Meditation Research
The German weekly news magazine Focus had a cover story last Saturday on mental training and the latest findings in science about stress and burn-out. Meditation and mindfulness turn out to be effective tools against stress and burn-out symptoms.
Very successful in the US is MBSR: Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction, which is offered as an 8 week course in 250 clinics all over the country. It has been developed by the Center for Mindfulness (CFM) at the University of Massachusetts Medical School: “The central focus of the Clinic is intensive training in mindfulness meditation and its integration into the challenges/adventures of everyday life.” Jon Kabat-Zinn invented this methodology and made proof that it is medically effective. It is based on an ancient Buddhist meditation technique: Vipassana Meditation which is also called insight-meditation and aims at self transformation through self observation.
There is more and more evidence from research on the effects of meditation. Psychologist Richard Davidson worked closely with the Dalai Lama who connected him to Tibetan monks with whom he could do his medical studies of the brain as it relates to meditation. The outcome of his work can be read here: Mental Training Affects Distribution of Limited Brain Resources and Alterations in Brain and Immune Function Produced by Mindfulness Meditation.
Sara Lazar at Harvard University found out that meditation influences cortical thickness of people who have meditated for a long time: “Brain regions associated with attention, interoception and sensory processing were thicker in meditation participants than matched controls, including the prefrontal cortex and right anterior insula. Between-group differences in prefrontal cortical thickness were most pronounced in older participants, suggesting that meditation might offset age-related cortical thinning.”
In my previous blog entry I mentioned that meditation is still regarded as strange by many in our Western world. Although there have been already some meditation courses for executives in the past this type of mental training remains outside the corporate world. Through the type of research mentioned here this might change over time.
We see more and more adoption of Eastern philosophy in our Western world. Tools from Buddhism, Yoga, Ayurveda, chinese medical treatment... the list is long. Regularly there are features in the press or television about any one of these techniques. A probably more philosophical question is why we do not stick with our own techniques, our medicine, the belief in our religion? Apparently these are not able to fill a gap that has occured with the ever accelerating pace of the world around us which made us loose contact to our own roots, traditions, ancient wisdoms...??
Posted at
08:37PM May 14, 2008
by Volker Seubert in Personal |
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Presencing
Some years ago I came across an interesting theory of a professor at MIT called Claus Otto Scharmer. Since I started this blog I always wanted to point it out. Now already one year passed since he published his book based on years of research including many interviews with leaders from all continents: Theory U: Leading from the Future as it Emerges.
I have to admit that I am absolutely impressed by his forward thinking approach. Just the title “Leading from the Future as it Emerges” and the core element of his theory, Presencing: “Letting the inner knowing emerge” feels to me like a ground-breaking, eye-opening approach to start solving some of the worlds most prevalent problems by educating the leaders for the coming decades of this century in any organization or institution.
He writes in the executive review on the Theory U webpage that I will use here as I do not count on describing it any better in my own words (also the Graphic inserted is borrowed from there): “We are blind to the source dimension from which effective leadership and social action come into being. We know a great deal about what leaders do and how they do it. But we know very little about the inner place, the source from which they operate. And it is this source that “ Theory U” attempts to explore.”
In this article about Theory U that I invite you all to read he is referring to Albert Einstein who “famously noted that problems cannot be resolved by the same level of consciousness that created them.” And Scharmer continues: “If we address our 21st-century challenges with reactive mind-sets that mostly reflect the realities of the 19th and 20th centuries, we will increase frustration, cynicism, and anger.” To really address the systemic root issues of our problems he suggests a new Social Technology, consisting of seven essential leadership capacities: Holding the space of listening, Observing, Sensing, Presencing, Crystallizing, Prototyping, Performing which he lays out in any of the sources linked above. He starts very simply with listening and lists 4 levels of it: downloading, factual, empathic, generative... somewhere in his article there is a subtitle: “Slowing down to Understand” which best describes where most of us are at and where we should go...
