Most people have heard of the marshmallow test. Ask a young child if they want one marshmallow now or two in a short while. The test was designed and originally delivered in the late 1960’s and early 1970’s, it showed a correlation between a young child’s ability to delay gratification and their future success [1].
We all know what a goal is, for example:
The first one is a financial goal, the second is personal and the third involves the police and social welfare. We intuitively know the first two are goals but do we really need to articulate an objective to avoid traumatize Johnny?
I recall sitting in a board meeting for a non-profit I was involved with years ago and the budget process came up. Specifically the word ‘budget’ meant to different things to different board members.
In a previous blog, Co-Opetition at 20-Something, I gave myself a memory jog for the book of the same name. One of the reasons I was re-reading this book was to know what the concept has to say about Co-Opetition and Non-Profits [1].
Continue readingIn my ongoing effort to remember what I have read, some notes (aka memory jogs) on the book “Co-Opetition”, by Adam M. Brandenburger, Barry J. Nalebuff [1]. First published in the mid-1990’s, this is not a new book. But, with increasing global competition and the rise of the virtual business place due to COVID, perhaps one that should be revisited.
Continue readingAs a member in MEC, I exist in two different forms. I am a customer for a retail outlet and I am a member (shareholder) in a cooperative.
I spent my professional accounting career in the realms of strategy, governance, information technology, public sector and peripheral fields such as risk or project management. Although I have not done financial analysis in awhile, it is still fun to dust off the old neurons and see if they still work.
This weekend, September 26-27, 2020, is important for the Canadian retailer, MEC (formerly the Mountain Equipment Cooperative). A British Columbian court will decide if MEC should be sold to a private equity firm [1]. A grassroots group, SaveMEC, has raised funds and support to oppose the sale. It hopes to send 10,000 letters to the creditors to convince them to delay the sale for a fortnight while alternatives are sought. This blog is 1/10,000 of this support – and some thoughts on alternatives.
A client is undergoing a significant government re-organization. Specifically, what was an independent agency is becoming a Ministry (let’s call it the Ministry of Plans, MoP). As well, functions and responsibilities in other Ministries are being transferred to the MoP.
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Organizational Biology 