« May 2004 | Main | July 2004 »

June 29, 2004

Drucker on the Effective Executive

Last month's Harvard Business Review features a piece by Peter Drucker on What makes an effective executive [payment required] (also reprinted in this morning's Australian Financial Review).

Drucker lists eight characteristics of an effective executive from his 65 years of observations. Two points on his list stood out for us:

Expanding on what is his second point, Drucker strikes a chord with us when he says:

Effective executives' second practice, as important as the first, is to ask, "Is this the right thing for the enterprise?" They do not ask if it's right for the owners, the stock price, the employees, or the executives.

We have long argued the "Shareholder Value" as the only purpose of an organisation is a myth (see Beyond Selfishness). Drucker points out that is also bad for the enterprise.

In another parallel with the Mintzberg article we referred to above, Drucker says:

The final practice is this: don't think or say "I". Think and say "we". Effective executives know they have ultimate responsibility, which can be neither shared nor delegated, but they have authority only because they have the trust of the organisation.

Recommended reading.

Posted by chriscurnow at 2:33 PM | Comments (0)

The war on democracy

Tony Fitzgerald, most famous for his role heading Queensland's (Australia) anti-corruption enquiry has a passionate piece in The Age this morning regarding the disappearance of ethics in the Australian political process.

He argues:

"When leaders fail to set and follow ethical standards, public trust is damaged, community expectations diminish and social divisions expand."

Coincidentally with the The Age's publication of Fitzgerald's speech, Media Watch last night claimed that Paul Keating opened the flood gates to governmnet funded political advertising by spending about $20m prior to the 1996 election. "[T]he Howard Government," presenter Marr claimed "is spending at least four or five times what the Keating Government spent before that 1996 poll."

chriscurnow.com tries to remain outside party politics. But both Fitzgerald's and Media Watch's pieces are above party politics. They are about the nature of the political process itself and the threat to its very survival. We have no confidence here that either side of politics has any intention of reversing the decline in ethics.

We suggest it is time for all Australians to get involved in politics at the grass roots level. Speak to every candidate in your electorate. Ask them whether they will stand up to their party machines and demand a return to the ethical standards and conventions on which our democracy is based. Ask them if they will follow their conscience to the possible detriment of their careers.

This will demand courage and personal leadership. Surely we owe it to those who sacrificed careers, wealth, friends and many, their lives, to protect with all our beings what they fought for.

Posted by chriscurnow at 1:29 PM | Comments (0)

June 27, 2004

Innovation through the eyes of an Innovator

This is a story about a school, a teacher and a group of students. The school is a girls' high school in the suburbs of Melbourne. This area is quite middle class and many of the school's patrons think of it as a state grammar school. Indeed many of the girls have a brother at the local boys' grammar. This is not to say that none of the students experience poverty at home – the school is the local high school for girls and accepts all the students within the zone who apply for it – however what poverty there is is well hidden.

The teacher is the author of this narrative. I came to the school in 1983 after spending seven very succesful years in a nearby co–educational state high school. In fact, I came armed with a very recent teacher assessment which unanimously rated my current teaching performance and suitablility for promotion as excellent and highly recommended respectively. I was confident that I could tackle anything that this school could throw at me. It was with some excitment then that I accepted the role of Mathematics Co–ordinator even though I did not consider myself an expert in mathematics. (Most of my previous efforts had been directed at the teaching of Physics and the use of computers in schools.)  For reasons that I hope will become obvious as this narrative unfolds, I will leave the school, three years later, a battered but not defeated soul.

The students are a fairly normal (albeit all female) group of young teenagers. A group I have watched change from an assortment of wide–eyed, enthusiastic children just out of primary school to young people who have begun to experiment (to various degrees) with life – whose innocence is starting to fade into a memory. I met this group at the beginning of my second year at the school. I had decided that I would have a Year 7 class as I had had no junior classes in my first year and was eager to try out the ideas I had been espousing.

Read the whole story here.

