Personality tests

Hello Everyone,
So last night when I got home, all of my roommates were really interested in these personality things we learned about in class. We decided to go online and try to find a test: http://www.enneagramnorth.com/personality_test.htm
This is the address for it, the descriptions of the personalities are a a bit different, but the idea is the same. Take a look if you are interested.
Also, one of my roommates found this test:
http://www.humanmetrics.com/cgi-win/JTypes2.asp
Its freakishly accurate and the cool thing is that it gives you a description as well as some suggested careers, I thought it was cool.
Enjoy,
Anastasia

21st Century Book Club: Group Turquoise Inc.

21^st Century Book Club: Group Turquoise Inc.

Jimmy, Bronwyn, Mohamed, Heather, David

Our group discussion was very interesting due to the fact that our book selections depicted five very unique areas of interest. While the books portrayed a variety of issues facing management in the 21^st century, we were able to draw many connections between the theories presented. Below are the titles of the books we discussed and a selection of key notes we compiled.

Books we explored:

The Age of Turbulence

by Alan Greenspan

The Medici Effect: Breakthrough Insights at the Intersection of Ideas, Concepts, and Cultures

by Frans Johansson

The Black Swan: The Impact of the Highly Improbable

by Nassim Nicholas Taleb

Media Mythmakers: How Journalists, Activists, and Advertisers Mislead Us

by Benjamin Radford

New Ideas About New Ideas: Insights on Creativity from the World’s Leading Innovators

by Shira P. White with G. Patton Wright

Resulting Team Insights:

Awareness of these four → guards against uncertainty in the world.

Rapid advances in technology and information are adding more layers of complexity and randomness –

more difficult to make predictions, assess risk, uncertainty.

Approaching extremes, increasing interconnectedness → reduces volatility (very fragile).

Interconnectedness → innovation, new creative ideas → research over age of innovation.

US economic issues, anti-Bush, spending money to improve health rather than on war

Expecting recession, linking political action and economy, need better action taken in order to succeed

For innovation, ask the right questions to the right people

See relationships that are visualisations = see things differently = innovation

Must get out of comfort zone to innovate → Diversity!

Current environment → Awareness; what is my evidence? Make fair analysis for truth.

Monitor claims made by corporations; things are not what they appear.

*** In an effort to innovate, we must endeavour to explore other environments and make a critical analysis as in order to evaluate the conditions of our current environment and to disprove theories.

Mini Project III: “Quantum Leap, Creative Heap”

Memristor - a new paradigm

Ever since the development of the field of electrical engineering, researchers have been pursuing smaller and more innovative ways of computing. The current science of Electrical Engineering is based on the notion of the existence of three electronic components; the resistor, the inductor, and the capacitor. These three main components have become the building blocks for virtually every electronic device in the consumer market. However for over four decades, scientists have been pursuing ways of proving the theory postulated by Prof. Leon Chua at the University of California (Berkeley) of the potential existence of a fourth component. It is only with the discovery of the “Memristor”, short for memory resistor, made by Stanley Williams at HP Labs that researchers watched theory become reality. This new component not only promises to change the way we see computing today but provides means of understanding inaccuracies that have surfaced in circuit boards as technology progresses. A new paradigm in science and innovation is brought about revolutionizing not only the size and efficiency of our mobile electronic devices, but also the way we interact with such electronics devices, providing further insight into the science of electricity as well as biomechanics. This new paradigm not only provides us insight into the way that leaders of today must look at the world, but also teaches us that conventional thinking will not enable us to properly evolve. By analyzing the meaning behind this new innovation will we be able to prepare ourselves for the responsibilities that we must bear as leaders of the 21^st century.

