Innovation advisory and IRM/InfoSec/I-Audit services. Positive contrarian, inspirator, loosen-upper.
OK, an integration of very old material with some new stuff: The things from the past being about how, in frequent swirls of comments and rants against ‘middle’ managers, there were two responses from my side: 1. Yes, they are, often (I), of the worst kind and that qualification has no Dutch connotation involved here; … Continue reading “Meddle Managers”
Two points to make: * Middle management will be. * Secretaries should be. The discussion regarding middle managers being superfluous or not had a slight uptick the past couple of months. With the latter voice having been a bit too quiet. Yes, middle management is under threat. It has always been; only the (history-)ignorant will … Continue reading “Middle secretaries”
All the mavericks of the world rejoice (and Maverisk among them, of course, already); finally there’s new [howzat for a typifying contradictio..?] evidence-of-sorts that the below that had popped into my mind a couple of days ago, is still, more, valid than ever. Being, related but in an angled/vector-transposed way, not about rebels but about … Continue reading “Glee because of support”
How is it that for a long time we were used to managerial spans of control being in the 5‑to‑10, optimal (sic) 8 range, whereas what we had in the past couple of decades so often was spans of control in the 2‑3 range ..? [Duh, exceptions and successful organizations aside…] Because I came across … Continue reading “Span (out) of Control”
A short post for All, and for None. Whether you like it, or not. If you got the reference (*sigh*; here, for the outitiated) you may read on Else #include <complex.h> Endif Where there’s a line from the Classics, the pre-Socrates ones and later literary additions (like these, and this one and this one, and … Continue reading “Hegelian Hybris”
In Dutch, yet another ‘Book By Quote’ then. A full of … ‘marvelous content’ one again. An attempt to subjectively summarise a book by the quotes I found worthwhile to mark, to remember. Be aware that the quotes as such, aren’t a real unbiased ‘objective’ summary; most often I heartily advise to read the book … Continue reading “Book by Quote: Olietankers en Speedboten”
Well, well, we we at it again. An On The Job assessment of recruiting-HR. If you wondered: It didn’t go well – for the also present possible/prospective chief [hereafter: chief] with a somewhat-urgent vacancy. The following may read as accusative to the feeble-hearted reader, but is not meant to be other than an ironic display; … Continue reading “Intermission: 80s – 20s”
What happens when your CEO wants concrete examples of a risk you mention: He’s (less often, she’s!) the “don’t bring me problems, bring me solutions” kind of guy. Run. He doesn’t even understand his own role as the chief Leader. Just signing off on the preferred solution is for a middle, rather middling, manager [pejorative … Continue reading “Your CEO wants concrete examples …”
Lately, there has been a slight resurge of the Leaders vs. Managers ‘debate’ [since I’m unsure it’s a debate as much as it is manager-bashing and oh the ideal is to be a Leader; later on that below], including some detail issues like language. Contra this, first this, and then this. Plus this, and this. … Continue reading “Even leaders manage”
Recently, there appears to be a bit of a hubbub about the fairness that would not be in AI systems’ outcomes. I know I know that’s a vast understatement, and a major branch of professional (~ ethics) development in the AI arena in general. To which the venerable (heh) Jad Nohra added this: A simple … Continue reading “The battle: Fairness contra ‘GDPR’”