Posted by chriscurnow at 12:35 AM | Comments (0)

June 26, 2004

Breaking the greed mould

US wharehouse club retailer reduces labour costs by paying employees more. (via Kottke)

Posted by chriscurnow at 1:35 PM | Comments (0)

More on bullying

Bullying in the Workplace - Canada Safety Council
Totalitarian States of Mind by Gordon Lawrence
The Abrasive Executive & Corporate Paralysis by Laura Crawshaw
Yager Leadership & Team Development: Bullies in Unions by Ed Yager

All links courtesy of Orgdyne

Posted by chriscurnow at 1:23 PM | Comments (0)

June 25, 2004

The nature of documentary

As expected, Farenheit 9/11 is a hot topic for discussion.

Jason Kottke's recent piece on it led me to thinking about what is good documentary. I am not much of a fan of Moore's work - although I have not seen or read any of it. What I have read from others has resulted in me putting it way down in my priority list. So I was surprised that a discussion about him would lead me anywhere interesting.

Seems a fair consensus that Farenheit 9/11 won't change any minds rather will strengthen views already held on either side. However, Kottke's piece goes further than this observation to discuss the nature of documentary.

He argues

The frustrating thing is that Moore has a point, but he's unable to get himself out of the way enough to tell us the story so we can make up our own minds about it.

This is very dear to the heart of chriscurnow.com. Stories are very powerful conveyors of multiple truths. (We use them to open deep currents running through organisations.) The storyteller must have their own story to tell in the telling but must not get in the way of the other stories that viewers (and readers) will hear.

Posted by chriscurnow at 2:52 AM | Comments (0)

Moneyball

I've just discovered Michael Lewis, author of, among many other titles, Moneyball and Liar's Poker. (Thanks again to Bleeding Edge.)

Lewis' work challenges a lot of currently accepted market thinking - particularly the very recent idea that corporations exist alone to give value to shareholders.

Here's an interview with Lewis discussing Moneyball.

Here's part of the introduction by interviewer, Robert Birnbaum

"Moneyball is a well-researched, well-written look at the methodology and the people (mainly, general manager Billy Beane) who help make a small-budget baseball team (the Oakland Athletics) extremely competitive in the big money world of Major League baseball. It is greatly to Lewis

Posted by chriscurnow at 2:25 AM | Comments (0)

June 23, 2004

The Bullying Boss

Thanks to Charles Wright over at Bleeding Edge for pointing out this New York Times article which discusses fear in the workplace and the bullying boss.

"It got to where I was twitching, literally, on the way into work," said Carrie Clark, 52, a former teacher and school administrator in Sacramento, Calif., who said her boss of several years ago baited and insulted her for 10 months before she left the job. "I had to take care of my health."

That's a topic we're passionate about and we will visit often at chriscurnow.com.

See the "Three Cars..." posts in this blog (I hope I eventually get time to finish them.)

The article however, presents some strong research evidence to counter some deeply held views of mine.

I don't like bullies and I don't like bullying bosses.

In my consultancy practice, I try to show that bullying is counter-productive. It makes intuitive sense. The boss bullies the employees and the employees don't do such good work either because they try to get back at the boss, or they are just not happy and unhappiness doesn't produce good productivity.

Well, if the research produced in this article is correct (and I am yet to be absolutely convinced that it is), we can kiss goodbye to that theory. Several researches have found little correlation between bullying and productivity.

At least that supports another pet theory of mine - contrary to the views of many employer groups that I hear often - the vast majority of employees come to work to do a good day's work for a good (or otherwise) day's pay.

In my heart I am still convinced that where all the variables are taken into account the effect of a bullying boss is negative on the organisation on most scales.

The NYT article goes into depth on several aspects of the bullying boss, including that guilty nice feeling we've all experienced when someone else 'get's it' meaning we're safe for the day. Also included is the phenomenom where we are happy to see someone else on the receiving end because it might mean they get fired or leave - opening up that promotion position for ourselves. Almost the whole range of motives, reactions and human frailties are examine here nad I recommend it for your reading list.

Posted by chriscurnow at 9:09 PM | Comments (0)

The things that really matter

It's funny how life can jump up and hit you in the face.