I think this is enough to make you curious, there are more materials on the web at Ottoscharmer.com. There is also the Presencing Institute. I am always looking myself for ways to use any of the elements in my daily life and work. And I am coming back to a path that some may pursue after looking more deeply into Theory U, something I already mentioned while writing about Jim Collins' Level 5 Leadership and this is Meditation. A technique still regarded as strange by many in our western world but definitely used by some Asian leaders (although it is also practiced in Christian religions). We are at the essence here to solve some of the “Human Challenges” we are currently facing not only at a corporate level... This may lead us to connect more to our inner being and... no fundamental change without any fundamental transformation of Self!
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11:17PM May 08, 2008
by Volker Seubert in Human Resources |
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Pivotal Talent
I got some inspiration out of an HR meeting I have been in last week. We had an interesting discussion based on a concept from Boudreau/Ramstad about an effective talent strategy for the business. The authors get to the point how talent resources connect to strategic success. In consequence they describe how to identify a companies' “Pivotal Talent”. In order to do this it is crucial to know what are the key critical business processes that mostly contribute to the defined strategic success and then get clear about the people who are influencing these processes.
That way Federal Express in Asia identified couriers and dispatchers as being the pivotal talent. They needed to be knowledgeable about the logistics behind the scenes to give the customer the right answer if asked to wait another 15min because there are 10 more packages to come. Either they could do it knowing that the timing window at the airport hub is wide open or they would need to tell the customer that someone else will be picking up these additional ones.
The Disney example is also about increasing the customer experience and satisfaction as the main strategic goal. They identified the sweepers as most critical to help make people feel cared about waiting in the queues. They could for example get a new icecream for a child who just had it's fallen on the ground.
The pivotal talent may not always be the most obvious talent that we naturally tend to value. This shows that the concept of “Pivotal Talent” is even more important to apply!
Posted at
06:47PM Mar 20, 2008
by Volker Seubert in Human Resources |
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Brainstorming
Another really interesting learning I had over the past week was brainstorming with reverse assumptions. It may sound obvious or easy but a group doing it the first time needs a while to get into it. What would you say being part of a services group if you are NOT customer oriented? But exactly this provoking statement gets new ideas out of people. They start thinking about what this really means and things like bringing services proactively to the customer can arise – opening up to go beyond customer oriented!
Posted at
06:47PM Mar 20, 2008
by Volker Seubert in Human Resources |
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Europe of Regions?
I was reminded of an interesting European reality during my stay in Barcelona last week. Europe is not as homogenous as many people may think. Alone the European Union consists of 27 countries. Within these countries there are a lot of regions that have own cultural traditions and own languages. Spain for example consists of several regions with different languages the most predominant being the Basque region (in the north-west around Bilbao/San Sebastian reaching pretty far into French territory) and Catalonia (region around Barcelona). One of the major German newspapers titled an article in connection with the Spanish elections last week-end “State without Nation”. Both the Basque and the Catalan got some autonomy within Spain, they have powerful regional political parties that play a role in the government. Also they are important economical hubs on the Iberian peninsula.
The Young European Federalists promote the idea of a Europe of Regions, power for what makes sense at the lowest political level, also to solve for Nationality conflicts like the one of the Basque who are split to Spain and France. I copied this from their website:
This could make a lot of sense to reduce bureaucracy for the benefit of the people if the complexity at a European level would not increase. With 27 countries and their governments all having a voice to decide on political direction the EU is already far too complex and limits its global role. Complexity at that level definitely needs to be reduced rather than increased!
Posted at
10:50PM Mar 13, 2008
by Volker Seubert in Europe & Beyond |
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Arabic History
Let me write up some final notes casually collected around the Dubai topic. The most interesting piece really is that European history is related to Arabic culture. Who knows that the Iberian peninsula had been conquered nearly entirely by the Muslim moors of Arabic and Berber descendant back in the 8. century? They were known as being extremely tolerant towards the defeated Christian and Jew population. Everyone was explicitly permitted to follow their own cults and religion which was not at all common at that time. The Christian's were extremely intolerant in that regard.
