2012 has been a great year for me, not least because I've had six months off to begin the task of reinventing my work for the next 20 years of my life. It's been a productive time and I've made some big decisions about work.
Decision #1 - there will be less of it. Mornings only if I have my way!
Decision #2 - it will be portable - accessed by my laptop, stored in the cloud, available anywhere
Decision #3 - it will be diverse. I tried to leave research behind completely but finding out stuff is so much a part of what I do, all I can do is set a high bar for the work I choose to do. Alongside that there will be much writing and talking - maybe also mentoring and coaching. And definitely some e-book publishing.
Decision #4 - my focus will be on trends and values. These are the topics that fascinate me.
Decision #5 - I'm relaunching my windshift.co.nz / windshiftglobal.com as a trends / publications website and - as I mentioned back in May - I've started another www.anewdynamic.com which will sell e-books and guides to life in the 21st century.
So if you don't see updates on this blog, in future, go there.
Thank you for reading
Jill
Tuesday, December 4, 2012
Friday, June 15, 2012
Wanted: Simple and Sustainable Lives
I’m getting a bad feeling about what’s going on economically out there in the wider world. So, it seems, are many other people.
The average mood score in my Windshift Mind and Mood Index has fallen back from last year towards my lowest recorded score for this century [2009].
More people are concerned about their financial situation and more feel their country is going in the wrong direction.
Very few feel as if they are prosperous and getting ahead.
We know what happens when people feel like this, don’t we?
They close their wallets and they stay home. They don’t do anything new or risky. They look for bargains and discounts, they wait till the price is right and they try to be more self-sufficient.
With all that’s going on in the world I fear that this is going to be the pattern of the next decade, as one economic house of cards after another slowly disintegrates.
So I ask myself: should we just accept that this is how it is and stop struggling to retain a world that is gone for now? Should businesses try helping people to live comfortable and secure lives rather than farming their needs and insecurities for profit?
Should we embrace their desire for greater simplicity and self-sufficiency and help them achieve it?
The people and firms who are doing well in this environment are people with good financial reserves, pared down expenses and an eye for an opportunity.
I think the opportunities lie in helping people to find a bright and sustainable way of life.
Monday, May 28, 2012
A New Dynamic 1
OK so yes - there hasn't been a posting here for some time - but that's all about to change.
After a mad year last year where I was so busy working I almost forgot about living, I've made a major decision: this year, and the years to come, are going to focus on fun and creativity. I want to prosper, not just exist.
There will still be some social trends research - but they will be my own trends research projects. There will be subscribers to those projects, but there won't be clients in the traditional sense.
There will be deadlines, but there won't be the feeling of dread and weight on my shoulders. There will be time to consider what it all means and what I need to know next.
I've noticed several of my friends also experiencing this feeling I have of 'now or never'. For some it's expressed in the decision to go for it - with a business opportunity or a dream home.
For others it's been the decision not to try for a promotion or climb higher up the ladder. Or, to dial back the work hours - taking regular time off, travelling more, enjoying life, spending more time with family.
For me, prospering is about doing what I love most - writing - and doing it for people who can personally benefit from it.
Not the relatively small number of firms who can afford my $250 an hour professional fees, but people living their lives or running their small businesses, who are interested to know how other people are dealing with the same issues they face.
Alongside the blog there will be e-books. These will be small focused books - not long rambling monologues. I like the idea of short books. It annoys me with non-fiction books to find the author’s big idea in Chapter 3 and then 10 more chapters of elaboration.
Prospering at this time of global financial uncertainty is about living more frugally, managing financial risks, shopping well. So I'll write about that. But I also want to write about home and travelling and doing things you love.
So watch this space. . . Coming soon to a screen near you . . . A New Dynamic starring me - and you too.
After a mad year last year where I was so busy working I almost forgot about living, I've made a major decision: this year, and the years to come, are going to focus on fun and creativity. I want to prosper, not just exist.
There will still be some social trends research - but they will be my own trends research projects. There will be subscribers to those projects, but there won't be clients in the traditional sense.
There will be deadlines, but there won't be the feeling of dread and weight on my shoulders. There will be time to consider what it all means and what I need to know next.
I've noticed several of my friends also experiencing this feeling I have of 'now or never'. For some it's expressed in the decision to go for it - with a business opportunity or a dream home.
For others it's been the decision not to try for a promotion or climb higher up the ladder. Or, to dial back the work hours - taking regular time off, travelling more, enjoying life, spending more time with family.
For me, prospering is about doing what I love most - writing - and doing it for people who can personally benefit from it.
Not the relatively small number of firms who can afford my $250 an hour professional fees, but people living their lives or running their small businesses, who are interested to know how other people are dealing with the same issues they face.