I had my day mapped out today. I was planning to do my least favourite activity - calling people to market a new workshop I've developed. I went to my favourite cafe to psych myself into it and had a great conversation with a colleague while I was there.

Then just as we were finishing up, I got a call on my mobile from the hostel where my elderly mother is staying. I missed the call but rang them back straight away. For the next fifteen minutes, their number was engaged. My pulse rate went through the roof. What had happened? If they rang and didn't leave a message it must be serious. Eventually they got onto Judy, my wife, who rang me to let me know that Mum had had a fall. She was alright but had a cut on her head and they had called the doctor.

As it happened, I was close by and so I went around there straight away. Mum was pretty shaky but it was reassuring to see that she was OK. I ended up staying with her the whole day, eventually taking her to the doctor because the doctor couldn't make a home visit today, watching for an hour as they stitched her up, taking her to have a CT scan to make sure there was no internal bleeding, then over to my sister's place so someone could keep an eye on her overnight.

It made me think that this is the stuff that really matters.

So often we get caught up in the world of work and forget that the we work to live rather than live to work. I happen to think that work is really important and more important than just making a living. Work is about making a contribution to society. About creating or sustaining something good for the good of the whole.

But it is easy to lose sight of that and get caught up in the task rather than why we are doing the task. With a tendency to the obsessive, I am particularly prone to this problem.

So today is gone as far as work is concerned. I did something much more important with today. My mum is happy and thankful for the help she got from her family when she needed it today.

Posted by chriscurnow at 8:47 PM

June 21, 2004

Beyond Selfishness

I've just been going over some of Henry Mintzberg's writing and came acros this article (payment required, sorry) by Mintzberg, Robert Simons and Kunai Basu.

The authors argue that the notion of 'shareholder value' to the exclusion of all other accountabilities of corporations has only taken hold over the last decade. Before that "corporations [existed] to serve society. Indeed that was the reason they were originally granted charters and why those charters could be taken away from them." Further, they argue, this notion distorts the operation of corporations, leads to a focus on short term goals and created a myth of 'heroic leadership.'

With refreshing vigour they call for a balance between self-interest and social generosity. One becuase they believe it is good in itself. Two because they believe it is good for society. And finally because they believe it is in the long term interests of corporations.

Posted by chriscurnow at 10:32 PM

June 20, 2004

Synchronicity - the inner path to leadership

cover

This is a deeply moving, thought provoking, and challenging book which goes to the very heart of what it is to be a leader and even further intow what it means to be human.

Peter Senge's Introduction beautifully sets the stage for this book:

For many years I have told people that although there are a lot of books on leadership, there is only one that serious studens have to read - Servant Leadership by Robert K. Greenleaf. Most recent books on leadership have been about what leaders do and how they operate, why the world makes this difficult for them, and what organisations must do in order to better develop their leaders. These books are penetrated with seemingly practical advice about what individuals and organizations should do differently.

...This to is a book that anyone who is serious about leadership will have to read. Synchronicity builds directly on Greenleaf's thinking and takes it further, expecially illuminating the nature of the choice to lead and the deep understanding or world view out of which such a choice might arise.

Jaworski commences his story by recounting his father's work as special prosecutor in the Watergate case. Without stating it he shows how his father's leadership in this position was driven by a deep sense of purpose and commitment to the rule of law. A president's man deeply conflicted by the emerging details of Watergate, Jaworski senior took the case on on the condition "that he would be able to pursue the investigation with complete independence, and that he would have the right to take the President to court if necessary." Jaworski does not go into depth on the details of his father's role in this case except to give an indication of the toll it took and a series of conversations between father and son over the Christmas before Nixon resigned. "I looked at [my father] and I could see that his soul was aching like mine," Jaworski reccounts.

This sets the scence for the type of leadership discussed in this book. It is a leadership that is soaked in purpose. A leadership that comes from the soul. A leadership that through personal conflict and heart ache, makes a difference.

