At lunch today at the Association of Corporate Counsel Annual Meeting in San Antonio, TX, there was a panel discussion between Brad Smith, Senior Vice President & General Counsel, Microsoft and Kent Walker, Vice President & General Counsel, Google. And it was a thriller!
They set the scene by talking about the amount of information that is available today, and how much we are creating. They talked in units that are like a thousand times bigger than a terabyte. Made my head ache! Then they turned to YouTube. The amount of material being put on it in 24 hours is equivalent to Hollywood releasing 126,000 full length movies every week.
Smith has had to tell colleagues “I know you read that on Wikipedia, but there is more to law than that.” In addition I don’t understand why we put trust in something like Wikipedia which is a collaborative effort of reciting facts. It just doesn’t have credibility from my viewpoint. Really, people, what is likely to be the quality of something that has that sort of input. I’m reminded of the concept of reversion to the mean.
And we are going well beyond gui (graphical user interface), to natural user interface (nui) – more smart screens. And screens where the camera is imbedded in the pixels.
Google thrives on innovation and there was a news story one day about the creation of a robot car. Walker said that you haven’t lived as a General Counsel until a colleague tells you that the Shah of Bahrain wants to drive a robot car, and asks whether Google has to issue a release (for securities law purposes). Think with your head – it’s a “robot” car! Too much ping pong I guess.
They both talked that the best technology tool for in house lawyers are those that are collaborative, presumably like Google docs and SharePoint. These help to create the “hive mind”. Nice concept for a team.
There is clearly a huge advantage to these companies taking on the influx of young workers who have grown up with technology. They described these youngins as “digital natives”. One of their characteristics is that they expect more transparency in the workplace.
Walker spoke of the work Google has done with the Center for Disease Control. The Center was used to tracking the number of cases of flu for example and allocating resources accordingly. What Google introduced them to was watching the numbers of searches on the symptoms (e.g. cough, fever, etc) and realize that when people were searching on that, that flu was about to break out in those areas. So in other words, people can look online for data that will be a better predictor of problems, than monitoring the occurrence of problems.
At one point Smith (remember Microsoft) lamented that it was easier to find info on the web than in their own company. Walker (remember Google) replied: let us know if we can help with that!
A great presentation. Kudos to ACC for arranging this.
Tuesday, October 26, 2010
Thursday, October 21, 2010
Providing Cancer Services in Aboriginal Communities
Mr. Justice Murray Sinclair spoke this evening at the Community Cancer Care Education Conference. He spoke of his leadership at the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, and related that to providing cancer related services in aboriginal communities. The essence has to do with hearing. People will respond if you hear what they need and offer the services accordingly. Specifically, engage local traditional healers in the process. Very insightful.
Sunday, October 10, 2010
Happy Binary Day
On this binary day (10/10/10) remember that there are only 10 types of people in the world: those who understand binary and those who don't.
Thursday, October 7, 2010
You’ll chuckle as you read ...
In the October 4, 2010 issue of Thompson’s Insurance News there is an article on “’Gen Y’ Recruiting Requires New Understanding of Workers” – reporting on a session from the 2010 Risk & Insurance Management Society Canada Conference. The report is on an address by MarsUSA managing director Dan McGarvey. It makes a number of very good points – and it seemed to me some very true tongue in cheek humour. This publication is not generally available so I’ll repeat the best parts here:
“If you think 20-somethings entering the insurance industry are disrespectful, self-involved and always looking for shortcuts, you’re right. But those aren’t necessarily liabilities. ... the “millennial” generation doesn’t respond to the same carrots or sticks as earlier generations. The average 21 year old will have four or five jobs before age 30. So it’s hard to motivate Gen Y workers with promises that patience and paying dues will lead to slow but steady promotion and a good pension. More Gen Y’ers believe in UFOs than social security.” D A H !!!
“McGarvey cited frequent stereotypes associated with 20-somethings:
-they don’t respect authority. They respect authority that’s earned, not artificial titles. Where boomers might consider a 30-year company veteran a font of wisdom borne of experience, the Gen Y is more likely to consider him a loser for staying in one place for his entire working life. Is 15 years of experience just one year repeated 15 times?
-They’re always looking for short cuts. Yes, and that’s good. It makes a company more efficient.”
“Stereotyping swings both ways, and boomers might squirm to know how they appear to the brave new cohorts:
-They are technically illiterate and don’t even try to keep up.
-they are slow to adapt to change. “We’ve always done it this way” is simply not an acceptable explanation to Gen Y.
-They’re no fun. Millennials make no apologies for having a life outside work, nor for bringing their irreverence and sense of humour to the job.”
