No time to write lately. Here's a quick list on the what's "new" or randomly notable for me in the realm of work.
TelePresence
Had my second TelePresence virtual meeting this morning with a group of CIOs on a tour of companies in Ireland. They were at EMC's operations in Cork, meeting with people there, and easily changed gear to meet "live" with a few of us in Hopkinton. Boy, was that easy. When I first got the invite from our Country Manager in Cork inviting me to present our Web 2.0 transformation to this group, I immediately thought of international travel. Drag. Cost. Time. Airports, and all that.
The CIOs, btw, were really interested in consumerism inside of an enterprise. They had lots of questions of EMC's plan to treat PCs similar to mobile devices -- allowing users more freedom to use the device they wish.
John Chambers was my First.
Photo: a screen shot of my flip cam library, showing a few of the clips I took during the meeting at Cisco.
I did my first TelePresence (TP) meeting last week with John Chambers, CEO of Cisco, and a group of communication pros from FORTUNE 200 companies at Cisco's NYC offices last week. I loved his story about telling his engineers, on seeing the prototype for TP, that he wanted to "be like Scotty on Star Trek" during TP virtual meetings. Do a TP meeting, you'll see what he means!
After hearing the state-of-the state of 2.0'ness among these companies, I was really proud of where EMC is in this journey.
Connections and Development
I did a little bit of a time investment in my own professional development by going to a boot camp for Board of Directors, put on by the most networked person I know. It was interesting, even at this session run by people who started their professional careers a long time ago, how many times the phrase "personal brand" came up. As a CEO who joined us said, "When we're interviewing Board candidates, we're going to give you a brand. A nick name that categorizes you in some way." The lesson of course was to define what we want that brand to be before the interview. It will help people place you into opportunities and help make sure you will be differentiated in the process. Sound familiar?
The Train
Trains are not new or sexy, and they are totally under-rated in my book. I've been on the train between Boston and NYC a few times recently and it is simply the way to go. Easy. Fast. Civilized. Not cramped. Inexpensive. Not smelly. Friendly. Easy to Work. When work is done, wine.
Recession-Fab Hotel
Since the near-travel-ban took effect last year, every time I travel, I try to go in a recession-friendly way. I've taken to staying with friends over hotels. This week was no different. As a result, I had great catch up time with a friend and got to see a part of her life I never would have seen. Which, btw, was a fabulous 2-story apt near the park in the upper West side decorated in white -- evidence that no kids or pets live there!
On the Bookshelf
An EMCer some time back gave me the book "Essential Drucker, the Best of Sixty Years of Peter Drucker's Essential Writings on Management." Read this on my train ride home. Amid this transformation toward new organizational models, it was interesting to read how the practice of management started. Net: the practice is less than 150 years old, and was modeled after the command-and-control norm of the army. Of course, the army at the time was comprised of people with educational levels that pale in comparison to today's norm. EMC's Stu Miniman shared this article with me today by Gary Hamel on a new management view. Nice! Love the last line, especially.
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Business dynamics?
Cost/spend/lifestyle dynamics?
Management perspectives?
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- Polly Pearson
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