Something that could have favored the quick learning of the Sheiks from the West is the fact that there are aspects of Islam religion which are apparently very much favoring the acquisition of knowledge for its believers. This was one reason why the Islamic world in historic times held several huge libraries, like at the University of Cordoba (today Spain) with half a Million books or the two caliphian libraries in Cairo with 2 Million. Science had an important place. In the year 1000 a scientific catalogue was published in Bagdad containing everything written thus far in Arabian on Philosophy, Astronomy, Maths, Physics, Chemistry and Medicine. At the same time Abulkasis writes a standard work on surgery valid for centuries, Albiruni already discusses that the earth is surrounding the sun and Alhazen discovers the principles of optics and experiments with the camera obscura.
Only in 1492 with the conquest of Granada which marks the end of the centuries long Reconquista Christian rule was entirely reestablished in Iberia and with it prosecution and intolerance started to reign. Only source of wisdom was the bible, it gave all explanations how the earth was related to the universe. Just reading scientific papers was a sin. Paralyzed in this conservatism, it still took Christianity several hundred years until the age of enlightenment before starting to open up towards more liberal views.
Today it looks like the Islamic world is split. As stated here before the Emirates are definitely setting an example for a new Islamic openness following the footsteps of their far ancestors.
Posted at
08:54PM Feb 28, 2008
by Volker Seubert in Europe & Beyond |
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Arabic Capitalism
Interestingly the German weekly news magazine “Der Spiegel” ran a title story on Dubai beginning of February. Looks like the topic is hot. It was emphasizing the superlatives aspect of Dubai, the Emirates being the country in the world with the most mentions in the Guinness Book of records. But far more interesting it was looking at Dubai as an Arabic/Islamic model for the future, an element against Islamic conservatism, poverty, civil war and terrorism in other parts of the middle east and north Africa. Located between East and West, with a population of 1,5 Billion in a radius of 3 hours flight, being close to the growing markets of India/Pakistan, China not being far, as well as the European Union on the other side, Dubai has developed into a major very liberal trading place, somehow reviving the ancient silk road.
The Sheiks of the Emirates are positioning themselves and their country as the spearhead of a new Arabic/Islamic openness and tolerance. During a conference of Arabian states Dubai's Emir and Emirate's Prime Minister Sheik Mohammed Ibn Rashid Al Maktoum threw the following words to his fellow senior government leaders: “Change yourselves otherwise you will get changed.” He is not interested if someone is Sunnit or Shiit, those who are good to their neighbors and work hard are welcome. During his latest visit to the Emirates President Bush gave his blessing, stating that the Emirates are a model of an Islamic state tolerant against people of all religions. Dubai Marketing is advertising with slogans like: “Imagine a world in which no one is a stranger!” 150 nations live together in peace, there are 50 nations amongst the Palm investors.
So the summary really is that the Sheiks are learning very quickly from the West and getting a lot of acceptance. They are very well positioned in the global competition to attract investors as well as consumers and tourists from all cultures. The Egyptian author Jussuf Ibrahim is quoted at the end of the articel, that for decades (Muslim) people travelled to Saudi-Arabia, Irak and Iran importing into their countries the ideas of islamic fundamentalism and bringing black shawls for their wives. Today they go to the Gulf, bring Jeans for their wives and ideas how to make business. "Long live Arabic capitalism!"
Posted at
07:11PM Feb 26, 2008
by Volker Seubert in Europe & Beyond |
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What Petrodollars can do!
We had a meeting in Dubai last week in one of our global top growth regions, the middle east. First impression was like coming to the US or even more precisely to Las Vegas. Huge roads, big cars, tall hotels that in terms of standard are amongst the best of the world as the Burj al Arab. Already before I heard that the city is a huge construction site with all crane capacities concentrated there – and it is. For an impression of the state the city is actually in watch this short video, a drive on Sheikh Zayed Road. The Burj al Dubai is supposed to become the world's tallest skyscraper. On February 5 it actually reached the height of 604.9m (1,985ft). Although the final height was to be kept secret it leaked out that the plan is to go up to 818m (2,684ft).
There are a lot of other development projects (click this link for an overview) currently in progress, planned or finished, like Ski Dubai a skiing hall in the desert, Dubai's Disney World “ Dubailand” and most interestingly all the artificial islands in the sea, the Palm Islands, The World, The Universe. Not to mention all the huge shopping malls that already exist like Souk Madinat Jumeirah or the Mall of the Emirates.