“Want to send a downy-cheeked recruit to your competition. Mr. McGarvey offered some ways to alienate Gen Y.
-use standards other than the quality or quantity of their work to evaluate them. So they dress casually and flaunt piercings and tattoos – if they get the job done and don’t interact with clients, why not?
-give the “dues paying” lecture. It just doesn’t register.”
Definitely food for thought.
“If you think 20-somethings entering the insurance industry are disrespectful, self-involved and always looking for shortcuts, you’re right. But those aren’t necessarily liabilities. ... the “millennial” generation doesn’t respond to the same carrots or sticks as earlier generations. The average 21 year old will have four or five jobs before age 30. So it’s hard to motivate Gen Y workers with promises that patience and paying dues will lead to slow but steady promotion and a good pension. More Gen Y’ers believe in UFOs than social security.” D A H !!!
“McGarvey cited frequent stereotypes associated with 20-somethings:
-they don’t respect authority. They respect authority that’s earned, not artificial titles. Where boomers might consider a 30-year company veteran a font of wisdom borne of experience, the Gen Y is more likely to consider him a loser for staying in one place for his entire working life. Is 15 years of experience just one year repeated 15 times?
-They’re always looking for short cuts. Yes, and that’s good. It makes a company more efficient.”
“Stereotyping swings both ways, and boomers might squirm to know how they appear to the brave new cohorts:
-They are technically illiterate and don’t even try to keep up.
-they are slow to adapt to change. “We’ve always done it this way” is simply not an acceptable explanation to Gen Y.
-They’re no fun. Millennials make no apologies for having a life outside work, nor for bringing their irreverence and sense of humour to the job.”
“Want to send a downy-cheeked recruit to your competition. Mr. McGarvey offered some ways to alienate Gen Y.
-use standards other than the quality or quantity of their work to evaluate them. So they dress casually and flaunt piercings and tattoos – if they get the job done and don’t interact with clients, why not?
-give the “dues paying” lecture. It just doesn’t register.”
Definitely food for thought.
Rebooting Prosperity May Require Updating Our Culture
http://blogs.hbr.org/haque/2010/10/sam_zells_tribune_and_the_high.html
Wow! This article has a great message and is entertainingly written. The author talks of a “company making all the wrong moves – and one where the boardroom is like a parody of Animal House”. Ok, now he has my attention. He describes the newspaper company in question as “pursuing tired old 20th century advantage – in the most simplistic way possible, hoping that cutting costs to rake in a few tiny efficiency gains or adding a few ad pages will save it from sweeping strategy decay”. His conclusion: there’s a deeper problem at a cultural level.
He then winds around examining corporate strength and concludes that it is no longer about dominance, but about the capacity to evoke. “It’s the power to inspire, animate, infuse, spark, evoke – and then connect, link, and collaborate, to be a force multiplier.”
He feels that booster jumping the economy is going to take more than stimulus packages, bailout and quantitative easing. It is going to require something deeper; a change of values. And it is not just in the corporate arena, but in society in general. There is a need to examine the culture of our society. I think he has a point.
Wow! This article has a great message and is entertainingly written. The author talks of a “company making all the wrong moves – and one where the boardroom is like a parody of Animal House”. Ok, now he has my attention. He describes the newspaper company in question as “pursuing tired old 20th century advantage – in the most simplistic way possible, hoping that cutting costs to rake in a few tiny efficiency gains or adding a few ad pages will save it from sweeping strategy decay”. His conclusion: there’s a deeper problem at a cultural level.
He then winds around examining corporate strength and concludes that it is no longer about dominance, but about the capacity to evoke. “It’s the power to inspire, animate, infuse, spark, evoke – and then connect, link, and collaborate, to be a force multiplier.”
He feels that booster jumping the economy is going to take more than stimulus packages, bailout and quantitative easing. It is going to require something deeper; a change of values. And it is not just in the corporate arena, but in society in general. There is a need to examine the culture of our society. I think he has a point.
Lennox and Darwin - Be curious, think outside the box and be responsive to change.
Had some time for some interesting reading at lunch time and came across these quotes:
Annie Lennox: the secret to staying relevant is curiosity, and not allowing yourself to be boxed in or easily categorized.
Charles Darwin: It is not the strongest of the species that survive, nor the most intelligent, but the one most responsive to change.
Annie Lennox: the secret to staying relevant is curiosity, and not allowing yourself to be boxed in or easily categorized.
Charles Darwin: It is not the strongest of the species that survive, nor the most intelligent, but the one most responsive to change.
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