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Far-reaching changes in attitudes and family structures have been redefining the workforce for more than two decades – yet the workplace has remained much the same. During this time, many companies have learned that personalizing the customer experience is good for business. In Mass Career Customization, the authors argue convincingly to extend this popular and profitable concept to the workplace. As the working population shrinks, maintaining industry advantage will depend largely on keeping employees engaged and connected. Mass Career Customization provides a framework for organisational adaptability that will do just that.

Cathy Benko is the chief talent officer responsible for driving the Deloitte U.S. Firms strategy to attract, develop and advance a highly skilled and increasingly diverse workforce. She is also leading a pioneering approach to employee engagement and career/life integration called Mass Career Customization, a signature initiative of the Deloitte U.S. Firms Talent agenda.

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Anyways, back to the OLPC topic – The original goal of the project was to reduce the cost to market to about $100 per unit. However, insufficient volume and configuration changes have ensured that dream remains elusive, and cost to market to about $188 per unit. What’s worse – a series of reorganizations in the recent few years have alienated several key contributors. OLPC Director of Security, Ivan Krstic, left the program earlier this year, complaining that, “the internal restructuring reflected a fundamental change of vision that he couldn’t accept”. Ivan continues to blast the program on his personal blog. Ranting of a not-so-happy-ex-employee? Not so fast. Ivan points to several key issues, including infrastructure. He wrote:

“We have no real support infrastructure for these rollouts, our development process is not allocating any time for dealing with critical deployment issues that (will inevitably) come up, and we have no process for managing the crises that will ensue”.

Another key excerpt from his personal blog:

“Put differently, OLPC can’t claim to be preoccupied with learning and not with training children to be office computer drones, while at the same time being coerced by hollow office drone rhetoric to deploy the computers with office drone software. Nicholas used to say the thought of the XOs being used to teach 6-year olds Word and Excel made him cringe. Apparently, no longer so. Which is it? The vacillation needs to stop. As they say in the motherland: shit or get off the pot.”

A “big enough” population out there thinks that Nicholas is insane, even adding that he is a “terrible manager and leader”. A case in point – on May 20, 2008, at the recent OLPC Country Workshop, Nicholas said that the OLPC mission statement “has not changed one ounce”.  And the very next minute, he introduced a fourth version of the mission statement, entirely different from the previous three reported on OLPC News not long ago. Hmmm… The original Five Core Principles were:
1. Child Ownership
2. Low Ages
3. Saturation
4. Connection
5. Free and Open Source
Then how does XO (the Microsoft Windows version) fit in this vision?

Bottom line – The OLPC project is now struggling to sustain momentum, and might end up on life support if its leadership can’t turn things around.

But hold on… this blog post isn’t all about bashing the OLPC program… it’s to celebrate the success, even if limited, of the program, including 600,000 units sold in the first six months, for more than $200 million. And how can you forget that this program helped create a new market segment, ultra-low-cost laptops, where there is more Linux than Windows on offer. So check out the video below – OLPC program distributes 650 laptops in a remote school on Cambodia… and the reaction from a grateful community. Do you find it interesting that in Cambodia, the Defense Minister if the “official cheerleader” for the program? Hmmm… wonder what happened to the Ministry of Education.

Also check out my previous post about Nicholas reporting on the OLPC program.

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As per Daniel, latest brain research suggests that our brain is divided into 2 major hemispheres – the LEFT brain and the RIGHT brain, both of which have clearly delineated tasks. LEFT brain focuses on the tasks that are linear, logical, analytical and/or sequential, while the RIGHT hemisphere processes tasks that are “contextual” and synthesis vs. analysis.

Dan argues that we see clear evidence of this concept in today’s global economy – till early in the century, the LEFT brain mattered the most, and got us here. However the scales are tilting – and (in particular US economy), will leverage the RIGHT hemisphere of the brain much more. He points to 3 main factors – Abundance, Asia and Automation – that points to the generalization, that any and all “routine” tasks… are “commodities” and can be easily outsourced… replacing the white/blue collar workforce. Economies of the advanced nations are/should increasingly becoming economies about “significance”, “aesthetics” and other RIGHT brain things.

I agree with his summary that we have moved from Agriculture Age (the age of farmers) > Industrial Age (the age of the factory workers) > Information Age (the age of Knowledge Workers)… and now are increasingly moving towards the “Conceptual Age” (the age of creators and empathizers). Great idea… couldn’t agree more. The problem is… our education system is way out of sync with this vision. We still rely on SAT, LSAT, GMAT and other such ridiculous scores that measure the volume of your LEFT brain. Maybe this is the right time to confess that back in school… I did my part to ensure a bigger bell curve Kinda reminds me of Malcom Gladwell’s presentation from NewYorker conference about how our talent development and acquisition strategies are still 18th century old and haven’t evolved a bit… while on the other hand… the kind of work we do has undergone dramatic changes. Obama’s pick for secretary of Education, Chicago schools Supt. Arne Duncan, is a reformer respected by traditionalists and innovators alike. Let’s hope his appointment is a positive step in this direction.

