July 12, 2016
The Bully Pulpit
I believe it is called, "Apocalypse."
And the miserable misanthrope evil-doers are riding in on their fiery mule to lie, murder, and destroy.
Perhaps what's not so bad in-and-of itself is to have to face many of life's challenges and work hard to overcome them.
But what is unconscionable these-days is that we are being often and repeatedly lied to and manipulated.
No longer is the truth and good seemingly on top of the agenda, but rather the script of normalcy and calm is paramount.
Thus, rather than passion and piloting, we get a lot of spin, exaggeration, manipulation, and some could say outright lies, for example:
- The "health of the economy" (anyone look at our runaway national debt register or grossly widening economic inequality lately)
- The "security of our nation" (anyone believe that Iran or North Korea are standing down their WMD programs)
- That ISIS is on the run and terrorism is waning (anyone really think San Bernardino or Fort Hood was "workplace violence")
- The success of the nation's newest healthcare program (anyone believe that the public "Affordable Care" insurance is giving healthy coverage at great prices)
- The absence of bigotry and discrimination (anyone think that racism isn't so bad with killings over taillights and at "peaceful" protests)
- The transparency of our government (anyone look at the statements of the FBI versus the former first lady).
And doesn't the list goes on and on.
Listen, we all make mistakes, including leaders, but creating a false narrative for the "stupid" public and media "echo chamber" is beyond immoral--it literally breaks the compass.
Civilized society and any vestige of positive relationships therein is built of trust and communication, but when these are simply tools to fool the coined dumb-a*s people, rather than lead them, then we are listening only to evildoers on a bully pulpit.
Maybe that's why nearly 70% think we're headed in the wrong direction...because look at the absence of integrity leading the pack. ;-)
(Source Photo: Andy Blumenthal)
June 9, 2016
The Kool-Aid Overfloweth
As the promises are made...
As glass ceilings are broken for gender and outsiders...
As the endorsements are coming in...
As legacies are made and lost...
Everybody seems to be drinking a lot of Kool-Aid.
Somehow, the (social) media doesn't seem as discerning as it should or could be.
Maybe it's more about brands, what outrageous, who's insulted, ratings and advertising dollars.
Many (or almost all unless they have personal skin in the game) seem resigned to just vote for the candidate they deem least worst.
Accountability for actions and words--scripted and blurted out--don't seem to be taken with the seriousness they deserve.
Just say or do whatever it takes...shake hands, kiss babies, promise more of everything for everybody.
Wash it all away with the insincerity of the moment for the prize of the ultimate power grab awaits.
The new leader of the free world will be sitting in the Oval Office in just a little more than half a year.
Kool-Aid is filling our screens, our newspapers, our conversations, and our minds.
What's real and what's bullsh*t about what we're being fed?
Transparency, ha...feeding time is almost over.
But where's the real vetting, critical thinking, and values informing the process?
It's not about what to think, but how to think!
Bellies are almost full...the herd is almost ready to vote.
The new King of the Jungle is almost ready to take their place at the head of it all.
Four years, maybe eight years...
How will the wild world be then? ;-)
(Source Photo: Andy Blumenthal)
The Kool-Aid Overfloweth
August 20, 2015
Fist With Parachute
A fist attached to a parachute.
Sort of a strange image of strength, fighting, and resolve with making a safe landing.
Perhaps that's the intersection of defense and diplomacy.
Where we employ soft and hard power to achieve worthy goals and follow one's moral compass.
My grandfather used to joke that he would come with the big stick if anyone bothers us.
He, like my dad, was a very good man! ;-)
(Source Photo: Andy Blumenthal)
Fist With Parachute
July 24, 2015
Actions Speak Louder Than Deals
Similar to the Movie, "The Stoning of Soraya M."--only this is real life footage.
Highly graphic...beware.
A 17-year old girl ambushed by crowd of men, savagely kicked and beaten, and stoned to death with a large cinderblock finally slammed onto her head.
All the while, the men are taking photos and videos with their smartphones.
And playing with her skirt up and down in some perverted way while the blood is gushing out of her skull.
Supposedly for loving the "wrong" boy.
