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Feelink 2013 Posts

F E E L I N K – F E E L & T H I N K A P P R O A C H F O R D O I N G L I F E !

ivangruer.com

BUSINESS WORLD ....................................................................................................................... 2

IT, I, WE: A Framework For Assessing the Consumer Behavior ..................................................... 2

Tripadvisor: a case study to think why bigdata variety matters ........................................................ 3

Firm Infrastructure Vs Catalyst to Change Business Models: the Double Side of IT

(Change Management) ................................................................................................................... 6

My Issue with BigData Sentiment Bubble: Sorry, Which Is the Variance of the Noise? (NON

Verbal Communication)................................................................................................................... 8

Saving IT Expenditures and sourcing Business Intelligence and Analytics tools: which are the KPIs

for BigData? .................................................................................................................................. 10

Semantic search algorithm, behaviorism and fairy-tale Snowwhite with the seven dwarfs. Would

SEO behave like Grumpy? ............................................................................................................ 12

The D.A.I. model to better understand different mindsets and cultural values: why social

responsibility means higher prices? .............................................................................................. 14

Firm Infrastructure Vs Catalyst to Change Business Models (part 2): New IT Innovation

Process (NITID) ............................................................................................................................ 16

A question about IT change management: does the DNA of the company fit your IT vendor? ...... 18

COACHING & TRAINING ............................................................................................................. 21

A good picture for Acceptance: feel the divergences & think how to deal with ............................... 21

Developing Emotional Intelligence with TIP competencies and Kindergarten Cop…

Arnold Schwarzenegger! ............................................................................................................... 22

A possible TIP for giving effective feedbacks: wearing a SCARF that is SMART, does it

make sense? ................................................................................................................................ 24

The Gift and the artists of leadership at MIB ................................................................................. 27

Barriers to change… Should I stay or should I go? A ripped up speech ........................................ 31

LEASSURE, FUNNY STORY, MISCELLANEOUS ...................................................................... 34

Almost everybody knows the fear of the rabbit: do you know also its resilience and focus on goal?

..................................................................................................................................................... 34

Does the price for inequalities exist because of the second law of thermodynamics? (Entropy) .... 35

Chaos vs. Determinism: why not both? From evolutionary theory to BIG Data challenge .............. 37

Changing clothes: an incipit for a new novel ................................................................................. 41

What’s wrong with EU? Appling the 7-S framework by McKinsey to EU (Open Innovation) .......... 42

The 2nd Law: a MUSE for a Sustainable Economy ....................................................................... 44

X and S band radars: a great metaphor for logistic professionals… and not only, also for

everyday life! ................................................................................................................................. 47

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BUSINESS WORLD IT, I, WE: A Framework For Assessing the Consumer Behavior POSTED BY IVANGRUER ⋅ JULY 22, 2013 ⋅ LEAVE A COMMENT

FILED UNDER CONSUMER BEHAVIOUR, CORE QUALITIES, CULTURE, MARKETING COMMUNICATION, OFMAN

How the consumer behaviours should be inferred? Or, is the brand proposition consistent with the targeted

culture? These is the issues to address for defining a marketing strategy.

Along my MBA experience, I had the both the opportunity to study some insights regarding the behavior of a

Chinese customer and living a cultural experience in China within an exchange program (Sun Yat-sen

University). So, how is possible to create a framework that measure the consistency (correlation) between the

culture and the relative inferences about the decision making process of the consumer? That was what stimulate

my curiosity during my permanence in China so much that was also the question I have chosen as a final essay

for the exchange [2]:

IT, I, WE: A FRAMEWORK FOR ASSESSING THE CONSUMER BEHAVIOUR from Ivan Gruer

IT, I and WE

Briefly, in order to evaluate the consistency between the culture and the inferred consumer behaviours the idea

is to use the IT, I and WE paradigm initially developed by Daniel Ofman [1] within the Core Qualities where

are mainly three areas that represent three different ways to see the world and the reality:

IT: IT is the world of science, truth and objective reality as well as of tasks and goals to achieve.

I: I is the inner world and is about arts and also self-understanding, self-consciousness and self-awareness.

WE: the “sense of WE”. Solidarity, inclusion and sense of being part of a group\community are the main

values for such a WE personality.

Since the IT, I and WE model by Daniel Ofman has been applied also for managing diversities and conflicts

among people (See Blue, Green and Red model by Diversity Icebreaker) [3], why not applying it also for

asessing cultures and consumer behaviors? Let’s see how.

Process

The model IT, I and WE in the methodology proposed has been implemented as follow:

1. First, identify the main topics that in general can assess a culture.

2. For each topic, given 6 points available, distribute the points among the three areas IT, I and WE.

3. Sum all the points obtained respectively for the IT, I and WE areas.

4. Collects all the findings that describe the decision making process of the customer.

5. As it has been done for the culture at point 2, assign per each characteristic of the consumer behaviors 6

point distributed among the area IT, I and WE.

6. Sum the scores obtained respectively for the IT, I and WE areas regarding the consumer behaviour.

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Results

IT, I, WE: A Framework for Assessing the Consumer Behaviour (Infographic)

The result obtained from the analysis of the Chinese consumer behaviors has shown:

A consistent preference to the WE area: 45% and 38% from the Cultural and consumer behavior

respectively. The result suits the high context mark of the Chinese culture where trust is based on

relationships rather that tasks and facts.

Divergences between IT and I areas. In fact, with the selected items, the Chinese Culture has shown a

preference to the IT area (35%) rather than to I (20%), while the Chinese behaviors has shown a balance

between them, 25% and 37% respectively for the IT and the I.

For further details see the references.

References

1. Ofman Daniel. (2004). Core Qualities: a Gateway to Human Resources. Cyan Communications.

2. Gruer Ivan. (2013). “ IT, I, WE: a framework for the consumer behaviour“. (Slideshare).

3. www.diversityicebreaker.com

Tripadvisor: a case study to think why bigdata variety matters POSTED BY IVANGRUER ⋅ AUGUST 14, 2013 ⋅ 2 COMMENTS FILED UNDER BIGDATA, BUSINESS, GARTNER, LEISURE, MARKETING, NEGATIVE SEO, TOURISM, TRIPADVISOR, VARIETY

The recent scandals about fake reviews has put the reliability of TripAdvisor under discussion (see The

Guardian).

Such a bad quality of service is not useful for consumers, entrpeneurs as well as in the long run for the

reputation of TripAdvisor. So, where is the problem?

Clearly it’s a question of reliability of the sources of information and specifically for TripAdvisor is a question

of assessing the reliability of the user that post a new review. Nice and easy…like discovering the hot water.

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However, thinking also at the practice of the so-calledNegative SEO, that is not only an issue of web sites like

TripAdvisor but also for all the companies that have to promote theirs brands in the social networks (who think

doesn’t need it, raise up the hand).

In order to fix the issue, Tripadvisor developed the service Report Blackmail that tracks and eventually bans

the users that are using Negative SEO tactics. For example, 100 user managed by a restaurateur that are

reporting cases of colitis and runs in the reviews of the competitor near the corner. Such a solution try to catch

fake users when they’ve already done the “attack” as well as, if not properly working, it might ban by mistake

honest users. It sound reactive rather proactive, isn’t it?

So, are there other approaches that can fix the problem of malicious reviews proactively? An idea could be use

new IT bigdata technologies and re-think the business model. How? (see also MIT Sloan Management Review:

technology as a catalyst for change).

An approach could be associating the Tripadvisor user with a unique ID, for example a TripAdvisor idetity

card, while to restaurateurs and hotel managers have an ID card reader (RFID, infrared,etc.). Thus, once the

consumer eat the meal and goes to pay the restaurateur track the consumer ID that univocally identify the user,

plus time and position. Finally, the user have just to fill the form for his\her review that now can be fully

validated. Potentially, once the users sign in the TripAdvisor website, a list of pending reviews not already

filled might be also provided in order to facilitate the process and thus creating the so-called “customer

experience”. Moreover, by tracking precisely the date, it is also possible to provide evaluations that are more

meaningful for the customer by giving less importance to aged reviews.

With the technology currently available actually even a smart phone could be a card reader since it might

equipped with a RFID or a magnetic stripe reader and, by developing a specific app, the restaurateur could

easily and quickly transmit a transaction with the TripAdvisor ID of the customer.

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Apart from the solution proposed, that is an example that stresses the importance, when defining a bigdata

strategy, to identify first the information that is really meaningful (user, time, position) as well as having a

Variety of sources in order to validate the reliability of the data. In the case of Tripadvisor is crucial to correlate

the data coming from the restaurateurs with the reviews of the couple customer\user (together!!!).

Thinking about the definition of BigData by Gartner:

Bigdata is high-volume, -velocity and -variety information assets that demand

cost-effective, innovative forms of information processing for enhanced insight and decision making

So, Variety is one of the “Vs (Volume, Velocity and Variety) and the Volume of data is only what is up to the

sea level of the iceberg called BigData.

Do you think that variety matter? I think yes, it matters!

If you think so as well and you have the opportunity to visit Italy I would you recommend (personal advice)

to enjoy meals in restaurants where are shown logos such as the following and relying on the word of mouth,

an evergreen.

They are not implementing Variety like TripAdvisor as well but reviews are made by professionals and they

do not have social media and WEB2.0 visibility risks. Of course, I would recommend to find other sources

(use variety!).

Have a nice journey and enjoy the meal!

Feelink – Feel & Think approach for doing life!

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Firm Infrastructure Vs Catalyst to Change Business Models: the Double Side of IT (Change Management) POSTED BY IVANGRUER ⋅ SEPTEMBER 5, 2013 ⋅ LEAVE A COMMENT FILED UNDER CHANGE MANAGEMENT, INNOVATION, IT

Technology improvements, such as mobile devices with embedded GPS, RFID, WiFi receivers that are

becoming cheaper and cheaper, are enabling new business opportunities as well as new threats arising from

disruptive innovations.

Few weeks ago I saw a video from MIT Sloan “Video: What Digital Transformation Means for Business.“. A

meaningful and for me inspirational chat with Kim Stevenson (Intel Corporation, @Kimsstevenson), Mark

Norman (Zipcar), Didier Bonnet (Capgemini Consulting) and Andrew McAfee (MIT Center for Digital

Business, @amcafee) about how technology and IT are nowadays impacting businesses. Booking a flight and

see its status in real-time or check the bank account are nowadays common consumer habits thanks

smartphones and apps, while few years ago that was something beyond imagination.

IT is a catalyst to change business models

If I have to chose a slogan that summarize the video from MIT, I would pick up the words “Nowadays IT is a

catalyst to change business models” (by Kim Stevenson and Andrew McAfee). Many cases have shown how

technology impacts business by redefining how services\products are delivered to customers.

