Yearly Archives: 2012

Social Mentoring: From Telemachus to Telecommuters

This afternoon, I’m leading a webinar entitled “Using Social Learning to Mentor Agency Professionals” through an invitation from ASTD Government and The Public Manager. My slides are below. In brief, I suggest that mentoring involves three basic elements (and has since the word first appeared in Homer’s Odyssey): 1) Advice 2) Admonition 3) Assistance WhileRead… Read more »

What might mobile democracy look like?

I’ve often said that the problem with participation in local democracy is that it just isn’t convenient enough. Meetings? Pah! I’m too busy trying to earn a living, quite frankly. So mobile offers a really interesting opportunity. After all, the smartphones that sit in the pockets of an ever-growing number of people have a levelRead… Read more »

Roger Fisher: 1922-2012

Virtually all of my blog readers, and for that matter, much of the world, will not know that on August 25 Roger Fisher passed away. Roger Fisher was a Harvard academic and adviser to presidents and leaders, and perhaps most importantly – because his writings touched so many people – a co-author of Getting ToRead… Read more »

Dating data

I’m a proponent of online dating when it comes up around the office. It really helps those workaholics I know avoid dating within the workplace, which in my opinion is rarely a good idea. And meeting new people is fun. A side benefit of online dating is all of the data that it gives toRead… Read more »

These Are The Drones You’re Looking For

Growth and rapid changes in the American economy often come from military spending. The Wright Brothers had funding from a U.S. Army contract that helped pave the wave for today’s global airlines. Atomic weapons begot atomic power after the Second World War. Civilian satellites for research came after NASA developed space technologies. The precursor toRead… Read more »

How to be a Boss: Are You a Good Boss or a Bad Boss?

Sounds a little bit like the Wizard of Oz, we know. Similar to that classic story – what type of boss you are can determine if your people respond to you more like Munchkins or Monkey Soldiers. While we were writing this blog with our marketing partner, Preactive Marketing, we found something interesting while weRead… Read more »

Culture is…? How to Create a High Performing Culture

According to our marketing partner –Preactive Marketing – the phrase “culture is…” generates roughly 20 million global hits. This indicates it is quite a popular topic and that people are interested in what culture is – and why having a high performance one is important. We’ll share our thoughts, though we also prefer to hearRead… Read more »

Strategy is…? How to Create and Execute a Successful Strategy

As many government agencies are aware, creating a strategy is a mandate, and creating and communicating an actionable strategy can make or break the performance goals of the agency or department and impact the ability to deliver on the mission. According to our marketing partner – Preactive Marketing – the phrase “strategy is…” generates roughlyRead… Read more »

GSA Sales vs. Total Government Contracts

During the prior 4 years, GSA sales have largely risen, even with monetary shrinking of the federal budget. After 2+ years of steady sales growth and percentage-of-sales growth, there was a small dip in 2011. Below are the figures, and even lower are the editorials and projections. GSA Sales vs. Total Government Contracts it’s difficultRead… Read more »

More reasons to join us at NCDD Seattle this October!

Still on the fence about whether or not you’ll be joining us in Seattle this Oct 12-14 for the 2012 National Conference on Dialogue & Deliberation? I think you’ll decide to join us when you check out the following… 1. See who’s registered so far — it’s an amazing group of leaders and innovators inRead… Read more »