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Showing posts from August, 2019

Do you have what it takes to survive the next economic depression?

The first rule of survival and thrive is team. I am coming from Eastern Europe and I see how much the Western world empowered the self-reliance (single people and divorce) inside the society and how much people here are reliant on "the grid". Yes, there are some “partners” but there are also a lot of single parents or people that are not in a long-term relation. During my childhood, my grandparents didn't have electricity and we carry water from the well. Food was cooked on the stove (mud bricks stove) and the fire was with corn plant sticks - that, the year before, were fed to the cows - to eat the dried leaf. You could say that my grandparents (god rest their souls) lived off grid and their day to day (normal) life was planned a year in advance (taking care of the livestock and the crops). They were working as a team and the love and happiness came second. These days (I'm divorced) I see that the women empowerment is going much farther than the real means to cope

Unleash your creativity!?

https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/secret-lasting-culture-margaret-keane/ “This is important because to unleash innovation and meaningful results, you need room to make bold decisions, test and learn from mistakes, and importantly have the support of your team. As technology moves faster and market conditions change, we’re fundamentally a stronger company because we care about each other and the work that we do. We care about getting it right for our partners our consumers and our employees.” Sadly, seems that it takes more courage (than initially thought) for a company to truly embrace the technological innovations. Most or them are overwhelmingly stuck in 9 to 5 pm (nu matter how flexible they advertised to be) & 5 days / week. People are still tied to one particular desk in a particular office. Even when you put the economic aspects in the equation, still the employers are reluctant to change. The costs implied by the work-related commute are growing in direct proportion wit

Imposed/advertised values! (fake values in my opinion)

This is an old theme and it’s referring to the values promoted by the mainstream media. From buy that: Car: o    Fancy (that will attract look on the street), o    powerful off road or o    electrical (dishonest called green transportation vehicle), Home: o    luxurious villa, o    fancy apartment in a nice neighbourhood or o    even an off-grid home.        Clothes         Gadgets        Etc. To:          The best way to work is …,          The best way to be fit is …,        Etc.  World is a market where many are shouting their outputs and sadly, the ones that shout louder have more success. If you want, is similar with the saying “history is written by the conquerors”. Well, there were very few things in the human history, that were done without thinking outside the box . Also, the known history is teaching us that, along the years, there were many trends regarding fashion and life/societal behaviours. For a youngster it is hard

The Coolest Offices in ….!

You could see advertised the new and “the best / cool” offices built. Yes, they could be the greatest but let’s face it, there are cracks in that shiny mirror. As long as the vast majority of employers demand full presence at the desk , they cool offices imply the overwhelming need of: a.        people to travel there (at the “cool office” location), b.        or people to live nearby (to avoid waste of resources on commute), c.        assume that at least 50% the people will use bicycles or some kind of electric vehicles suitable for short commute distances, d.        those electric vehicles for short commute , will imply storage / parking and charging ports / facilities, e.        those electric vehicles (suitable for small distance commute) are not that green as is advertised, f.         people nearby imply decent housing (to assume that people are happy there), g.        but decent housing imply decent developments nearby (houses and flats with a lot of gr

Brain Farms!

This morning, walking (as usual) to office, a thought hit me while feeling a certain discomfort on my spine. I do have a lumbar hernia as a result of more than 5 years of commuting by car – more than 2 hrs/day driving (+ the hours spent at the office). The though is linked to the employee wellbeing emails and /or pseudo-actions (mostly, let’s face it, to tick some boxes) that many employers / companies are taking. Yes, there are manufacturers where the “brain factor” is a smaller component (%) in the overall activity / production line. There, the wellbeing of the employees should be targeted mainly to the physical aspect of their activity. My subject is referring to the design offices for which, the tools are represented by the employees creativity (brain), computers and internet connection . I am sure that all the major players in this type of industries are take steps in considering their employee wellbeing. My observation is in the similarity between the cattle farming

The chase for high fast profits in the aviation industry!

https://www.linkedin.com/feed/news/airbus-takes-off-amid-boeing-woes-4702772/ What was happening with Boeing is just a symptom of these times. The ever-growing production fuelled by the fierce competition which is fuelled by the shareholders which are fuelled by the craving for fast high profits (putting dollar over piles of dollars) is depleting the natural and human resources while killing directly and indirectly thousands of people. Was pointed to the fact that the software was done by low paid workers somewhere in Asia (India I think) but was not said that those people (as low as they are paid) are worked almost like slaves. This is just the tip of the iceberg. While moving to the East, where the workforce is cheaper , the companies also increase pace – asking more in the same unit of time . What is at the core of this: ·          the competition between companies; ·          which is driven by the profits; ·          which is driven by the never-ending hunger for m

The real value comes from within not from outside!

Recently, on a well-known professional network platform, I encountered a person that told me “ you don’t have anything of value unless others are decided that is worth it ”. Imagine that I was outraged until I saw that he was a CEO of an Investment Fund. I have replied to him that is sad he things one should wait the validation from outside while the real value come from within. I know that he was conditioned (by his profession) to think in this way but nevertheless he (a well over 50 years of age) is representative for the corporate max profit oriented. The shareholders interest used to justify measures that have poisoned countries and destroy human life is all over the globe . When I say human life I’m including the flora & fauna , as we are all linked with ties that, hopefully, will become more obvious for all. Some people must realise that there are no walls thick or high enough to shelter them from the global problems (either we are talking about socio-economical or env