What We See In Nature

This week I am on vacation at the Outer Banks (OBX) North Carolina, in Nags Head. We are having a great time doing basically nothing. Our biggest decision is what time to get to the beach and what time to head off the beach followed by what flavor ice cream or shaved ice to have.

While sitting near the waves I was amazed to watch the Pelicans fly over the ocean, in formation. As I watched there was a clear leader as they flew less than a foot off the surface. All of a sudden there would be a change, and the leader was now in the back and a new Pelican took the lead. This happened about ten more times.

Made me think, what other learning’s can we find in nature? The birds showed me that leadership might change but the flock moved forward. Our brown lab Sparky at my feet, always loyal, always positive, always hopeful for a snack or a pat on the head made me think of being happy where you are at, but keep one eye looking for opportunity. Or the ghost crab that pop’s its head out of the sand every so often to see what it can eat and pops down into the sand as soon as it feels danger is near. Makes you wonder if some of our skills and traits are as natural as the Pelican diving into the ocean in front of me to catch a fish – but we ignore these senses, these callings?

I hope everyone has a safe and happy 4th of July!

Field Trip To Kmart

The discussion in class on Kmart had me thinking, so when was the last time I actually saw a Kmart or walked in one. Yesterday I found one and decided to venture in. The store felt very “tired” and the inventory was a jumbled mess all over the place, the floors were a miss-match, chipped and dirty tiles. I saw very few employees and even fewer customers.

The only interesting thing that jumped out at me was they had an “Internet Café” area – next to the 2 week old rolling hot dog warmer food stand next to the exit – that was very busy, there were six computer stations (every seat had a person both using it and one waiting). Actually there were more people at the Internet Café than in the whole store combined (employees and customers). I kept thinking, put the Internet Café in the middle of the store and allow the users to look at sale items while they sit there? Ask them to take a survey before they use the Internet (on line) what items do they want and need?

Agile Corp?

Well the week is flowing by fast, but I did have a moment to go back to my notes from the class and put together a few ideas/ thoughts on the idea around structure. The case study on Fung really challenged me to look at structure not based on assets but instead on what it is a company could really be doing beyond the physical aspect. The attached page is just a starting thought for me.

Harvard Business School July 2008

The Week After Class

It was great spending time in Boston at the Harvard Business School thinking about the strategies around so many different businesses, and how agile to change these organizations are. The trick is to now come back to our “real world” lives and apply what we heard, read and talked about. The class and especially the classmates were great fun.

What I hope to achieve with this blog site is the ability for us to stay in touch, share, learn and continue to grow from our time together.

My key learning’s from last week:

Understand what business you are in and also what you are not.

1. Leadership drives the ability of an organization to both have a strategic direction and also if that organization will have attributes that allow for agility and stretch.
2. There is the seen and the unseen in networks and corporate structure/ organizations make sure you take both into account.
3. What made you successful in the past will most likely not make you successful in the future.
4. Never assume you have the whole picture - get others to help check in and give a reality check.
   
   Best in Spirit! David Carrithers