Although one will find Arabic elements in the architecture most buildings still feel pretty artificial. The most impressive building and an architectural success for me is the Burj al Arab built to resemble the sail of a dhow, a type of Arabian vessel. People living in Dubai for years complained that the city lost much of it's Arabic character.
On January 24 the Herald Tribune reported about the project of “Lyon Dubai City”, the idea of Buti Saeed al-Ghandi the head of Emivest to build a little Lyon after he was overwhelmed visiting the city. The project planner was cited having said that this would not be Disneyland or Las Vegas, they want to make people feel that they are in Lyon without copying the architecture of the city itself!
But it is not Dubai alone seeking to invest the oil billions to develop a self sustaining economy. The big neighbor of the United Arab Emirates on the Arabian peninsula, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia the world's leading oil exporting country has even more incredible plans. King Abdullah, the 83-year-old Saudi monarch, himself is pushing a plan to establish six "economic cities" to be completed by the year 2020 in different regions of the country to promote development and diversification. The cities will be King Abdullah Economic City on the western coast, near the city of Rabigh; the Knowledge Economic City, near Medina; and the Prince Abdulaziz bin Mousaed Economic City, in the north.
Referring to another article of the Herald Tribune from January 20 the cities are supposed to create one million new jobs and be home to as many as five million people. They will together have three times the population of Dubai, and an economic output equal to Singapore's. Other plans include building four refineries, two petrochemical plants and a modern graduate-level university with an endowment of $10 billion. The focus will mainly be on four main sectors: petrochemicals, aluminum, steel and fertilizers. One big industry project is already in progress and ready to start production of plastics end of this year: the refining and petrochemical plant of Rabigh that will as one of the world's largest petrochemical plants begin to put Saudi Arabia within the top three chemical producers in the world within a few years. It is a joint venture of the state-run oil company Saudi Aramco and Sumitomo Chemical of Japan.
All this investment would not have been possible without the surge in energy prices which have quadrupled since 2002 and reached $100 a barrel in New York in January. But clearly the oil exporting nations do not invest all their increasing fortunes in their own countries. The McKinsey Quarterly in January analyzes “The new role of oil wealth in the world economy”. Added liquidity from these countries has significantly lowered interest rates and increased real-estate values in developed countries. McKinsey concludes that petrodollars are creating inflationary pressures in markets for illiquid investments, such as real estate, art, and companies and states that if the pressures move beyond those markets, the potential asset price bubbles could burst. The question is how the world economy long term would react to higher oil prices that it has so far accommodated without a notable rise in inflation or an economic slowdown?
Last but not least I have to mention that I really enjoyed the Arabian food, one of my favorites being Hummus!
Posted at
05:03PM Feb 10, 2008
by Volker Seubert in Europe & Beyond |
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Dubai
I spent two days in Dubai this week which inspired me pretty much. The picture shows the Burj al Arab lightened in different colours during the night. As a 7 star hotel it is known to be the best in the world. Being confronted with superlatives - this is what it means to go to Dubai. If I have some time over the next days I will write more...
Posted at
06:20PM Feb 08, 2008
by Volker Seubert in Personal |
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Alumni Networks
More reading on social networks brought me to the term Corporate Social Networking (CSN) and SelectMinds, Inc., a CSN solutions provider, apparently coining this term. The results of their first annual client benchmarking study done last year, which examined the financial contributions of CSN solutions to a cross section of its client base of 60 leading, global organizations revealed that a better connected workforce through CSN technology can yield significant financial contributions to organizations. Key benefits noted included productivity contributions, retention contributions, new business opportunities and leverage to re-hire former employees!
The latter is an interesting fact. Let us just collect some of the benefits of keeping former employees connected with the company. These relationships are a source of business and employee referrals including the possibility to re-hire them. Social Networking tools are ideal to build an alumni community and integrate it with regular employees. In that way their knowledge can be more easily accessed which could play a major role with retirees.
