I am co-presenting a session at the New York State Nurses’ Association convention in Atlantic City today entitled Integrating Critical Thinking and EBP into Novice Nurse Practice.

I am passionate about critical thinking (thank you, Stephen Brookfield), and with my colleague Rona Levin, we are speaking about some of the work we have done where we bring critical thinking and evidence-based practice together. We have some really interesting things to discuss and share, and I am looking forward to any insights we get from the audience.

I have now been able to move all my posts from my old MoveableType blog to this new WordPress one. Of course, I noticed there are still a number of issues (the monthly pages do not load, there are some missing images, etc.), but I didn’t think this would be a piece of cake!

What surprises me is that I was able to do at least this much on my own nevertheless! Much more than I was ever able to do with MT!

Yesterday’s New York Times had an interesting article on the recent increase in lifelist literature, comprising books on the best seller list as well as upcoming movies. I have never really considered the places I should visit before I die (particularly since I no longer agree in the concept of “should”–it being a guilt-driven requirement demanded by another person or institution).

Regardless, if I had such a list, what would I want to do or accomplish? Let’s see:

1. I want to live in France, especially in Provence where I can get inspired by the same colors and scenes that so affected Van Gogh.
2. I want to finish my PhD. This is another story . . .
3. Pay off my debt.
4. ???

Hmm, this list is tougher than it seems. Like Hugh Hefner at the end of the NY Times, I can relate with his statement, “I honestly, can’t think of anything I don’t already have.”

I wonder what other people think about this?

I decided I should make business cards for my consulting work, and after two orders in a row of cards that appeared purple instead of the blue that I wanted, I thought I should change the design. At least VistaPrint reimbursed me without any hassle at all. While I wish they would have gotten the cards right the first time, their customer support has been excellent, so I will try with them a third time for my cards.

Now, to select a new design. Like branding, I want to get it just right but am finding the commitment to be difficult. I wonder what this says about my personality?

More to follow . . .

Technorati Tags: VistaPrint

I integrated Action Reflection Learning into my Developing Leaders class, as I blogged about recently here and here. It went as I expected, with some people being more comfortable with the collaborative and interactive methodology than others. I recall the first time I experienced action learning, and wondered why so many people were involved with team building and other strategies to begin working through organizational problems together. I just wanted to get the answer; it seemed so simple from my vantage.

From a theoretical perspective however, major organizational problems are never easily solved within silos, for if they were, then they would not be organizational problems in the first place. Rather, large problems that organizations want and need to address can only be done on an organizational level, involving people from throughout the organization. They are always more complex than they seem, and thus require strategies that give voice to name these complexities and view them from as many angles as possible. Only then can a learning coach or facilitator help the team through the problem they are facing and have agreed to try to solve.

I wanted to bring this experience to a class, which is a challenge for learners who are used to being told what content is right and what works best. If only this were the case, but by the constantly growing list of books and articles on leadership continually growing, there seems to be no end in sight for getting the "right" answer or way of leading. No two organizations or people are the same, so how could a solution here easily be transferred to over there?

It is so much easier to give a list of leadership theories, best practices, or case studies. However, they are always contextually and organizationally and historically bounded; thus they are unable to be implemented as-is. Period. Yes, we can learn form the experience of others, and we can use best practices to guide us through our own issues–that is exactly the premise that action reflection learning is based upon–we already have most of what we need to solve our own problems. We have read books and worked in organizations and have lived enough of life to know that a cross-sectional team will bring the variety of experiences and perspectives to create a richer product than a simple sum of the parts. We only need help reflectively putting things together.

Technorati Tags: Action Reflection Learning, ARL, action learning, leadership development, leadership, organizational analysis, LIM, OD, developing leaders

I am getting ready to teach a course, Developing Leaders, and thought it may be useful to share the References I have on my syllabus. The course description is:

Designed for managers, trainers, and OD professionals, this course shows you how to develop leaders at all levels of your organization. You learn how to design a variety of processes and programs–all intended to hone people’s leadership abilities. The highly participatory and interactive course format enables you to walk away with a blueprint for implementation in your organization.