Side 1 of IT: process automation

Anyhow, what is IT for a company nowadays? According to the value chain model (see Figure), IT is firstly

part of the firm’s infrastructure. When IT plays this role, the objective is to automate standardized processes

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that are in place within a fixed business model. For example, Operation Support Systems (OSSs) to support

operation and inbound\outbound logistic, Customer Relationship Management (CRM) or other administrative

functions such as managing payrolls (HRM).

Since the business model is fixed and procedure standardized, when IT is consider as part of the infrastructure,

technology advancements might create new opportunities for improving efficiency: do the same with less. For

example, new cheaper hard disks and CPUs available in the market that means opportunities to store\process

more data.

Side 2 of IT: customer needs and value creation

However, what happen when IT plays the role of a catalyst to change business models? In this case technology

advancements might open new approaches for delivering the product\service to customers or even generate

completely new customer’s needs. Can you imagine your life now without a WiFi connection? (see a revised

version of Maslow’s pyramid model). WiFi connection plus cheaper smart phones are a meaningful examples

about how technology might change business models and re-define customer’s needs as well.

Anyhow, generating new needs and changing business model also implies operating with not standardized

procedures.

Standardization Vs Innovation: How to manage the double side of IT?

Thus, how to manage together the two opposite sides of IT? One side that standardize procedures and the other

that defines new ones?

Moreover, how to bring only IT innovations that really generate value to customers? How to identify the key

competencies and resources that are needed as input for the new business model?

In the video of MIT Sloan Leadership skills and M&As might help organizations to handle impacts coming

from new technology advancements in order to acquire key competencies as well as avoiding disruptive

innovations threats.

Best practices apart, is there a framework that brings together all the aspects of change management also for

IT? I mean, is it possible to evaluate customers’ needs, key resources\copetencies, value creations and strategy

threats\opportunities as a whole? Moreover, how to control the IT complexity by focusing only on new IT

initiatives that really matter?

Big challenges for IT change management, especially considering that nowadays technology breakthroughs

are faster and more impacting than in the past.

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My Issue with BigData Sentiment Bubble: Sorry, Which Is the Variance of the Noise? (NON Verbal Communication) POSTED BY IVANGRUER ⋅ SEPTEMBER 12, 2013 ⋅ LEAVE A COMMENT FILED UNDER ANALYTIC, BIGDATA, MARKETING, SENTIMENT, STATISTIC

Why sentiment analysis is so hard? How to interpret the word “Crush” in a tweet? Crush as in “being in love”

or Crush as in “I will crush you”? According to Albert Mehrabian communication model and statistics, I would

say that on average a tweet for a sentimenter has an accuracy of 7%. No such a big deal, isn’t it?

Let’s think about it by considering, as an example, the case of the sentiment analysis described in My issues

with Big Data: Sentiment: crush as in “being in love” (positive) or crush as in “I will crush you” (negative)?

What is a sentimenter? As a process, is a tool that from an input (tweets) produce an outupt like “the sentiment

is positive” or “the sentiment is negative“. Many sentimenters are even supposed to estimate how much the

mood is positive or negative: cool!

Paraverbal and non-verbal communication

Anyhow, according to Albert Mehrabian the information transmitted in a communication process is 7% verbal,

38% paraverbal (tone of the voice) and the remaining 55% is non-verbal communication (facial expressions,

gestures, posture,..).

In a Tweet, as well in a SMS or e-mail, neither paraverbal nor non-verbal communication are transmitted.

Therefore, from a single tweet is possible to extract only the 7% of the information available: the text (verbal

communication).

So, what about the paraverbal and non verbal communication? During a real life conversation, they play a key

role since they count for 93% of all the message. Moreover, since paraverbal and non verbal messages are

strictly connected with emotions, they are exactly what we need: sentiments!

Emotions are also transmitted and expressed though words such as “crush” in the example mentioned.

However, within a communication process, not always the verbal and non-verbal are consistent. That’s the

case when we talk with a friend, he\she saiys that everything is ok while we perceive, more or less consciously,

something different from his\her tone or expressions. Thus we might ask: are you really sure that everything

is ok? As a golden role, also for every day life, I would recommend to use non-verlbal signals as an opportunity

to make questions rather than inferring mislead answers (see also: A good picture for Acceptance: feel the

divergences & think how to deal with).

For these reason, the non-verbal messages are a kind of noise that interferes with verbal communication. In a

tweet, it is a noise that interferes with the text. Such a noise can be as much disturbing as much the transmitter

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and the receiver are sensitive to the non-verbal communication. It might be so much disturbing to change

completely the meaning of the message received.

Statistic and Information Theory

From a statistic point of view the noise might be significantly reduced by collecting more samples. In Twitter,

a tweet is one sample and each tweet have 7% of available information (text) and 93% of noise (non verbal

communication) that is the unknown information.

From a prediction\estimation point of view no noise means no errors.

Thus, thanks to BigData, if the sentimenter analyzes all the tweets theoretically it’s possible to reduce the noise

to zero and thus having no prediction error about sentiments…...WRONG!!!

Even if the sentimenter is able to provide a result by analyzing all the BigData tweets (see Statistical Truisms

in the Age of Big Data Features):

“the final error in our predictive models is likely to be irreducible beyond a certain threshold: this is the intrinsic sample

variance“.

The variance is an estimation of how much samples are different each others. In the case of a communication

process, that means how much emotions are changeable through time. Just for fun, next time, try to talk to a

friend by changing randomly your mood happy, sad, angry,..and see what happen with him\her (just in case,

before fighting tell him\her that is part of an experiment that you’ve read in this post).

In Twitter, the variance of the samples is an estimation about how much differently emotions are impacting

the use of certain words in a tweet, from person to person at a specific time. Or, similarly, by considering one

person, how much emotions are impacting the use of words differently through time.

Like in a funnel (see picture), the sentimenter can eliminate the noise and thus reduce the size of the tweet

bubbles (the higher the bubble the higher the noise) till a fixed limit that depends on the quality of the sample:

its variance.

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So, I have a question for bigdata sentimenters: which is the sample variance of tweets due to non-verbal

communication? Acknowledge the sample variance, the error of prediction of the best sentimenter ever is also

given:

error of prediction (size of the bubble sentiment) = sample variance of tweets…

…with the assumption that both samples and algorithm used by the sentimenter are not slanted\biased. If this

is not the case, the sentiment bigdata bubble might be even larger and the prediction less reliable. Anyhow,

that is another story, another issue for BigData sentimenters (coming soon, here in this blog. Stay tuned!).

Feelink – Feel & Think approach for doing life!

Saving IT Expenditures and sourcing Business Intelligence and Analytics tools: which are the KPIs for BigData? POSTED BY IVANGRUER ⋅ SEPTEMBER 26, 2013 ⋅ LEAVE A COMMENT

FILED UNDER ANALYTIC, BIGDATA, BUSINESS INTELLIGENCE, PROCUREMENT, SOURCING, TECHNOLOGY

The IT expenditures are forecasted to growth due to the business speculation behind the buzz word BigData.

Therefore, in order to avoid biased insights, How to measure the quality of the information extracted? How is

it possible to get more value from BigData and saving useless expenditures? Are the insights provided by

business intelligence, analytics, and prediction tools really reliable?

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A meaningful example about the speculation behind BigData, is the case of sentimenters that analyze tweets

and posts: are they a BigData bubble? (see also My Issue with BigData Sentiment Bubble: Sorry, Which Is the

Variance of the Noise?)

As a matter of fact, insights and predictions

are final results of a transformation process

(see figure) where the data in input is

elaborated by an algorithm. A fantastic and

exhaustive explanation about the process

behind any business intelligence tool is the pyramid of data science where five stages are identified: 1) data

gathering/selection, 2) data cleaning/integration/storage, 3) feature extraction, 4) knowledge extraction and 5)

visualization (see The Pyramid of Data Science).

Anyhow, as for the production of products such as cars, clothes and a good meal in a restaurant, high quality

results are ensured by the quality of the raw materials and the quality of the transformation process as well.

Thus, if the raw material for an analytic is the Data, how to assess the quality of the supply, the data? ACID

compliance and pessimistic looking already define best practices in order to guarantee the quality of data in

terms of data management and thus reduce maintenance cost and improve efficiency.

However, from a procurement point of view, how evaluate the quality of the supply within a procurement

process for sourcing data? Similarly, how to evaluate the quality of the process that transform the supply (data)

into insights and valuable information?

Like for the production of products a well-defined procurement process is ensured through well

written specifications documents where requirements and key parameters/characteristics are clearly stated.

Superfluous to say that a well-defined procurement process will ensure the quality of the supply, and the quality

of the supply will ensure the quality of the final product/service. In this case, it will ensure the quality of the

insights.

Undoubtedly, the huge amount of data available nowadays and new technologic improvements are generating

more business opportunities than in the past both to improve process efficiency and to define new business

models (see Firm Infrastructure Vs Catalyst to Change Business Models: the Double Side of IT

(Change Management).

Thus, clearly define which KPIs to look for and negotiating the aspects that really matters will ensure best IT

analytics services in terms of opportunities to exploit, thanks to the insights provided, as well as saving costs.

As an example, if are not yet available parameters for evaluating the quality of data and of the analytics as

well, I would go to a restaurant where I know the quality of the suppliers instead of looking to reviews and

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advertisements based on questionable data suppliers: fake TripAdvisor’s users (see Tripadvisor: a case study

to think why bigdata variety matters).

Beeing aware that ignoring bigdata opportunities means also ignoring a better restaurants, with delicious meal

and low prices, Companies that define best a procurement process for data sourcing will enjoy the best meal

in a bigdata restaurant.

Feelink – Feel and think approach for doing life!

Semantic search algorithm, behaviorism and fairy-tale Snowwhite with the seven dwarfs. Would SEO behave like Grumpy? POSTED BY IVANGRUER ⋅ OCTOBER 7, 2013 ⋅ LEAVE A COMMENT FILED UNDER ANALYTIC, BEHAVIOURISM, GRUMPY, NEGATIVE SEO, SEMANTIC SEARCH, SNOW WHITE

How does semantic search work? Which are the implications regarding SEO tactics and users/customers’

behaviors?

Google search is not unlike the “Mirror, mirror on the wall, who’s the fairest of them all?” where the question asked,

reveals (in the fairy tale) the Evil Queen’s narcissistic obsession

, what a great metaphor to explain how semantic search works! (see Google Search and the Racial Bias).

I will take the assist from David Amerland to help me to better understand how the SEO world (something still

unknown from me) as well as remembering childhood times with the fair tale “Snow White and the seven

dwarfs“.

