6 stages of role development

Last year I was reading an article by the CEO of Recruitment firm, KornFerry, showing six stages of career 'development' (Burnison, 2021). I was quite struck how this CEO had turned career development into a process that I have not seen in the career development field. I could not decide if I liked it or not.

The model seems to conflate leadership theory development with the career stages of Super (1980). This not a bad idea. But I am not sure that it is career 'development' though. Career development has been defined as “the total constellation of psychological, sociological, educational, physical, economic and chance factors that combine to shape the career of an individual over the life span” (Sears, 1982, p. 139; as cited by Patton & McMahon, 2006, p. 6). Career development includes our transitions into and out of work, so I am finding Burnison's model a little truncated. I would probably be more comfortable if Burnison had termed the flowchart "the 6 stages of work expertise", or "the 6 phases of role development" (2021). And yes, I think the name matters.

To detail my understanding of the 6 stage model (Burnison, 2021):

1. Follower. This might be our first role after qualifying, and - like the Hersey and Blanchard life cycle theory of leadership (1969) of telling - we are being instructed what to do - and have all our structure supplied in almost a parent-child relationship, and deliver quite technical work. We may have low follower readiness (Hersey & Blanchard, 1969). This stage in the model doesn't appear to be like the followership style of Kelley (1988), but use of a followership model might help new hires to work on critical thinking and active participation skills. However, this stage is similar to the first theatre, the growth stage of Super (1980).
2. Collaborator. Again, this stage seems aligned to Hersey and Blanchard life cycle theory (1969), moving on two stages to participation. We are still delivering highly technical work, but we are working alongside others growing our interpersonal and team skills. We will have high follower readiness (Hersey & Blanchard, 1969), and similar to the exploration stage (Super, 1980).
3. Instructor. This is where we take on our first line leadership role, and this step appears similar to the delegating stage from Hersey and Blanchard (1969). We are a manager with training wheels, and need to be able to effectively delegate, while encouraging others to deliver to a set of requirements. This stage may be aligned to Super's establishment phase (1980): we may "have the responsibility, but not the authority" (Burnison, 2021).
4. Manager. We move onto managing larger projects, teams and goals. We build skills in motivation, vision, influence, strategy, long term-goal setting, and planning. This stage may also be aligned to Super's establishment phase (1980). We have worked our way up.
5. Influencer. This is transition phase where we move into a more mentorship role. We are less hands on but use our influence and expert power to get things done, similar to Henry & Lee's networked model (2004). This stage is - I think - aligned to both Super's maintenance and disengagement stages (1980). However, I am unsure this stage is a linear characteristic: I suspect this is a trait across all stages.
6. Leader. Here Burnison takes a servant leadership approach (Greenleaf, 1998), focusing on follower empowerment, inspiration, and values. This might possibly be aligned to Level 5 leadership of Collins (2001), or authentic leadership (Avolio & Gardner, 2005). However, I disagree that this is a different step to step 4. For good management, we must be able to both manage - get things done through others - and to lead - to encourage the heart. But perhaps this is step 5 where we hone our management skills into a more developmental, leader-oriented role.

This model is presented as a process, as a "pathway of possibilities, where the worker will, like Super's model, travel through stages of the process at different times, with different companies (Burnison, 2021). Interestingly, though, I don't think that the last two steps quite work that way. To me, step 5 is not a not linear. Step 6 might be, but I am also uncertain about that. I find steps 5 and 6 are more styles of working, rather than a role which we perform.

Sam

References:

Avolio, B. J., & Bass, B. M. (1995). Individual consideration viewed at multiple levels of analysis: A multi-level framework for examining the diffusion of transformational leadership. The Leadership Quarterly, 6(2), 199-218. https://doi.org/10.1016/1048-9843(95)90035-7

Burnison, G. (21 September 2021). This chart shows the 6 stages of career growth. Where are you now?. https://www.cnbc.com/amp/2021/09/21/the-6-stages-of-career-growth-and-how-to-tell-where-you-are.html

Collins, J. (2001). Good To Great. HarperCollins Publishers, Inc.

