Capuchin Economics: M. Keith Chen (now at UCLA) studied the economic activity of Capuchin and Tamarin monkeys. What I find fascinating is that he first taught the monkeys how to use money (in this case, metal washers) to trade. It took a while, but they learned the value of money for trading. They learned to act mostly in their own …
Massive VUCA Ahead: Volatility, Uncertainty, Complexity and Ambiguity (VUCA). Lots and lots of moving parts in our economy. That we are living in an ambiguous environment is definitely an understatement. I am reminded of a recent car trip where a colleague was driving. We were going to an unfamiliar destination, so of course we were using our GPS to navigate. …
We “See” What We Believe I’m not saying we are wrong. And I’m certainly not saying we should plan to be wrong. But what if . . . ? [I think this may well be an ongoing series of posts!] I’ve been thinking more and more about how we’ve gotten so much wrong. From the political realm to the business …
A Bit of a Rant <rant> I’m doing my usual thing of reading an e-book. I am annoyed by Amazon SPAMing me with an ad to purchase the audio files to go with the book. Really? I understand how convenient it is to have an audio version of books and newspapers. I listen to podcasts and The Economist all the …
In his TED Talk Paul Tudor Jones II said: “… we as a society have come to view our companies and corporations in a very narrow, almost monomaniacal fashion with regard to how we value them, and we have put so much emphasis on profits, on short-term quarterly earnings and share prices, at the exclusion of all else. It’s like …
Yesterday I had lunch with a good friend and colleague. We had a wide ranging discussion as usual, including talking about the water situation here in Southern California. Recently a court ruling found that a small town’s water district here in SoCal did not calculate their rates properly. I suspect the Water District knew that, but had other reasons for wanting …
I’m not talking just about the hourly job, I’m talking about all jobs. They are going away. The exit pace is increasing. Inexorably. Jobs will either actually go away (as in no longer needed) or they will change so appreciably as to not be recognizable as the same job. From now on, you (we), will have to learn how to …
How many times have you wondered how two different people looking at the same report managed to draw totally opposite conclusions? How many times have you looked at a set of data yourself and decided that the data must be wrong because it doesn’t show what you “know” to be true? Well, I suspect that you aren’t alone. I suspect …
One of the small joys I have in life is to attend seminars and lectures that not only inform but allow me to meet the people doing the research and forming the theories. Michael Spence, winner of the Nobel Prize in Economics, spoke at a Drucker Forum recently and I was able to attend. He definitely has his mind wrapped …
This article is a discussion of what we might do to ensure that we are do things differently in the coming decade.