So, let’s have a look at the characters of the famous fairy-tale:

The mirror is the result of the search engine. According to what I’ve understood about semantic search, the

mirror reflects back a result that is contextualize accordingly to the user and his/her relationships among the

social networks as well as thorough the analysis of past behaviours.

Snow White is the most beautiful creature in the WEB forest. She publishes smart content as well as she

establishes such trusted relationships in the social medias so that the mirror (the semantic search engine)

reflects back a beautiful princess… accordingly to the algorithm I would say.

The evil queen is the bad guy, attempting to be viewed as the most beautiful in the WEB forest while it is not.

The evil queen struggles and suffers a lot for that, since the mirror suggest always Snow White as the best

result… the life in the digital jungle is not so easy for the evil queen!

The poisoned apple represents a trick, a negative SEO attack where the objective either is to game the search

engine (the mirror) or to compromise the reputation of Snow White. Fake reviews, negative or positive SEO

tactics, are just an example of how an apple could be poisoned in order to kill digitally a competitor and game

the search engine algorithm (see the case of Tripdavisor).

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The seven dwarfs are data scientists and SEO experts that are mining the WEB forest in order to get some

valuable and reliable information from the WEB. Usually they are well-intentioned and thus willing to protect

the beauty of Snow White from negative SEO (the poisoned apple and the evil princess).

The charming Prince represents all the users, companies and individuals, that go deeper and deeper into the

WEB forest in order to discover the truth. Mirror’s result apart: Who is really the fairest in the WEB

forest?Encountering few smart dwarf might be useful for the charming Prince, both in the forest to discover

the beauty of Snow White and in the WEB to find out great contents and reputations accordingly to personal

impressions rather than only relying on algorithms.

…so, which is the moral of the fairy-tail “Snow White and the seven dwarfs” applied to the modern semantic

search and SEO?

An interesting point has been pointed out by D. Amerland in his article “How semantic search is changing

end-user behaviour“. In particular:

The fact remains that the web is changing, search has changed and the way we operate as individuals, as well as

marketers, has changed with it.

Since the semantic search is so powerful to influence the behaviour of the end-user (individuals,

companies,…), the point is: what kind of algorithm there is behind the mirror on the wall? Which are the

criteria behind the result that identify the fairest princess in the WEB?

More interesting doubt: what happen if the criteria behind the search algorithm (the mirror) change so that the

fairest in the WEB would be Grumpy, one of the seven dwarfs? Would all the end-user and SEO really want

to become and behave like Grumpy?

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The D.A.I. model to better understand different mindsets and cultural values: why social responsibility means higher prices? POSTED BY IVANGRUER ⋅ OCTOBER 14, 2013 ⋅ LEAVE A COMMENT FILED UNDER CULTURE, INFORMATION THEORY, MARKETING, MINDFULNESS, PSYCHOLOGY, SOCIAL RESPOSIBILITY

Few weeks ago, from a new Twitter follower, I’ve received a direct message with the following question: “Do

you spend more money with a brand that you think is socially responsible?”. I felt immediately that it could

be either a marketing research or a way to create awareness on something, nothing bad on it whatever it is.

Anyhow, the aim of a question is to gather an information. So which is the information that the question above

wants to address? Suddenly came into my mind a principle from information theory: information is an

interpretation of data based on assumptions (see figure). Usually assumption are due to culture, mindset and

context in general. Think, as an example, how the same gesture of moving the head up and down (data) means

yes for Europeans and Westerns but for Indians means exactly the opposite.

So, why not applying such a principle from information theory also for every day life in order to better

understand ourselves as well as others? Let’s analyze deeper the question “Do you spend more money with a

brand that you think is socially responsible?”

First of all, the question is a close one since the answer must be yes or not. When I’ve realized that I felt myself

uncomfortable… why? I thought and I realized that is due to the value of “social responsibility” that in the

question is forced to be against “price” (money).

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Acknowledge that, I inferred unconsciously that if the answer of the question would have been YES it means

that social responsibility is priceless thus more important that money. Vice versa, if the answer would have

been NO.

…however, why inferring such considerations? which is the assumption behind? That was my doubt and my

hypothesis was that the assumption behind the tricky question “Do you spend more money with a brand that

you think is socially responsible?” is: beeing social responsible costs!

…wow, eureka! So, why not creating such conditions so that pursuing social responsibility implies intrinsically

cheaper products?

That was my question that I’ve delivered to the owner of the research…and, as an incredible surprise, I’ve

receive the following answer: “The impression is socially responsible = higher product cost to the consumer.”

Bingo! The assumption that I’ve inferred is right. There is a kind of cultural impression, suggestion and mindset

that unconsciously let us to think (me included) that if you want social responsible products there are no other

ways: you have to pay more! Why?

Paradoxically, since people behave according to incentives, if socially responsibility implies intrinsically

cheaper prices instead, a virtuous circle will be established!

How to create a context where the assumption “socially responsible = higher product” is replaced with

“socially responsible = cheaper product”?

…I don’t know, any idea?

Meanwhile, why not applying the DAI (Data, Assumption, Information) model whenever we inferred quick

answers?

Behind each information there is an unknown world of undisclosed assumptions.

Feelink – Feel & Think approach for doing life!

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Firm Infrastructure Vs Catalyst to Change Business Models (part 2): New IT Innovation Process (NITID) POSTED BY IVANGRUER ⋅ OCTOBER 21, 2013 ⋅ LEAVE A COMMENT FILED UNDER CHANGE MANAGEMENT, INNOVATION, IT, PROCUREMENT

Acknowledged the role of IT and technology as a catalyst to change business model (see the previous post

“Firm Infrastructure Vs Catalyst to Change Business Models: the Double Side of IT“), how to implement new

IT innovations in practice?

Each innovation implies a changing process and each changing process implies commitment and

investments…so, which IT innovations to choose in order to avoid a waste of resources? Are the IT innovations

under development in line with the customer needs (actual or potential)? Which are the key competences

needed for developing a new IT innovation?

Whatever the industry of the company is about, since the focus is customers’ needs, why not thinking how to

adapt the NPD (New Product Development) process to IT innovation? The NPD is a structured creativity

process focused on introducing new kind of products\services that effectively produces innovations.

In particular, the NPD process combines lateral (generations of ideas) and vertical thinking (selections of ideas)

together and it is divided into four stages: ideas brainstorming, ideas classifications, ideas evaluation and ideas

selection.

NPD stage 1: ideas brainstorming (lateral thinking)

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In this stage all the team members engaged simply write down new ideas without any kind of filter or criticism

(lateral thinking). Taking as an example the case of TripAdvisor (see “Tripadvisor: a case study to think why

bigdata variety matters“) where a validation process of the reviews is in place by recording on a database the

receipts of the end-user at the restaurant: which might be the new innovations available by using the data of

the receipts?

NPD stage 2: ideas classification (vertical thinking) – KJ Method

Now, since usually a brainstorming session generate chaos, how to figure out which IT innovations to

implement?

Like navigating in the middle of a storm, just stay focus on the ongoing issues, do not think to a final solution

and keep clam. So a first step is to organized ideas in a structure way in order to figure out a big picture. An

approach for classifying the brainstormed ideas is the KJ method, where all the initiatives are split into groups

by using a criteria. For example, criteria for classifying IT innovations could be: which are the

departments\functions involved by the IT innovation? Or\And, which are the stakeholders (customer,

suppliers, third parties,…) involved?

Then, for each group of ideas, assign a tag that identifies it. For example, suppliers IT innovation, marketing

& sales IT innovations, and so on.

NPD stage 3: ideas evaluation (vertical thinking) – QFD Matrix

Once ideas are grouped and tagged, the next step is to identify the key performances that are needed in order

to implement new IT initiatives. Typically, regarding IT stuff, they are about DataBase (storage, number of

transactions,…), architectures, maintenance costs, usability, interoperability,…

By putting IT initiatives into rows and the key IT characteristics into columns, the finial result is a matrix

called QFD (Quality Function Development). Briefly, the QFD matrix connects the IT initiative with the

needed performances. For these reasons, the QFD matrix applied to IT innovations might be useful also for

procurement: which are the key competences? Make or Buy? If buy, which IT vendor to choose?

NPD stage 4: ideas selection (vertical thinking) – Pugh Matrix

Just for a recap. We have organized the ideas, we have identified the key characteristics for each IT initiative…

and so? Which IT initiative to implement? The answer is provided by the so called Pugh Matrix where, for the

development of a new product or service, evaluates ideas and solutions according to a gap analysis. In

particular, how much the new idea will be valuable for the customer? Will the new idea provide a competitive

advantage against competitors?

A similar evaluation should be adopted also for IT innovation. Why? Just think about the risks correlated when

IT becomes so complex to be maintained and thus a nightmare for customers, employees and suppliers as well.

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Too much enthusiasm on IT initiatives has a side effect to much IT complexity. How to innovate without

adding superfluous IT complexity? What about using NITID (New IT Initiative Development), a revised NPD

method widely use for product innovations?

Feelink – Feel & Think approach for doing life!

A question about IT change management: does the DNA of the company fit your IT vendor? POSTED BY IVANGRUER ⋅ NOVEMBER 4, 2013 ⋅ LEAVE A COMMENT FILED UNDER CHANGE MANAGEMENT, INNOVATION, IT VENDORS, PROCUREMENT, SOURCING, STRATEGY

When delivering my final dissertation of the MBA program (here the link of a short presentation), along the

research I’ve encountered the topic of IT Change Management.

As a matter of fact, whenever a company decides to implement IT innovations most likely new collaborations

or partnerships with IT Vendors, consultants or third parties are needed. Usually, within a selection process,

IT suppliers are evaluated accordingly to theirs know how and proven expertise. However, what about other

aspects such as the agility to change, the ability to innovate and corporates’ cultures? Is there a potential fit or

a misfit between the company and the selected IT vendor?

The company’s DNA

In order to avoid failures, it’s fundamental to set a pace for IT innovations that is affordable to the company

according to its DNA. According to R. Ray Wang (@rwang0) there are two kind of attitudes when defining a

DNA of a company: proactive vs. reactive and incremental vstransformational attitudes.

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Cautious Adopters: proactive & incremental (about 30%). Such companies are looking for new technologies

without waiting what other competitors do. However, they are willing to implement only the technologies that

might play a key role in the future as well as they are not keen to consider the opportunity to change their

business model even if the new technology enable a breakthrough.

Market Leaders: proactive & transformational (about 5%). A market leader has the ability to sustain high

paces of IT innovations as well as an organizational flexibility to change also its business model.

Laggards: reactive & incremental (30%). Such a company avoid any kind of risk of a self-disruptive innovation

and integrates new technology only when other competitor succeed. In any case, without transforming its

business model.

Fast Followers: reactive & transformational (15%). This of kind of DNA is able to mitigate the risk of adopting

new technology by relying on the ability to change quickly the business model and the organization as a way

to survive against disruptive innovation threats.

