Book Recommendation – Gang Leader for a Day
When it comes to quality strategic futures work as part of making the pragmatic decisions that shifts beyond theoretical futures work, I encourage my clients to question the assumptions they make about the information they have available to them. Which is why I am recommending the book ‘Gang Leader for a day – a rougue sociologist takes to the streets’ by Sudhir Venkatesh. What Venkatesh highlights so succinctly is that making decisions when you are disconnected from reality will ultimately lead to outcomes you didn’t expect.
Interestingly enough, the ‘rogue’ element in the title exists because Venkatesh engaged in a practise that apparently was outside the realm of standard sociology – he actually spent time with the people he was writing about! Can you imagine that, someone daring to ‘get informed’ through first hand experience rather than trite and shallow quantitative based market surveys? Unbelievable, I mean, who does he think he is? 🙂 The book itself has some wonderful gems, like the observation that policy makers had no clues about how ‘the projects’ housing area actually worked and one of the lessons is clear – making decisions from on high without questioning your assumptions and assessing your expectations leads to a pretty fragile final result.
Mr Venkatesh – much Kudos! Published by Penguin this year, a truly enlightening read to say the least
In rental and lease markets it’s fair to say that for the best part of three decades, the landlords have been the price setters. The rules around negative gearing in domestic supply enable sizeable portfolios. Demand in office spaces in central suburbs has been consistently tight. And now, finally, CFO’s have become aware of the…
Read More >With Australia having just about wrestled Covid19 to the ground (NSW remains a bit of an issue) there’s now surging demand for PPE in the USA. The Covid19 virus is tracking toward an exponential increase and PPE Manufacturers should start looking for supply opportunities Sadly in the USA over the past week, they are adding…
Read More >The Mechanical, Psychological, and Biological Interventions of a Pandemic With Johnson and Johnson also pausing it’s #Covid19 #vaccine trial, it is becoming clearer to more of the public, that the long steady path to a vaccine is not something that can be rushed for anyone’s political agenda or preferred view of the world. We’re learning…
Read More >It seems that one way or another, Victoria is going to pop out of #Lockdown. Probably not in the way we would have hoped. And so for everyone pushing for #AfterLockdown in Victoria and for the wider society, there are two questions you must confront: One – ‘What do you feel is an acceptable level…
Read More >No, it’s not easy. Most of the challenges come down to our expectations – are they valid based on the assumptions you have made about your future? Those assumptions are based on the information you have available to you. We gather information, make an assessment of meaning, which leads us to make assumptions for an…
Read More >A thought on the ‘Why should I be in lock-down in my suburb, it’s not fair that we have to do it and no one else has to, my hair’s a mess I need to sell coffees and pizza’ crowd – an explanation you might appreciate You’ve been asked to go back into lock-down…
Read More >Visions are forward looking statement, but good ones, REALLY good ones have key elements 1. They are things you want but do NOT have 2. Are as long or as short as they need to be 3. Are by the people they are for 4. Are for the people they are by 5.Offer stability in…
Read More >If there’s one thing that the #CaronaVirus has shown us loud and clear it is that we are reliant on the people AT THE CONTACT FACE to carry us through. For Individuals, it is those in Healthcare we rely on. For Populations, it is those in food creation and delivery and sanitation we rely on.…
Read More >Most Councils and Government community assets are in full lock-down. Now more than ever, Local Councils Must Pivot their focus on what their Communities Can and Will do instead. Basketball stadiums? Closed Swimming Pools? Closed Theaters? Closed Libraries? Closed Community Halls? Closed Around the country these critical social assets are in shut down. And with…
Read More >Travel Insurance Providers may face claims for cancellations for travel plans yet taken. But the HUGE risk is covering costs for people ALREADY overseas. That’s way more costly For people with travel insurance taken out prior to the #CaronaVirus being made a declared event, getting your money back will be relatively straight forward. In…
Read More >