I've often wondered why I don't pledge allegiance to one particular theoretical framework, set of practices, or tools when engaging with people and organisation's. I've wondered if it is because I'm a child of post-modernism. This is probably true, but Dave has just mentioned the concept of bounded diversity as a guiding philosophy behind building the Cognitive Edge stable of methods. This helps me understand my approach.

The idea is that there is no universal method or tool that can applied in practice, but that each philosophy, tool or practice has its own application within the boundaries of a particular context.

I like this. Context is very important in deciding what tool or technique to use.

Example ...

3M was renowned for its innovation and some time back took on 6 Sigma as a process engineering for cost effectiveness. The end result was that it thwarted its culture of innovation. Instead of throwing out 6 Sigma as useless too, the new CEO created some boundaries and took it our of product development and research divisions. He knew it was a useful tool, but only in specific context.

You can listen to a great BusinessWeek podcast on this very example.

I randomly picked up a book the other day. Well not quite randomly, the title intrigued me. It was The Age of Fallibility: The Consequences of the War on Terror by George Soros. I'd never heard of the bloke. It turns out though that he's the 27th richest man in America.

What makes him and his book interesting (to me at least) is that he is a business mogul who has applied his mind, heart and personal fortune into establishing Open Societies. He also happens to be someone who has openly criticised the Bush Administration, the USA and the subsequent War on Terror. His argument is that the War on Terror is a false metaphor and that the States is fast becoming a "closed society" because of it.

I'm used to academics taking this line ...  read more »

Sometimes I think consultants in the people development world are not all that different from religious fanatics. You see, when meeting a people development consultant, or anyone in the organisational development/human resources world, you'll find that they have aligned themselves to a particular profiling tool and will very quickly ask you as to your own alegiance. Not dissimilar to the way in which religious folk align themselves to a faith orientation.

Is it the Myers-Briggs? Disc Profiles? Belbin Team Roles? Enneagram? The list goes on ...

But now I wonder? In this age of religious plurality, there are some fairly solid arguments along the lines of the "don't all religions lead to God?" discourse. Hmmm.

I wonder if all profiling tools invariably lead to ... well, Personality?

Yep, I can sense it - you die-hard  read more »

I'm proud to be a blogger. But gosh, we have taken some stick in the news and media over the last few weeks, especially around the emergence of the SA male prostitute blog (would link to it, but unlike others I'm not anonymous and may be up for prosecution one day) . Patricia de Lille and David Bullard have also thrown their hats into this ring (not the prostitution ring that is).

But man, I love what Bullard is doing. He is holding up a big, fat mirror up to the blogging community and asking us damn serious (often clad in the usual Bullard sardonic tone) questions about who we are and what we do on this public forum.

When I look at the narrative pulse of the South African blogopshere, and how it is eating away at itself from the inside, I see Bullard's role being one that uncovers the often farcical nature of what we do in this space, challenges the inward-focussed "nepotism" that occurs and leaves space for someone to step up to the plate and bring some common sense to what we do.

It's a rare occasion that I'll attend a business breakfast. I'm not particularly good at the networking-vibe and well, until my third cup of coffee and a whole heap of scrambled eggs, I'm as talkative and interesting as our esteemed Minister of Transport, Jeff Radebe, at his best.

Nonetheless, I found myself at a Journal of Marketing breakfast yesterday that was addressing "Marketing in Crisis". It was a well-to-do event - the marketing garb is well-defined: Diesel spectacles, tweed jackets, bow-ties and business card in hand. Aiden walks in with his trusty 5-year old shoes, flapping cardigan and contact lenses ... clearly not of the Marketing fold.  read more »

I had the pleasure of spending a few minutes last night being interviewed by long-time mate Mike Stopforth for his social media and marketing podcast, Amplitude .

You can find it and listen to it here .

We have all been in situations that have elicited our "true colours". They are events that move us into a space where we are hardly able to rationalise our response. My most recent event of this nature was on Thursday evening at a Break-Away session with a client.

Picture it ...

Five star Guest Lodge in the serene Magaliesburg. A slightly-inebriated group of well-to-do clients who have just finished a meal starter that would have made the Queen's chef jealous. Then ...

A beggar-tramp shows up at the door. Clothing in tatters, booze in hand and a cough that had a 10-foot radius. He wants to come in. He can see the great food we're eating, but mostly stares at our wine glasses with a deep far-away look of longing. Before we know it, he barges in through the door as someone exits to try and get rid of him. With arthritic haste he swaggers over to a table and grabs someone's wine glass, chugging it back quicker than I believed. By now the Client Boss is up in arms and tries to get him out. The venue staff climb in as well - rather unsuccessfully. He sneaks in through another door. They usher him out again. He sneaks in again.  read more »

It has been a while since I have posted on this website. I apologise that I am back. I have been tempted to apologise for neglecting your content-needs, but nay.

There have been many things, for which you can be grateful, calling for my attention over the last few weeks - many things that have taken up my time, my energy and my intellectual resources. But, I am now back - and I sincerely apologise.

I do trust that you have enjoyed the silence and that it has allowed you some free time to read the sites of those who apologise for being away for so long.  

To start, an excerpt from CS Lewis' first fictional work, The Pilgrim's Regress:   read more »

I've been a part of the South African blogosphere for about 2 years now. It is still a very young blogosphere by global standards and is fighting hard to establish itself. There are some insanely clever people playing in this space and I am proud to be playing amongst them. As I look back on the last two years it seems to be me that the SA blogging movement has been moving in the same direction - towards establishing a significant presence in the global blogosphere boosted by innovative thinking and relevant content.

Within the past few months, pretty much since 2007 began, I have however begun noticing a change in this story. There is now a level of dissent within the SA blogging community that I have not seen before - and it has revolved mainly around the annual SA blog awards, and to some extent around the "lets-meet" gatherings that have been organized by some prominent bloggers (to read some what this looks like click here, here, here and finally, here)

There are three observations/recommendations that I have about this situation:  read more »