(More: “The Building Blocks of Successful Corporate IT“, HBR Blog)

IT Vendor’s DNA

What about the DNA of an IT Vendor? Gartner is well-known for providing a “magic” quadrant for everything

and also for evaluating an IT vendor: completeness of vision and ability to change are the two main attitudes

to consider.

Leaders: high completeness of vision & high ability to execute. As IT vendors, they are able not only to provide

innovative services that works today but also to influence the market that theirs innovations are the best for

the future. For these reason, such IT vendors might fit best a company with a leadership that wants to invest in

new infrastructures\technology early and avoiding any risk due to technology (obsolescence, maintenance,

etc.). However, also a cautious adopter (DNA) company that wants to develop a leader DNA should prefer IT

leaders by relying on their ability to execute and play a key role as an influencer within a change management

process.

Niche Players: low completeness of vision & low ability to execute. Is the case of IT vendors specialized in

few functionalities and with low ability to execute due, for example, to a lack of resources (financial, operating)

and power (network). However, such IT vendors might be useful for companies that need small technology

changes without stringent delivery deadlines. For these reason IT niche players might be extremely useful

for Laggard (DNA) companies.

Visionaries: high completeness of vision & low ability to execute. Is the kind of IT vendor that fit best a

Cautious Adopter company’s DNA. Anyhow, a Fast Follower (DNA) company that wants to innovate

proactively rather than reactively, might get some useful insights from Visionaries third parties.

Challengers: low completeness of vision & high ability to execute. Is what Fast Follower companies usually

need. However, a Cautious Adopter company that wants to improve its change management process should

look for Challengers as IT vendors.

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(More: “How Gartner Evaluates Vendors and Markets in Magic Quadrants and MarketScopes“, Gartner)

So, which IT Vendor to chose? Thinking about possible threats due to cultural and organizational divergences

between the company and th IT vendor DNAs will ensure the implementation of the strategy as well as it will

avoid market\operational risks and a waste of resources: why to invest on IT Vendor Leaders? Does the

company really need it?

As a moral of this story, selecting the IT Vendors that fit best the company DNA is not so different as chosing

relationships and friends in our every day life. Trusted and better relationships are guaranteed only by knowing

ourselves as well as the others.

Feelink – Feel & Think approach for doing life!

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COACHING & TRAINING A good picture for Acceptance: feel the divergences & think how to deal with POSTED BY IVANGRUER ⋅ MARCH 19, 2013 ⋅ 2 COMMENTS FILED UNDER ACCEPTANCE, COMMUNICATION, TRANSACTIONAL ANALYSIS

How should Acceptance be defined? A definition should be as the ability to accept positively different

behaviors and ideas. Ok, and what does it mean in the real life?

In the Leadership Development course, that I am attending as an MBA student, in a lecture was analyzed and

practiced the one-to-one communication and that day I saw this meaningful picture:

For me was illuminating: I found a great metaphor for Acceptance in

the each day life. How? I will try to explain you.

In the communication there are the following actors: you with your

values, the other with his\her values and the message.

In the picture the values are represented by the ground, a field in

which each one of us feels himself comfortable. Someone likes to run

in a field of green grass, someone else likes to run in the sand and other likes mountain landscapes just because

we are different!

The world is the message of the communication that is made by the content (what is said) and the context (how

is said) like the non-verbal communication: gestures, postures, volume of the voice, tone, rhythm,…

So, how should Acceptance be achieved by the actors that are playing the communication comedy (or drama,

it depends)?

Well, Acceptance will lead an effective communication that means floating in the air in a perfect harmony

and balance without touching each actor: you and your believes, the other and their believes and the message

(content + context).

Nice words, but how such a harmony should be achieved?

Usually, an issue in the communication process is due to two different kind of negative reactions: “I am NOT

OK” or “You are NOT OK”. (see also Thomas A. Harris and Transactional Analysis).

Thus, there are two requirements, as showed in the figure, needed in order to establish an effective

communication:

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1. Respect yourself: how? By leaving for a while you comfortable ground made by your values, believes and

habits, but not too much in order to still remember who you are. So, leave also a pair of shoes in you

ground! Moreover, respect yourself by also feeling involved without been touched as a person by the

message (the world) if this is not a direct and explicit attack to your ground (your values). This means

avoid judgments and asking for clarification\feedback.

2. Respect the other by help him\her to respect himself\herself as you respect yourself. Thus help the other

to leave his\her values by focusing your attention on the message (the world) and help him\her to be

focused on the message as well by avoiding to attack his\her values as an individual. When a value is under

attack? According to my own experience a value is under attack when a difference is pointed out: “I like

pizza and you like Sushi” (verbal) or, someone is speaking loudly while the other is very quiet (non-

verbal).

So, whenever during a tough debate I feel myself under “attack” and uncomfortable or I perceive such feeling

in the other, for example in some signs in the non-verbal communication, I will think to that picture in order

to recover a good harmony through Acceptance.

I will test if this metaphor works or not! Would you like to try so?

However, as Bill Cosby said: “I don’t know the key to success, but the key to failure is to please to everyone“.

Thus, it’s wise to be aware that also Acceptance has a limit!

Feelink – Feel & Think approach for doing life!

Developing Emotional Intelligence with TIP competencies and Kindergarten Cop… Arnold Schwarzenegger! POSTED BY IVANGRUER ⋅ APRIL 2, 2013 ⋅ LEAVE A COMMENT FILED UNDER ARNOLD SCHWARZENEGGER, ATTUNED, COMPETENCIES, COPYING, DANIEL GOLEMAN, EMOTIONAL

INTELLIGENCE,INTERNATIONAL PROFILER, KINDERGARTNER COP, NEW THINKING, REFLECTED AWARENESS, RESILIENCE

Emotional Intelligence and TIP competencies

The Emotional Intelligence (EQ) has been defined by Daniel Goleman in his best seller “Emotional

Intelligence: Why It Can Matter More Than IQ“. Nowadays, Emotional Intelligence (EQ) is a well-known

concept both in the everyday life and in the work environment and it has become as much important

as Analytical Intelligence (IQ).

Moreover, EQ is even more important for a “finely Attuned” leader in order to develop a Social

Intelligence (See Social Intelligence and the Biology of Leadership by D.Goleman & R.Boyatzis – Harvard

Business Review) and thus improve the team effectiveness with better decisions, more creative solutions and

more productivity (see Building the Emotional Intelligence of Groups by V.Urch Druskat & S.B. Wolff –

Harvard Business Review). In the book mentioned above by D. Goleman, there are many useful TIPs for being

aware and learn how to deal with emotions such anxiety, sadness, anger, etc.

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Few weeks ago I saw two colleagues of mine that were talking and suddenly one of them started to talk louder

and faster. The other colleague, who was listening, when perceived such change in the para-verbal

communication he suddenly exclaimed: “Please, calm down! Calm down“. In that moment I realized how the

non-verbal communication can have an impact (positive or negative) on our emotions (see also the post “A

Good Picture for Acceptance: feel the divergences and think how to deal with“). Is it possible to deal positively

with our emotions? The Competencies in The International Profiler (TIP), that I discovered during the

MBA, might be a powerful tool in order to learn how to be more Emotional Intelligent. How? Let’s analyze

another similar case from the movie Kindergartener Copwith Arnold Schwarzenegger where some

competencies of TIP such Attuned, Copying, Resilience and Reflected Awareness with a pinch of New

Thinking played a key role in order to succeed with the tougher species that inhabit a typical kindergartener

environment: kids! (see the TIP’s competencies here).

Emotional Intelligence case study: the “Kindergartener Cop” A. Schwarzenegger

See the clip here taken from the movie “Kindergartener Cop” with Arnold Schwarzenegger (3 minutes), before

reading the analysis.

So, what happened to our Kindergartener Cop Arnold Schwarzenegger? Let’s start from what our hero

pronounced before realizing what’s going on in the class: “Don’t worry! Everything is under control!“.

Symptom 1: once our Kindergartener Hero realized that in the class everything was not exactly under

control because there were kids that were shouting, screaming, touching and destroying everything he

started to show some signs of impatient. Such a shock and stressful situation made him shout in

anger: “Shuuut Uuuup!“. Diagnosis 1: definitely a low Copying for Schwarzenegger since he was not able

to handle the stress.

Symptom 2: after the explosion of Schwarzenegger only silence. Then a kid started to cry, and when a kid

starts to cry it’s only a question of few seconds: a valley of tears will come soon! That is because the little

members of the specie that inhabit the kindergartener are well-known to be extremely Attuned each

other. That’s what our Kindergartener Cop realized immediately: what a big mistake! . Diagnosis

2: Reflected Awareness skill improved since he discovered how kids are Attuned.

Symptom 3: despite the situation was getting worse and worse, Schwarzenegger didn’t give up! He went

out, another scream just to prove his low Copying again, and bring from his car a sweet fur to the class in

order to establish a good mood. Brilliant idea, It worked! Since the kids are Attuned each other, once it has

been brought few of them toward a positive behave and mood, then he will get them all! He failed well

because he learnt from what happened before. Diagnosis 3: definitely a high Resilience that helped the

Kindergartener Cop Schwarzenegger to find out his brilliant idea by leveraging with his New

Thinking and Reflected Awareness skills.

Conclusion: what to learn from Schwarzenegger’s case?

Probably nothing new to learn in this case for parents and teachers that have to deal with children and kids

everyday. However, being aware about such skills might be useful in order to copy in many stressful situations

and thus become more Emotional Intelligentby leveraging with our strengths and weaknesses. Despite

Kindergartener Cop Arnold Schwarzenegger was not able to deal with stress (low Copying) he relied

on his Resilience, New Thinking and Reflected Awareness in order to find out another solution that has

captured the attention and the curiosity of all the kids in the class.

Feelink – Feel & Think approach for doing life!

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photo credit: Bindaas Madhavi viaphotopin cc

A possible TIP for giving effective feedbacks: wearing a SCARF that is SMART, does it make sense? POSTED BY IVANGRUER ⋅ APRIL 10, 2013 ⋅ LEAVE A COMMENT

FILED UNDER COACHING, COACHING & TRAINING, FEEDBACK, MATRIX, SCARF, SMART

Smart scarf matrix from Ivan Gruer

Four ways to provide effective feedbacks

Few weeks ago, the Time has posted an article by Annie Murphy Paul: “Four Ways to Give Good Feedback”

(originally posted in theBrilliant Report blog). As reported in the post, “feedback is a powerful way to build

knowledge and skills, increase skills, increase motivation, and develop reflective habits of mind in students

and employees“. Briefly, the four ways suggested to provide effective feedbacks are: 1) supply information

about the learner is doing, 2) taking care about how a feedback should be presented, 3) oriented feedback

around goals and 4) use feedback to build metacognitive skills (develop the awareness of learning).