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This weekend I got the chance to catch up with his follow-up work, “Social Intelligence – The new science of Human Relationships”. Daniel describes Social Intelligence as the interpersonal part of Emotional Intelligence. He argues that human beings are “wired to connect” with brains of other individuals. Our brain is “Social”, meaning that our interactions with others, verbal or visual, have a far-reaching biological impact, sending out cascades of hormones that regulate everything from our hearts to our immune systems, making good relationships act like vitamins–and bad relationships like poisons. Daniel points out those emotions are “contagious” – we can “catch” other people’s emotions the way we catch a cold. The “Social Brain” has something called “Mirror Neurons”, which sense both the move another person is about to make and their feelings, and instantaneously prepares us to imitate that movement and feel with them. This is extremely important when you consider implications on the business world, when negotiating with the opposite party, and especially in Leadership. Followers are naturally attuned to mirror the emotions of the leaders.

Hmmmm… does this make it all the more important for leaders to manage emotions? Sometimes I think of a true leader as a symphony conductor – aware and being one with the surroundings, attuned to each and every musician in his group, expert in communication both verbally, by movements of the hand, gestures, facial expressions… all in order to create a state of the art experience for the audience – the final product. Agree/Disagree?

The book points to experiments, like a British study of health care workers who had supervisors on alternate days, once they dreaded and one they liked. One the days the dreadful boss worked, their average blood pressure jumped 13 points for the systolic and 6 for diastolic. Wow. I guess now those law suites we hear of… where employees claim heath issues from workplace harassement, may hold some truth. 

Too often, when leaders deliver a message, the content takes the first seat and the “HOW” is ignored. Daniel points out to a study where when a manager delivered a piece of bad news (disappointment that an employer had failed to reach performance goals) with a warm demeanor, people neverthless rated the interaction positively. When good news (pleasure that the goals had been met) was delivered with sullen expression, the interaction paradoxically left people feeling bad. This points to the fact that leader’s emotional tone has a surprising power over the organization.

Interestingly, Daniel points out that today’s technological advances which have given birth to the concept of “global communities” and “online virtual worlds” might have a sinister down-side. He discusses the concept of social corrosion resulting from “technocreep”:

“… There are unknowns in the ways humans around the words are connecting – and disconnecting –as technology offers more varieties of nominal communication in actual isolation. These trends signal the slow vanishing of opportunities for people to connect. This inexplorable technocreep is so insidious that no one has yet calculated its social and emotional costs.”

“The one-person shell created by headphones intensifies social insulation. Even when the wearer has a one-on-one face-to-face encounter, the sealed ears offer a ready excuse to treat the people as an object, something to navigate around rather than someone to acknowledge, or, at the very least, notice.”

Daniel argues, “to the extent that technology absorbs people in a virtual reality, it deadens them to those who are actually nearby. The resulting social autism adds to the ongoing list of unintended consequences of the continuing invasion of technology into our daily lives”

Daniel makes a powerful point… which I hate to admit, I have noticed myself. Looking back, I can see how I switched from the good old paperback edition of books to MP3 versions. The convenience and ease is just undeniably one of those things that attracted me to audio books in the first place. Plugin that iPod and take it wherever you go… the long drive, the gym, the walk from the parking lot to work… however, I realize that I DID get in a “bubble” when listening to those books… sometimes so much so that a 10 hour cross-state drive seemed like something I looked forward to!! Yeah – that’s sick for sure. And lemme not forget my huge twitter list who I believe NEED to know everything and anything I do. And my virtual social network, on those gazillion websites out there, where I HAVE to drop in to “show some luv”. Have you paused and wondered if a comment on “My Wall” is really something that “connects” me to my ”virtual” peep sitting in Russia? Do we really understand Social Networking?

“In 1970s two-thirds of Americans belonged to organizational with regular meetings that they attended. That number has dropped to about one-third by the 1990s… New organizations keep people at a distance. Membership comes via e-mails or mass-mailings, and the main activity boils down to sending money, not getting together.”

I agree with Daniel that this new “communication culture” is still too new. There are unknowns in the ways humans around the world are connecting – and man disconnecting – as technology offers more varieties. Are we losing that “personal touch”? Am still looking for that “right answer” – What do you think?

The book has a vast multitude of stories and references to research materials which makes it a very interesting read. Usually I take at least a week to finish off a book, mostly reading an hour or so in the night… but this one got me reading all through thanksgiving

Check out the “introductory” video by Daniel Goleman below… and also 2 related posts – Daniel points out the connection between Social Intelligence and Leadership, and the inspiring Ted presentation on Compassion and Empathy.