Greenleaf, R. (1998). The Power of Servant Leadership. Berrett-Koehler.

Henry, I., & Lee, P. C. (2004). Governance and ethics in sport. In J. Beech & S. Chadwick (Eds.), The business of sport management (pp. 25-41). Pearson Education.

Hersey, P., & Blanchard, K. (1969). Life cycle theory of leadership. Training and Development Journal, 23(5), 26-34.

Kelley, R. E. (1988). In Praise of Followers. Harvard Business Review, 66(6), 142-148.

Patton, W. & McMahon, M. (2006). Career Development and Systems Theory: Connecting Theory and Practice (2nd ed.). Sense Publishers.

Super, D. E. (1980). A life-span, life space approach to career development. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 16(3), 282-298. https://doi.org/10.1016/0001-8791(80)90056-1

read more "6 stages of role development"

Authentic leadership has become trendy

Authentic leadership is “owning one’s personal experiences” and acting “in accord with the true self, expressing oneself in ways that are consistent with inner thoughts and feelings” (Harter, 2002, p. 382, cited in Avolio & Gardner, 2005).

Avolio et al nailed it when they said that authentic leaders are “those who are deeply aware of how they think and behave and are perceived by others as being aware of their own and others’ values/moral perspectives, knowledge, and strengths; aware of the context in which they operate; and who are confident, hopeful, optimistic, resilient, and of high moral character” (Avolio, Gardner et al., 2004 as cited in Avolio & Gardner, 2005).

What is now taken in management-speak to be 'authentic' leadership is not what Avolio and Gardner talk about.

Popular media suggests that 'authentic' leadership is this something that all of us can achieve - or that we should all aspire to. However, authentic leadership is more trait theory than developmental theory. Maybe 5% of our population have the authentic capacity to lead this way.

I read two articles last year where writers who are usually pretty smart were were banging on about how all of us can learn to lead 'authentically'. This is not authentic leadership: it is PR. Buzzwords. Convenient. A fast fix.

Oops: and one that doesn't work.

For example, Herminia Ibarra wrote an article about leaders who tried to be vulnerable and open with their people - thinking this was authentic - and so got shot down or undermined. While her article focused on authentic leadership not being a panacea for all leadership problems, she missed the point that the people who were being taught this style of leading were not actually authentic leaders themselves. That they were being taught to be inauthentic authentic leaders.

Hermina goes on to say that authenticity is about one “true self”. Nazomi Morgan entitled her piece "Authentic Leadership Means Being Real". When people read these pieces, they assume authentic leadership is about 'truth'.

This is not what authentic leadership is. From what I have quoted above, we know that authentic leadership is a particular leadership style where leaders are socially aware, high-functioning optimistic people who actions, thoughts and words are invariably consistent.

So just remember: authentic leadership is a style confined to those who (a) demonstrate and (b) work on those traits mentioned.

We can learn to be more authentic, but if we don't have authentic leadership traits, we can't be an authentic leader. We would be foolish to try to stick this style on like a band aid, because our future thoughts, words, and actions will not be consistent. We will undermine ourselves.

We would be better to be true to ourselves and NOT try to be an authentic leader, but be a participative leader, or a facilitative leader, or an autocratic leader... whatever our natural style is, as well-developed and functioning as we can make it.

Otherwise we get the whole silk purse, sow's ear thing happening...


Sam

References:

• Ibarra, Herminia (2015). The Authenticity Paradox. Retrieved 13 November 2016 from https://hbr.org/2015/01/the-authenticity-paradox?utm_campaign=HBR&utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=social
• Morgan, Nozomi (26 November 2016). Authentic Leadership Means Being Real. Retrieved 26 November 2016 from http://www.huffingtonpost.com/nozomi-morgan/authentic-leadership-mean_b_13239712.html

read more "Authentic leadership has become trendy "

Authentic Leaders and Followers

There are many leadership styles, and, amongst modern leadership theory - or transformational leadership theory - in the relational leadership school of Level 5, shared, ethical and authentic leadership, authentic leadership is one of the most interesting.

