How Jiro dreams of sushi cured my social media breakfast hangover
Yesterday was a hugely inspiring day. I learned about social media, a hip and current topic, from a hip and current diverse group of locally-based professionals. Fabulous, interesting, nice people, good food, lovely venue. The Social Media Breakfast is a regular event which has been going on for a while now, but this was my first one. My first UNconference It was also an UNconference, (not UN as in United Nations, but as in ‘not’) where the participants define the topics and lead the sessions on the fly, so the dialogue is always fresh and relevant. We talked hootsuite,...
Read MoreWhat I learned from sticking my hand in a lawnmower
So after months off putting off the task, I finally decided to mow my own lawn last week. Anytime I take a task like this (one that many women would leave to the men in their lives!) I feel very independent and powerful. Also, it was a beautiful sunny day. I won’t lie – I was really enjoying myself! I zipped through the back and side lawns, but unfortunately the grass on my front lawn had grown so tall and thick that it choked my poor electric old mower into submission about halfway through. It just stopped dead. Undaunted, I flipped the mower over and pulled out the grass...
Read MoreAfter the gains are made, it’s culture that sustains
It’s a wonderful, victorious thing when an improvement project finishes up. In my experience closing off Six Sigma projects and other successful improvement iniatives like Kaizen events and 5S Blitzes, it’s really worthwhile to congratulate and thank the team. But the party never lasts very long. As the pace of your business requires, you are on to the next problem to solve right away. You can’t sit beside your implemented solution to make sure that it works. You have to trust that things will stay in their improved state. There is nothing more frustrating than...
Read MoreCreating business value: when profit and people both win
Before I became a professional volunteer and entrepreneur, I worked to create value for companies using various business improvement (BI) methodologies. Most of that value I created (ahem, helped to create – BI is a team sport) can be expressed as cost savings – hence my former employers’ willingness to invest in my training and salary. Let me try to say this without bragging – I saved them a LOT of money! Thousands in some cases, millions in others. Ebenezer Scrooge in a skirt? How did I do that? Since the terms ‘cost reduction’ or ‘cost...
Read MoreEngineering for social inclusion in Buenos Aires
A few months after my epiphany in the jungle, I was looking around for the right opportunity to put my idea to leverage my professional skills for social good into action. I was honoured to be offered the opportunity to help out with Waste for Life as a volunteer Project Manager. I was to help implement what Eric Feinblatt and Caroline Baillie, the project’s co-founders had designed and developed. Check out their website http://wasteforlife.org/ for notes on their journey. It’s amazing what strong ideals and determination can accomplish. Recycling, co-operativism and...
Read More
Recent Comments