Jaworski didn't learn this immediately. Initially he set off on a career path dedicated to personal gain with the philosophy 'whoever dies with the most money wins.' And for quite some time he was very successful at it. Coming crashing down to earth with the experience of coming home from a successful and high living business trip to find that his marriage was over and he had lost the family he thought he treasured so much, he set off on a journey which is described in the remainder of the book.

The central them of Synchronicity is what is most challenging. Describing events that most of us would name 'amazing coincidences' he argues that these are not coincidences but rather cases of Carl Jung's Synchronicity where by being prepared as individuals and allowing ourselves to be prepared, we meet others who act as guides and lead us on the path of discovery. This can be quite challenging stuff if you're not used to it. But it is important to understand. Even if you do find it confronting, let yourself be open to it and find your own meaning for it.

Synchronicity is a journey and the events Jaworski describes are like important places. Some things are related to places he visited and some to people he met.

One of the people that Jaworski met on his journey was the physicist, David Bohm. Bohm's work in modern physics, studying the nature of matter itself - and the amazing way that matter behaves when we look at either very small particles or very large objects like galaxies - led him to consider that nature of thought itself.

The more I read of this the book the more I felt I was discovering my place in the word.

I highly recommend Synchronicity. I believe if you read this book with a determination to examine yourself and your approach to leadership, you will be changed by it.

Posted by chriscurnow at 2:43 PM

June 16, 2004

Reagan as a leader

You might think this piece belongs over in my politics&rants blog - however that's more for venting spleen than reasoned thought.

No, reflections on leaders (political or otherwise) is always good fodder for chriscurnow.com.

This piece about Reagan is the most reasoned and balanced review of his presidency that I've read to date.

How about this?
"One can argue the most significant difference between RR and W is that Reagan campaigned to the Right, but governed pragmatically from the center. Contending with a Democratic Congress forced that, to some degree. Bush, on the other hand, ran on a Centrist platform -- but governed from the hard right. With a Republican Congress, he should be able to enact his own agenda -- yet seems to be having more trouble with Congress than Reagan did. "

The article has a lot of stuff you won't understand if you're not American but it's a good read nevertheless.

I had never thought all that greatly of Reagan. I guess I glibbly summed him up as a B-grade actor and a B-grade president (maybe not even that).
However all the stuff that has been written about him this week has made me think a lot about leadership again. We are passionate here about leadership as a quality that comes from an inner strength - not a collection of management theories. Maybe Reagan had that inner strength. Maybe seeing the world in simple terms enabled him to lead for a wider range of people. I had never even imagined before that there might be such a thing as "Reagan Democrats".

Regardless, I could never see Reagan as a person of great intellect. I haven't read enough this last couple of weeks to have any more or less evidence to support this theory. However it does seem that people from all sides of politics are willing to give him credit in retrospect as one of the better Presidents.

Interesting thought that. What about the great leader who is not a great thinker. I have never thought about this. I have always thought the two go together. But maybe not.

I would love to hear other thoughts on this.

Posted by chriscurnow at 11:06 PM

June 14, 2004

Computers in Schools

In these days of national standards (which in my mind relate to narrowness and mediocrity) it's refreshing to see educators re-inforcing that schools are about producing "people who can think, create and innovate - and not just pass exams". (See Gary Barker's article Logging into the laptop revolution.)

I had honestly started wondering whether I was the only remaining person on the planet who believed this. What an interesting place to find these sentiments - in a conference about laptops in education. Not so strange really. It warms my heart to see it. Even warmer to read that Professor Seymour Papert was speaking at the conference. Papert, through his little book Posted by chriscurnow at 10:43 PM

June 13, 2004

Who says woman don't blog?

Apparently there is some research running around in the blogoshpere suggesting that women are under-represented here. Charles Wright had a related piece on it in his blog Bleeding Edge (we must point out that Charles didn't say that women don't blog - I'm refering to Bleeding Edge only because Charles is discussing the issue in general).

Well, I've been doing some research of my own and while it's not statistically based, it's not hard to find women bloggers.

Trish Wilson has a piece on this very subject arguing that the research is based on male bloggers maintaining the male culture by predominantly only cross linking to other male bloggers. So when they do research on the topic by trawling through their cross links, of course they come up with few links to women in the blogoshpere.

