The People CEO

Google Project 10 to 100 - what a joke

2009-09-26T12:38:00.002+10:00

Google launched Project 10 to 100 with the stated aim of "Project 10¹⁰⁰ (pronounced "Project 10 to the 100th") is a call for ideas to change the world by helping as many people as possible."

They commited 10 million USD to making the ideas a reality.

154,000 entries and the finalists have been announced. If these are the best ideas we can come up with then it's no wonder we're in the state we're in on this planet. What a joke.

Some of the ideas:

Encourage positive media depictions of engineers and scientists

WTF?! HOw is this going to help the most people? If Engineers and Scientists are not being depicted positively (besides the fact that might be for good reason) then boo f#&*ng hoo. My hearts beelds for them and of course we should be spending 10 million large to help the poort things. Maybe we should be helping the Scientists who invented the landmines so they can be viewed more positively, oh hang on, there's a google 10 to 100th tihng for that:

Create more efficient landmine removal programs

No wait, that's opposed to the first one really isn't it. But if the scientists build the landmines then we can spend money removing them and presenting them in a positive light, win win!

Make government more transparent

Well Government's been trying this for years and haven't sorted it so how's this going to work; hack into Govie computers and get the info they need to hide? Maybe this can work with this:

Provide quality education to African students

and we can find out why the African Governments keep making dictators rich, or is this for 1st World Governments only? Then we can see why they haven't been able to sort Africa for 50 years.

Maybe this one can tie into the transparent African Governments:

Create genocide monitoring and alert system

and with the new found 1st World transparency we can see exactly what these Governments didn't do to stop it happening and what they're not doing now.

Fail Google. You may be number one at search and maps but here's where you hit the limit. The problems we face can't be solved by you putting it out there to the great unwashed for solutions and then putting together a board of the great unqualified to choose them.

more on levels of work

2008-03-27T23:15:00.001+11:00

My new view

2008-02-03T23:22:00.000+11:00

The view from my new office window. You can just see a bit of the harbour :). Hopefully though I'll be able to work much more from home or on the road so I won't have to actually be "in" the office a lot.

Funding confirmed

2008-01-27T14:12:00.000+11:00

An exciting result from my trip is that we've just had funding confirmed for our next venture. So no holidays for me for the near future. We've also signed the strategic partnership we've been courting for our ICT partner and so that's all go. 2008 will be a busy year. On a side note I just ordered a replacement for the Fuji P1610D. It has served me well but I've finally committed to a new convertible tablet solution that will allow me to run Vista considering it's such a resource hog. I've ordered a LG P-100 Express Dual. With 2GB of Ram and a dedicated graphics card it should be able to handle Vista Business.

Super ultra mobile

2007-12-27T20:20:00.000+11:00

This trip I decided to travel super ultra mobile. No 7 inch UMPC for me. No 5 inch UMPC. No I instead opted for a Nokia N95 with a Stowaway Bluetooth Keyboard

All my email goes to my mobile and I figured I'd only need to send a couple of emails and possibly logon to the intranet (which I can do from the phone too actually) a couple of times, so I thought I'd probably get away with this ultra-portable setup. I did.

I successfully conducted all my business from the phone/keyboard and even did these blog posts. The N95 has all sorts of connectivity options, wifi, bluetooth, 3G internet, etc. I found the wireless handy for the free wifi in the Qantas club and otherwise when away from a wifi I could connect via 3G. It wasn't perfect as the screen is very small and the keyboard can get a bit tiring to type long comms on, but overall I was very happy and know I could do it again no problems.

2007-12-27T20:19:00.000+11:00

IBM online gaming management study is flawed

2007-12-19T20:58:00.000+11:00

IBM recently commissioned a study and has now published a report about the Online Gaming Community and how the leadership lessons can be applied to real life and business. I'm afraid I'd have to disagree. Below the post you'll find the link to the article which you can download in pdf format.

MMOG's do indeed have leaders. They form out of necessity, and are a type of leader to be sure. But come on, does anyone except someone commissioned for a large sum of money to produce a report actually believe that these skills will be valuable in real life? I think leaders in these games probably already have leadership skills and they simply manifest in the gaming environment. I'm certainly not looking for managers to join my teams who have online gaming on their resumes. Nor do I look for MBA's either (in fact that's a negative).

Online games lack real consequences. The trial and error approach to management may certainly work there but not in real life. What consequences are there for a rushed, stupid decision in an online game? You lose some points? You lose a game "life"? If you wanted a manager to apply those sorts of techniques in the real world of business then you'd better be prepared to lose a couple million. Maybe that guy who brought down the big British investment bank was a gamer. He certainly took some big risks and kept taking them to cover it up. What the hell, it's not real money; it's just figures on a computer screen.

Virtual Worlds, real leaders.

