Rich, B.R. and Janos, Y., Skunk Works, Little Brown and Company, New York, 1994

I have had this book in my library for quite some time and although I've browsed it before, I recently had the opportunity to actually read it. Why I didn't read it earlier, I just don't know because it is just so full of stories and wisdom on many levels.

For those who don't know - the Skunk Works were (are still?) a top secret Lockheed shop for the design, development and manufacture of advanced and innovative aerospace systems. If U2, SR-71 Blackbird and stealth planes mean anything to you - then this book tells their story.

Bennett, W. and Crawley, S., Wayne Bennett - Don't Die with the Music in You, ABC Books, Sydney, NSW, Australia, 2007.

I have this question I ask at dinners/lunches which is "If you could have any three people as dinner guests who would you have?" with the variations of dead or alive or alive only or politicians or sports people and so on. It can sometimes give you an insight into the person, but it always throws up surprises as often they are an obscure person. I am shallow enough to admit that Elle McPherson is always on my list (because she is an inspirational business person ... duh!!). BUT ...the other one is Wayne Bennett and I often change the third person.

I attended this presentation quite some time ago last year and blogged about it at the time. But then my site went pear shaped. It is worth putting it up though. Michael Schaper had some interesting facts to discuss. So her is my original blog entry.

Along with Donna Cox of Mantra Training and Development, I attended the Canberra Business Council (CBC) (of which HolisTech® is a Corporate Member) and Australian Institute of Company Directors (AICD) luncheon. Apart from doing a little networking (not that I am good at that), we listened to an interesting presentation by Dr Michael Schaper, the Deputy Chairperson of the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC). It was titled Small Business - Future Opportunities & Challenges.

I attended this presentation quite some time ago last year and
blogged about it at the time. But then my site went pear shaped. It is worth putting it up though. Michael Schaper had some interesting facts to discuss. So here is my original blog entry.

Along with Donna Cox of Mantra Training and Development, I attended the Canberra Business Council (CBC) (of which HolisTech® is a Corporate Member) and Australian Institute of Company Directors (AICD) luncheon. Apart from doing a little networking (not that I am good at that), we listened to an interesting presentation by Dr Michael Schaper, the Deputy Chairperson of the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC). It was titled Small Business - Future Opportunities & Challenges.

I want to talk about trust in this blog. I have had my trust betrayed on a number of occasions in both business and within projects. I have also had it tested and have been shown great trust by business colleagues and friends.

This is yet another article in The Australian newspaper on the problems and issues around the Federal Government's schools and education stimulus package. Assuming the facts are right, and I have no reason to believe otherwise, the waste is just incredible. Good on the parents and staff to say they will hand the money back as it is just replacing a perfectly functioning building with another building serving the same purpose....on top of all the disruption that it will cause.

A while back, I was asked by a business colleague to assist in providing an insight into how an organisation could handle their knowledge asset better and how they could weave a network of advisors and small/medium enterprises.

After a couple of coffees and a long chat, he asked if I could encapsulate our discussion in a short brief. Always up for a challenge, I based the brief on the one hour executive briefing we (HolisTech Pty Ltd) provide to executives in Government agencies on leveraging Web 2.0.

Camrass, R. and Farncombe, M., Atomic: Reforming the Business Landscape into the New Structures of Tomorrow, Capstone Publishing Limited, UK, 2004.

Atomic attempts to identify the future business construct based upon trends identified today. Camrass and Farncombe take the analogy of an "atom" that can become part of larger molecules to form value adding business structures. These are more agile and focused organisations than the monolithic businesses today. To their credit, they try to identify those "atoms" rather than just generalise:.

Formal. Pat is a very experienced program and project manager with a strong academic background in the profession which includes post graduate project management qualifications. He has a significant and current consulting and business background with a particular strength in communicating complex concepts in simple and pithy ways including discussions, presentations, blogs and papers.

Informal. I am the normal family man - wife and two daughters, two dogs (german shepherd and golden retriever - stupid and cupid as the kids call them!), a stack of frogs in the gardne and a visiting family of magpies (a native Australian bird that is quite at home in the urban environment).