Blogsisters - Where men can link but they can't touch is a group of women who express the full range of emotions and views with a courage that only women can.

Scribblingwoman - Probably about books, c18, detritus, parenting, poaching, print, sf, or writing. is a huge resource about all things books, writing and women.

An of, course, chriscurnow.com has linked frequently and is very grateful to Elise Bauer for her lovely site and particularly her Learning Moveable Type tutorials. I found all the sites listed above (except for Bleeding Edge) by following just one link from Elise's site

Posted by chriscurnow at 10:24 AM

June 12, 2004

Reparation

You might notice that chriscurnow.com has a lot to say about relationships between the sexes. It's probably been the dominant theme here since we got started.

For as long as I can remember, I have wanted to repair relationships between men and women. For a long time I thought it was my role in life to make it OK for women. To show them that there were men in the world who loved them truly and would not hurt them. To protect them.

A few years ago I had the opportunity to speak with some women about how I felt and was surprised by their reaction. They didn't want protecting thank you very much and they didn't want a man to make it OK for them. I realised how chauvanistic I was.

I'm still trying to learn about this and how I can participate in dialogue about this topic without chauvanism. The best I have come up with so far is about speaking honestly what it is like to be a man - hence my post about breasts. I had my heart in my mouth when I posted that article because I wondered how people I knew would react. But I wanted to say it. I wanted to be a man being prepared to be honest about how I view women. I hoped that it would prompt men to add or retell their 'breast stories'. About how confusing it can be to be a man. About how you want to tell a women that she is beautiful but you're just not sure how. I also hoped that it would help women to tell men what it is like to have breasts. The good stories and the bad stories and all the stories in between.

I guess it is all part of a dream about life where men and women have greater understanding of each other and can live and work together in a way that harnesses the power of each.

A dream about organisations where we as men can tell our women co-workers that they are beautiful, because that is part of how we perceive them, as just an ordinary part of conversation. Without power games, without trying to seduce or gain advantage over. Without trying to put down. This dream is so important to me because sex so often (always?) gets in the way in organisations. It stops relationship which is at the very heart of an organisation's effectiveness. And it doesn't have to. Sexuality is part of who we all are. If only we could just admit it, allow for it and honour it we could work together so much more effectively.

Going deeper into my very core beliefs about the purpose of life and the value of human existence, it also means that people of both sexes could experience their lives more fully.

Posted by chriscurnow at 7:24 PM

June 10, 2004

Photo Album is now working

You'll see a new link on the right - Photo Album.

I still need to do some work on this but I think I've solved all the technical issues.

Again - blogging as Therapy.

Thanks again to Elise

Posted by chriscurnow at 10:21 PM

The real purpose of organisations

Subtitle: I'll never look at Birkenstock the same way again

I pinched this title from a paper by Art Kleiner of roughly the same name. I'll come back to Kleiner shortly.

Jason Kottke, kottke.org led me to thinking about this with a reference to a Michael Lewis's article in the New York Times article The Irresponsible Investor

In an article that we highly recommend, Lewis argues that investors, by single mindedly seeking the greatest and fastest possible return on their money completely distort the behaviour of the corporations in which they invest. In words that resonate like a bell at chriscurnow.com he says:

  • The investor cares about short-term gains in stock prices a lot more than he does about the long-term viability of a company.
  • The American investor's short-term greed leads him to be more interested in the appearance of a business than its substance.
  • Investors, in their shortsightedness, encourage companies to neglect their social responsibility.

Lewis goes further to suggest that most of what passes as 'Corporate Social Responsibility' is in fact a thinly disguised attempt to make money by appearing to be good.

I won't try and steal any more of Lewis's thunder - he says it much better than I can summarise.

This will be a theme that I return to often. Corporations exist only by the goodwill of the state (read society at large). We give them protection against individual liability so they can do much bigger things. (Kleiner discusses the origin of corporations in 'The Age of Heretics'.) Yet they now behave as if their right to exist and do whatever they like must be unchallenged. I could say much more about this, but I'll leave you with the link.