What’s stimulated my curiosity is the point 2: How present a feedback in a way that is effective? I think is the

toughest aspect because requires something that the brain naturally refused to do: deliver the message

according to a mindset that is different! In the article mentioned above, taking care about how feedbacks should

be presented means avoiding three things: a) closely monitoring the performances because reduce the self-

consciousness of the learner b) providing unique solution like “This is how you should do it ” – because it

might be interpreted as an attempt to control, c) establish a sense of competition among colleagues because

might reduce the engagement.

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Thus, how can be ensured a good feedback in practice? An idea could be to combine together the S.C.A.R.F.

given by Social\Cognitive Neuroscience and the S.M.A.R.T. criteria for setting well-defined objectives. Let’s

see how the SMART-SCARF matrix works after a brief description of the two models.

The S.C.A.R.F. model from Social and Cognitive neuroscience.

M.D. Liebarman & E.I. Eisenberger provided many insights regarding Social, Cognitive and Affective

neuroscience. In particular, in their article “The pains and pleasures of social life: A social cognitive

neuroscience approach” they discovered that there are mainly two circuits that the human brain activates:

simply, one circuit for the pains and one circuit for the pleasures. Acknowledged that, the social and cognitive

neuroscience might be useful also for giving some further specific insights in order to provide effective

feedbacks. The S.C.A.R.F. is a framework in which the “approach (reward)” and the “avoid (threat)”

instinctive responses, given by the “pleasure” and “pain” circuits respectively, are mainly related to five human

social domains of experience: 1) Status – the relative importance to others, 2)Certainty – ability\need to predict

the future, 3) Autonomy – sense of control, 4) Relatedness – as a sense of safety with the others and 5)Fairness

– as the perception of a fair exchange between people and justice.

More: “SCARF: a brain-based model for collaborating with and influencing other“.

Each one of us has lived different experiences in various environments and thus there are many different

S.C.A.R.F.s as well… as a matter of fact, have you ever seen in a shop only scarfs made only by silk or only

blue colored?

If someone likes this kind of

, it means that the main dimensions that stimulate the “approach (reward)” and the “avoid (threat)” responses

are the Status and the Autonomy. A person with such a S.C.A.R.F. tends to be more competitive because for

them winning a game, be the best student or being promoted in their company will more likely activate the

“approach (reward)” response. While the “avoid (threat)” response will be activated when they perceive a

reduction of their Status. For example, pushing solutions might be tricky since an advice might be perceived

from a person with a high Status as follows: “You are giving me advises, because you think you have more

skills\experience than me.” – The emotional reaction of such perception is more likely negative. Even if the

coach has much more experience and skills than the coachee, avoiding to emphasize\remark such difference

will make feel the coachee comfortable.

At the same time, since also the Autonomy dimension is more important than the others, a good mood will be

established whenever a sense of autonomy or control increase. For example, that might be achieved by letting

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to organize the work, schedule and desk. On the contrary, setting, defining and monitoring constantly the

performances of such employees will increase the level of control and thus might activate the “avoid (threat)”

response.

Now, how is it possible to estimate and figure out which SCARF suit well who is going to receive a feedback?

Since it has been described the SCARF model, it’s like wondering which are the preferences regarding clothes

and fashion of people: just observe, listen and understand. In other words, before giving feedbacks it’s better

to know well each persons. Thus, apart from all the recommendations, some common sense might be useful

too.

The S.M.A.R.T model for well-set objectives

As mentioned in the article by Annie Murphy Paul at point 3), a well stated feedback is oriented around goals.

A cool and well-known tool for providing well-defined objectives is the S.M.A.R.T. model in which a good

objective must be: 1) Specific – What?, 2) Measurable – If you can’t measure it you will NOT handle it,

3) Attractive – Why? What motivated to do such effort?, 4) Realistic – not too difficult and on too easy 5)

and Time-scaled – no time limit, no urgency!. The S.M.A.R.T. model might be useful in order to set the

objectives for an evaluation feedback as well for the definition of a personal development plan.

As for the dimensions of the S.C.A.R.F., also for the five ones in the S.M.A.R.T criteria each person is more

sensitive in some aspects rather than others. Thus, the common sense “know people before” is crucial in order

to deliver the feedback in a way that encourage and motivate.

See also the S.M.A.R.T. criteria.

A TIP for giving effective feedbacks: a SCARF that is SMART

Now, given the S.M.A.R.T. criteria for well-defined objectives and the S.C.A.R.F. framework with its five

social\cognitive dimensions (Status, Certainty, Autonomy, Relatedness and Fairness), how should be possible

to combine these tools together in order to provide feedbacks effectively by engaging people and avoiding

threats? Let’s take the S.C.A.R.F. mentioned above with a high perception in the Status and Autonomy

dimensions. Which are the “DOs” and the “DO NOTs” for these dimensions?

With a high Status, in order to activate the “approach (reward)” response it’s necessary to recognize the

previous achievements\improvements before specifying the new ones (the “S” of S.M.A.R.T) and make them

more attractive by emphasizing how the new goals can be an opportunity to achieve a distinctive

specialization\quality (the “A” of S.M.A.R.T). Meanwhile, in the “Specific” dimension of S.M.A.R.T, as

mentioned above, pushing solutions activate the “avoid (threat)” response and make the coachee

uncomfortable and thus unmotivated.

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Regarding the Autonomy dimension of the S.C.A.R.F., what is recommended is to give opinions instead of

solutions when specifying the new goals\objectives (the “S” of the S.C.A.R.F.). In order motivate (approach

(reward)” response) and make the goal attractive (the “A” of the S.C.A.R.F.) provide at least three possible

solutions and alternatives because that will increase the sense of Autonomy and control (only two will create

a “dilemma”!). The “DO NOTs” for the Autonomy are linked with the Specific and the Time-scaled

dimensions of the S.C.A.R.F. Respectively, avoid to specify only one solution and explain a detailed schedule

and plan.

Final Considerations

By combining in a matrix with one dimension for the S.C.A.R.F framework and the other one for the

S.M.A.R.T. criteria then it’s possible to define which objectives and how deliver them properly in order to

motivate people and reinforce a positive mood in the team, in the work environment and why not, also in our

personal life.

More: see also a possible detailed schema for the SMART-SCARF matrix here (SlideShare).

All the four points mentioned in the post “Four Ways to Give Good Feedback” are present both in the SMART-

SCARF, thus nothing new to add. However, organize all the thousands recommendations given by the

experience and the Neuroscience research in a structured way such as has been done in the SMART-SCARF

matrix might be useful in order to put them into practice.

Well, it’s time to wear and validate the SMART-SCARF in the real world… Do you think it will works?

Feelink – Feel & Think approach for doing life!

The Gift and the artists of leadership at MIB POSTED BY IVANGRUER ⋅ MAY 16, 2013 ⋅ LEAVE A COMMENT

FILED UNDER COACHING & TRAINING, GIFT

Within the course in leadership development at MIB School of Management, to each classmate has been asked

to provide a gift to all the class. I think that is a great idea since behind any gift there is (or there’s supposed

to be) a simple principle…

“You get what you give”, as the band called New Radicals sang in the 90s.

Since the last gift, a Karaoke party, has just been delivered, in this post I’d like to share all my feelings and

learning opportunities from each gift as an individual as well as fro the all group: the MBA23 class.

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Have a nice reading and thanks to all MBA23 class!!!

Karaoke

A karaoke evening party.

Personal Value Added: I’ve never sung before in a Karaoke and since learning how to handle amygdala

in public is part of my personal development, that was a good low risk situation in which to put myself. It

was for me very useful.

Group Value Added: despite we’ve just come back from Munich, we had fun. Music brings people

together… always!

Thanks Flavio!

Trip to vineyards of Collio

Personal Value Added: I’ve never known the so called “acid friends” of vinegar. I enjoyed a great

vinegar, wine and food from Collio, a little Tuscany here in Friuli Venezia Giulia (Italy).

Group Value Added: an opportunity to relax, enjoy beautiful landscapes and delicacies with all MBA

classmates and their relatives\friends.

Thanks to Sholpan, Yevgeniy and Revaz!

MBA, a weird story

An illustrated story about our experience here at MIB

Personal Value Added: while reading the story I was happy and yes… I was a little bit moved. The gift

make me aware that sometimes stop for a while what you are doing\thinking and looking back to see

your\our “story” helps you to made the next step: today we are the result of what we’ve lived, tomorrow we

will be what we are going to live!

Group Value Added: it’s something that remains. The MBA23 class will be over soon, but its story is

forever.

Thanks Giovanna!

MBA 23 Talent Book

A book that summarized the skills of the MBA23 class.

Personal Value Added: remember “There is no secret ingredient, it’s just you!”.

Group Value Added: another thing that will remain as a sign of our class!

Thanks Katlego!

Voluntary Blood Donation

A voluntary blood donation organized at MIB.

Personal Value Added: I had been postponing a blood donation for months, and the initiative of Vedran

forced me to do it. Great!

Group Value Added: It was a good initiative for all the MBAs, but also for the whole school

and, especially, for all the lives that will benefit of our source of life.

Thanks Vedran!

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A movie about challenges

The movie “Peaceful Warrior”.

Personal Value Added: I liked the story and the moral behind: love what you do and do what you love,

that’s what I learn.

Group Value Added: it was one hour and half of relax for all the class that was so stressed after thousands

and thousands of assignments. Good!

Thanks Giorgio!

Cup TAGs

A cup of tea with a TAG Cloud that summarized in words all the feelings of class MBA23.

Personal Value Added: as a coffee lover and tea addicted I like it! Moreover, each time I drink coffee I

will enjoy not only the taste, but also I will remember the MIB experience.

Group Value Added: the cup it’s a synthesis of feelings for MBA23 class…what about a welcoming coffee

or a cup of tea together?

Thanks Ivan (…yes, there are two of them to stand!)

A “travel” for a while to Jordan and Croatia

Food, drinks and music from Croatia and Jordan.

Personal Value Added: I like the experience because it was a great example of how simple things might

be so powerful. Some wine, some food, some music and a good company. Great MBA pick experience!

Group Value Added: I saw almost everybody so relaxed despite it was a tough week and in particular,

after many negotiations role plays. Everybody was enjoying the food, the wine and the music… signs of

social intelligence.

Thanks to Ana, Mays and Ante!

Yoga Experience

An introduction to yoga.

Personal Value Added: I’ve discovered a new way for dealing with stress and how to discover self-

awareness through the “connection with the universe” of yoga.