While the course is only 2 days, these works are not all read or even assigned, though they will be referred to insofar as the discussion goes in that direction. The References include:

• Badaracco, Jr., J. (2006). Leadership in literature. Harvard Business Review. 84(3), 47-55.
• Collins, J. (2005). Level 5 leadership: The triumph of humility and fierce resolve. Harvard Business Review. 83(7/8), 136-146.
• Conger, J. A. & Riggio, R. E. (2006). The practice of leadership: Developing the next generation of leaders. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
• George, B., Sims, P., McLean, A., & Mayer, D. (2007). Discovering your authentic leadership. Harvard Business Review. 85(2), 129-138.
• Goffee, R. & Jones, G. (2005). Managing authenticity. Harvard Business Review. 83(12), 86-94.
• Goleman, D. (2004). What makes a leader? Harvard Business Review. 82(1), 82-91.
• Kotter, J. P. (2001). What leaders really do. Harvard Business Review. 79(11), 85-96.
• Marquardt, M. (2005). Leading with questions: How leaders find the right solutions by knowing what to ask. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
• Marquardt, M. (2004). Optimizing the power of Action Learning: Solving problems and building leaders in real time. Mountain View: Davies-Black.
• McCauley, C. D. & Van Velsor, E. (Eds.). (2003). The Center for Creative Leadership handbook of leadership development. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
• Ready, D. A. (2004). How to grow great leaders. Harvard Business Review. 82(12), 92-100.
• Rimanoczy, I. & Turner, E. (2008), Action Reflection Learning: Solving real business problems by connecting learning with earning. Mountain View: Davies-Black.

The main framework for this class, Action Reflection Learning (ARL), that I will use is based on the last book on this list, Action Reflection Learning, By Isabel Rimanoczy and Ernie Turner. I have known Isabel for a number of years now, and have worked with her and with Ernie along with their organization, LIM. While their book will not be released until 2008, I was able to read it in a pre-production
form, and think it expounds upon the theoretical framework LIM has developed and expounded upon over the years.

I hope my students in the class find the experience as interesting as the experience I have had building the class.

Technorati Tags: Action Reflection Learning, ARL, Ernie Turner, Isabel Rimanoczy, LIM, OD, developing leaders

I have completely revised and added to my initial list of LiveBlogging Best Practices that I initially published on 6/26/07. This comes from feedback I received and having reflected on my learning from the 3 separate conferences I liveblogged. [this post was revised later in the same day with another item (#15) added based on a comment from Robin Yap.]

Liveblogging Best Practices

1. Have an extension cord. You never know how far away the outlet is.
2. Plan on there NOT being any wireless Internet access. Regardless of what may be expected or promised you never know what may happen with it, who may be downloading every DVD ever made and clogging the network in the process, and how even the most stable technology fails when we may need it most (not to mention when the access is "free" after a daily credit card payment).
3. Use an offline blogging program. I am using Ecto for this here. I also tried ScribeFire for Firefox, but I could not get the image uploading FTP to work to save me, and their help pages were not too helpful. I do not mind paying developers for their work, and think those who created Ecto certainly deserve what I paid them for what they delivered. As I am about to migrate from XP to Vista, it is important to check compatibility (such as with Macs) and have a freely-available trial period.
4. Have a fully-charged battery. This goes without saying, but often the unstated is forgotten or assumed!
5. Create entry shells prior to the sessions. This way, you are assured to have the correct names of the sessions and the spelling of the participants for each entry.
6. Disclose what editing is done later. I consider myself a researcher-practitioner, and as such want full-disclosure of what I liveblog in real-time, as I conduct research with my entries as they are. These are real data, and as such it would be counter to the research process to go back and edit, spell-check, and otherwise clarify what happened at a previous time as the point of liveblogging is to capture the experiences in real-time. Of course, if I am able to spell-check and otherwise edit as I go, then that is another situation.
7. Distinguish between internal and external experiences. I am a constructivist qualitative researcher, and as such do not believe the researcher can separate himself or herself from the research experience. When I am liveblogging a conference, I find myself writing about what I see, hear, and experience, as well as the meaning-making that occurs in real-time. I cannot separate an objective happening from my perception of it, in that I do not believe there can be any objective meaning or experience apart from one who experiences it. In practical terms, I can record what I hear and what strikes me, but then I often begin to process the experience and add to the meaning-making event. This means that liveblogging makes me more than an active participant–the public-blogging and my ability to discuss my own thoughts and feelings of the event makes me in effect a co-presenter. [I think I will have to revisit this to try to develop it more]
8. Have a camera and its sync-cord. While picture taking while liveblogging may be icing on the cake, it does add a nice touch.
9. Have an international adapter/plug. Liveblogging in Canada, for example, uses the same plugs as in the US. The AHRD conference I am liveblogging in England means I have another device I have to carry with me if I want to plug in.
10. Adjust the computer time to the local time. I have blogged around the world, and prefer to capture the sessions in the real time where I am.
11. Consider a hyper-link policy. If I am liveblogging and there is wifi, then it is easy to add links to the presentations or papers or the people who present themselves, However, with the editing policy I listed above (see #7), determine how to find the links and add them, with full-disclosure, at some point in time. This allows the readers to try to see as much of what you experienced while it happens. If there is no wifi available, I consider it appropriate to add hyperlinks after the session when the Internet access is again available.
12. Plan for breaks. I blogged with a laptop, and had to decide what I was going to do with it when I went to the restroom and getting coffee. Without a personal contact whom I could trust it with when using the restroom or otherwise, it came with me. I had to close it and carry it as a notebook (I wonder if that is how the name originated?)
13. Get a comfortable seat. Liveblogging is tiring, so get comfortable because it will be a long session.
14. Consider keywords carefully. I have started to include Technorati keywords in all my posts, and use common keywords if they exist for the event, as well as names of participants and the primary topic. While I blog for many reasons, I want my experiences to be found by those in attendance or otherwise interested in the events I attend (if they so choose). 
15. Tag the posts with an agreed-upon tag. Technology-related conferences often announce a unique tag that they encourage people to use when uploading posts or photos so they can be found by searchers and other attendees later. However, not all conferences or events do this. If not, create a unique tag for the event that will be easy to locate and share it with anybody else liveblogging the event (for consistency). Finally, name it in a post so readers and potential searchers will see it.  