Finally to return to Kleiner. He argues that the real purpose of organisations is to

"make life as wonderful as possible for the "core group," the members, the people in the center."
.

This paper is great reading and is expanded on in his book, "Who Really Matters"

Posted by chriscurnow at 1:40 AM

June 9, 2004

Sometimes there's just to much else to do

No great perl's of wisdom today.

I've spent all night getting Image::Magick installed and then setting up a test photoblog.

As always there is a lot of debugging to do and I've just done it. I've set up a test photoblog with two photos in it.

Thanks again to Elise at Learning Moveable Type for her tutorial on creating a photo Album.

Posted by chriscurnow at 10:38 PM

June 8, 2004

Blogging as therapy

Setting up this weblog has been a therapeutic experience for me. It's been an experience that has brought many parts of my self together.

Bleeding Edge has some interesting comment on the culture and purpose of blogging. There is something real about ordinary people having a voice.

For me, I have just loved and am still loving the technical aspects of getting this working. It has involved:

  • Setting up and configuring the Apache web server on my Mac
  • Learning how to use the command line in Mac OS X
  • Learning how to use Pico to edit files from the command line
  • Modifying the Apache config file to add named virtual hosts as I have two web sites running off my server
  • Installing Moveable Type from the command line
  • Installing PHP and MySQL - not that I have done anything with it yet
  • Learning Dreamweaver and HTML - I wrote my first line of HTML only a year ago
  • Inspecting the source of web page after web page to get ideas of how to technically and aesthetically present my ideas
  • and lots more...

It's amazing how helpful people are too.

I suddenly got very tired at 6pm tonight and decided to take the rest of the night off formal work. (I often work through to midnight with a couple of breaks in there somewhere.) So I decided I would just muck around and do whatever i fancied. Well my partner went to bed to sleep so that left me with the TV, which I watched for a while, and my computer which I came back to eventually.

I really want to set up a photo album on this site so I had a look at Learning Moveable Type which reminded me that I need to install Image::Magick.

Well that took me on an expidition. I still haven't installed it, but within five minutes of posting a question to the Image Magick discussion board I had an answer to my first problem.

When I get that solved, I'll put up some photos. Can't wait.

Another I want to get up which I also think will require Image::Magick will be "My Favourite Melbourne Cafes"

But then the flip side

On the other side of all that technology is the writer in me.

Blogging is an opportunity to write. I love writing. I hope I die either at my keyboard writing or at the piano playing. But over the last five years I have had writer's block. Everything I wrote was crap. I just couldn't get out of it. I tried sitting down and writing stuff but nothing lived. Nothing seemed to have any purpose.

Blogging has broken the spell. I don't know if anyone is reading this but it doesn't matter. The important thing for me is that I am writing. Having a blog means I have to write every day. I have set myself a goal of writing 200 words a day. I am mostly achieving that - apart from a few busy days where I haven't written anything.

And the great thing is that it has spilled out into my other writing. I am editing stuff I wrote a few years ago and finally being able to find that distance I need to be able to write with insight yet remain far enough away to make it interesting for the reader.

Feel free to let me know how I am going.

Posted by chriscurnow at 11:09 PM

June 7, 2004

Off the couch into the conference room

You will see a link on the right to 'Orgdyne'.

This list is about organisational dynamics with a particular emphais on a psychodynamic approach to organisations.

The list is moderated by Anil Behal who recently started a thread with the same title as this post. To quote Anil:

In my experience, psychoanalytically informed organizational consulting works well from the standpoint of discovery and diagnosis, framing the presenting problem, and excavating unconscious material, but I am a little skeptical about its efficacy as a tool for intervention in a highly time conscious, contemporary organizational setting. Other approaches like systems thinking, when used in conjunction with psychodynamic models, often produce more receptivity.

I wanted to share with you a paper written by Dr. Chris Davis, who was one of our participants in the Jungian group. The paper is entitled "Off the Couch and Into the Confernce Room: Liberating Jungian Systems from Clinical Oppression" in which Dr. Davis beautifully encapsulates his seminar experiences, and casts some light on the state of Jungian organizational theory. From an organizational dynamics standpoint, I think this makes for some compelling reading.