Who does something like this?
Can some people be so religiously brainwashed as to think this can be "right"?
Where are people's inner conscience and moral compass?
As ISIS beheads and burns alive their opponents, Boko Haram hacks off people's limbs and takes young girls as sex slaves, Al Qaeda conducts countless suicide bombings, Syria gases their own people, and Iran outmaneuvers the West toward a nuclear bomb to annihilate their enemies...we had better take very seriously what we are dealing with.
Shouldn't any deal we make seek to genuinely change these behaviors rather than make a deal for deal's sake?
We need to wake up before the warnings that we are witnessing from afar become lessons here at home.
We need a genuine and verifiable peace--oh G-d let it be!
Actions Speak Louder Than Deals
November 18, 2011
Milgram And The Moral Fiber Of Leadership
Milgram And The Moral Fiber Of Leadership
August 21, 2011
Deus Ex-Overtaken By Technology
Deus Ex-Overtaken By Technology
September 2, 2009
Are Organizational Values Valuable?
Many organizations have a value statement that identifies what traits are most important to them.
Organizational values are similar to an enterprise architecture in that the organizational values identify a type of target state for organization members to strive for and adhere to.
The purpose of value statements is to guide people’s behaviors, decisions, and interactions.
For example, one police department that I looked up has value statements around the traits of integrity, pride, service, and fairness. A city that I found had value statements for passion for community, integrity in work, and results through collaboration. A non-profit organization had values of leadership, integrity, excellence, and impact.
As you read the value statements they give you a sense of the organization in terms of who they are, or actually more like what they believe in.
But do they really—i.e. are organizational value statements something that people in the organization are aware of, understand, can locate, recite, or summarize, and moreover, are the values actually used to guide behavior?
Or are these value statements written by leadership, human resources, or some strategic planning function in the organization as an ivory tower effort, and then published in the organization’s glossy annual plan and/or on their website, but never really communicated with or adopted by the people in the rank and file?
The question is not posed in order to be cynical, but to genuinely ask: are organizational value statements “true values” or are they more marketing and branding glitz?
With few exceptions, I would challenge most to identify whether their organization even has a value statement, let alone what it is. Moreover, the last time, they thought of and considered the organizational values in making a decision or taking an action.
Then why do organizations have value statements?
Perhaps, organizations intuitively or through management best practices know that they need to have values, because they are genuinely important. Just like as individuals we have personal values (be they religious or otherwise) that “tell” us who we as human being are and guide our behaviors, so too as organizations, we need to identify the values that will be our “moral compass” and define our organizational identity.
The problem though comes when organizational values are developed as a “project”—a time bound task or “to do” for someone or some committee who researched it, developed it, and got approval on it; but not managed as a “program”—an ongoing endeavor and commitment to create awareness, educate, and even enforce the values through performance rewards and recognition.
Moreover, culture and peer pressure are vey powerful forces that drive employee behavior, whether they consciously are aware of it or not. So many values are indeed employed in day-to-day interactions, but they may not be explicit and they may not be the same values that are actually in the organization’s value statement. That is because the informal network and implicit values may actually be more prominent and powerful in driving people’s behaviors that the formal and documented one in the organization.
The key is for leaders to genuinely commit to the values and their use across the organization. The leaders need to provide for the values to be widely communicated (on wall hangings, pocket cards, employee reference guides, Intranet and so on) and they need to be referred to in periodic communications (speeches, announcements, broadcasts, meetings, etc.). They need to be living, breathing values that touch people daily (and obviate the implicit and unsanctioned ones).
Further, leaders need not only talk about the values, but also they need to exemplify them. In other words, leaders need to practice what they preach and lead by example using the values to drive decisions and actions in a way that is transparent to all.
What I learned when I developed user-centric enterprise architecture is that any ivory-tower exercises or development of organizational shelfware is by definition a failure, and therefore we need to treat all of our strategic planning and management functions as a real-world effort.
If we could do that with both EA and organizational values, it would be great to integrate them and use them to drive an explicit target state for both the performance and the business perspectives, as well as a human capital perspective of the architecture.
Are Organizational Values Valuable?