Avolio, Luthans, and Walumbwa defined authentic leadership as “those who are deeply aware of how they think and behave and are perceived by others as being aware of their own and others’ values/moral perspectives, knowledge, and strengths; aware of the context in which they operate; and who are confident, hopeful, optimistic, resilient, and of high moral character” (2004, p. 4, as cited in Avolio & Gardner, 2005, p. 321).

Authentic leadership values create openness, transparency and allows for doubt, which in turn allows us to develop open and honest reflection. It allows for the empowerment of others, and the creation of value: of human capital, intellectual capital and of other resources. It allows us to build a positive workplaces through a shared vision, values and goals (Jackson & Parry, 2011).

Authentic leadership does not allow cultural gaps to occur; that is, where there is a difference between the organisational behaviours that the are spoken about and those that actually happen (Daft & Pirola-Merlo, 2009).

Due to their nature, authentic leaders build adaptive organisational culture, where they have high concern for people, and create processes which aid positive change. This is the type of environment where - calculated - risks can be taken, where pilot studies are the norm, and where corporate entrepreneurship can flourish.

Authentic leaders encourage us to challenge, inspire, motivate or ground ourselves, by supplying an external perspective and helping us to internally adapt within organisations.

Authentic leadership allows us to focus on the development of followers. Wren (1995, p. x) defines leadership as “an interactive process in which leaders and followers engage in mutual interaction in a complex environment to achieve mutual goals”. Daft and Pirola-Merlo (2009, p. 4, after Rost, 1991, p. 102) defines leadership as “an influence relationship among leaders and followers who intend real changes and outcomes that reflect their shared purposes”. Burns (1978, p. 18): “people with certain motives and purposes mobilize in competition or conflict with others, institutional, political, psychological, and other resources so as to arouse, engage, and satisfy the motives of the followers”. Ivancevich and Matteson (2002, p. 425, as cited by Chelladurai, 2006, p. 192): "the process of influencing others to facilitate the attainment of organizationally relevant goals".

All those definitions mention followers (or 'others') as a key stakeholder in the process of leadership, and this is particularly true in authentic leadership. Shamir & Eilam (p. x, 2005, as cited in Avolio & Gardner, 2005, p. 322) define authentic followers as those “who follow leaders for authentic reasons and have an authentic relationship with the leader".This is one of the few leadership styles that details the characteristics of the follower.

It is egalitarian. Authentic leaders and followers are an inextricably linked pair.

And they support each other.


Sam

References:

• Avolio, Bruce J. & Gardner, William L. (June 2005). Authentic leadership development: Getting to the root of positive forms of leadership. The Leadership Quarterly, Volume 16, Issue 3, June 2005 (pp. 315-338)
• Burns, James MacGregor (1978). Leadership. USA: Harper & Row
• Chelladurai, Packianathan (2006). Human Resource Management in Sport and Recreation (2nd Edition). USA: Human Kinetics (pp. 189-210)
• Daft, Richard L., & Pirola-Merlo, Andrew (2009). The Leadership Experience (Asia-Pacific Edition 1). Australia: Cengage
• Jackson, B., & Parry K. (2011). A very short, fairly interesting and reasonably cheap book about studying leadership (Second Edition). UK: Sage
• Wren, Thomas J. (1995). The Leader’s Companion: Insights on Leadership through the Ages. USA: The FreePress

read more "Authentic Leaders and Followers"

Leadership Must Haves

I was asked by an academic colleague recently for a guide to a leadership "think piece" for a client who is migrating to ISO systems.

That is a darned good question, and it is hard to come up with a comprehensive one-stop-shop argument that covers the breadth of the leadership field.