In the words of Prof. Chua, “Electric theorists have been using the wrong pair of variables all these years – voltage and charge. The missing part of the electronic theory was that the fundamental pair of variables is flux and charge.” It is this theoretical assumption that allowed the researches in HP Labs to develop the Memristor. A memristor is composed of passive two-terminal circuit elements that are based on the relationship between current and voltage (their time integral). These elements produce a resistance which varies according to the “memristance” function of the device. These devices are engineered to provide controllable resistance for switching current. The memristor utilizes two of the four fundamental circuit variables; charge and flux, whereas the main postulate made by scientists up until now was mainly based on the assumption that passive circuitry relied on voltage and current. As technology developed where components continued to be reduced in size to a nanometre scale, strange inaccuracies inherent to electric circuitry began to surface and were discarded as simple anomalies. These inaccuracies are in fact attributed to the very function of a memristor; remembering the amount and the length of time that current has been passed through the circuit. The main importance of a memristor lies in its ability to not only vary its own resistance depending on the orientation of the flow of current but also to conserve its final resistance as the current is removed. In the words of Prof. Chua: “This new circuit element solves many problems with circuitry today – since it improves in performance as you scale it down to smaller and smaller sizes. Memristors will enable very small nanoscale devices to be made without generating all the excess heat that scaling down transistors is causing today.” R. Stanley Williams, a Senior Fellow at HP labs in Palo Alto, California believes that the memristor is going to be the building platform for devices that will operate similar to the synapses in a human brain. Using the memristor in its analog mode would yield a fairly accurate representation of a neural net.

There are in fact many lessons that we can learn from the emergence of such innovation. First and foremost, the increasing need for smaller and more compact technology has pushed researchers to pursue smaller-sized circuit boards making the discovery of the Memristor possible. This fact is analogous to the developing society of today where change is no longer brought about by large corporations or mutli-billion companies, but by distinguished individuals who were determined in accomplishing their goals. This demonstrates that the power lies in the hands of the little man; individuals and leaders of today. This becomes truer every day as real democracy emerges in developing countries where the power is given to the people, where a single vote can break the tide of war or hunger. As countries develop, and populations expand, it becomes necessary to recognize the individual contributions of each and every human being to his or her own community or organization. In the ever proliferating world of technology and communication, it becomes increasingly difficult to realize our individual potential when we are surrounded by clutter and an ever increasing amount of information. It is thus our responsibility and our duty to discover ourselves and achieve our full potential.

In order for any leader of the 21^st century to be able to be the best at what they are, they must, just like electrical circuits, be built upon the very basic building blocks of electrical engineering: resistors, capacitors and inductors.

A resistor is an electric component that opposes an electric current by producing a voltage drop between its terminals. Just the same, a leader must be able to channel positive energy through his team by filtering out the negativity and creating this “voltage drop”, a drop in tension between each team-member in order to be able to achieve peak performance. Positive thinking is what drives a team to success, and it requires vision and determination to achieve greatness. Only by keeping his focus on the goal will a great leader be able to overcome the negative energy that is involved in collaborative thinking.

A capacitor is a device that can store energy just the same as a battery in an electric field that is created by two plates (conductors). This process is known as storing energy by using electric charges of equal magnitude but opposite in polarity. A leader, just like a capacitor, must process an immense amount of information, must consider a various array of ideas and opinions, “equal in magnitude” and value, and yet often enough, “opposite in polarity” or meaning. A great leader must be able to consider all of his team-members opinions, no matter how dissimilar or contradicting they might be, and be able to come up with a compromise that will satisfy not only his team but will also yield the best result.

An inductor is a passive electronic component that exhibits properties of inductance. This property is an effect resulting from the formation of a magnetic field or flux proportional to the change in current as it is passed through a current carrying coil, also known as a conductor. Electromotive Force is then created which opposes this change in current. A magnetic flux created by the change in flow of current is representative of the open source information that is flowing through the greatest minds of today. As leaders of today, not only must we encourage this magnetic flux of intelligent ideas and insights, but we must realize that such flow can only be achieved through a change of current; realization and integration of various perspectives and ideas that will shape our society in the 21^st century.

Finally, as we enter into the 21^st century, new innovations such as the memristor, a revolutionary electronic component in electrical engineering, promise to change the shape of the future to come. Despite its short-term discovery, a memristor has already proven to be the key to the development of breakthrough and innovating computing. Its capacity to vary its resistance according to not only the magnitude and polarity of the charge mimics the necessary function that leaders of today must accomplish in an ever-changing world. Not only is there an enormous amount of information that is nearly without our reach, but there is also a need to be able to process this information with adequate consideration. Through social responsibility, we must analyze the reliability of such information with a critical eye, and be able to pass proper judgement on its credibility with variable “resistance”. A memristor also represents the intangible need for society to learn from its mistakes, to remember what type of mistakes we, as individuals, have committed and ensure that we do not repeat them. However, it is not only the lessons of our mistakes we must retain, but also the very accomplishments that helped shape the world as we know it today.

