Image via Wikipedia Risks are magnified after a historically volatile event like Thursday. The 11.3% intraday move was a 10 sigma event (if you treat the daily range of SPY as a normal Gaussian distribution). Per the excellent blog at http://www.aleph.se/andart/archives/2009/09/ten_sigma_numerics_and_finance.html, a 10 sigma event can be expected to occur in 1x 10^23 days or […]
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complexity in the curriculum
Image via Wikipedia The college in-briefed the new Commander yesterday; From the dialogue emerged his 4 priorities: FYSA. LD&E executed its orientation briefing to LTG Caslen yesterday, and one slide briefly illustrated the following as the CG’s top four priorities: 1. Leader Development (sub-bullets below are not all-inclusive) – Develop and implement ILE 2010 – […]
Systems dynamics meets the Afghan war via Powerpoint
It is becoming a common practice to laugh at that slide, but try on this thought experiment: what if someone made a slide of a zoom in on the surface of a semi-conductor chip? Wouldn’t that seem as incomprehensible and “foolish”? and yet by the slow process of developing knowledge we have become capable of extraordinary […]
Obama declares people of Arizona are irresponsible
Image via Wikipedia Obama, elected by citizens, according to the law, has declared the citizens and their duly elected representatives, who followed the law to pass a law, as irresponsible. You would expect that from true believers, who see the world in absolutes: the members of this group include children, the naive, idealists, utopianists, and […]
Complexity in process consulting: a good thing?
Image via Wikipedia A colleague used the word “simplistic” in describing the 10 principles of process consulting offered by Ed Schein. I interpreted his use of the word simplistic in describing shines 10 principles as a negative thing. There’s a part of me that remembers the 10 Commandments are simplistic too. In my studies of […]
Learning from the process consultant
Image via Wikipedia Think about the last time you worked with a consultant in your organization: looking back at what the consultant did and said, were there any specific behaviors that surprised you? Did she do something that you and the faculty were not already capable of doing? If they did something new, is the […]
The persona of the process consultant: is it intentional or assigned?
Image by Getty Images via Daylife I’m wondering if you have ever had the experience of deliberately planning your relationship to the organization you’re trying to help change. I am discovering that I tend to have a particular role that I favor witches being an expert. Sometimes when I act as an expert by taking […]
How important is contextual knowledge for process consultants in business settings?
Image via Wikipedia am interested in knowing in what two or three adjectives you would use to describe the essential nature of the environment that you operate in for your business. What do you consider to be the most important environmental influences on the system that is your business? Is your environment something that your […]
Thought experiment for contract teachers
Image via Wikipedia in your capacity as a contract employee as a teacher, did you find that your employer’s request for you to offer expert advice conflicted with your perceived role as a teacher? One of our most important learnings about the use of contract services in the Department of Defense are the challenges of […]
Planning considerations for “insider” consultants
Image via Wikipedia as an inside consultant with considerable knowledge of the status quo, what kinds of procedures or checklists or attitudes do you think are necessary to ensure that we are taking a fresh look at a well-known situation to find root causes? How dangerous is it for the organization to have OD consultants […]