Instead I replied with some ideas, which I thought I would rework into a blog post. These are my leadership must haves:

1. For me, the MOST important aspect of leadership is creating, building and sustaining a positive culture. If you get that right, the rest looks after itself. One of the most terrible, negative and destructive things a leader can do is to think that culture is unimportant, or that it will sort itself out.
   
   Edgar Schein (1992, p. 5) said “Organisational cultures are created by leaders, and one of the most decisive functions of leadership may well be the creation, the management and if and when, that may become necessary, the destruction of culture. Culture and leadership, when one examines them closely, are two sides of the same coin and neither can really be understood by itself. In fact there is a possibility, underemphasised in the leadership research, that the only thing of real importance that leaders do is to create and manage culture and that the unique talent of leaders is their ability to work with culture”.
   
   Some previous posts on culture can be found at Managing Meaning, Changing Corporate Culture and Strong Cultures can be Negative.
   
   
2. Second-most important for me is Phil Dorado's idea of Acts of Leadership (2007). Acts of leadership are those active and critical thinking actions that we take each day, rather than being a passenger in our own lives. I have posted about this before at Barriers to Leadership, Why Acts of Leadership and About on my blog.
   
   
3. From that point, my personal affinity then lies mainly between two leadership styles: shared leadership and facilitative leadership.
   
   Facilitative leadership aligns well with teaching and coaching, being a values-based and supportive style ideal for development (Schwarz, 2002), focused on involving followers in the leadership process. I have a couple of blog posts on facilitative leadership and the components of facilitative leadership.
   
   Shared leadership works well with organisations where they can take ego out of the equation. Volunteer organisations, those focused on social good, places with embedded values will usually be able to work with this style. I wrote a case on Tennis New Zealand (on ResearchGate) which is attempting to provide organisational leadership in this way.
   
   I only know of two commercial organisations who embody a shared leadership style: Semco in Brazil and HCL Technologies in India. I am currently putting together a case on Semco, but just haven't had time to finish it (though once finished, it too will be on ResearchGate).
   
   
4. Authentic leadership too is a transformative and modern leadership style, but this type of leader needs to possess the characteristics. Bill George (former Medtronic CEO, 2003) has done quite a bit of writing on this style, and on us doing personal work to grow into authentic followers (or authentic leaders if we are able to grow the appropriate traits).
   
   
5. Also the leadership style discussed by ex-Stanford Prof Jim Collins, Level 5 Leadership, is a very powerful and enduring leadership style that suits people who are non-charismatic, or who may be more introverted. Jim's book "Good to Great" explores this style (2001).

For more information, Profs Brad Jackson & Ken Parry wrote a great little primer about leadership called "A Very Short, Fairly Interesting and Reasonably Cheap Book About Studying Leadership" (2011), which explores current leadership trends and various schools of thought. I use this as a text for my Year 3 Sport & Rec students.

As Professor Jackson says "But it is all about leadership, isn't it?"


Sam

References:

• Collins, J. (2001). Good to Great: Why some companies make the leap... and others don’t. HarperCollins Publishers 
• Dorado, P. (2007). The 60 Second Leader: Everything you need to know about leadership, in 60 second bites. Capstone Publishing Ltd
• George, B. (2003). Authentic Leadership: Rediscovering the Secrets to Creating Lasting Value. Jossey-Bass. 
• Jackson, B.,  & Parry, K. (2011). A Very Short, Fairly Interesting and Reasonably Cheap Book About Studying Leadership (2nd ed.). SAGE
• Schein, E. H. (1992). Organizational Culture & Leadership (2nd ed.). Jossey-Bass
• Schwarz, R. (2002). The Skilled Facilitator: A comprehensive resource for consultants, facilitators, managers, trainers and coaches (revised ed.). Jossey-Bass

read more "Leadership Must Haves"

Dick Hubbard - an Authentic Leader

Authentic leadership is aligned with Greek philosophy - that of 'to thine own self be true' to quote Shakespeare (Hamlet, Act 1, scene 3, 78). This is a leadership style where leaders model the way to their followers, where they inspire a shared vision, where they challenge standards and processes; they are enablers, empowerers and feed the soul of those around them. Authentic leaders demonstrate consistent thoughts, emotions and behaviours - even when no one is watching. They are positive people with strong ethics and a well-defined social conscience (Jackson & Parry, 2008; Avolio & Gardner, 2005; Kouzes & Posner, 2007).