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About Tamara J. Erickson:
Tamara J. Erickson (Tammy) is both a respected, McKinsey Award-winning author and popular and engaging storyteller. Her compelling views of the future are based on extensive research on changing demographics and employee values and, most recently, on how successful organizations work. Well-grounded and academically rigorous, fundamentally optimistic, Tammy’s work discerns and describes interesting trends in our future and provides actionable counsel to help both organizations and individuals prepare today. She is a member of nGenera Inc.

Tammy has co-authored four Harvard Business Review articles: “It’s Time to Retire Retirement” (March 2004), winner of the McKinsey Award, “Managing Middlescence” (March 2006), “What It Means to Work Here,” (March 2007), and “Eight Ways to Build Collaborative Teams,” (November 2007), as well as the book Workforce Crisis: How to Beat the Coming Shortage of Skills and Talent, published by Harvard Business School Press (2006). She has also co-authored an MIT Sloan Management Review article, “Bridging Faultlines in Diverse Teams,” (Summer 2007). She also authored one of Harvard Business Review’s Breakthrough Ideas for 2008, “Task, Not Time,” (February 2008).

Read more about Tamara J. Erickson

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About Malcolm Gladwell:
Malcolm Gladwell specializes in surprises — counterintuitive truths discovered by clever researchers, obscure historians, and ordinary people observing the world. In his first year as a staff writer at the “New Yorker in 1996, he captivated readers with an article titled “The Tipping Point,” which grappled with a mysterious sudden drop in New York City crime, by applying the principles of epidemiology to policing. “The Tipping Point” ultimately became a book and has remained on the New York Times best-seller lists for years.

Meanwhile, Gladwell has gone on to explore similar mismatches — mammography and fighter jets (it’s all about seeing), pit bulls and racial profiling, Wayne Gretsky and Yo-Yo Ma — writing cross-disciplinary articles that illuminate hidden facts about group behavior, business and individual selves. Gladwell began 2007 with a controversial look at the Enron case, distinct from all the reportage that’s come before.

He advocates taking problems slowly – noting that expertise comes with approx. 10,000 hours of training. He thereby identifies the ‘mismatch problem’, which is simply the idea that standards used to judge/predict success in a given field don’t match what it takes to be successful in that field.

For example, when diagnosing colonoscopies, it’s how much time the doctor spends on each colonoscopy, not how smart they are, how much training they have, where s/he went to school etc. that determines success. If you spend more than 10 minutes on each colonoscopy rather than one, you’ll find the cancers. However, we select and train doctors for their cognitive facility, for, amongst other things, the speed at which they acquire information and the efficiency with which they go about their tasks.

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About Malcolm Gladwell:
Malcolm Gladwell specializes in surprises — counterintuitive truths discovered by clever researchers, obscure historians, and ordinary people observing the world. In his first year as a staff writer at the “New Yorker in 1996, he captivated readers with an article titled “The Tipping Point,” which grappled with a mysterious sudden drop in New York City crime, by applying the principles of epidemiology to policing. “The Tipping Point” ultimately became a book and has remained on the New York Times best-seller lists for years.

Meanwhile, Gladwell has gone on to explore similar mismatches — mammography and fighter jets (it’s all about seeing), pit bulls and racial profiling, Wayne Gretsky and Yo-Yo Ma — writing cross-disciplinary articles that illuminate hidden facts about group behavior, business and individual selves. Gladwell began 2007 with a controversial look at the Enron case, distinct from all the reportage that’s come before.

Click here to view the embedded video.

About James Surowiecki:
James Surowiecki is the foremost authority on how to harness the collective wisdom of your organization for competitive advantage. He has written a well-received book on the theory and practice of “The Wisdom of Crowds—Why The Many Are Smarter Than The Few And How Collective Wisdom Shapes Business, Economies, Societies And Nations”.

In The Wisdom of Crowds, Jim describes systematic ways to organize and aggregate the intelligence available in your organization in order to arrive at superior decisions—often better than those that individuals would make, even if they are ‘experts’.

The book and Jim’s presentations based on the book are full of insights into how groups operate that are invaluable to business leaders. He also offers practical methods, tailored to his audience, for leveraging people and technology to learn what you need to know and make decisions that really serve the organization’s goals.

Jim writes a twice-monthly financial column for The New Yorker that is typically pegged to current events and incorporates the kind of insights from economics, sociology, and business history that make The Wisdom of Crowds so valuable.

He has written for a broad range of other publications on a wide variety of topics. His work has appeared in The New York Times Magazine, Wired, and The Wall Street Journal and other major publications. He wrote “The Bottom Line” column for New York magazine, and was a contributing editor at Fortune.