But the fact of having more direct access to this population with the intention to re-hire them seems to be the most attractive by far as rehires are quickly up to speed when they come back. They bring a huge motivation with them as they experienced that the grass is not greener elsewhere. They came back because they learned to value the company culture more. And in consequence they are more successful than the average employee, get promoted more quickly and make their ways through the organization. Not to mention the obvious: hiring cost for this population is much lower!
Another aspect where Social Networking can bring value is “Relational Onboarding”. The Human Capital Institute found that the quicker new hires establish relationships the more productive, the more satisfied and loyal to the organization they are!
The business network Xing had a conference on alumni networks already in 2006. More information can be found in the SelectMinds White Paper “Increasing the density of connections to power business performance” which can be requested on their webpage.
Posted at
07:22AM Jan 21, 2008
by Volker Seubert in Human Resources |
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Europe Unite!
Not to miss out on a still historic event even though there was not a lot of buzz around it. So just a brief update on the expansion of the Schengen Area. From Dec 21 2007 there were no border controls at overland borders and seaports any more to go to any of the following countries coming from within another Schengen country: Poland, Hungary, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta and Slovenia. But please note that only from March 29 2008 the border controls will fall at the airports of these countries!
If you have some time here you find an interesting article specifically about the german-polish boarder in this context. All this is a really great evolution, the old wounds from history are getting more and more healed the closer we get to each other. European people unite - the doors are wide open!
Posted at
02:17PM Jan 19, 2008
by Volker Seubert in Europe & Beyond |
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Networks versus Matrix
Shortly after I put my last entry online I read another McKinsey article (Harnessing the power of informal employee networks) from November 2007 which even more explicitly positions the formal network as a new model against the matrix organization.
There were some interesting elements that were put forward contributing to the dysfunction of a matrix organization going back to history. Matrix organizations worked well until the late 1980s because they were used sparingly and did not greatly confuse the hierarchical lines responsible for the success of the companies. As the work environment became more complex with the demands of globalization more matrix roles were created as many different perspectives needed to be integrated.
This led to more interactions and decisions to be handled overwhelming the matrix manager. Also the amount of knowledge and information exceeded personal capacities of any individual. In order to work horizontally across an organization employees found themselves confronted with searching through poorly connected organizational silos for the knowledge and collaborators they needed.
McKinsey did a study which discovered how much information and knowledge flows through formal networks against how little through official hierarchical and matrix structures.
So very simply a formal network can be established by splitting up the matrix inherent dual line reporting to one solid line remaining and the more functional oriented line substituted by a formal network that through better knowledge flow and quick relationship building is for instance far better suited for best practice sharing.
A clear owner of such a network is needed and the scope of activities need to be defined to avoid network overlaps. Most interestingly the article talks about a “servant leader” in this role as this individual is not a boss but a facilitator of interactions between members, responsible for the infrastructure (which requires a budget!), training, incentives for participation and contribution. So enough possibilities to influence the performance of the network to be held accountable for it. Very clearly these networks need to exist outside the hierarchical decision-making processes within the company.
All the value can be accelerated by having many different networks exist in parallel. Then there would be an effect of cross fertilization through employees being part of multiple communities.
I believe success is dependent on the buy in of the senior management of a company as structures need to be provided meaning serious investment is needed and on the other hand on the “servant leader” who needs to be charismatic and experienced in motivating employees to collaborative behavior.
Value of Social Networks
Recently I put together a few slides about the benefits of social networks to update our team. As you know from some of my former entries I strongly believe that Human Resources professionals need to get on top of this trend as it is touching many different HR related topics: organization consulting, change management, communication, learning, team collaboration, compensation, retention, motivation, leadership requirements...
Here are the slides, let me briefly go through:
What is Web 2.0? - Starting off with a brief explanation: The phenomenon of Web 2.0 appears to me as two fold. On one hand all the people participating via blogs, videos, etc. contributing, sharing and voting. On the other hand new technologies that make it easier and more comfortable to find information and consume information. This reminds the Sun Microsystems vision statement on the next slide: “Everyone and Everything participating on the Network!”
Use of Social Networks – Coming to the core, describing purpose and resulting benefits of using social networks in a company.