Authentic leadership is not merely sincerity, but where the very fabric of the person is aligned; all of an authentic leader's experiences, thoughts, emotions, needs, wants, preferences, beliefs, processes, actions and behaviours are consistent with each other (Avolio & Gardner, 2005).

Preparing learning materials for my students on authentic leadership got me to thinking about Kiwis who typify the style.

Dick Hubbard, the founder and governing director of Hubbard Foods Ltd is described as a ‘tall, somewhat gangly man with a charming smile’ . Son of a Kiwi returned serviceman and a Scottish war bride, Dick was a product of the post-war “get the country going again” paradigm. Dick “was unhappy working for companies [he believed] were dedicated only to increasing profit for shareholders” and in 1990 Hubbard Foods Ltd was launched. Between 1990 and 2000, turnover on breakfast cereal sales increased from $2m to $23m, rising to $30-40m by 2004. A touch of a social conscience appeared early.

Hubbard's reflects Dick’s own values of sustainable development, honestly, hard work and fair play, communicated to customers through the Clipboard Newsletter included in every cereal packet sold. Hubbard Foods has completed 'triple bottom-line' sustainability accounting since the mid-90s, opening the books to all employees, and offering employee training in reading company accounts. A spot of empowering and enabling. Hubbard's continues to operate in Mangere, despite lures of cheaper rent elsewhere, in order to stay close to their workforce. A long-term supporter of Outward Bound, in 1998, Dick flew all 120 of his then staff to Samoa at a cost of $150,000 (strong ethics, shared vision).

Dick would epitomise, for many New Zealanders, what corporate social responsibility (CSR) really means in practice. He is a past-chair of the Food Standards Committee and the NZ National Parks & Conservation Foundation, past-president of the Institute of Food Science and Technology, and a former director of Business Mentors in the Community. But it is his passion for sustainable business that has spurred much of his service work as a founder and active member of the NZ Business Council for Sustainable Development (challenging standards and processes), ten years before sustainability became trendy (social conscience).

Considering selling Hubbard's internationally in 2008 caused Dick to decide that he did not want ownership to leave New Zealand (strong ethics). In 2009, Dick sold a 35% stake in the company to the Rotorua Energy Charitable Trust. In 2010, furthering the company’s sustainability theme, Hubbard Foods installed NZ’s largest commercial array of solar photo voltaic panels, at 227.5 m2. This will generate 29,000kW per year, enough to power three and a half houses (strong ethics, shared vision).

Politically naive, in 2004 Dick Hubbard decided to put his sustainability ideas, co-operative leadership values and his desire for the creation of a positive future for Auckland where his political conscience was, and run for the Auckland mayoralty (strong ethics, and a pity that Auckland didn't share his vision!). While Dick focused on serving the city of Auckland, he installed a Chief Executive, Doug Paulin. Hubbard Foods started to slide in market share (from 12.3% to 9.4%6) and net worth (from an estimated $30-40m in 2004 to $14m in 2010), but he retained faith in Doug, who continues in the role today (positivity, strong ethics).

Dick thinks that leadership is “critically important” and that the leader is the “person who defines the cultural base of the company is the keeper of the soul of the company” . He says “it's hugely important to firstly know who you are and to stand for your principles” , and tries to “fix on who I am and what I stand for, what my values are. And then making sure that I can communicate that right through, that I'm a real and genuine person and hopefully one that people can look up to and respect”.