This list is a work in process, and I hope to add to it as new issues arise or as feedback and research dictates.

Technorati Tags: live blogging, liveblogging, live-blogging, liveblogging best practices, Technorati

Usha Raghavachari, Car and Crossover Communications Manager, Ford Motor

She makes no apology that this is a marketing presentation. She gave her background, where she was born in India and grew up in England. Her presentation will be in a few pieces. This includes an overview of the environment. From the EPA work, there is an increasing sense of environmental awareness, from the 2007 Cone Consumer Environmental Survey / EPA / AdAge. Al Gore has also made
an impact, with the book and movie.

What does green mean for the automotive industry. Bloomberg stated that the taxis in NY will increasingly be more energy efficient. Most presidential candicates now are driving around in a hybrid. People also think of green as being hybrid. But, for the auto industry, being green often means having smaller SUVs or smaller cars. Diesel in Europe is more efficient than current US hybrids. Efficiency and green also means making vehicles lighter. She stated that people are happy to pay more money for this investment.
However, when I shopped for a new car, I saw that the hyrbid was $10 K more in cost and 1/5 less in power (hp towing).

Quick education–component parts, hybrids have smaller and efficient and technologically advanced engine. There is an electric motor/generator acts as a motor and as a generator. Benefits of a hybrid is more efficiency with electric assist and better fuel economy and less emissions. When an Escape Hybrid runs on the electricity and has turned off the engine component, the tailpipe gives our clean air. All hybrids are not equal–some are partial and some are complete. Some need to use gas at all times, and some
can run completely (at times) on electricity.

The Ford Escape is the first hyrbid SUV and the first hybrid in the US. The emphasis is that people want hybrid and green, but they do not want to give anything up.

Looking up at the slides after typing all this without looking up, I see an enormous amount of text on the slides. Wow, too much for a communications perspective. Makes me long for Seth Godin’s PowerPoint recommendations.

Hybrid customers are the most affluent and well-educated consumer they have. This population takes action in their lives toward being green (organic food, compost, recycle). They want an outdoor life and do not want to compromise. This sounds wonderful and as part of a group I want to be a member of; what a good marketer she is.

