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Crusaders for Western Australia take corporeal form
Many thanks to all those involved with the inaugural event of "Crusaders...." last Wednesday evening, we have come out of the ether and taken corporeal form!
We were 60 strong and I am very grateful to those who attended and delighted with the warm and enthusiastic response to the concept. Our four speakers communicated their message with real clarity and measured passion and our support for the Global Good Foundation, though modest, was very real.
As a platform for showcasing innovators to other entrepreneurs it now "has legs" and the the coming 12 months will see another five opportunities. We have dropped some pebbles in a few ponds and '"you never know'" what may come of it.
Many thanks and kindest regards, Jonathan.
Monday, June 28, 2010
Sunday, June 27, 2010
Beware honeyed words that cloak a darker meaning/worrying mindset.
"I believe in a Government that rewards those who work the hardest, not those who complain the loudest.I believe in a Government that rewards those who, day in and day out, work in our factories and on our farms, in our mines and in our mills, in our classrooms and in our hospitals, that rewards that hard work, decency and effort." Julia Gillard, 24/6/10
On first hearing/reading those words might sound like good honest and perfectly acceptable sentiments BUT and it's a big BUT because it is illuminating in the extreme as it clearly displays the socialist mindset.
I ask you, why should the Government be rewarding anybody? Shouldn't it just be serving us....it works for us after all, not us for it! In my view Government should just in the business of facilitating business and getting out of the way of free enterprise, ensuring level playing fields, providing safety nets and other services we the people determine it should supply. We should not be supplicants and servants awaiting our Master's rewards. Beware honeyed words!
On first hearing/reading those words might sound like good honest and perfectly acceptable sentiments BUT and it's a big BUT because it is illuminating in the extreme as it clearly displays the socialist mindset.
I ask you, why should the Government be rewarding anybody? Shouldn't it just be serving us....it works for us after all, not us for it! In my view Government should just in the business of facilitating business and getting out of the way of free enterprise, ensuring level playing fields, providing safety nets and other services we the people determine it should supply. We should not be supplicants and servants awaiting our Master's rewards. Beware honeyed words!
Tuesday, June 8, 2010
Don’t bother sending it on to any grasshoppers because they wouldn’t understand it, anyway.
This came to me via the email today, I can't ascribe it to an author, i don't know who the genius is but I'd sure like to.
ANT AND THE GRASSHOPPER
This one is a little different.... Two Different Versions.... Two Different Morals
OLD VERSION
The ant works hard in the withering heat all summer long, building his house and laying up supplies for the winter. The grasshopper thinks the ant is a fool and laughs and dances and plays the summer away..
Come winter, the ant is warm and well fed. The grasshopper has no food or shelter, so he dies out in the cold.
MORAL OF THE STORY: Be responsible for yourself!
MODERN VERSION
The ant works hard in the withering heat and the rain all summer long, building his house and laying up supplies for the winter. The grasshopper thinks the ant is a fool and laughs and dances and plays the summer away.
Come winter, the shivering grasshopper calls a press conference and demands to know why the ant should be allowed to be warm and well fed while he is cold and starving.
Channels 7, 9 and 10,the ABC and SBS show up to provide pictures of the shivering
grasshopper next to a video of the ant in his comfortable home with a table filled with food.
Australia is stunned by the sharp contrast. How can this be, that in a country of
such wealth, this poor grasshopper is allowed to suffer so?
Kermit the Frog appears on Oprah with the grasshopper and everybody cries when they sing, 'It's Not Easy Being Green.' Acorn stages a demonstration in front of the ant's house where the news stations film the group singing, 'We shall overcome.' Cardinal George Pell then has the group kneel down to pray to God for the grasshopper's sake.
Prime Minister Rudd condemns the ant and blames John Howard, Robert Menzies, Capt
James Cook, and the Pope for the grasshopper's plight. Bob Brown exclaims in an interview on Today Tonight that the ant has gotten rich off the back of the grasshopper, and calls for an immediate tax hike on the ant to make him pay his fair share.
Finally, Labor in conjunction with the Greens draft the Economic Equity & Anti-Grasshopper Act retrospective to the beginning of the summer. The ant is fined for failing to hire a proportionate number of green bugs and having nothing left to pay his retrospective taxes, his home is confiscated by the Government
and given to the grasshopper.
The story ends as we see the grasshopper and his free-loading friends finishing up the last bits of the ant’s food while the government house he is in, which, as you recall, just happens to be the ant's old house, crumbles around them because the grasshopper doesn't maintain it.
The ant has disappeared in the snow, never to be seen again.
The grasshopper is found dead in a drug related incident, and the house, now abandoned, is taken over by a gang of spiders who terrorize the ramshackle, once prosperous and once peaceful, neighborhood.
MORAL OF THE STORY:
Be careful how you vote in 2011.
I’ve published this to you because I believe that you are an ant – not a grasshopper! Make sure that you pass this on to other ants. Don’t bother sending it on to ny grasshoppers because they wouldn’t understand it, anyway.
ANT AND THE GRASSHOPPER
This one is a little different.... Two Different Versions.... Two Different Morals
OLD VERSION
The ant works hard in the withering heat all summer long, building his house and laying up supplies for the winter. The grasshopper thinks the ant is a fool and laughs and dances and plays the summer away..
Come winter, the ant is warm and well fed. The grasshopper has no food or shelter, so he dies out in the cold.
MORAL OF THE STORY: Be responsible for yourself!
