Dear Andrew. I usually read your newsletter on email. Today I thought I would come here and let you know I much appreciate your work. The 5 minute nourishment is like eating a handful of diverse nuts on a busy morning and also a slow morning. I ponder and what is more, I find myself noticing in a different way. Thank you very much.
Great analogy of the owl evolving a facial structure to amplify the signals it needs for survival. Of course, it's not enough for a business to merely *detect* any "early warning signals" (and, from a true RM perspective, we should also include "early opportunity signals"). There are 2 further necessary steps: the signal must be *attended to*, and there must be a decision to *act* on the information. How often do we hear that the signal was received, but no one paid attention to it? Or someone had picked up the signal, but didn't communicate it? Or that the signal was passed on to management, but they dismissed it, or deferred any action on it?
The example of the university represents something very different: how to prepare your business for a scenario for which there may be no early warning. Instead of relying on feedback (staff, customer data, external reports etc), this requires active direction from the top (board or senior management).
The pandemic offers a good example: did you know that early in George W. Bush's presidency he was on vacation and happened to read about the 1919 Spanish flu pandemic. It struck him forcefully: what if something like that happened again? Back at work, he ordered an urgent assessment of his country's preparedness. Uh-oh: totally unprepared. So he ordered his administration to *get* prepared. Out of this came a comprehensive, world-leading pandemic "handbook" which many other countries used as the basis of their own preparations.
[Sadly, when COVID-19 hit and those countries activated their pandemic procedures, the nation that had written the handbook had given itself a president who refused to allow his administration to follow it.]
Dear Andrew. I usually read your newsletter on email. Today I thought I would come here and let you know I much appreciate your work. The 5 minute nourishment is like eating a handful of diverse nuts on a busy morning and also a slow morning. I ponder and what is more, I find myself noticing in a different way. Thank you very much.
Great analogy of the owl evolving a facial structure to amplify the signals it needs for survival. Of course, it's not enough for a business to merely *detect* any "early warning signals" (and, from a true RM perspective, we should also include "early opportunity signals"). There are 2 further necessary steps: the signal must be *attended to*, and there must be a decision to *act* on the information. How often do we hear that the signal was received, but no one paid attention to it? Or someone had picked up the signal, but didn't communicate it? Or that the signal was passed on to management, but they dismissed it, or deferred any action on it?
The example of the university represents something very different: how to prepare your business for a scenario for which there may be no early warning. Instead of relying on feedback (staff, customer data, external reports etc), this requires active direction from the top (board or senior management).
The pandemic offers a good example: did you know that early in George W. Bush's presidency he was on vacation and happened to read about the 1919 Spanish flu pandemic. It struck him forcefully: what if something like that happened again? Back at work, he ordered an urgent assessment of his country's preparedness. Uh-oh: totally unprepared. So he ordered his administration to *get* prepared. Out of this came a comprehensive, world-leading pandemic "handbook" which many other countries used as the basis of their own preparations.
[Sadly, when COVID-19 hit and those countries activated their pandemic procedures, the nation that had written the handbook had given itself a president who refused to allow his administration to follow it.]
Pithy. In-sight-ful.
P. S. Winston C also had some unsavoury views.
I like your PS Mark and I'd say, "That's what audacious people do". He revelled in polarising opinions.
Hmm, oh he was audacious. He also believed the Anglo Saxons were a lhigher grade race. Of Chinese: "I hate people with slit eyes and pigtails..."
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Racial_views_of_Winston_Churchill