Managementball-The sport of Management

“If work day becomes game day, you’ll bring home a winner.”
-Terry Gasol, leadership development trainer

In every sport, there is the Owner and the Coach. These two people have parallel roles in the Business world as the CEO and President. The owner/CEO undertakes the ultimate executive responsibility or authority within an organization or corporation. The Coach/President undertakes the leadership role within an organization or corporation. Synonymous to the employees of a company, there are the players of the game who form a matrix team-a task force-problem solving group-“a small number of people from different departments.” There are many positions on the court which vary from Forwards to Guards, likewise, in the office there’s the Accounting division to the Marketing division. They all must work collaboratively to achieve a common goal, to win a championship for some, and to make a profit for others. The business world is really a game, a sport, a congregation of people with one common goal in mind: to be the cream of the crop. Each person in a tie and suit have the same general mindset as a person in a jersey and shorts, just two different playing fields; one is an office and one is a parquet floor. Players play ball, employees make calls.


BASKETBALL vs. BUSINESS

Owner
o Has the greatest investment in the organization
o Has the ultimate authority in decisions
o Wants his team to be the best in the league

CEO
o Has the greatest amount of shares in the company
o Has the ultimate authority in decisions
o Wants his company to be the best in the market

Coach
o Provide leadership to the players
o Creates the major plays
o Has previous experience as a player
o Has set tasks for each player President
o Provides leadership to his employees
o Makes the major decisions
o Has previous experience as an employee
o Has set tasks for each employee

Players
o Follow the coach’s game plan
o Each have different roles
o Play for a living
o Aim to win a championship
o Attire consists of jersey and shorts at work
But at home, casual clothes
o Play ball

Employees
o Follow the President’s business plan
o Each have different tasks at hand
o Work for a living
o Aim to make a profitable company
o Attire consists of tie and suit at work
But at home, casual clothes
o Make calls

The table above substantiates the many contrasts and similarities between the athletic entertainment world and corporate world.

There are many concepts that a basketball coach can teach a manager to alter or even improve his business game:

•On weekends, as there are practices for athletes, there should be workshops on skills that can be beneficial to efficiency at work, such as a cardio class with a professional instructor, similar to a google-esque work environment. Another alternative could be to have an incentive for employees to attend a training program such as a basketball game afterwards or going out to a restaurant to relax, reflect and regroup. This can be essential to teamwork as they meet outside of the work environment, without corporate restrictions, in casual clothes, with the work hard-play hard mentality in effect.

•The coach works with his offensive, defensive and special teams to develop the strategy for the upcoming game. A manager must provide vision and strategy to his people and make sure they understand it, so they can have some sort of direction to follow.

•The teams usually study the opposing teams by watching game clips of their prior games to get a feel for how they play. When game day comes, they are armed with counter-maneuvers to overcome their enemy's strengths and exploit their own. Likewise, organizations need to ask their customers on a consistent basis of what they really want and need. They cannot track who else has been calling their customers and what kind of deals or promises they have attempted to present.

•All sports including basketball have a half time intermission so everyone has an opportunity to catch their breath, regroup and review. Likewise, without periodic meetings employees can lose sight of the game they're playing. If employees don't know where they are in relation to the goal, work loses meaning and becomes ‘just a job’.

•With a huddle, the players are able to make last minute changes to their approach and get everyone in formation. The most critical information is exchanged as the game is in play. Without a weekly huddle, the team would be all over the place and making the wrong plays, as people will fumble the ball or pass to the wrong player and miss the basket.


•The coach watches his players during the game to see which of them is playing well and who's tired or having an ‘off’ game. He pulls a player off the court and immediately tells the person what he sees and what he wants them to change. Fortunately, he does not wait for their annual performance review to give them feedback. The only way to create a winning team instilled with motivation is by tweaking each player’s performance along the road. A manager should give employees some advice about something they could improve on. A nice little finishing touch could be to high-five for making a winning play.

