The next big thing occurs on Wednesday...

Rose Baker and I present an all-day Economic Development Seminar on Thursday, 3 May 2006, for the Capital Regional Outreach Council on the Penn State Harrisburg campus. We will have 31 participants.

Lots of prep to do on Monday and Tuesday. We have given a number of major presentations during the previous month, all on different topics. Tiring, for sure.

Coffee del dia: Mexicana Creme.

Management a la Google...

Nice article in the Wall Street Journal about Google's management practices. Asserts that Google's novel management system seems to have been designed to guard against the risk factors that so often erode an organization's evolutionary potential:

• Evolutionary risk factor #1: A narrow or orthodox business definition that limits the scope of innovation. Google's response: An expansive sense of purpose.
  
• Evolutionary risk factor #2: A hierarchical organization that over-weights the views of those who have a stake in perpetuating the status quo. Google's response: An organization that is flat, transparent, and non-hierarchical.
  
• Evolutionary risk factor #3: A tendency to overinvest in "what is" at the expense of "what could be." Google's response: A company-wide rule that allows developers to devote 20% of their time to any project they choose.
  
• Evolutionary risk factor #4: Creeping mediocrity. Google's response: Keep the bozos out and reward people who make a difference.

Hmmm....get you thinking about where you work? 

One more presention--Tools for Identifying Training Needs...

Rose Baker and I made a presentation, "Tools for Identifying Training Needs," yesterday in Williamsport, Pennsylvania, at the 2006 WEDnetPA Training and Development Conference. A link to a web site with supporting materials for this presentation:

Tools for Identifying Training Needs

Many presentations at conferences this month, and all on different topics. Rose and I are tired! Oh, yeh: We make a presention, The Penn State Idea Futures Market, tomorrow at a reunion of alumni of Penn State's Workforce Education & Development program. This program, my academic home, was ranked recently #1 in its field by U.S. News & World Report. 

Photos from travel to Tucson, Arizona, 22-23 April 2006...

A link to photos that I took while at the 2006 Annual Global Conference of the Human Resource Planning Society in Tucson, Arizona:

http://train.ed.psu.edu/weblog/tucsonapr06
Our presentation was very well received. More later this week about our new information market, the Penn State Idea Futures Market.

Our presentation in Tucson...

View it here!
We make presentation on Sunday. Should be fun!