In my view, Dick Hubbard is a very self-actualised person, time after time after time throughout his business career putting his money where his mouth is, while the rest of the world slowly catches up with him.

Dick Hubbard is probably an authentic leader.


References:

• Avolio, Bruce J. & Gardner, William L. (June 2005). Authentic leadership development: Getting to the root of positive forms of leadership. The Leadership Quarterly, Volume 16, Issue 3, June 2005 (pp. 315-338)
• Jackson, Brad & Parry, Ken (2001). The Hero Manager; Learning from New Zealand’s Top Executives. New Zealand: Penguin Books (NZ) Ltd (Chapter 5: Dick Hubbard. pp. 97-116)
• Kouzes, James M. & Posner, Barry Z. (2002). In Jossey-Bass reader on educational leadership (book of edited readings), 2007. USA: Jossey-Bass Inc
• Young, Sam (2011). Dick Hubbard - The Way to Start the Day. NZ: NMIT & AUT.

Sam

read more "Dick Hubbard - an Authentic Leader"

Newsletter Issue 197, March 2011

Sam Young Newsletter

Issue 197, March 2011

Hi guys,

Have you heard of authentic leadership before? Then check out Dick Hubbard - an Authentic Leader below.

The rush to urbanisation is not only a western trend. It is happening faster in Asia. Read The Rise of Asian Mega-Cities. 

Inserting Filler Text   TLAs for SMEs        Tips, Short & Hot Keys        Hot Linx

Don't forget, if you want to be taken off my mailing list, click here to send me a reply e-mail and I will remove your name.

Dick Hubbard - an Authentic Leader

Authentic leadership is aligned with Greek philosophy - that of 'to thine own self be true' to quote Shakespeare (Hamlet). This is a leadership style where leaders model the way to their followers, where they inspire a shared vision, where they challenge standards and processes; they are enablers, empowerers and feed the soul of those around them. Authentic leaders demonstrate consistent thoughts, emotions and behaviours - even when no one is watching. They are positive people with strong ethics and a well-defined social conscience.

Authentic leadership is not merely sincerity, but where the very fabric of the person is aligned; all of an authentic leader's experiences, thoughts, emotions, needs, wants, preferences, beliefs, processes, actions and behaviours are consistent with each other.

Preparing learning materials for my students on authentic leadership got me to thinking about Kiwis who typify the style.

Dick Hubbard, the founder and governing director of Hubbard Foods Ltd is described as a ‘tall, somewhat gangly man with a charming smile’ . Son of a Kiwi returned serviceman and a Scottish war bride, Dick was a product of the post-war “get the country going again” paradigm. Dick “was unhappy working for companies [he believed] were dedicated only to increasing profit for shareholders” and in 1990 Hubbard Foods Ltd was launched. Between 1990 and 2000, turnover on breakfast cereal sales increased from $2m to $23m, rising to $30-40m by 2004. A touch of a social conscience appeared early.

Hubbard's reflects Dick’s own values of sustainable development, honestly, hard work and fair play, communicated to customers through the Clipboard Newsletter included in every cereal packet sold. Hubbard Foods has completed 'triple bottom-line' sustainability accounting since the mid-90s, opening the books to all employees, and offering employee training in reading company accounts. A spot of empowering and enabling.  Hubbard's continues to operate in Mangere, despite lures of cheaper rent elsewhere, in order to stay close to their workforce. A long-term supporter of Outward Bound, in 1998, Dick flew all 120 of his then staff to Samoa at a cost of $150,000 (strong ethics, shared vision).

Dick would epitomise, for many New Zealanders, what corporate social responsibility (CSR) really means in practice. He is a past-chair of the Food Standards Committee and the NZ National Parks & Conservation Foundation, past-president of the Institute of Food Science and Technology, and a former director of Business Mentors in the Community. But it is his passion for sustainable business that has spurred much of his service work as a founder and active member of the NZ Business Council for Sustainable Development (challenging standards and processes), ten years before sustainability became trendy (social conscience).