•After each game, the coaches and team members watch video replays of their own performance. The powerful constructive criticism has an intense effect on the players' perception of their own performance, by helping them realize their impact on the team's performance and what they will need to change. A manager should approach the employees who worked on a specific project and ask them, "What problems could we avoid next time?" "How could we have made this better?" "What worked really well?" etc. This form of "instant replaying" is definitely beneficial as valuable group learning can be lost and mistakes repeated without a similar approach.

Overall, there are many similarities and differences between the sport of basketball and the corporate world. There are also many ideas and concepts that are yet to be learned from each other and that if applied, can result in a more enjoyable and efficient environment.

Education in Africa

Many countries are underdeveloped. How does Africa children and teenagers will enter the 21st century? They do not have the proper tools to do so. First of all many African countries do not have internet access and if they do it is very limited, at least for poor people. Secondly they do not have an education system that is developed like in North America. Many children and teenagers do not go to school because they have to help their family to survive; it is sad but true. Education is not mandatory like in Canada, so it is why we have to share our knowledge and resources to help those African children and teenagers, which are coming from poor families, to enter the 21st century with the appropriate tools and knowledge. In order, to do so we must develop a plan of action in partnership with African countries. However an organisation should be form in order to develop a partnership with African government the name of this organisation will be “Modern Education in Africa” and it will be referred as MEA through this text. MEA organisation goal and mission are:
The vision: To go beyond the boundaries and always do the extra step.
The mission: Help poor children and teenagers from Africa to enter the 21st with the proper tools.
Schools will be located near students, where there is a need and the size will be determined by the demand to enrol. However in each school there will be a technological room with computers, a tutorial room and doctor and nurse office if students are sick.
For children there will be many resources available to them, such as educational toys that will be given by Canadian donators. Children will be learning through games that are educational in order to keep them captives. However it is important to not forget that it is school, at least one hour per day; they will learn how to write and they will also do some mathematics in order to develop their logical thinking.
The organisation will work on the front line with real people in need and eager to learn. The books and software will be designed especially for each country need, by Canadian students and professionals who want to share their knowledge. Computers will also be needed as an education tools and to also to develop Africans computer skills, which are really important while entering the 21st century. MEA objectives are to learn them to use internet tools such as Web 2.0, to help them to develop their leadership, creativity so that students can be tomorrow leaders. The organisation will also helped African students to find job by being as well as with the government in partnership with firms who will want to employ those students as managers. MEA will also offer tutorial workshops to students who are in need and for those who have learning difficulties. The tutorial workshops will be held by teacher as well as by good students who want to share their knowledge with others.
At the end of each school year, there will be a conference held by students. It will give them the opportunity to share their knowledge with their colleagues. It will also give them confidence and they will be proud of themselves after their speech at the conference.
There are many challenges that MEA will faced, such as finding African governments who will be willing to engage in a partnership with the organization. African governments who will accept the partnership have also to be aware that the education system will be control by them as well as by MEA. Another challenge is also to develop an education system that will attract children and teenagers to come to school instead of being working. One alternative to this problem can be to pay students to come to school like we do in Canada. It is a good investment since they will become more educated and they will found better job; it will be good for the economy of each country. Another alternative to this problem will be to offer evening classes so that if they have to work during the day they can come to school in the evening, and MEA will give them a dinner, since many people to not have enough money to eat everyday. Their concentration will be better if they eat something. Breakfasts and lunches can also be provided for students who are coming to school during day time. The third challenge will be to develop education method that will be just right for African children and teenagers. A way of teaching that will keep them captives and enthusiasms of being at school. In order to do so MEA teachers will have to be devoted to their students and be willing to give time to prepare properly their class time. For older students a way of helping them tomorrow leaders can be to inform them on current African issues, problems as well as global problems, events, issues, war, etc. So the students will be able to develop their global thinking skills, their critical thinking, their analytical skills and they will open their horizon to other cultures. Like in Canada, the education system will offer them specialisation in their domain, such as business, ecology, biology, etc. However, in country who agreed for the partnership with MEA higher level of education will be free for poor students who have been in the education system with the organization. A fourth challenge will be the language, not all African are speaking English or French. A solution to this problem will be to work one on one with the students and MEA will make sure that there is no barrier between students and teachers; to make sure that no one feels inferior or superior.
After their education will be completed MEA will help them to find good job in their domain, give them tools for interviews, and assist them in their research. Basically MEA organization wants to develop long and lasting relationship with its students and teachers. Instead o thinking only about ourselves the 21st century is about thinking about others and learn from them. The 21st century is about sharing knowledge, the MEA teachers and students will lived an exceptional and rich learning experience.