If you are interested in the paper, go to Orgdyne or email Anil for a copy of the paper.

Posted by chriscurnow at 9:57 PM

In Praise of Play School

I can't believe the fuss caused by a 15 second segment in Playschool showing a young girl being taken to a fair by her two "mummies".

Both Prime Minister John Howard and Deputy Prime Minister John Anderson have accused the ABC of being 'politically correct'.

It's a while since I watched Playschool (my youngest is now 16) but I used to watch it quite regularly with my four children. Playschool has always shown diversity without comment or sensation. Presenters have diverse ethnic backgrounds and the segments show people from all walks of life.

The rationale is that children get used to the world being made up of lots of different people who look different to each other, live different lifestyles and work in different occupations. There is nothing to explain to children. It's just the way it is.

It's a pity we 'grown-ups' can't see the world the same way.

Posted by chriscurnow at 4:09 PM

June 5, 2004

Breasts - one man's perspective

cover

Breasts - The Women's Perspective on an American Obsession

I believe that sexuality is really important in the world of work. It is there and denying it denies part of who we all are. However we need to be able to express our sexuality that builds relationship rather than to build personal power at the expense of others. One of the themes of this weblog is about how we might go about doing this. This book by Carolyn Latteier is pointer to one aspect of this quest.

I have been fascinated by breasts for as long as I can remember. However, for the life of me I don't understand why.

I was having breakfast with a male colleague the other day and I asked him "Why are we so fascinated by breasts?" His face lit up and he replied "Oh mate, they're just awesome!" I understood where he was coming from but it didn't shed any light on the question.

Most of my female friends and colleagues know that I, like most men they know, am fascinated by breasts. Sometimes they like it, sometimes they don't but whichever way the pendulum swings (excuse the pun) they don't understand it.

This puzzlement is encapsulated in a story from my teaching days when I was a Year 11 form teacher. During this particular year I took form assembly each morning to call the roll and give the daily announcements. One of the girls in my form was a truly delightful young lady by the name of Mandy. She was also a very attractive young lady. This day it was still early in the year and the girls were wearing their summer dresses (which are probably the same cut in every school in Australia). Our form assembly was held in the Chemistry room which meant I stood at the elevated desk at the front of the room while students who wanted to discuss anything stood on the lower floor at the front of the room (so you already know what's going to happen next...). I was fairly strict about uniform. Boys wearing their ties with shirts tucked in and girls having their top buttons done up. One morning Mandy came to the front desk and her top button was undone. Given our relative positions I couldn't help noticing what was being revealed and in another situation I could have enjoyed it for a moment. But I just said "Mandy, do your top button up please." Her response has lived with me to this day. Some girls would have said this as a throw away, just a tiny bit teasing line. But Mandy did not, at that time, have an ounce of the tease or seductress in her. She said, almost quizically, "Why does it matter? It's just another part of the body." She was genuinely puzzled why we men are so fascinated with breasts. I hope she learned to appreciate her own beauty and the mystique that her breasts held. But at that stage, as a young emerging woman she just wanted to be a person with everyday ordinary part of the body breasts. So what!

In an ongoing quest to understand my own fascination, I came across this book by Carolyn Latteier. I snapped it up as soon as I saw it and read the chapter on "Breast Men". It was comforting and interesting to read the various accounts of men she interviewed but did not fulfill my fantasy that at the end of the chapter she would solve my puzzle.

The book is however a very good read. I should point out that if you are looking for titilation you won't find it here. Rather Latteier's rich stories about women's quests to regain control of their own bodies is moving reading. I would recommend it for both men and woment for that reason alone. Men would do well to read it to help us understand some of the effects on women of our attention to breasts. About how we have made breasts more our property than the women whose bodies they happen to be attached to. Here are two passages from the book. One from near the beginning and one from the last page:

For a growing girl, the advent of body consciousness often comes with the first appearance of breasts. ... The body is no longer the me of childhood - that bundle of amorphous pleasures and pains, the me that loves to run and jump and eat ice cream. The body becomes my equipment, my display, and something I own, something for which I am responsible. My body is a quantity to be judged by others who draw conclusions about me based on what they see.