She is clear she is a marketing person, and was focused on communications. Ironic that as she stated that, she opened a Background slide with 3 paragraphs with a total of 14 lines. I wish the slides would have been as engaging as her marketing and PR campaign. I am now so distracted by all of it, that her credibility is called into question in my mind since there is a disconnect between what she is saying and what she is showing. She talked about how brilliant Kermit is and how much fun and engaging
their ads (including the American Idol ad that she played) are. Is she showing us what they did as a professional engaged in this work, or trying to sell us this car? As a visual learner, I can’t watch since the slide text is so overwhelmingly full.

She then showed the Ford advertisement with Kermit the Frog, “Easy Being Green.” Kermit has cross-generational appeal and it was launched during the SuperBowl. Now the Ford Escape Hybrid faces luxury and non-luxury competition. Thus, saying “green” today is no longer enough. Thus, they are now focusing an environmentally friendly, off road and on. It is a true hybrid and a true SUV. She then stated that they buy carbon credits to offset the manufacture processes of the vehicle.

I still do not understand the concept of buying carbon credits.

The moderator has been unsuccessful in giving her the sign that her time is over (already 35 minutes, and still not entry for questions). Ahh, is this true to marketing form?

Technorati Tags: EPA, Ford Escape, hybrid, Cone Consumer Environmental Survey,, Usha Raghavachari

Linda Recupero, EVP Public affairs , HSBC USA - “It’s Not Easy Being Green”

HSBC has been involved in corporate stewardship for a long time, and has a lot of green initiatives for some time now. She joked about being green and banks having a lot of green (money), but there is a belief that they should be environmentally green and believe it from every aspect of them as an organization.

Their core beliefs and strategic initiatives include corporate responsibility. They want to be one of the world’s leading brands for corporate responsibility and thus reduce their environmental footprint.

They look at their stakeholders with an environmental stewardship lens. There are a lot of people to consider. Their business and communications perspective. They want to engage customers in an emotional relationship and then having a positive sustainable impact on the communities where they work. There tag line, “The World’s Local Bank” and the fact tha HSBC is the 3rd largest banking organization in the world, this message rings true for them as well. For HSBC, environmental stewardship is central to who they
are.

Great focus on engaging their clients and customers, but the slides were not terribly engaging. Rather dull, which is something she even stated when she considered her slides compared to the National Geographic ones that preceded here work.

Rather than write a big check, they are trying to have policies and initiatives that support their work and mission. They encourage their employees to be active and engaged in nature conservation programs.

They focus on partnering with other organizations, and partnered in the WWF and EarthWatch. They then wanted to fund organizations that were focused on climate changed. The HSBC Climate Partneship was with four credible organizations–The Climate Group, Earthwatch, WWF, and the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute. They funded this 5-year program with $100
M and want to encourage long-term work and involvement with people to be on expeditions and research projects.

They have the first Gold LEED certified bank branch in Greece, NY. Moving forward, they want every branch to have a component of being green and reducing their footprint.

Another of their tag lines for one of their campaigns is “there’s no small change” www.theresnosmallchange.com, which has incentives for making small changes in people’s banking and personal lives support these efforts.

It seems HSBC is very active in this area, and I am glad to hear it. I had no idea they were doing to much, so from a corporate communication perspective, they are quite active. As an organization with their people and customers and consumers and facilities, they are really making strides toward following their mission. Their chairman, Stephen K. Green, promotes this and believes and espouses promoting the green movement within HSBC.

The questions once again came from a global audience. The first question was about that most people are probably not aware of all the work HSBC is doing within this space. The question is about how HSBC can promote itself as a green-focused firm, and how they can use that within their marketing efforts. They are planning to actively begin marketing their work, especially as they are somewhat new at marketing and promoting their CR and Philanthropy and PR groups. They now realize how important this message and
the PR can be (compared to their marketing efforts). They have been humble and quiet in the past, and now are becoming more proactive in their approach. There was another question about how to filer this CR and green message to filer down, especially when the CEO is already in favor or and an evangelist of this message. A big piece of this is within employee education and e-learning and individual employee goals. They encourage people to be involved in conferences, and have a sustainability officer who then promotes
this and working with outside groups. Another question is if they have done a sustainability report, which they did. She believed this is critical, and they just released their report a month ago and offered to get it to the questioner (yet, oddly, did not share any of the results with those of us here).

Technorati Tags: Earthwatch, HSBC, Linda Recupero, Smithsonian Tropical Research Insitute, The Climate Group, WWF