Sunday 27 January 2008

Brad de Long on importance of economic history

What a great idea - instead of the morning blog, speak to your Mac, get Macspeech to transcribe it and hey presto - your favorite topic of the day is ready for viewing and reading.

Now, this particular topic has definitely got my attantion. I fully endorse the move to get students and practitioners of different disciplines to appreciate each others contribution to a chosen topic. This time he argued for closer collaboration and deeper links between historians and economists.

Of course, this is critically true for many other disciplines. It would be interesting to explore which other academic fields might be similarly enriched by cross-fertilisation.

Thursday 24 January 2008

Davos 2008 - Opening Plenary with all the Co-Chairs

The Annual World Economic Forum has started in Davos today. As far as the openings go, this is not a bad one.

Monday 14 January 2008

why does it take so long for business school academics to recognise what happens in reality?


It really takes so long to see something talked about in business school literature though you have actually experienced it in practice. The article above talks about middle managers as sources of ideas and innovation in organisations. Well, hallelujah!

'The unsung heros' is very apt here but for so many large companies that have followed guru prescriptions in the last 15 years about thinning the middle, this is scant relief! Not to mention the waste layed of the lives of those middle managers who have been unceremoniously 'outsourced', 'let go', 'made redundant', 'let go', 'given eary retirement' or whatever euphemism one may wish to use.

This seems to me to only confirm exactly what last week FT article by Michael Skapinker argued.

Sunday 6 January 2008

TED Talks - Isabel Allende: Tales of Passion

At the start of New 2008 Year, I have been really uplifted by a wonderful and truly felt talk Isabel Allende gave at TED2007. She is passionate but not preaching, she tells stories about real people, has lovely sense of humour and twinkle in her eye that betrays sense of fun but above all she is deeply passionate about making the lot of women around the world not only better but GOOD!

So, please click on the link nd do yourself a favour - watch and listen to a woman who can just reawaken your passion for life! May it be the start of inspiration for your path this year and in the many years to come.

Oh, and not to forget, she has some wonderful asides about Sophia Loren and her beauty tips for staying young even when you are over 70!

 
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