falling way behind the rest of the developed world. And even if you live outside the U.S. and don't care that much about U.S. competitiveness, you have to be concerned about the state of technology innovation in the global economy.
This McKinsey article relates to my previous post in that McKinsey recommends, relatively radically I think, how orgs should structure in order to make the best use of knowledge workers and talent pools. Reading between the lines of their structural recommendations, implies collaborative technologies will be required to operate in this new org configuration. This is one of my more favorite McKinsey articles. Usually, I am taking quite the opposite tact.
Some advice about hot jobs and careers of the future by Michael Prospero of Fast Company who will appear on an old fashioned radio show on October 6th at 10:10 AM EST. He will appear on Joan Hamburg's show on WOR 710 AM on your dial. (PS - She's the best!) Uncertain that it will make it to podcast but you can listen live from your pc.
Here's another article that chronicles how professions are changing, particularly as it relates to the variety of cross-disciplinary skills that are required. As more and more people start working at the intersection of technology - social sciences, for example, I suspect entirely new insights and industries will emerge.
For those of you who are deeply interested in experience design, I recommend taking a look at Corante's newest blog, called - strangely enough - Total Experience. It's being produced by my good friend and certified Internet guru Bob Jacobson and his colleague Paula Thornton. Check it out. --jim ware [Tag: design]
From the AP article: "An analysis by the TeleGeography research group found 2.7 million subscribers nationwide [emphasis added] in the second quarter, compared with just 440,000 a year earlier."
That's about 5X growth in one year - and that's all with commercial providers, so it's not even counting the millions of Skype users. Bottom line: VOIP has passed the tipping point. It's another important milestone on the road to tomorrow. -- jim ware
In this season of "open enrollment" (the time in companies - usually in the fall when people have a chance to change and/or enroll in benefit health care plans,) I am reminded about the scary nature of the healthcare situation in this country especially for those of us who are self-employed. When I first launched my consulting practice, The Seventh Suite, I knew I would have to address the issue. Here is a post I wrote called Management Diva Joins a Union a while back that explains about a very necessary and progressive organization here in NY called Working Today that enables freelancers to join a union for group coverage. It is open enrollment time for the members of Working Today. I am reminded how lucky I am to have joined this group and have a good healthplan. I hope there are other organizations like this out there serving the needs of contractors and freelancers now and moving into the future.
Nasdaq - a stock exchange that exists only virtually, with no physical trading floor - was opened yesterday by Cisco CEO John Chambers at a ceremony in San Jose, California - the first time that the exchange was opened from anywhere outside New York City (and it's not as simple as it might seem to do that). It was an intentional demonstration of Cisco's ability to move large volumes of data instantaneously across large distances. Another victory for distributed "work." Full story in today's San Jose Mercury News. -- jim ware
Just picked this off IFTF's Future Now, the blog of the Institute for the Future: 'Provocatively, from Knowledge@Wharton : ... "Something fundamentally big is happening that will profoundly affect the life of every person and every business over the next five to 15 years -- the collapsing of everything into one single, global, ubiquitous, collaborative virtual IT world.' ... Are we ready?" Follow the link to the Wharton report - it's well worth reading. --jim ware
Some good advice about the important role of mistakes and what to do with them. My goal has always been to make "interesting mistakes."
New essay: how to learn from your mistakes. If you're doing something interesting, mistakes are inevitable. How you learn from your mistakes defines what kinds of mistakes you'll make the next time: the same ones? new ones? mistakes that get you closer to success or move you away from it?
Fewer working flex time? That is the question addressed by this USA Today article. "The number of full-time wage and salary workers age 16 and older on flexible schedules dropped from 29 million in May 2001 to 27.4 million in 2004, according to a July report from the U.S. Department of Labor." Two reasons why: Some companies are dropping formal flexible-working programs and workers are skittish about asking for flexibility.
On a lighter note, well maybe not...I wonder why he stopped with the 40s? This is a good one. Could it be simply a variation on an interesting career meme? (I've been dying to use that in a sentence, meme I mean. Hope I used it correctly?)
There's a great story in today's San Francisco Chronicle about telework, shared workspaces, and the power of technology to provide business continuity "insurance" ("Work is Where You Hang Your Coat"). The story, by Carolyn Said, features Sun's iWork program and uses Sun's support of a distributed work pilot at the City of San Francisco's Board of Supervisors being led by our friend Gloria Young. - jim ware [Tag: distributedwork]
There is an important article in this week's Newsweek Magazine about the future of municipal WiFi systems ("Pulling the Plug on Local Internet").
The issue of course, is that private ISP's are fighting the whole concept of low-cost municipally managed WiFi - they see it (correctly!) as a serious threat to "their" franchise. -- jim ware
It's No Longer the Information Age, Now it's the Conceptual Age
Here's another take on Renaissance People: there was an intriguing article in Sunday's Boston Globe about the need for conceptual thinkers in the "new" economy. Penelope Trunk writes about the fact that the most secure jobs in our global economy are those that require deep knowledge of customers, technology, etc. Information and data aren't enough anymore, as Dan Pink's new book, A Whole New Mind, makes very clear. For a recent review of A Whole New Mind, click here. -- jim ware
Gautum Ghosh links us to the results of a corporate blogging survey by Backbone Media. This is a good overview of the kinds of experiences +/- "blogging" companies are having. (I am sure this would be a good piece of data/evidence for those companies in the decision phase.)
Interesting article in the San Jose Mercury News (free reg. req.) about the emerging trend of rural sourcing. The premise: Why outsource to Bangalore when you can outsource to North Dakota?
I am convinced that podcasts (which, as author Randall Stross points out, do not originate on iPods, nor are they technically "broadcasts:) are the next wave of opportunity for businesses - and individuals - to connect with customers, the general public, and others who you want to influence.
MTV is transforming its media landscape to remain relevant as posted in Influx Insights. The network, noticing the decline in teenage TV viewing, is expanding into content for mobile telephony and online gaming. Smart Move! Forewarned: "Other media brands with strong ties to the youth demographic would be smart to follow MTV's lead into other environments that are pertinent to teens." Advice: Change before you have to!
Giovanni Rodriguez
Elizabeth Albrycht
Dave Desforges
Jim McGee
Jim Ware