Considering selling Hubbard's internationally in 2008 caused Dick to decide that he did not want ownership to leave New Zealand (strong ethics). In 2009, Dick sold a 35% stake in the company to the Rotorua Energy Charitable Trust. In 2010, furthering the company’s sustainability theme, Hubbard Foods installed NZ’s largest commercial array of solar photo voltaic panels, at 227.5 m2. This will generate 29,000kW per year, enough to power three and a half houses (strong ethics, shared vision).

Politically naive, in 2004 Dick Hubbard decided to put his sustainability ideas, co-operative leadership values and his desire for the creation of a positive future for Auckland where his political conscience was, and run for the Auckland mayoralty (strong ethics, and a pity that Auckland didn't share his vision!). While Dick focused on serving the city of Auckland, he installed a Chief Executive, Doug Paulin. Hubbard Foods started to slide in market share (from 12.3% to 9.4%6) and net worth (from an estimated $30-40m in 2004 to $14m in 2010), but he retained faith in Doug, who continues in the role today (positivity, strong ethics).

Dick thinks that leadership is “critically important” and that the leader is the “person who defines the cultural base of the company is the keeper of the soul of the company” . He says “it's hugely important to firstly know who you are and to stand for your principles” , and tries to “fix on who I am and what I stand for, what my values are. And then making sure that I can communicate that right through, that I'm a real and genuine person and hopefully one that people can look up to and respect”.

In my view, Dick Hubbard is a very self-actualised person, time after time after time throughout his business career putting his money where his mouth is, while the rest of the world slowly catches up with him.

Dick Hubbard is an authentic leader.

 

References:

• Avolio, Bruce J. & Gardner, William L. (June 2005). Authentic leadership development: Getting to the root of positive forms of leadership. The Leadership Quarterly, Volume 16, Issue 3, June 2005 (pp. 315-338)
• Jackson, Brad & Parry, Ken (2001). The Hero Manager; Learning from New Zealand’s Top Executives. New Zealand: Penguin Books (NZ) Ltd (Chapter 5: Dick Hubbard. pp. 97-116)
• Kouzes, James M. & Posner, Barry Z. (2002). In Jossey-Bass reader on educational leadership (book of edited readings), 2007. USA: Jossey-Bass Inc
• Young, Sam (2011). Dick Hubbard - The Way to Start the Day. NZ: NMIT & AUT.

The Rise of Asian Mega-Cities

The world is 50.5% urbanised (CIA The World Factbook, 2010, as cited by Trendwatching, 2011). However, China, Africa and India are likely to undergo a huge amount of urbanisation over the next few decades. The current population of China is 43% of the world's total, Africa is 33% and India 29% (CIA The World Factbook, 2010, as cited by Trendwatching, 2011). If these countries continue their already growing trends to city-living, we could have more than 80% of our population urbanised by the end of this century.

This brings huge logistical problems as well as the benefits of a consolidated workforce, an active market and income generation. The logistics of moving people to work each day, of removing waste, of providing water, housing, food and governance is a problem that will have cost and planning implications far in excess of what we have seen thus far.

Just 100 cities account for 30% of the world's economy, and almost all its innovation. Money, knowledge and stability come from world capitals that have evolved and adapted through centuries - and sometimes mere decades - of dominance (Foreign Policy, August 2010, as cited by Trendwatching, 2011).

The new rising cities are Lisbon, Brussels, Budapest, Seoul (each of the former already contributing 25% of their national GDP), Delhi, Shanghai, São Paulo, Moscow, Beijing, Mumbai, Istanbul, Belem, Chongqing and Guadalajara.