Group Value Added: someone was embraced, someone was losing balance and control, someone was

sleeping or even laughing. In any case, at the end of the experience the whole group was relaxed: a great

example of synergy among different people and behaviours. Moral: one shared goal, many different paths

to reach it.

Thanks Giulia!

Extra lessons on Accounting and Managerial Accounting

Two additional lectures of Accounting and Managerial Accounting by official CA(SA) of MBA23 class.

Personal Value Added: I would never passed the exam of Accounting without the lecture provided by

Adrian. He gave me at least a structured procedures to follow in order to read the balance sheets without

getting lost in numbers and figures in a time-stressful situation. An example of uncertainty avoidance

through procedures: It works! So, Am I German?…moral: I should check deeper the origin of my family

name!

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Group Value Added: at the end of the lectures, all the class gave to Adrian a spontaneous applause. A sign

of a good mood among classmates.

Thanks Adrian!

MBA23 Hi5: an interpretation of synergy

That’s my gift: a T-shirt with all the handprints of the class that create a bigger hand. Which are the desired

individual and group values added that I had in my mind? Of course there are, but that’s not what really matter.

Why? Because since we have different culture of origin, different experiences and different mindsets how

should be possible to have feelings and reactions that are consistent with a desired purpose and

inspiration?…no way, each one will have his own experience.

It’s like for art. Thinking that a painter must impose his own idea and inspiration to the observer as the only

one possible it will be pointless as well as arrogant.

Harvey S. Firestone defines leadership as:

“The growth and development of people is the highest calling of leadership.”

Acknowledged the key role of development, how is possible to answer to the “call” of leadership?

Well, there is another definition of Leadership by Lance Secretan:

“Leadership is not so much about technique and methods as it is about opening the heart. Leadership is

about inspiration of oneself and of others. Great leadership is about human experiences, not processes.

Leadership is not a formula or a program, it is a human activity that comes from the heart and considers

the hearts of others. It is an attitude, not a routine.”

So, leadership is for L. Secretan a question of inspiring people and arts are fed by inspiration as well… thus is

leadership a kind of art? According a quote from Max De Pree, yes, it is:

“Leadership is much more an art, a belief, a condition of the heart, than a set of things to do.”

Anyhow, as a moral for this story, since I was surprisingly inspired by all the gifts I would like to say thanks

to all the artists of leadership of class MBA23!

P.S.: A special thanks also to the lecturers Tim and Valeria who promoted the idea of The Gift because, as

mentioned at the beginning, “You only get what you give!”.

Feelink – Feel & Think approach for doing life!

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Barriers to change… Should I stay or should I go? A ripped up speech POSTED BY IVANGRUER ⋅ SEPTEMBER 30, 2013 ⋅ LEAVE A COMMENT FILED UNDER CHANGE, CHANGE MANAGEMENT, COACHING, MBA, MIB SCHOOL OF MANAGEMENT, PUBLIC SPEAKING, TRAINING

Ferdinandeo (Triest), Saturday 21st September 2013 around 12:00 a.m.: what to say as a final speech after

attending an MBA program in behalf of all the class?

Here below an idea, a story about barriers to change… delivered here, in a comfortable “context”, with 10 day

of delay: should I stay or should I go?

Should I stay or should I go? A story about barriers to change

Should I stay or Should I go? That was the question that each MBA participant has faced when applying for the master

program in business administration here at MIB School of Management.

Should I get an MBA in my country or abroad?

The MBA class of the 23rd edition was almost equally distributed: 60% foreigners and 40% Italians. Who made the

right decision?

Nobody knows… now!

Anyhow, what all the participants of the 23rd edition have in common, both foreigners and Italians, is that they have

started a changing process in a way:

someone changed country, some other quit a job and somebody did both.

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Was that easy? Of course it was not!

Why? Because each change requires a transformation process, and each transformation process requires resources:

physically, mentally and emotionally.

So… which are the barriers to change? I would say mainly three:

unawareness, laziness and conservation of the status quo.

The first one, unawareness, means that since I don’t know there is a problem, why to invest resources for a change?

How to start a changing process in such a situation? Simply by creating awareness: “Houston, we have a problem!”

The second one, laziness, I know there is a problem but it requires too much resources: physically, mentally and

emotionally. In this case the therapy is defining an objective that is attractive enough in order to justify the effort.

The third one, conservation of the status quo, is the toughest: I do know there is a problem and I do not want to change

since I feel myself comfortable in the current situation. I am not sure… in this case uncertainties about the current

situation and status quo will establish a changing process.

Why uncertainties? According to a passage taken from a speech held here in this hall few months ago: “Since the

economy is not growing in Europe and in the Western counties, the only alternative for getting good jobs is to go abroad

where the economy is booming”

So… should I stay or should I go? According to this story, I would say: it depends!

It depends on how much uncertain and uncomfortable you are with your current situation and status quo… unless

new innovative opportunities and unconventional alternatives will be created from scratch.

All the best for the MBA23 and MBA24 classes!

Thank you!

The story was slightly different and this speech has not been delivered because the “context”, the final

ceremony for the MBA23 class, was not comfortable for the speaker.

How to break such a uncomfortable situation? …well, you already know the moral of the story: by creating

uncertainties through innovative and unconventional alternatives!

Feelink – Feel & Think approach for doing life!

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LEASSURE, FUNNY STORY, MISCELLANEOUS Almost everybody knows the fear of the rabbit: do you know also its resilience and focus on goal? POSTED BY IVANGRUER ⋅ MARCH 14, 2013 ⋅ 1 COMMENT FILED UNDER FOCUS ON GOAL, RABBIT, RESILIENCE, TIP COMPETENCIES

Almost everybody knows the fear of the rabbit: do you know also its resilience and focus on goal?

See also: TIP Competencies by WorldWork

Three years ago I met a rabbit called Minny and what I previously knew

about this funny pet was: a rabbit is always scared and worried about

predators due to a weak control of its amygdala!

Knowing Minny I’ve discovered that these characteristics are true, but I’ve

also realized how a rabbit can be persistently focused on its goal and with

a high resilience. How? I will tell you!

Rabbit’s Focus on Goal: you should never let a book, a magazine or a

houseplant in the sights of the rabbit’s eyes or nose! Since the rabbit

strongly enjoys biting paper, fresh grass and electric cables (be careful!) it

will go and bite them overcoming any kind of obstacles.

Rabbit’s Resilience: unfortunately Minny broke her leg. That happens

quite often to rabbits due to their light but fragile bones. Despite suffering from her pain Minny is always

willing to demonstrate her affection and she never gives up! Now the leg has fully recovered!

Moral n.1: the first impression is important. However why not taking the opportunity to enjoy that you were

wrong – knowledge by change!

Moral n.2: the rabbit is a great example of how leveraging weaknesses and strengths in order to survive in this

tough world!

Feelink – Feel & Think approach for doing life!

Have you ever known the resilience and the focus on goals of a Rabbit?

Yes No

VoteView ResultsPolldaddy.com

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Does the price for inequalities exist because of the second law of thermodynamics? (Entropy) POSTED BY IVANGRUER ⋅ MARCH 27, 2013 ⋅ 2 COMMENTS

FILED UNDER ASYMMETRY, COST, ECONOMY, ENTROPY, INEQUALITY, INFORMATION, PRICE, STIGLITZ, THEORY

Inequalities, information theory and economy

Few days ago in The Economist’s blog was posted a comment regarding the issue of the wealth inequalities in

the world.

In the comment was mentioned the last book written by the Nobel Prize in Economics in 2001 Joseph E.

Stiglitz: “The Price of Inequality: How Today’s Divided Society Endangers Our Future“. Inequality is

an actual topic especially considering the differences between the level of development of the economies and

wealth in the world and the unbalance in terms of net exports and public debt between the emerging markets

and the developed economies (see also The importance of balance and the idea of a sustainable growth).

Joseph E. Stiglitz, together with George A. Akerlof and A. Michael Spence, won the most famous and

prestigious award price in Economic Science thanks to their analyses of markets with asymmetric information.

Knowing that, suddenly came into my mind the relationship between differences (inequalities) and the concept

of entropy. Why? Because entropy is a measure of the level of disorder of a system and the information within

the system is fully distributed when the level of entropy (disorder) is highest.

An example of the second law of thermodynamics

photo credit: Josh Kenzervia photopin cc

Think at a glass of pure water taken from a fresh mountain spring and a drop of a good red wine. Since the

water and the red wine are separated the level of disorder is low and the entropy as well. Furthermore, since it

possible from an external observer to clearly distinguish between them, it is also provided an information:

there is a clear water and there is drop of red wine, nice and easy. Then, imagine to let the drop of red wine

fall into the water: what will you see? There will be a transition phase in which the drop of wine expand itself

and the water become less and less clear. At the end of the process the water it’s not so pure as a mointain

spring and the drop of red wine is widespread and uniformly distributed so that the maximum level of disorder

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(entropy) has been reached and the information (red wine and clear water) is not available anymore from an

external observer.

Time for a recap - entropy and information are related together: a high entropy means that the information

is widespread and fully available within the system while a low entropy means that the information is ordered

and organized and thus not fully available within the system.

Now, how entropy and cost of inequalities are correlated one to another? Well, let’s consider again the glass

of water polluted with a drop of red wine. How should be the drop of wine separated again from the water? By

looking at the tools available in the Chemistry Set, there are many techniques: centrifuge, stills and so on.

However, these techniques, despite they are different, have common pattern: they need energy and where some

energy is required there is always a cost and resources used! For the same reason, thinking about the transition

phase of the process, in order to avoid that the drop of wine spreads over, a counteraction is required: barriers,

centrifuge as well and whatever any chemist’s tool can provide.

Time for recap part 2 – information and entropy are related. If it is wanted to preserve the same level of

entropy\disorder (information spread) some energy to spend is required unless the level of entropy has reached

its maximum level (information fully widespread inside the system)

Conclusion

As far as I understand from the reasoning of Joseph E. Stiglitz, to a polarized information correspond a

polarized distribution of wealth as well. A polarized distribution of wealth means having inequalities that have

a cost in terms of: inefficient use of resources (environment, labour,…), political insabilities and even

unbalanced prices and rate of return in the stock market because an enclosed information let more space for

speculation rather than for investments. Just think what’s going on with the public debt crisis in the Euro zone.

Considering the example of the water and the drop of wine described above, Is it possible to infer that behind

the cost of inequalities mentioned by Joseph E. Stiglitz there is the second law of thermodynamics? (Entropy).

Since is sill more probable and easier to pollute the water rather than clean it or is not still possible to remember

the future and forget the past (see also A Brief History of Time by Stephen Hawking) the second law of

thermodynamics hasn’t been contradicted yet. Acknowledged that equality doesn’t mean fairness, how can be

possible to measure the inequalities that can be tollerated by applying entropy to economic and society sciences

in general?