Alongside the blog there will be e-books. These will be small focused books - not long rambling monologues. I like the idea of short books. It annoys me with non-fiction books to find the author’s big idea in Chapter 3 and then 10 more chapters of elaboration.
Prospering at this time of global financial uncertainty is about living more frugally, managing financial risks, shopping well. So I'll write about that. But I also want to write about home and travelling and doing things you love.
So watch this space. . . Coming soon to a screen near you . . . A New Dynamic starring me - and you too.
Wednesday, May 25, 2011
Perspectives on Size
There are times when you just want to say something and this something was caused by two things - first - attending Sir Paul Callaghan's lunchtime talk in Dunedin yesterday about the sustainable development of New Zealand's business sector [the content is here] and second, reading this morning that Air New Zealand is one of the world's top five airlines.
Sir Paul presents a set of measures in his presentation that show that NZ is one of the most unequal societies in the OECD in terms of income distribution, but also one of the most democratic. It has one of the best school systems and one of the worst child endangerment rates. One of the least corrupt societies but with one of the worst imprisonment rates - worst meaning the proportion of the population incarcerated.
He is interested in destroying the mythologies that hold us back from achieving significant economic growth and that send such a high proportion of our educated graduates to live and work overseas. That means creating the kind of businesses which can achieve sufficient scale to provide the kind of national income per capita that supports a sophisticated society and provides jobs that smart people want.
I've done a lot of research in the past three years among businesses, investors and exporters and I know we suffer from a scale problem - on a number of levels.
In terms of business scale we have a lot of small to medium sized businesses and not many global giants. Well, one. In terms of the quality and scale of our scientific output it's very good - but about as large as that of a single major overseas city. Say, Boston or Edinburgh. Our economy is the size of Delaware.
What's more, as a small but highly developed island nation in the South Pacific we defy easy pigeon-holing.
Typically small island nations are in the world's economic long tail - one of 150 countries you never hear about except as tourism destinations or earthquake locations.
Well, we do that too - but a lot more besides. The 'lot more besides' is the hard sell because it doesn't fit the general rule. People look to Asia, US and Europe for high tech innovation and design expertise, but we do that here, really well.
We don't even know ourselves how well we do it. Perhaps we should have called ourselves the Switzerland of the South Pacific after all.
Sir Paul presents a set of measures in his presentation that show that NZ is one of the most unequal societies in the OECD in terms of income distribution, but also one of the most democratic. It has one of the best school systems and one of the worst child endangerment rates. One of the least corrupt societies but with one of the worst imprisonment rates - worst meaning the proportion of the population incarcerated.
He is interested in destroying the mythologies that hold us back from achieving significant economic growth and that send such a high proportion of our educated graduates to live and work overseas. That means creating the kind of businesses which can achieve sufficient scale to provide the kind of national income per capita that supports a sophisticated society and provides jobs that smart people want.
I've done a lot of research in the past three years among businesses, investors and exporters and I know we suffer from a scale problem - on a number of levels.
In terms of business scale we have a lot of small to medium sized businesses and not many global giants. Well, one. In terms of the quality and scale of our scientific output it's very good - but about as large as that of a single major overseas city. Say, Boston or Edinburgh. Our economy is the size of Delaware.
What's more, as a small but highly developed island nation in the South Pacific we defy easy pigeon-holing.
Typically small island nations are in the world's economic long tail - one of 150 countries you never hear about except as tourism destinations or earthquake locations.
Well, we do that too - but a lot more besides. The 'lot more besides' is the hard sell because it doesn't fit the general rule. People look to Asia, US and Europe for high tech innovation and design expertise, but we do that here, really well.
We don't even know ourselves how well we do it. Perhaps we should have called ourselves the Switzerland of the South Pacific after all.
Thursday, February 24, 2011
Perspective on the Earthquake
Today my firm [which is actually mine] made a reasonably large donation to the Student Volunteer Army .
As I wrote to a couple of colleagues today - "I made a donation to the student volunteer army this morning - 10,000 of them who apparently clean up streets, remove liquefaction and rubble. I thought the best thing was to help the majority have as great a sense of normality as possible – less than 2000 physically injured but probably 400,000 distressed and dislocated".
I know the usual thing is to give to the immediate supporters and rescuers - and it's great that many people will do that - but on Tuesday 22 February I was on the phone with my daughter as she walked down one of the four avenues of Christchurch - and I just want her and all the people walking those streets on that day with that mix of fear, disbelief and courage to have something that says "it's going to be fine."
These students, doing what they can, using the simplest human tools of connection and organisation to achieve their aims, are helping to make it fine. And fast! You see Haiti a year on looking as devastated as it was on the day of its earthquake. That won't be the case in Christchurch. There may be quite a few gaps [hopefully gravelled with a couple of park benches and a tree] but I think it will look fairly tidy.