• Each day, another 180,000 people move into cities, adding roughly 60 million new urban dwellers each year (Intuit, October 2010, as cited by Trendwatching, 2011).
• By 2050, the global urban population is expected to be 6.3 billion, or 70% of the population at that time (UN, 2009, as cited by Trendwatching, 2011)
• By 2030, China will have an urban population of 1 billion, and India 590 million. Currently, Europe's urban population is 533 million (McKinsey forecast & UN data, 2009-10, as cited by Trendwatching, 2011)
• By 2030, China will have 221 cities with more than 1 million people, and India will have 68. In 2010, Europe has 35. During this period, 400 million Chinese and 215 million Indian will move to urban areas, more than the population of the US and Brazil combined (Foreign Policy, August 2010, as cited by Trendwatching, 2011)
• In January 2011, Chinese city planners proposed merging the nine cities around the Pearl River Delta into a single metropolitan area, containing some 42 million people: more than Argentina, and covering an area 26 times bigger than Greater London (Reuters, January 2011, as cited by Trendwatching, 2011)

In addition, China is producing more Science degrees each year than the rest of the world combined. I suspect we will be start naturally looking to China for the new research breakthroughs in the next few years as well. India for IT, China for research.

We live in interesting times :-)

Thanks to Trendwatching for these statistics at http://www.trendwatching.com/briefing/

Inserting Filler Text

To insert filler text into a Word, Publisher or other MS document, you can either use the =rand() function, which will insert "The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog"; or the =lorem() function, which will insert the pigeon-latin text, "lorem ipsum".

You can adjust the amount of text being inserted by entering the number of paragraphs (x) and the lines per paragraph (y) inside the parentheses. Eg =lorem(10, 5) will insert 10 paragraphs of 5 lines per paragraph.

TLAs for SMEs

Here are this newsletter's TLAs (Three Letter Acronyms) for you:

• 555, Five-Five-Five. This is radio-speak for good radio reception or good aeronautical conditions, often used in the USA. Interestingly, most telephone numbers in US films start with 555 too...
• BCC, blind carbon copy. Used for 'hidden' addressee emails, with no link to the typewriter duplicate technology of the past that spawned the term!

Please feel free to email me with any TLAs that you want to get the bottom (meaning!) of.

Tips, Short+Hot Keys

Over the next few newsletters, we are going to look at all you can do with Function keys. This time it is F2:

• Excel, PowerPoint, Word "Save As" Alt & F2
• Excel, PowerPoint, Word "Save" Alt & Shift & F2
• Excel "Edit a cell comment" Shift & F2
• Excel "Edit the active cell and put the insertion point at the end of the line" F2
• Outlook "Open Print Preview & display the Print Preview properties box" Ctrl & F2 Then Alt & S or Alt & U
• Outlook "Open print preview" Ctrl & F2
• Outlook "Turn on editing in a field (except icon view) or move to a field in the active card" F2
• PowerPoint "Select the text box (with text or an object selected inside the text box) or select the text within a text box (with the text box selected)" F2
• Windows "Rename an item. Type the new name. Key Enter to accept, Esc to cancel" F2
• Word "Copy Text" Shift & F2
• Word "Display the Print Preview dialog box" Ctrl & F2
• Word "Move selected text, Enter to place" F2
• Word "Open File" Alt & Ctrl & F2

Hot Linx

To check if you have a good work-life balance, go to Career Services website at http://www2.careers.govt.nz/quiz_work_life_balance.html and take their quiz.

The Ministry of Women's Affairs has a good set of resources for directors at http://www.mwa.govt.nz/women-on-boards.

For a look on the light side, check out Parkour Training guru, David Belle's BBC ad at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SAMAr8y-Vtw, or some younger Brits in Parkour play at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sOOlUR9Cg1Q

Tables in Word often don't convert easily for web use. Excel works better, and there is a nice online tool to convert Excel spreadsheets into HTML at http://tableizer.journalistopia.com/. Just copy your Excel spreadsheet there and click "Tableize it!". (this tip from Woody's Watch newsletter)

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                                Catch you again soon!! E-mail your suggestions to me here

read more "Newsletter Issue 197, March 2011"