Let’s think about it sitting in front a good red wine!

Feelink – Feel & Think approach for doing life!

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Chaos vs. Determinism: why not both? From evolutionary theory to BIG Data challenge POSTED BY IVANGRUER ⋅ APRIL 20, 2013 ⋅ LEAVE A COMMENT

FILED UNDER BIGDATA, CHAOS, DARWIN, DETERMINISM, EDWARD DE BONO, EVOLUTIONARY THEORY, LATERAL

THINKING, NEW PRODUCT DESIGN, PLANK, SOCIAL MEDIA, TOM DICKSON, VERTICAL THINKING

photo credits:

alyceobvious via photopin cc

markchadwickart via photopin cc

How was the Universe created? It was generated by chance or it was created with a specific purpose?

Chaos vs. Determinism is one of the toughest issue to address for philosophers and it has been debated since

the age of the ancient Greece.

Is the world nowadays governed by chaos or determinism? Hard to say, but what I notice is that sometimes

Chaos and Determinism together might create an outstanding synergy. When? Here there are at least four

examples: the Evolutionary Theory, the New Product Design process, the Lateral & Vertical thinking and the

challenge of Big Data with Social Media.

1. Evolutionary theory

The Darwin’s evolutionary theory is undoubtedly the most meaningful example of how chaos and determinism

can work very well together…otherwise we couldn’t be here to discuss how this world works!

Since also Mother Nature cannot foreseen what will happen in the future, how is it possible to survive? By

generating continuosly chaotic genetic mutation in the DNA a thus create a large variety of species: simple

and brilliant! The generation of new alternatives, through DNA mutations, happens also when the environment

is not changing because such variety of species will more likely guarantee the life in our planet Earth if a big

change occurs.

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Just think what happened 65milion years ago with the extinction of Dinosaurs. The impact of a big asteroid

changed radically the climate and the T-Rex, together with his big friends, wasn’t able to adapt to the new

environment condition. What happened is that a new family of species more adaptable escape from the

extinction: mammals.

Mother Earth is not efficient like human being tends and likes to be. She is effective, likes redundancy and

varieties in order to let the life carry on. How many times financial advisors said? “Diversification! That is the

way to mitigate the risk of market’s volatility and uncertainty”. Either they consciously know the evolutionary

theory or they are survivors from the natural selection.

2. New Product Design

Another example is taken from the business world. Words like innovation, internationalization, diversification,

mass-customization, not only have inspired the famous “business lingo bingo” game in order to stay

awake during a work meeting, but also they have in common the same objective: continuously create new

products. A company that doesn’t invest on the development of new product, in order to fill the customer needs

that change through time or to reach\establish new market, is doomed to die.

Anyway, a new product is the result of a process: the New Product Design (NPD).Well, such process is divided

into many different stages. Briefly, at the beginning there is brainstorming phase in which are collected all the

new ideas in terms of needs without thinking if a new idea makes sense or is not feasible. For example, thinking

about a new umbrella: “I want to use an umbrella like a parachute!” Why not? …ok, probably using an

umbrella as a parachute is not practicable. So, how to organize and select all the ideas that came out from a

chaotic brainstorming? A solution is the so called KJ method invented by Kawakita Jiro. It’s a process that

organize, prioritize and select all the needs that really matters in a structured way. Probably also a parachute

umbrella, is needed who knows!

Once the needs have been classified, the NPD process analyzes systematically all the needs related to the

features required by the new product through the QFD (Quality Function Development) and the Pugh matrix.

As a result, there is one or a couple of new solutions that are feasible and that fit all the significant needs. Just

in case, if doesn’t cost so much effort, also others additional needs like “parachute umbrella” might be added

in the new product in order to be “different” in the market.

Now, considering the brainstorming as a genetic mutations and the KJ\Pugh matrix as a natural selection, does

the NPD process is like the evolutionary theory applied to products?

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3. Lateral vs. Vertical thinking

Considering again the example of the umbrella parachute, it came out during the brainstorming phase without

thinking if it would be feasible or not, while during the NPD process it might be more likely eliminated due to

many technical as well as reasonable limitations: is there someone that really need a parachute umbrella?

This is the first distinction that Edward de Bono, the inventor of the lateral thinking, suggets between the

Lateral and the Vertical thinking. Respectively, one is productive while the other is selective. Not only, Edward

de Bono defines many others adjectives that characterized the vertical and lateral thinking as follow:

Lateral thinking: productive, stimulating, discontinuous, incoherent, do not use negations, open to intuitions,

unspecific, less probable, open\probabilistic process.

Vertical thinking: selective, analytical, continuous, coherent, use negations, relevance focused, specific, more

probable, close\deterministic process.

According to the adjectives mentioned above the aim of the lateral thinking is to find new solutions\ideas in

an incoherent and chaotic way in order see the things from different perspective. On the contrary the vertical

thinking select the intuitions in a structure way in order to develop a new coherent model. That’s what

happened to the father of Quantum Theory Max Planck.

At the beginning ,when he got the intuition to assume that the energy of the particles can change only in discrete

amounts, no less that the so called Planck constant, Max Planck was extremely skeptical because such

assumption was not coherent with classical physic. Than many others brilliant minds such Bohr, Heisenberg,

de Broglie, Einstein, Schrödinger, Pauli and others demonstrated that the assumption of Plank works with

physical phenomena at microscopic scales. A new physic model was born thanks to a winning combination

between the lateral and vertical thinking: the Quantum Mechanics.

More: see Lateral Thinking by Edward de Bono.

4. Big Data Challenge

Social Media phenomenon is undoubtedly having significant impacts in the way the people communicate and

interact as well as the businesses operate. Some decades ago the main trouble was how gathering the needed

information while nowadays it’s the opposite: which information is really relevant? The Big Data is going to

address this issue, in order to organize, classify and select the relevant information that is generated almost

randomly by billions of sources, me included, in the world. Why the information is generate randomly? Well,

the Big Data issue is going to be addressed from the technical point of view and many tangible results has been

achieved. Think about the mass-customized advertisement and NPD (new product design, see above).

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However, Big Data is not only a question of technology. Also the human factor is interested since the

information technology and social media might amplify an irrational behavior of groups by creating the so

called Social Object’s effect. Retweets call likes, likes call posts and posts calls retweets again into spiral loop.

In fact, as Tom Dickson showed: “It blends!”

Anyway, why the social object might stimulate an irrational behavior? Prof. Vincent F. Hendricks from the

University of Copenhagen underline the fact that the online discussion take place in a kind of echo chambers:

“In group polarization, which is well-documented by social psychologists, an entire group may shift to a more

radical viewpoint after a discussion even though the individual group members did not subscribe to this view

prior to the discussion” (see Information technology amplifies irrational group behavior). That is because the

human behaviuor is highly influenced by the group.

The influence of the grpup is one aspect. Than, when I discovered that a social object in Twitter or Facebook

reaches its peak of influence only after two hours and then it rapidly declines I realized that also the time factor

might force to an irrational behaviour. If you want to follow the peaks you must react quickly, and when a

quick reaction is required the human brain rely to the amygdala by asking: flight or fight?

The amygdala is switched on whenever a dangerous or a stressful situation occurs. The amygdala, since

activates quick reactions, saved humans (and other species like rabbits!) from extinction when thousands and

thousands of years ago the human being were struggling against predators every day. Fortunately a social

object doesn’t hurt like a saber-toothed tiger so there is no risk to die physically, possibly only digitally.

Anyway, in order to fully exploit the chaos generated by the social media, dealing amygdala might be useful

in order to navigate rather than drifting in the digital see. So feel, think and than just in case post, tweet and

like.

Chaos and Determinism: inseparable twin brothers of knowledge!

Feelink – Feel & Think approach for doing life!

Are you chaotic, determinist or both?

Chaotic Determinist Both

VoteView ResultsPolldaddy.com

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Changing clothes: an incipit for a new novel POSTED BY IVANGRUER ⋅ JUNE 5, 2013 ⋅ LEAVE A COMMENT

FILED UNDER CHANGE, INCIPIT, STORY

How define the end of a project both in life and in the work place? Is the end simply set by the achievement of

an objective or by the beginning of a new story?

I’ve still some doubt about it. Anyhow, whenever an end is defined, it implies a transition and wherever there

is a transition there is a change. As an example, think about a glass of liquid water left outside in the balcony.

If the morning after there is ice this means that the water doesn’t exists anymore as a liquid (end of a state)

because of a change in the weather condition (temperature and pressure).

Changes happen during also our lives. An example? I will tell you one of mine in which I’ve

changed some clothes in my closet when I decided to attend the MBA.

Here below there is the incipit of this new novel that is still in progress. It was my first day of lectures and…

The sun has had revealed its face only a few times during that September. It was a typical day for the end of

the summer, so nicely warm and illuminated by a bright sunshine that doesn’t blind.

That morning, from the bus number 25, the weaves of the landscape interfered with that light creating

flashes, one after another. “These flashes make me blind”, I thought.

Each glare lighted up a past life’s memory that, before the trip, it had been taken and folded in the luggage

that I brought with me. I saw myself dressed with clothes like webservices, antenna theory, data base

modeling, electromagnetic field propagation, gradient, rotor e divergence. Concepts that I had learnt before

deciding to leave for that new trip.

A man in the bus rang for his stop. It was also my stop and the flashes in my mind suddenly disappeared. I

got out and a blast of wind picked up in the air a leaf that had just fallen. My eyes followed the leaf that was

carried by the wind when a Mystical Palace captured the attention of my sight, the Ferdinandeo.

For a while, I forgot where the leaf was going as I forgot all the stuff that I was bringing in my luggage. “It

is time to wear new clothes”, I thought.

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photo credit: The Hamster Factor via photopin cc

Feelink – Feel & Think approach for doing life!

What’s wrong with EU? Appling the 7-S framework by McKinsey to EU (Open Innovation) POSTED BY IVANGRUER ⋅ JUNE 17, 2013 ⋅ LEAVE A COMMENT

FILED UNDER 7S FRAMEWORK, COUNTRY, EU, INEQUALITIES, OPEN INNOVATION, YOUTH UNEMPLOYMENT

A company has to organize itself properly in order to implement its objectives (values and mission). A

famous model that addresses such issue is the 7-S framework suggested by McKinsey, well-known in the

business world. According to such model, all the 7-S (Shared Value, Strategy, Structure, System, Style, Staff

and Skills) must be aligned in a way that is consistent in order to be effective. Organization is not only about

Structure (see [1]).

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Thinking about the current situation of European Union (EU) and in particular the youth unemployment and

the nequalities among the members (see [2]): “Is the 7-S framework applicable also for other kind of

organizations such as the EU?”

Let’s see how the 7-S framework might be applied to EU (comments coming from experts in business and law

are more than welcome).