Second, I decided I would like to go and live in Christchurch in the future.
In my head is the image of the Napier earthquake and how it led to the building of amazing buildings in Napier - the cutting edge of the 1930's and, with Miami, one of the treasure troves of the Art Deco style. I wonder how that happened?
Leap-frogging over the present devastation as if it was a mere moment in time [which it is] I'm envisaging this fantastic safe, most modern city in the world outside Singapore, Shanghai and Dubai, with an amazing eco-friendly, people-friendly, earthquake proof [important] New Zealand twist.
Thursday, January 13, 2011
Perspectives
I find myself torn between a view of humanity as just another plague upon the surface of the earth - threatening to eat itself out of a habitat - and as a marvelous complex blend of intellect and emotion whose every achievement is worthy of exploration and analysis.
A marvelously complex over-achieving little plague of humans?
I don't think you can divorce study of our stellar progress and finer feelings from the fact that just like rats, locusts and fleas, we seem doomed to compete and starve ourselves into a more sustainable relationship with the earth.
Not many finer feelings there.
Under that scenario, the 'fittest' who would perhaps survive a population crunch of the one we're heading for would also be the most aggressive people, or those who can survive on the least amount of food and water and outlast the others. GI Joe and Anorexic Barbie?
The reality is that the rate of growth of our population is as much about the growth of the length of a single life as it is about the number of children we have.
If the average lifespan is 30 years rather than 70 or 80, the rate of population growth is massively lower- because there's really only two generations around at any one time. Contrast this with our population where the fastest growing demographic is 85 plus - that means four or even five generations alive at once, all burning fossil fuels and drinking fresh water.
A marvelously complex over-achieving little plague of humans?
I don't think you can divorce study of our stellar progress and finer feelings from the fact that just like rats, locusts and fleas, we seem doomed to compete and starve ourselves into a more sustainable relationship with the earth.
Not many finer feelings there.
Under that scenario, the 'fittest' who would perhaps survive a population crunch of the one we're heading for would also be the most aggressive people, or those who can survive on the least amount of food and water and outlast the others. GI Joe and Anorexic Barbie?
The reality is that the rate of growth of our population is as much about the growth of the length of a single life as it is about the number of children we have.
If the average lifespan is 30 years rather than 70 or 80, the rate of population growth is massively lower- because there's really only two generations around at any one time. Contrast this with our population where the fastest growing demographic is 85 plus - that means four or even five generations alive at once, all burning fossil fuels and drinking fresh water.
It's just like compound interest really.
Thursday, January 6, 2011
Beginning
I'm setting up this blog, not just for now but for my future life. 12 years running my own firm has left me fulfilled on many levels - and yet not.
I've been a social trends researcher for many years - long enough for some of my earlier predictions to be tested by reality.
In 1997 I predicted that by 2007 we'd be carrying all our books in a single digital reader - while it was the shape of a laptop or a kindle or an iPad, it was way fatter - completely missed the whole move to slim lines.
And I predicted to a postal organisation that the last personal letter would be sent by post in 2017. . . so that one's on track, at least in this country.
Adding it all up I do better than the 20% hit rate that is apparently normal for prediction, but the fact remains that prediction is hard and ultimately silly because most of us just look at a prediction and go - hmmh.
There's probably less than a thousand people in the world that can actually use a prediction properly - to design products or services to come on stream in the future. And most of them don't really need any help.
What my social trends research has left me with is a clear understanding of how people operate. So I've found it increasingly easy to say things like: people aren't like that / this isn't going back to how it was / cycles are usually actually spirals .. and stuff like that.
So I hope to be able to use that skill to help people to ground today's decisions in the realities of human nature.
I've been a social trends researcher for many years - long enough for some of my earlier predictions to be tested by reality.
In 1997 I predicted that by 2007 we'd be carrying all our books in a single digital reader - while it was the shape of a laptop or a kindle or an iPad, it was way fatter - completely missed the whole move to slim lines.
And I predicted to a postal organisation that the last personal letter would be sent by post in 2017. . . so that one's on track, at least in this country.
Adding it all up I do better than the 20% hit rate that is apparently normal for prediction, but the fact remains that prediction is hard and ultimately silly because most of us just look at a prediction and go - hmmh.
There's probably less than a thousand people in the world that can actually use a prediction properly - to design products or services to come on stream in the future. And most of them don't really need any help.
What my social trends research has left me with is a clear understanding of how people operate. So I've found it increasingly easy to say things like: people aren't like that / this isn't going back to how it was / cycles are usually actually spirals .. and stuff like that.
So I hope to be able to use that skill to help people to ground today's decisions in the realities of human nature.
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