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Link Roundup #10

On NPR's Marketplace, Cool Friend Rosabeth Moss Kanter talks about Peter Drucker's principles, starting with "First was the importance of a company having a sense of mission or a purpose."

Tom pointed us to this article in the Wall Street Journal, "Temporary Workers and the 21st Century Economy," by Jody Greenstone Miller. It foresees a world where most people have several part-time jobs rather than one for 40 (plus) hours every week. A new book to appear in the U.S. in January, And What Do You Do? names this trend: Portfolio Careers. The British authors Katie Ledger and Barrie Hopson offer practical tools to help you determine if you are suited to this grab-bag approach to work and what types of work you'd prefer. Read more at their website, PortfolioCareers.net. [Full disclosure: Katie Ledger is the wife of one of our UK consultants, David Pilbeam, but the coincidence of its timing in step with Tom's noticing the article on the same subject was too much for me to ignore. Besides, I liked the book.]

We normally don't promote events. But for all the visual thinkers in our audience who might be able to make their way to San Francisco in March, you really shouldn't miss Cool Friend Dan Roam's two day seminar. Not only is he a talented guy (read: you'll learn a lot), but he's a lot of fun to spend time with.

We love this story in the Financial Times, "Room to Read's results in Sri Lanka." It's about children who love books, and the success of the program founded by Cool Friend John Wood in bringing the two together.

Joy Stauber, the designer responsible for the fantastic banners at tompeters.com (watch for a new one on Monday, the first day of winter), has a manifesto up at ChangeThis: Brands Are People Too. The point being that "however a brand is born [invariably started by people], it has to have a personality that people connect to." Yes!

Cathy Mosca posted this on 12/18/09.

Comments

Tom told us (in several books) years ago that eventually we would become a nation of workers with unique skill sets and we would come together and do a project and then (probably) move on to join another project with others. Looks like another of Tom's prescient observations from the 90s has been borne out.

Posted by Todd Spare at December 18, 2009 9:43 PM

Rosabeth's article is terrific. Also see the following about working with Peter Drucker: http://blogs.harvardbusiness.org/cs/2009/12/representing_peter_drucker.html

Posted by Daniel R. Stern at December 19, 2009 7:25 AM

Charles Handy should also be credited with having seen the trend towards portfolio careers a decade ago.

Posted by RobCH at December 19, 2009 9:17 AM

Marketplace is not an NPR program. Never has been.
It is an MPR program (Minnesota Public Radio) distributed by American Public Media (APM)
Confused? You should be. A lot. Why? Exactly.
Consumers refer to public radio is NPR programming in the way that we say "Kleenex" instead of tissue, "Coke" instead of pop or soda (or even Pepsi).

Posted by nextgenradio at December 19, 2009 6:53 PM

Great and timeless observations by Drucker. I wish more companies would heed this wisdom and work to give their companies a true sense of responsible purpose in the world today.

Posted by Gary at December 20, 2009 2:32 AM

Different generations will have different impacts on the changing workforce dynamic.

The millenials look at work very differently than previous generations ... their "job security" is what they know, not "who" employs them.

The boomers, believe it or not, will "retire" but not stop working, creating a large, experienced and flexible workforce.

It is a pity that legislators in countries around the world seem to think "temporary workers" are somehow "second class citizens". The reality is that they bring a ton of value to the economy, and a growing number of them choose this "career".

Welcome to the 21st century.

Posted by Kevin Dee at December 20, 2009 8:35 PM

terrific new masthead! The best for ages. (Some of the previous ones, as I've commented, haven't worked for me. But this one...)

Posted by Mark JF at December 22, 2009 6:32 AM

Shalom Cathy,

On Millers Wall Street Journal article, consultancies and temporary employment for businesses and those, like Miller, who place the temps is wonderful.

It's not so wonderful for those doing the work. While Miller focuses on the high end of temporary work, she doesn't address the rise of just-in-time employment at the low-end. Using Walmart as just one example, workers who thought they had seasonal employment until at least Christmas eve and possibly into January or February found themselves back on the street two week before Christmas.

Employment is a two-way street. If I make a commitment to my employer, I ought to be able to expect a similar commitment from my employer.

President Barack Hussein Obama's position is correct. Temporary work is not a sign of a recovering economy.

B'shalom,

Jeff Hess

Posted by Jeff Hess at December 28, 2009 9:43 PM

Jeff - no problem. And I fully endorse, support and repeat your request for an edit facility.

Posted by Mark JF at December 29, 2009 7:19 AM

Hi Jeff - I hope I executed your requested changes correctly. Your and Mark JF's request for an edit feature has been noted!
Happy Holidays

Posted by Shelley Dolley at December 29, 2009 11:37 AM