The Fast 50 and what we can learn

Despite being in drastically different fields the companies on the Fast Company’s Fast Fifty list share several fundamental qualities. After going over a few companies we can see already that all of these companies understand the importance of excellence and that profit cannot be the sole objective. A few things they share in common are the support of employee time, awareness, flexibility, and care for consumers, socially driven initiatives, a disposition for experimentation, a clear and often lofty vision and the active pursuit of these goals.

Employee time is a common item accounted for on many of these companies’ budgets. In fact it is encouraged by companies such as Timberland and Google for employees to take time off their current projects and pursue other interests, become involved in community projects, develop personal side projects of their own, or to innovate and enrich their personal portfolio of knowledge. In fact these employee side projects are responsible for a large fraction of overall new innovations that these businesses develop. Innovation is also speeded along by the fact that these companies value employee input and management’s efforts to integrate them are visible so employees feel empowered and take more action to make changes and suggestions as they see fit, thus adding value to companies since this helps them evolve and adapt to business conditions as well as avoid stagnation.

Adaptability is also a common factor among these leading companies, establishments such as Baidu and AirAsia have adapted elegantly to their local consumer. It is not necessarily the fact that these companies cater so well to their consumers that makes them so successful but rather the underlying acumen for what works and what doesn’t. This isn’t to say that these businesses owe their success to unfounded intuitions but rather an acute awareness of their surroundings; in truth they seem to have done their fair share of analyses, applying betas and working out kinks all in the pursuit of high quality service. These companies settle for nothing short of perfection and in fact they may not be able to risk settling for less because of the fast-paced environment in which they live. Baidu for example is a search engine similar to Google which has gained success in China for the simple fact that it is tailored for the Chinese language and is more sensitive to local idiosyncrasies. It also offers incentives for people to use it for features like its point rewards system. AirAsia is unbelievable affordable and offers short-haul flights to popular locales ideal for Asians who must frequent relatives spread around the continent. Not only are these companies aware, but they are also very conscious of today’s informed and inquisitive consumer. Take Whole Foods, it has gone to great lengths to tell produce buyers where their food comes from and how it produced in order to keep consumers informed and satisfied.

In order to survive with all the people in the world and the pace of technology it is also imperative that innovative businesses be able to adapt. Experimentation is vital to innovation, which also comes hand in hand with failure. This is all part of the fine-tuning process when developing new products, services, models or what-have-you. All these companies have realized that although there is cost involved in blunders, the cost of not making mistakes for the sake of improvement is even greater, transcending the profit-driven attitude of yesterday. For example, Timberland has re-structured the company with the objective of becoming carbon neutral by 2010 even at the risk of loss (although they haven’t). IBM, Nintendo are all actively involved in constant exploration and enquiry has led them to hits such as the Wii. These innovations although they may be products of necessity, reinvent industry expectations and continue to raise the bar.

Last but not least all of these companies have a clear and lofty vision and mission statement for the future. Many top companies today operate conscientiously reflecting the values of the times. They seek to differentiate amongst themselves as well as to provide quality of very high calibre. These companies can not benefit very long with first-mover advantages therefore must rely on constant improvement and the pursuit of quality to thrive, not only this but passion above all is the greatest drive behind many business endeavours and can be the distinguishing point between a company that does well and a company that surpasses expectations.

Managers of today can take many cues from what these top fifty companies have achieved and the routes they have taken to reach this point in their progression. Clarity in vision as well as flexibility and a more horizontally skewed attitude towards company hierarchy can go a long way not to mention adaptability. Managers and businesses must find their niche in the ecosystem and interact with it accordingly. In a world of billions, successes and failures are fast to reveal themselves making a constant flow of innovation crucial for breakthroughs as well as a sense of empathy and purpose for the world we live in today.