Concept of Social Capital - How to explain that Social Networks are so beneficial? They add value because they increase the social capital of a company and more social capital increases productivity through higher levels of collaboration.
Communities of Practice - One type of Social Network that is in the focus for being used in a business context. It is a Social Network based on knowledge sharing and learning and has already been looked at before the social revolution with Web 2.0. Call it a classic.
Improving Organization Performance – Visualizing how Communities of Practice increase social capital and finally increase organization performance.
21. Century Organization - Taken from the McKinsey article I mention in one of my blogs putting into perspective nowadays work environment. McKinsey talks about establishing formal networks, meaning nothing else than specific accountable social networks or call them communities of practice that leverage out many of the disadvantages of today's prevailing matrix organizations and provide an ideal background for knowledge workers to give their best.
What is in it for HR? - Play a role in increasing the intangible company value that makes up more and more of the overall company market value, some say up to 80%! Provide mechanisms to motivate and retain the 21. Century workforce of predominantly self directed knowledge workers with innovative recognition models based on collaboration and participation goals that can be measured. And build appropriate leadership capabilities to motivate collaborative behavior!
For a practical example how to measure read Peter Reiser's blog about community equity showcasing one of our internal examples of a social network!
Posted at
09:38AM Jan 09, 2008
by Volker Seubert in Human Resources |
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Light, Life, Love
This was drawn on the back of a Soviet Union map by a medical officer of the German 6th Army during Christmas time 1942 while they were closed in the city of Stalingrad (today called Wolgograd) in Russia during World War II. This was shortly before the end of one of the most horrible battles during that war. Today the original of this drawing can be seen in the Berlin "Gedächtniskirche" right on Kurfürstendamm.
Sometimes it is good to appreciate the peace and wealth that surround us, the warmth and light we have in our houses and not take all that for granted; to think about those who do not share this luxury and actually still live in war and fear, freezing in the cold of the winter.
I wish light, life and love for all people in this world! Happy Christmas!
More background on the picture can be found (in German) here.
(Some time later I discovered this blog dealing with exactly the same topic. It is containing a letter from Kurt Reuber, the army officer who drew the picture, on the circumstances around it.)
Posted at
08:36PM Dec 24, 2007
by Volker Seubert in Personal |
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Russia and Democracy
I really like the idea of cross checking mainstream opinions as you realized from my last entry. These days I came across an interesting perspective on the Russian elections in which President Putin's party won more than 60% of the votes and the perception of Russian democracy. Mostly the elections were described as unfair not giving the opposition parties the means to represent themselves. Other voices even said results were manipulated. In general the reputation of Russia as democracy is very bad in the west and Putin is accused to destroy any elements of it.
Nicholas N. Petro is a teacher of international politics at the University of Rhode Island. He served as the U.S. State Department's special assistant for policy on the Soviet Union under President George H. W. Bush and is bringing different facts to the table that seem to get overlooked by most observers. In his article “Russia through the looking-glass” from February 2006 he lists a few of these to give a true understanding of developments in Russia to challenge the distorted perceptions of western governments, media, and human-rights organizations, as he puts it.
His article in the Herald Tribune “Why Russian liberals lose” that made me discover Petro and his view on Russia simply states that it is not that the opposition cannot get its message to the public but it is about the people representing the opposition who are not credible to their main audience Russia's growing middle class. In this context he mentions that 13% of Russia's population use the internet as their main resource of information which remains completely unfiltered. In the big cities St. Petersburg and Moscow the rate is double. Maybe the lower percentages voting for “Unified Russia” in these areas (only around 50%) are a result of their internet literate populations.
And there are very concrete and evident elements contributing to Putin's popularity: the economy is booming, average salaries have increased from $81 to $550/month, social spending has increased and the poverty level fell from 27 to 15 percent.
Nevertheless there are very critical voices for example in the blog Russophobe which subtitles “Recording the rise and hopefully fall of the Neo- Soviet Union”. Also Kasparov, the former chess champion being one of the disputable figures of the opposition mentioned by Petro, is raising his voice regularly like in this IHT article.
Posted at
05:27PM Dec 07, 2007
by Volker Seubert in Europe & Beyond |
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