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Uncategorised
Populate and Perish
lindonr | April 5, 2008Sorry, I can't see much correlation between increasing our population and sustainability. Why do we need to endlessly increase our population? This idea has been the dominant paradigm in this country for some time now which appears to me to be the main reason it continues to exist. I believe logic and good sense should prevail to kill this sacred cow of an idea. There are plenty of prosperous countries in the world not increasing their populations so why do we continue to do so? The Aboriginal people of this country achieved equilibrium and balance with the environment and became care takers of this land over many thousands of years. Why can't we return to this belief that we are here to take care of this country and not exploit it?
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UncategorisedShort memories, deep pockets: a bad combination
Douglascomms | April 2, 2008Why does this whole credit crunch look so damn familiar?
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Uncategorised
Don’t forget Earth Hour!
Douglascomms | March 28, 2008Surely we should be thinking about our power consumption more than once per year.
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UncategorisedLeading by example
editor | March 27, 2008
By Kerry Fallon Horgan
Better work/life balance needs to start at the top.
When I asked John McFarlane, then CEO of ANZ Bank, whether to create an enabling environment that supports work/life balance it is necessary for an organisational leader to model this balance, his response was illuminating.
"Get a full life and then have success at work!"
One of his key strategies being to follow a personal mission statement. This statement sets out the roles and pursuits on which he focuses all of his attention, avoiding "with good grace activities that are inconsistent, however appealing". He also takes very practical steps to ensure his time is managed well such as only having meetings in the mornings and if people are "high maintenance" he sends them away.
To create sustainable flexible workplaces managers must lead by example. Unfortunately all too often what we find in our organisations are "mega-managers". They are the people, who because of the long hours spent at work, have highly developed roles as managers at the expense of other life roles. When these "mega-managers" return home late at night, usually tired and stressed, the only role accessible to them is that of manager. And no partner, child or friend wants to be managed!
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Uncategorised
A whole new approach to Women’s business
Douglascomms | March 20, 2008Sometimes it's ok to break the rules.
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UncategorisedLet’s hear it for Sydney
alison gordon | March 19, 2008Sydney scores 8% lower than the "place to be" in a survey released today by recruiter Talent2.
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Uncategorised
Calling all polyglots
Douglascomms | March 19, 2008We've trained our sights so far out we can't see what's in front of our noses.
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If it’s public then it’s not private. Really?
StephenWilson | March 19, 2008Can Metcalf's Law be applied to personal data management?
It is often said that if data about someone is already in the public domain, then that information is no longer private. Sounds reasonable, but I reckon that can become an insidious furphy.
"The data is already public" was the chief debating point advanced by proponents of searchable white pages. They argued that because publicly available paper white pages reveal everyone's phone numbers, surely having a searchable database didn't change anything. But a searchable digital white pages really is different. And not just quantitatively — it makes reversing names from numbers vastly more efficient — but also qualitatively.
For one thing, the very act of searching generates new types of information, much of which is private (and commercially valuable). For instance, whomever owns the searchable white pages also gets to know stuff like who else is interested in my phone number, and why. The owner can synthesise brand new information, none of which is accessible to me, even though nothing other than my 'already public' number has been revealed.
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Web 2.0 & rating the Police. A Bruce Schneier perspective
Malcolm Crompton | March 17, 2008The transparency debate is nuanced & needs a lot more work.
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UncategorisedFighting inflation the old fashioned way
proberts | March 13, 2008Is it right to use interest rates to reduce demand, when Australia's real economic issue is a lack of supply – of skills and infrastructure?
There is a crying need for a bit of innovative thinking among those who manage our economy. The reserve Bank has taken the interest rate sledge hammer to our economy more than once too often already.
This is especially true in this particular episode of economic overheating.
A lot of inflationary pressures are coming from areas outside the reach of domestic interest rate policy, such as global movements in oil prices, food prices and commodity prices. These rises plus our housing shortage and the health needs of an ageing population are driving internal inflation, to be sure.
This idea of shortages is the key. Interest rates can only affect domestic demand. Australia's core domestic contribution to inflation is linked more to lack of supply than excess demand. We haven't invested enough in skills and infrastructure and when resources of any kind get scare, prices rise.
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Uncategorised
Looking for Love in Decoupling World
Douglascomms | March 12, 2008Can Australia withstand the shocks and blows of the global economy?
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A great day for privacy: genuine privacy respecting, user centric Identity Management has hit the mainstream
Malcolm Crompton | March 6, 2008The bar for acceptable ID management has just been suddenly raised.
