Teams ain't what they used to be & old-school approaches to teambuilding no longer cut it.

And I'm not the only one.

I still find a startling level of misinformation and misunderstanding among my clients regarding what B-BBEE is really all about.  Somehow, apart from the person directly responsible for the B-BBEE scorecard, many think its still all about "being forced to sell part of your company to black people" and "reverse discrimination when it comes to recruitment."

As we are celebrating youth day, we are reminded of the sacrifices the Soweto youth made to the liberation of South Africa. However, the most disappointing aspects of post-apartheid South Africa is extreme levels of unemployment, particularly less-skilled and younger Back people. These unemployment levels are further aggravated by the lack of infrastructure to equip these young people with the right skills. Therefore in the absence of effective infrastructure, structural unemployment remains the bleakest indicator of the welfare challenge facing the South African society.

Technology enables us to do more, faster. And so we do more... faster. But not better.  And our quality of life is not better.  In this powerful article by Barry C. Boyce we learn the value of the "pause". To be effective, it has to be your pause - you decide when and how long it should be...

While engaging with the Hospice means I'm engaging with the very sad matter of my father dying of cancer, this has also been an amazing opportunity to be reminded of how real and strong values embedded across every touchpoint of an organisation is truly powerful stuff.

I have been working alot lately with teams in creative professions.  Those maintaining a competitive advantage appear better at staying in the creative zone - whether consciously or not.

If you didn't get the chance to review performance before the silly season started, its a great way to kick start the year.

From Bloomsberg Businessweek