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Friday 10 of September, 2010

The 21st Century Organization

Articles By John Caswell Articles written around the Critical Context we find ourselves in in the 21st Century. New thinking about how to create sustainable change A series of short articles that describe the context within which we need to work if we are to make a difference to the way we operate and survive in the 21st Century - Our Leader Article on 2010 - A Decade Of Change? There Is No We Becoming WE Adjudicating Over A Fools Death 21st Century Manifesto The Burning Platform The Arena For Change Changing The Way The 21st Century Organization Thinks & Works Sustainability Dimension Associative Democracy Chasing Tornado's Articles On 21st Century Tools The 21st Century demands different thinking and ideas to cope with the complex context we have now created. These short articles begin to describe how we are thinking about these areas and starting the debate about what we might do to resolve them. Heuristics & Becoming A 21st Century Organization Pull And Semantics Approaching Brand Performance The 'Pixar' Of Consulting To The Power Of 24 Not Solving The Wrong Problem Really Well Weiqi - Integrative Thinking The Power of Tools - The Tools of Power Unreasonable Reason It's All About Me. iThink Articles On Thinking One of the main agenda items for success and survival in the 21st Century. These articles explain a lot of the technical and strategic ideas that inform our work - Integrative Thinking Systems Thinking Thinking Design Living Systems Critical Thinking Biomimicry Value Networks Design Thinking Principles Of Thinking Articles On Meaning At the heart of the inertia we observe in transformation and change is the way in which humans attach words and stories to their experiences while this is a natural human condition it needs to be understood if we are to create the tools that overcome conflict and lack of improvement in complex systems. Meaning Making What Do We Mean? Meaning Making Words Conditioning Articles About Ethics Increasingly organizations are determined to really make a difference and not just debate how and what. These articles debate the importance or really getting to grips with the issues that are affecting the entire planet. The Ethical-Commercial Continuum' Sustainability Hard Rain - Observation From Aarrgh to Aha!... Articles About Being On The Road It's a great privilege working and being able to travel. Ever so slightly tongue in cheek and yet ever so slightly true. The following are notes made to humor myself. Observations that inspire or annoy. Ibadan & Perfect Living Systems The Art of The Swiss Miami By GPS Miami By GPS 2 Miami By GPS 3 2010 - Uxbridge - South Africa 2010 - Johannesburg - South Africa 2 2010 - Football - South Africa 3 2010 - Sarah Palin - South Africa 4 2010 - Anger Management - South Africa 5 2010 - Cape Town. Timing, Type, Systemic Stupidity. 2010 - London. Ducks & The New Heuristics of Patternism

The ‘So Called’ Road Trip – 2010 – Cynicism & Bacon Sandwiches. 4th January - 23rd – 2010

"It's wonderful to be part of a place that so values fair and balanced news." - Sarah Palin on her new employer Fox News!

It's official. The world is completely off its face.

In the words of Brian Wilson of Beach Boys fame - "I guess I just wasn't born for these times.” - The people in power do my head in. I hate the feeling of being abused and powerless. Dealt repeated blows of inequity and plain stupidity by our own governments. Even other countries governments now seriously affect my life.

I loathe being part of a nation painted with the brush of crass global arrogance and recklessness. Of being part of something that I'm not. I now pretend to be French or Italian (not Spanish) when I travel. I'm so not keen on the systems that I didn't vote for. I feel almost physical disgust for the lies and nonsense that those in position to do something (and don't), impose on me.

The other side of this coin is the bizarre idea behind most political systems. They meet, they write grand speeches, they pontificate, prevaricate, get kicked out and then a similarly malevolent lot come along and do the same thing all over. We seem to support it, write about it and give it credibility but are powerless to do something about it. It makes me get the idea behind anarchy and terrorism although I don’t agree with them for a second. I get the idea.

We never learn. We may even like the status quo by now. (Pictures Of Matchstick Men) We are conditioned.

The Goldfish Circus. “We are like goldfish with such short term memories, a similar degree of filtering and feeding, some occasional green frond thing waving about but all in all a far less predictable, healthy or fascinating environment within which to live.”

Politics has become like Cirque Du Soleil but without any enjoyment involved.

Hugely expensive infrastructure. No expense spared on the support teams, high wire acts - safety nets for the performers but not the audience, no real surprises but we all still gasp as if it was, plenty of spin, big banners, very very expensive, people in the audience get picked on and made to look utterly stupid and a fat lady always sings - on expenses of course.

We are like goldfish with such short term memories, a similar degree of filtering and feeding, some occasional green frond waving about but less predictable, healthy or fascinating environments within which to live.

Living with double standards.

We could be forgiven for feeling somewhat at the end of life as we know it this last week. The World Economic Forum predicts that at a financial meltdown level we ain't seen nothing yet. Obama, quite rightly at many other levels says - “We want our $700 Billion back.” An Earthquake of 7 things hits the Caribbean island of Haiti and all it took was 7 seconds. Mrs. Harrison of Leighton Buzzard's cat is stuck without food for 6 days because of near blizzard conditions.

He (Obama) says that this is a decade long tax to tackle the "massive profits and obscene bonuses" at banks "who owe their continued existence to the American people". He wants to recover "every single dime" US taxpayers are owed. "We want our money back, and we're going to get it. We cannot go back to business as usual".

Oh really?

In the UK Barclays, HSBC and RBS will now get clobbered by around £11 Bio. as they have quite some involvement in the US. I wonder who will pay for that? Obama urged the banks not to pass on the fees to shareholders and customers and and "consider meeting your responsibilities" I laughed out loud as I began to imagine the banks nodding obediently and arranging that. Especially ours in the UK.

I had to sit down as I thought through just how many meetings have already been held to think through how creatively they can do just that. I cried at the fact that that dumb dork ‘so called’ Brown liar will find some twitching words as to what the UK's position is on bailing us taxpayers out of our crumbling yet equivalent system of sewage.

The simple fact is that in terms of mending a clearly broken system we’ve done fuck all, our governments are doing fuck all, the bankers will do fuck all and unless we create a WE - we will do fuck all.

A final word from Sarah:

"It may be tempting and more comfortable to just keep your head down, plod along, and appease those who demand: 'Sit down and shut up,' but that's the worthless, easy path; that's a quitter's way out." - Sarah Palin, announcing her resignation as governor, July 3, 2009

Priceless.

There is often a small distance between some words. Endeavour - Anarchy. Belief - Acceptance. Futility - Utility. (You can tell I've been travelling through Heathrow.) Service - Cynicism. But even smaller distances between liars and politicians.

====Thanks for getting this far. Out.====