MODERN VERSION
The ant works hard in the withering heat and the rain all summer long, building his house and laying up supplies for the winter. The grasshopper thinks the ant is a fool and laughs and dances and plays the summer away.
Come winter, the shivering grasshopper calls a press conference and demands to know why the ant should be allowed to be warm and well fed while he is cold and starving.
Channels 7, 9 and 10,the ABC and SBS show up to provide pictures of the shivering
grasshopper next to a video of the ant in his comfortable home with a table filled with food.
Australia is stunned by the sharp contrast. How can this be, that in a country of
such wealth, this poor grasshopper is allowed to suffer so?
Kermit the Frog appears on Oprah with the grasshopper and everybody cries when they sing, 'It's Not Easy Being Green.' Acorn stages a demonstration in front of the ant's house where the news stations film the group singing, 'We shall overcome.' Cardinal George Pell then has the group kneel down to pray to God for the grasshopper's sake.
Prime Minister Rudd condemns the ant and blames John Howard, Robert Menzies, Capt
James Cook, and the Pope for the grasshopper's plight. Bob Brown exclaims in an interview on Today Tonight that the ant has gotten rich off the back of the grasshopper, and calls for an immediate tax hike on the ant to make him pay his fair share.
Finally, Labor in conjunction with the Greens draft the Economic Equity & Anti-Grasshopper Act retrospective to the beginning of the summer. The ant is fined for failing to hire a proportionate number of green bugs and having nothing left to pay his retrospective taxes, his home is confiscated by the Government
and given to the grasshopper.
The story ends as we see the grasshopper and his free-loading friends finishing up the last bits of the ant’s food while the government house he is in, which, as you recall, just happens to be the ant's old house, crumbles around them because the grasshopper doesn't maintain it.
The ant has disappeared in the snow, never to be seen again.
The grasshopper is found dead in a drug related incident, and the house, now abandoned, is taken over by a gang of spiders who terrorize the ramshackle, once prosperous and once peaceful, neighborhood.
MORAL OF THE STORY:
Be careful how you vote in 2011.
I’ve published this to you because I believe that you are an ant – not a grasshopper! Make sure that you pass this on to other ants. Don’t bother sending it on to ny grasshoppers because they wouldn’t understand it, anyway.
Corporate Inertia , Fiefdoms and Status Quo
Corporate inertia, fiefdoms and the status quo - words to strike fear into the very heart of any innovator.
When bureaucracies become so large, despite being peopled by highly intelligent and committed employees, the structures themselves work against the best interests of the organization. Despite corporate commitment at the top end to constant improvements and the refining of processes the actuality can be very different when "choke points" are controlled by those for whom it is in their best interests to sustain current practice. Lip-service is paid to the corporate philosophy but real adherence is declined, deferred and ultimately denied.
Companies frequently seek to "treat the symptoms" of a problem without even acknowledging the fact of the "disease" and thus fail to make the leap of thought as to why they actually do the things they do. They can become highly efficient in ameliorating a problem without fixing the underlying cause.
Sound familiar? I am sure it is, especially when we just stop and think about it. I am personally involved in a number of situations where the innovations clearly changes the game, reduces costs, improves productivity, is easier to use than not and produce highly impressive triple bottom-lines. Can we get these products into the Western Australian market? I wish! What's not to like?
Change of course, upsetting the status quo, reducing areas of influence, altering thought processes and actually, Heaven Forbid, taking a valid decision; often not even requiring anything like a courageous decision. I had thought of 2009 as the year of the "great non-decision" where executives through all the difficulties of the GFC thought it better not to take any decisions at all. I must admit I thought this would unwind considerably in 2010 but now I'm not so sure...though I hope I am very wrong in that reassessment.
This is not just another rant born of frustration as many of you will know I am trying to do something positive about it with "Crusaders for Western Australia." Taking it back to basics, encouraging innovators to do business with other innovators and you would be mighty welcome to join me on this crusade!
Cheers, Jonathan.
When bureaucracies become so large, despite being peopled by highly intelligent and committed employees, the structures themselves work against the best interests of the organization. Despite corporate commitment at the top end to constant improvements and the refining of processes the actuality can be very different when "choke points" are controlled by those for whom it is in their best interests to sustain current practice. Lip-service is paid to the corporate philosophy but real adherence is declined, deferred and ultimately denied.
Companies frequently seek to "treat the symptoms" of a problem without even acknowledging the fact of the "disease" and thus fail to make the leap of thought as to why they actually do the things they do. They can become highly efficient in ameliorating a problem without fixing the underlying cause.
Sound familiar? I am sure it is, especially when we just stop and think about it. I am personally involved in a number of situations where the innovations clearly changes the game, reduces costs, improves productivity, is easier to use than not and produce highly impressive triple bottom-lines. Can we get these products into the Western Australian market? I wish! What's not to like?
Change of course, upsetting the status quo, reducing areas of influence, altering thought processes and actually, Heaven Forbid, taking a valid decision; often not even requiring anything like a courageous decision. I had thought of 2009 as the year of the "great non-decision" where executives through all the difficulties of the GFC thought it better not to take any decisions at all. I must admit I thought this would unwind considerably in 2010 but now I'm not so sure...though I hope I am very wrong in that reassessment.
This is not just another rant born of frustration as many of you will know I am trying to do something positive about it with "Crusaders for Western Australia." Taking it back to basics, encouraging innovators to do business with other innovators and you would be mighty welcome to join me on this crusade!
Cheers, Jonathan.
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