Shared Values

The EU doesn’t have a constitution that formally define itself as a country. However, the values shared among

the members of EU are stated in the article 2 and article 3. In particular, “The Union is founded on the values

of respect for human dignity, freedom, democracy, equality, the rule of law and respect for human rights,

including the rights of persons belonging to minorities” while the aims of the EU are 1) to promote peace, 2)

offer to each citizen an area of freedom, security as well as ensuring free movement of people and 3) establish

an internal market based on balanced economic growth aiming full employment and social progress. (see [3]).

Is it reasonable to consider the principles stated above as Shared Values?

Strategy

For a company, a strategy is the definition of a plan for the implementation of its values and objectives. What

about EU? During last decades, the EU promoted the enlargement program (see [4]) in order to help countries

in the Central East Europe to join the Community while last year (2012) the members signed the fiscal compact

where it was agreed a reduction plan of the public debt in order to face the economic crisis. Should the EU

enlargement program and the fiscal compact be considered as part of the Strategy of EU?

Structure

In a company the structure is related to its organization and governance. For a country in general, government,

parliament, banks, unions and other institution might be considered as a part of the structure of a state.

Regarding EU, there are the European Parliament, Council, Commission and the European Central Bank.

System

In a company, the System is everything that defines policies and formalizes procedures. Thus, does it make

sense to consider as part of system for a country all the laws, the regulations and the policies? Regarding EU,

its system is defined in the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU). An example, is the

article 294 of the TFEU that defines the ordinary legislative procedure.

Style

The Style of the company is about people and in particular the managerial style adopted by the

governance. There are many models that define the different styles of leadership (see [5]). Is it possible to

assign a Style also for the institutions that lead the EU?

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Staff

If the Style is related to managers, the Staff is about employees. The Staff are the generic capabilities of the

employees in a company in terms of soft skills, behaviors, habits and ritual that are strictly related to the culture.

Since the employees that work for a company are also citizens the Staff of a country or an institution like EU

might be defined as the culture or the cluster of cultures within its territory as well. An example of how a

culture should be described is given by the 6-dimensions model by Hotsfede (see [6]).

Skills

The Skills are the actual competencies of the employees working for the company. Thus, what about consider

the same capabilities of the citizens as set of Skills of a country and EU as well?

What do you think? Is it possible to apply the 7-S framework aslo for insitutions such as the EU? If yes, within

the 7-S framework, is the EU properly defined?

Share you thoughts and feelings.

Feelink – Feel & Think approach for doing life!

Resources:

[1] The 7-S framework

[2] Unemployment statiscitcs (April 2013)

[3] The ABC of European Union law

[4] EU enlargement program

[5] Leadership Styles

[6] Culture: 6-dimensions model

The 2nd Law: a MUSE for a Sustainable Economy POSTED BY IVANGRUER ⋅ JULY 30, 2013 ⋅ LEAVE A COMMENT FILED UNDER ECONOMY, ENTROPY, LIFE, MUSE, SUSTAINABLE, THE 2ND LAW, THERMODYNAMICS, UNSUSTAINABLE

What does it mean sustainable? After the last financial crisis in 2007 as well as the issues of global warming,

pollution and deforestation the word “sustainable” has become very popular.

That is the question that many people have. That’s why there are many best sellers about economic crisis.

That’s why nowadays economists are so popular… that’s why I’ve just bought the last book by @TimHarford

“The Undercover Economist Strikes Back”.

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In their latest album, “The 2nd Law“, the rock band @muse spreads out to the all the fans the concept of

entropy and the second principle of thermodynamics. Paraphrasing Rockonomics by Tim Harford

(see Undercover Economist: the law of rockonomics), that’s an example of Rockphysic…cool, check it out!

MUSE – The 2nd Law: Unsustainable

All natural and technological processes proceed in such a way that the availability of the remaining energy decreases.

In all energy exchanges, if no energy enters or leaves an isolated system, the entropy of that system increases. Energy

continuously flows from being concentrated, to becoming dispersed, spread out, wasted and useless. New energy

cannot be created and high grade energy is being destroyed. An economy based on endless growth is Unsustainable

…

The fundamental laws of thermodynamics will place fixed limits on technological innovation and human

advancement. In an isolated system the entropy can only increase. A species set on endless growth is Unsustainable

So, according to the second law of thermodynamics each transformation requires energy (see also Does the

price for inequalities exist because of the second law of thermodynamics?). If the system is isolated there is no

way to recover such energy in a state that can be used. An example, think about a car as a system that

transforms the chemical energy of the gasoline in mechanical energy and heat (…mainly heat actually). If the

car is an isolated system, once the tank is empty the car can not work anymore. Fortunately the car is not

isolated, since it’s sill possible to go to the patrol station and fill again the tank with additional energy: gasoline.

What about the planet earth: is it an isolated system? Is the world economy as is defined nowadays sustainable

accordingly to the second law of thermodynamics? For @MattBellamy, @CaptMorganized,

@CTWolstenholme and their friend Charles no way: it’s unsustainable.

Anyhow, since the planet is not isolated there is a chance to create a sustainable economy and thus to avoid

extinction. How? Every second, every minute every day for billions of years the planet Earth has received

energy from the Sun. It’s thanks to the solar energy that there is life in our planet and all the human activities

are possible (even blogging!). Both, life and world economy need energy. In order to be sustainable, the sum

of the energy needed for life and human activities must be lower that the solar energy received from the Sun

(seeLife on Earth). In this way the stock of energy available in the biosphere (number of species, forests,

oil,…) will increase or, if the energy consumed equals the energy received, at least remains constant (see

Figure below).

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On the contrary, if the energy consumed by life and human activities is higher than the energy coming from

the Sun, the energy balance is negative and the stock of energy in the biosphere will decrease (extinctions of

species, deforestation, oil, gas,…). That condition can not be sustained for a long period since the stock of

energy available in the planet is finite. It’s like a bank account: expenditures higher than the incomes can be

sustained till the bank account is positive!

That’s way Entropy likes the song “Time is on my side” by Rolling Stone. Soon or later the 2nd Law will

impose its energy dictatorship to all the humankind.

Rolling Stones – Time is on my Side

According to Tim Harford there is an Optimistic View about a self-regulation of the world economy that,

thanks to the supply-demand’s law, will guarantee an endless growth and energy efficiency as well (see Energy

Use and Growth: an Optimistic View). In particular, for Tim Harford the key fact is that:

Economic growth and energy growth are not the same thing, and there are good reasons to believe they’re already in

the process of decoupling from each other

Believe!?! Despite there are good reasons, why the sustainability of an endless economic growth is not certain

and still a Belief? Is really knowledge what is missing?

What about replacing ”believe” with more certain words such as “assert”, “confirm” or “state”? Few

simple questions should be answered:

1. How much energy the planet Earth receives from the Sun [S]?

2. How much energy is needed for supporting life (carbon cycle, photosynthesis, climate,…) in the Earth

[L]?

3. How much energy is consumed by the world economy [E]?

Are the life and the human activities together in the planet Earth sustainable?

If

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Energy from the Sun [S] < Energy for sustaining Life [L] + Energy consumed by the economy [E]

Mr. Charles, after few calculations, will give the answer: UN-UN-UNSUSTAINABLE!

So, conscious about the uncertain sustainability of the world economy as it is defined nowadays, let’s move

our bodies following the irresistible funky rif of “Panic Station” from “The 2nd Law” album by Muse while

since entropy is inattentive (it’s still singing “Time is on my side”).

MUSE – Panic Station

You won’t get much closer

Until you sacrifice it all (all the energy available)

You won’t get to taste it

With your face against the wall (the truth of The 2nd Law)

…actually, the humankind has already “tasted” the unavoidable rule of the 2nd law. In the 18th century, the

population of Easter Island has dropped from 15.000 to 2.000-3.000 because an ecology disaster due to an

unsustainable use of the natural resources (see Easter Island, they harvest all the woods in the island). If the

inhabitants of Easter Island had had the chance to see a concert of “The 2nd Law” tour in Rapa Nui probably

they would have decided not to hack up so many trees. Is the humankind smart enough to learn from his

mistakes and make the optimistic view of growth really sustainable? Who knows!

Feelink – Feel & Think approach for doing life!

X and S band radars: a great metaphor for logistic professionals… and not only, also for everyday life! POSTED BY IVANGRUER ⋅ OCTOBER 28, 2013 ⋅ 2 COMMENTS FILED UNDER COACHING, DEMAND DRIVEN, LOGISTIC, METAPHOR, OPERATIONS, SUPPLY CHAIN

This time I want to tell a story of mine. Recently I was struggling with figures regarding a new kind of analysis

in the field of procurement, supply chain and inventory management. Something that I’ve never done before.

Since I was too focus on the jungle of numbers and details what happen is that I’ve completely missed the

path…I felt myself completely lost in the middle of the forest of figures!

So, my mentor helped me to find the path again in order to complete the analysis with an inspirational

metaphor, well-known among logistic and operation professional: the X-band and S-band radars.

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The S-band radar

It means be able to patrol what’s going on in the medium-

long range in order to anticipate risks proactively. This

means, for a logistic professional, taking all the

countermeasure in order to properly asses the forecast of the

demand in the future as an example. Having a good term

vision is essential when planning the procurement of the

materials, especially with high lead times, as well as develop

a strategic thinking and a wider perspective by monitoring

competitors, suppliers and new technology innovations.

Demand Driven Supply Chain (DDSC) is possible only thanks to a good S-band radar surveillance.

The X-band radar

It is aimed to work for short-range surveillance, usually below

2-3 thousands Kilometers. For a logistic professional this means

beeing able to address the ongoing issues of every day work and

thus promptly take the counteractions against the encounter

menace: delay of the delivery or a call from the quality control

about the noncompliance of the material received with the

consequence to stop all the production within a couple of hour.

Usually a X-radar is small and it doesn’t weigh too much. Very useful characteristic when dealing with tactical

moves.

So, a good professional in logistic has to handle both of the S-band and the X-radar. This is the easiest part.

The hardest one is to manage them simultaneously and is what I’ve realized when I was struggling with the

figures for the analysis because I’ve temporally switched off my S-band radar. Once I’ve switched it on again,

all the numbers for the analysis become suddenly much more clear since it was as well clear the long term

purpose and meaning behind the figures.

Anyhow, is this metaphor useful only for logistic professional? According to an interpretation of a famous

quote from Hemingway, I would say no:

Today is only one day in all the days that will ever be. But what will happen in all the other days that ever come can

depend on what you do today.

Using the X-band radar might also help ourselves in everyday life. Meanwhile, the S-band will clear the fog

in front of our perceptions and aspirations in the future.

Feelink – Feel & Think approach for doing life!