Deals and meetings

2007-12-13T19:51:00.000+11:00

A day full of meetings and a day full of opportunities.

Today started at 6am and finished at 8.30pm. Probably not long by a lot of peoples standards but with a young family it certainly is by mine. The day required travel interstate and thank heavens for the decent coffee in the Qantas Club.

The morning started off slowly as the major player we met with was extremely hard to read. When you don't get a lot of feedback from the guy you're talking with it's hard to modify your anner on the fly which I believe is essential to conducting a successful negotiation.

By the lunchtime meeting the day had picked up and it looks like one of our new ventures now has a valuable partner who will bring a lot to the table.

The afternoon went extremely well and we picked up a vendor who expressed interest in ordering $500,000 worth of merchandise from another of our ventures. Earlier this year we picked up the exclusive distribution rights to an International Brand and this is now starting to pay dividends for the company as our two fulltime sales staff are now on the road pushing the wares. It's good quality stuff and the pricing is razor sharp. I actually went with one of them to meet with this retail buyer simply for moral support and because we were on the road trip anyway and in the vicinity. I hazard a guess the buyer didn't know the CEO was right there in the meeting :).

On a tech note my little UMPC tablet performed flawlessly the whole day (I run a Fujitsu P1610D convertible tablet PC with extended battery).

Rodney Adler: Out of Jail and back in business

2007-12-07T20:43:00.000+11:00

Rodney Adler just published his account of his time behind bars. He was probably paid a fortune too. I wonder how that made the tens of thousands of Aussie investors who lost millions because of his criminal, dishonest acts feel. Possibly not that much worse than knowing he's still living in a mansion in Vaucluse that's gotta be worth $10 million or so.

He's back in business. Sure he's banned from being a Company Director for 20 years, but he can still operate a business. And I'm sure he can use those millions of other peoples money he squiriled away to buy and sell and make more money.

Shame on anyone who does business with this morally bankrupt excuse of a person.

He should be listed on a "buyer beware" list to worn people not to do business with him.

I await the day the ACCC gets the power to seize ill-gotten family trust monies that these criminals hide away. Let's say you make a wage of 10 million plus for afew years running a company that never makes a cent for your shareholders. Then it goes belly up and you lose every cent those investors ever put in. Why should you have the right to keep those millions. They should be seized and redistributed to the investors. It may amount to 10 cents in the dollar but at least those people that lost their life savings don't have to watch you driving around in your Mercedes and swimming in your massive pool.

Anyone who now knowingly gives Rodney Adler a cent of their money or get's into bed with him in a business sense ought to have their head read.

Levels of management and future vision

2007-12-03T22:32:00.001+11:00

Executives are required to have vision. How much vision, and by that I mean how far ahead you look, depends on where you are in the corporate food chain. I'll be examining all these roles in detail in further posts.

CEO - 20 year vision

A good CEO looks ahead to see where the Company needs to be in 20 years. He/she then hires, fires and strategises to ensure the Company can get there.

General Manager - 10 yearvision

Manager - 5 year vision

Line manager - 1 year vision

Staff, workers, people in the company
The members of a company who aren't in management don't really have to look. a long way into the future. At least not the company's future. And why should they? They need to get on with the job. That job is dictated by the company for sure; obviously the company is in business for a reason and the staff need to make, deliver, provide service or whatever is required to meet that reason.

The future they are concerned with is their daily, weekly monthly output. How does this differ from the next level of management and why? Well imagine if you not only had to make the shoes, plan what shoes to make next year, plan what market, to expand into next year; the year after. five years after that. plan what other products to expand with, tool up to make those products. Hire and fire people as part of expansion or contraction. Getting the picture?

It sort of sounds like a small business owner to me, and that's an awful lot of work. Some people are better at making, some at planning, some at looking ahead. 5, 10, 20 years. Rarely someone can look even further ahead.

Complexity Level	Stratum	Complexity Level	Complexity Level
Most Complex	8	Construct and pursue world wide strategic plans in the largest of the world's corporations.	Super Corporation CEO
	7	Construct and pursue world wide strategic plans. Place businesses in the world.	Corporate CEO
	6	Lead the accumulated impact of multiple business units.	Corporate EVP
	5	Optimize the function of a single business unit or corporate support staff.	Vice President Business Unit President
	4	Manage multiple, interdependent serial projects. Balance resources among a number of departments.	Director General Manager
	3	Plan and carry out sequential projects while considering contingencies and alternatives.	Regional Manager Unit Manager Manager of Managers
	2	Accumulate bits of information to diagnose and anticipate problems. Proactivity appears. Trends are noticed.	District Manager First Line Manager Supervisor
Least complex	1	Follow predefined procedures. When an obstacle is encountered, seek help. No anticipation of problems is expected.	Shop Floor Operator Clerk Cashier Teller