The great American breast fetish is alive and well, but more people are aware of it, and that means that things are changing. I would like to see us face up to this obsession. By that I don't mean that breasts should be desexualised or that breast men should all go in for attitude adjustments. I would, however, like to see the majority of women feeling OK about their breasts. I would like to see breast-feeding become a natural and easy choice. I would like to stop seeing women being judged by the size and shape of their breasts.

I would like to see that too.

Posted by chriscurnow at 11:34 PM

Happy Birthday Sharyn

I wish I had just one photo of you.

Posted by chriscurnow at 12:31 PM

June 4, 2004

A Small Dance

Over the last few weeks I have been watching a small community run organisation try not to tear itself apart.

It all started when one of the closeknit and well established group of four staff members went on maternity leave. 'Trish', the replacement person did not immediately fit in and started to make some errors of judgement. Complicating the situation, the existing director had taken over from Trish around ten years ago when she left to have a family. Only one of the assistants remained from Trish's previous tenure and no-one from the previous committee of management remained.

From the outside and hearing everything second hand it seemed like the new person had become incompetent in the situation.

Also from my perspective hearing how everyone reacted, it seemed like the anxiety in the organisation rose to extreme levels when Trish started.

  • The existing director had never had such an experienced person in the more junior position
  • The existing director had known Trish in a previous environment and appreciated her professionalism
  • The one person who had previously worked with Trish had reservations about working with her again. Mainly because of this, the appointment committee more would have appointed someone else if there had been a suitable candidate.
  • The existing director is very close to the one person who worked with Trish when Trish was the director
  • The preferred candidate for the position declined to accept the appointment (she could not negotiate special employment conditions.)
  • The personality difference between Trish and 'Nadia', the person she replaced, was extreme. Nadia was highly organised and efficient but lacked people skills. Trish treated the clients extremely well but lacked confidence and could sometimes put her co-workers off by appearing to be aloof.

I am not there, but from what I hear, Trish is making a lot of mistakes. She is not exercising appropriate duty of care, she seems to forget to do elementary things that everyone expects would be second nature to someone of her experience and does not seem to be able to manage her time appropriately. Is Trish being scapegoated? Does Trish want to be scapegoated.

When Trish first started making errors, everyone else retreated and hoped that she would just get better with time. But she didn't. I encouraged the director to take Trish aside and say something like "Look Trish we know you are better than this. What IS happening for you." But she didn't.

The management committee considered terminating Trish's probationary period but felt they had not worked openly enough with her and given her sufficient opportunity to respond to their concerns.

After a lot of heartache, Trish is still there and has responded significantly to the concerns raised by the management committee.

However, there is precious little generosity and a lot of mistrust around. I keep thinking that generosity would go a long way to improving the situation. But the anxiety still seems to high.

I wonder what comes next.

Posted by chriscurnow at 8:44 PM

June 2, 2004

If you can't measure it then you need to manage it

We were at a breakfast recently (we do eat sometimes you know) when we heard the familiar refrain "If you can't measure it then you can't manage it."
Oh so sad to hear that tired old catchphrase beeing trumpeted again. Even sadder to reflect how many people believe it so strongly. Education is a topic dear to our heart here at chriscurnow.com. We weep with despair when we see our political masters spending so much of their time and energy trying to 'measure' the results of education rather than trying to understand it.

Just as sad to see this philosophy applied in management. It is fundamental to our belief that the the things that most need managing are the things that simply cannot be measured.
This is a theme we will return to over coming weeks.

Posted by chriscurnow at 11:18 PM

Commentary on 'Three Cars'

chriscurnow.com has had enthusiastic feedback to the first installment of "Three Cars in the Garage." Please keep coming back for further installments. We think it will take us about a week to edit each part. In the meantime, we will be posting shorter stories and opion pieces.

Posted by chriscurnow at 11:10 PM