Conglomerate Posture During Economic Downturn

http://www.brandrepublic.com/News/854855/WPP-orders-hiring-freeze-amid-client-spending-cuts/

WPP orders hiring freeze amid client spending cuts

by John Tylee, Campaign 17-Oct-08, 14:40

LONDON - WPP has reacted to the deepening financial crisis by ordering a freeze on all hirings until further notice.

In an e-mail to senior staff and seen by Campaign, the group, whose agency empire includes JWT, Ogilvy & Mather, Young & Rubicam and Grey, cites clients' decisions to hold back on marketing spend as the reason for its action.

A Subject We Cannot Ignore

Rape Victim's words Jolt Congo - NY Times October 17, 2008
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/18/world/africa/18congo.html?_r=1&hp&oref=slogin

This is a difficult story to read. I realize the difficulty lies in me (us), for the way we all have left this level of inhumanity up to others to take care of.

I went to see the movie "W" today. True to his words, Oliver Stone has not created a film that's driven by cheap shots.

I came away with an interesting feeling.

The movie was not about "W", but more about us. How we work to develop our democracy and how we often times, just let things happen. "Things" that affect the very fabric of our humanity.

We live in a time of "Talk Radio Show Consciousness" and that continues to divide us.

Interesting to me, that radio has always been a tremendous influencer of culture and beliefs. In fact, like the telegraph, radio was an early technology signal for safety when people are in trouble.

Sal

Multimillion-Dollar Men

October 7, 2008 NY Times

http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2008/10/07/business/20080929-payout-graphic.html

In the five years from 2003 to 2007, these Wall Street executives collectively took home more than $1 billion in pay

Once again, I am reminded of what the author Tom Wolf said last week:

"Wall Street is like Broadway. They are both anachronisms. Nothing new happens there".

Sal

Whers's the Money?

The author, Tom Wolf said in an interview this week:

"Wall street is like Broadway, it's an anachronism. Nothing new happens there".

He went on to say, that more influence on the money comes from Greenwich Connecticut, implying home of the hedge fund world, I believe.

It's an interesting observation. I know he is right about Broadway. Think about the extraordinarily committed and gifted people working in that community. Skilled performers, producers, stage hands, designers, musicians, maintenance and security experts.

All that incredible human passion and commitment to create unusually expensive and often empty spectacles in a world where theater is today, so profoundly needed.

The theater historically, has always been a place for the society to talk to itself about itself.

What are we saying to one another today?

And, could there be a relationship between what we are not able to share openly, that puts us into a bankrupt sense of value at all levels. Affecting our health fiscally, mentally and ethically?

Sal

Internal Communications - The Continuing Myth

Today, I answered a Linked In question about internal communications.

Here's what I said:

To provoke some response to your statement and hear from others, I will suggest a different point of view. And, it's one I believe in.

We should forget "internal" vs. "external" communications in organizations. The world does not work that way anymore. The boundaries are gone.

Content that bores people is the real danger. Content that excludes people because of traditional internal competition depletes ROI and destroys innovation.

People working in the food industry to develop new products forget their "secrets" once at home, where they face contemporary issues like child diabetes. They are customers as well as workers in a world where information sharing and learning are routine ventures on the Internet and within their social networks. Formal and Informal Networks.

Living and working in a networked society and economy has made the internal vs. external separatism archaic.

Wherever organizations still live to provide paternalistic communication structures, you will find an underachieving culture. Sometimes, that shows up in dollars and more often in not supporting human potential.

This is not to say that internal work and information sharing should not be organized. However, understanding what kind of organizational structure is dependent upon the kind of WEB 2.0 world we live in. And, the way these formal and informal networks can provide value.

People are far less tolerant of their E bay world not functioning than they are of the corporate communications methodologies that limit creativity and inclusion.

Understanding that phenomenon is a transformation worth investing in for companies.

Best of luck with your exploration.

Sal Rasa
im21 (innovation/measurement 21st. century)

Helping New Technologies Grow Into Businesses

By JAMES FLANIGAN

Published: September 17, 2008 New York Times

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/18/business/smallbusiness/18edge.html?ref=smallbusiness

Connect was created 23 years ago to bring together people knowledgeable about business and investment capital with researchers at the universities and research institutes in San Diego.

“Bill Otterson created the culture here, telling scientists and research people to share ideas and then compete in the marketplace”

Great story about putting together people who might not easily share ideas.

"A community effort to ally scientists and financiers".

Building community is not a new idea. It's the communities that provide the ongoing innovation.

Sal

I've Seen a Real Picture of Change and Almost Missed Something Important

I have not created a post for a while. A project has really taken my attention.

Yesterday, I completed the first edit of a video portrait of health care workers documenting their experience of learning to use Electronic Medical Records (EMR). Asking them questions about the last 18 months at their family practice centers and what's different. The entire project has been an intense team collaboration.

The conversations, responses and stories represent a transformation from thousands of paper charts to a shared information approach that creates a higher level patient experience. It is astounding.

To some organizations who have already adopted these practices, it may seem odd how long it is taking for others to do so.

However, even the most advanced users of EMR understand the need for further connectivity and knowledge sharing across boundaries and practice. It's a continuous improvement commitment. It is also a struggle for funding, board approvals and confronting many of the usual inhibitors to innovation.

I thought I understood why I was so captivated by this project. It's health care, the participants are highly dedicated and I keep learning about their realities and our expectations as patients.

But there was something I missed until I just relaxed and watched the tape this morning.

This is a compelling story of how doctors, nurses, admins and other providers deepened their everyday exchange. The video is a critical visualization of working differently and achieving different results.

The use of EMR (electronic medical records) demands that people work differently to get different results. It gives the patient a way of accessing consistent information across platforms, boundaries and institutions. And, it accelerates the practitioner's professional development.

EMR gives back the ability to highly skilled physicians and practitioners, the time they need to effectively use their skills instead of wasted time in routine or repetitive questioning.

In our current health care environment, we seldom realize how the system inhibits the best abilities of motivated and highly skilled professionals.

Technology to organize and move people from paper to the screen simply accelerates wide cultural change in a way that traditional consulting can never approach.

How many years have we heard about the paperless environment? These workers take it to a new level of commitment. One patient, one chart. Anywhere, anytime. That is their goal.

Health care workers are always driven by complexity, urgency and humanity.

Understanding the value of EMR is a revelation when you see and hear it from the communities of practice and need. The example should inform all of our business perspectives.

All the issues of privacy (which are most manageable) or concerns about less personal do not come close to seeing patients understanding their own situation more clearly than ever before.

And, the truth about medicine moving to a collaboration becomes exciting within the context of information when you and your health care providers need it. We all have more than one doctor and we seldom connect them to solve our issues quickly and safely.

I cannot do justice here of what I learned from creating this video. Please understand, I use video as data collection. Not typical corporate support material.

But I can say, much of the theory and experience that frameworks large scale business transformation and organization design goes out the window when a doctor describes how a patient who cannot read, now understands their current health state for the first time. The graphic display on the screen with the patient's test results etc. is viewed and discussed with the doctor.

Such an encounter maps a network of change from the doctor's activity to everyone who contributes to this technology that unites them.

I realized this morning, that this example is a poignant metaphor for much of what I have encountered with large organizations. Years of discussing change without the ability to clearly read and act.

For the health care professionals who have given me this incredible experience, I can only say thank you. And, I can continue to learn what their transformation means for all our work place transformations.

Sal