Don't take the tiger for granted.

There are some things in your life that always seem to have been around.  For me, one of them is the tiger.  It is the largest cat species, with body length up to 3.3m and weighing up to 306kg.  That's big!  But it's not just the knowledge of the existence of the animal that has been with me for as long as I can remember, it's also the use of the word 'tiger' as a name or brand - Tiger Woods and Tiger Beer being just two examples.  It is synonymous with strength, skill and majesty.  Despite being regarded by some as dangerous, wild tigers will normally avoid interactions with humans.  Attacks can, however, be provoked, for example when they are hunted or looking after their young.

My recent interest in tigers was prompted by information from the World Wildlife Fund (WWF).  According to the WWF, there are now around 3,200 tigers left in the wild.  There are more than that number in captivity.  Over the last century the population has reduced by over 95%.  Tigers used to roam over most of Asia, from as far west as Turkey.  But now they are only found in isolated areas in India, Nepal, China, Russia, Malaysia and Sumatra.  The main reasons for the population decline are habitat destruction, habitat fragmentation and poaching.  The main reasons for poaching have been the high prices paid for body parts, particularly the skins, and the belief by many people in China and other parts of Asia that some tiger parts have medicinal properties, including pain killers and aphrodisiacs.  Some of the claims of those practising traditional Chinese medicine are as follows:

Tiger claws cure insomnia.

Teeth treat fever.

Fat treats leprosy.

Nose leather cures bites.

Bone treats rheumatism and arthritis.

Eye balls treat epilepsy and malaria.

Tail is used to cure skin diseases.

Bile cures meningitis.

Whiskers cure toothache.

Brain treats laziness and pimples.

Penis is used in love potions and aphrodisiacs.

Dung or feces treats boils, hemorrhoids and alcoholism.

Western medical experts tend to discount all the claims but still the practice goes on.  In my opinion, one of the reasons the traditional practice is perpetuated is because it is 'traditional'.  The adjective 'traditional' almost becomes a seal of approval, a guarantee of success, because so many people have benefitted from (or been fooled by!) the traditional remedies.  I suppose when the traditional cures involve the the use of herbs, then there is little or no damage to the environment, but when it means slaughtering tigers, already an endangered species, it beggars belief.

The other major threat to tigers is habitat loss.  Information from WWF UK States that only 7% of the tiger's historical range is still available to them.  The rest has been cleared and gone to agriculture, forest clearing, roads, etc.  This has forced the tigers to inhabit isolated pockets of land thus impeding their breeding characteristics.

So unless action is taken and fortunately WWF and others do have programmes to save tigers, an animal which is known by all could become extinct and relegated like the dinosaur to the history books.  Please don't take the tiger for granted!

The Impotent President

The current shutdown of the US government seems bizarre to me and many other observers, particularly given the ramifications to the global economy.  What makes the whole saga surreal is the fact that the potentially very dangerous consequences are inflicted by mankind on mankind.  Not with guns and tanks, but purely by elected representatives trying to gain political advantage and being allowed to hold the world at ransom.  It is interesting, however, to note how this particular news item, although still unresolved, is sliding down the scale of importance when measured by its position on international news bulletins.  It is almost as if the world is becoming bored with the antics of American politicians and also somewhat embarrassed for President Obama who is demonstrating his political impotence, which is inherent in the American constitution.  For many major issues he is an impotent President.

The US constitution makes it possible for different branches of government to be controlled by different parties and in the current standoff each party can claim to be representing the will of the people.  This is the way the Founding Fathers wanted it to be, so that there would be a system of checks and balances.  They divided the US government in order to keep it limited and to ensure major decisions are the result of negotiation and compromise.

Now let's compare the US form of government with the United Kingdom's parliamentary democracy.  This form of democracy was described by the former Lord Chancellor of the UK, Lord  Hailsham, as an elective dictatorship.  As a hypothetical example, if something like Obamacare was in the election manifesto of a UK political party and that party won the election, then it's parliamentary majority would allow Obamacare to become law.  Now the first-past-the-post electoral system means that a strong majority on the House of Commons does not necessarily mean the majority of the electorate have voted for the ruling party.  At the last election in the UK, the Conservatives gained 36% of the votes and 47% of the seats in parliament, their current overall majority was created by forming a coalition with the Liberal Democrats.  This was the first coalition government formed outside wartime or a national emergency since 1918.  So in general, the elective dictatorship leads to strong decisive government, particularly if, as is normally the case, there is not a need for a coalition.

So what system of the two mentioned democracies, is better?  Well no system of government, democracy or otherwise, is perfect.  Winston Churchill said:

"It has been said that democracy is the worst form of government except all the others that have been tried."

In my opinion, it's one thing for governments to make decisions that affect solely their national interests, but when national decisions have a global impact, then that's a whole new ball game.  Hypothetically, imagine if the Polish government was procrastinating over a decision that could have a serious impact on the global economy.  Do you think the USA would just be a passive observer and wait for whatever will be?  I don't think so!

Looking at the bigger picture, in my view globalisation is testing to the full the world's current territorial governance.  Just how independent are so called independent states?  I am not questioning the cultural ties within countries and regions of the world but political responsibility needs to take on a much broader perspective than national boundaries.  The guy at the helm of the national ship cannot be allowed to be impotent because if that ship sinks, so do the rest of us.  Wake up America!

Business School Crap

As a part time management consultant it is perhaps heresy for me to suggest the teachings of business schools could be described as crap, but I do think business men and women should view with suspicion some of the latest thinking emanating from business academia.  Why do I say this?  Well throughout my own business career I was an instant convert to many of the various business fads, tools and techniques that were vogue at the time, including Boston Consulting Group Matrix, Total Quality Management, Lean and Agile Manufacturing, Balanced Scorecards, Business Process Re-engineering, Best Demonstrated Practice, Value Stream Mapping........to name but a few.  Looking back, I realise now that I suffered from the indoctrination and therefore the businesses that I was part of, or later in my career running, could have suffered too.  That's not to say that managers shouldn't be analytical and some tools, including those mentioned above, can help to gain a better understanding of  business performance and develop strategies.  But it is important not to get carried away with a simplistic approach to business strategy that many protagonists recommend.

Any business is a complex chaotic system that has no predictability.  Also, because it is a system, it contains a daunting web of interdependencies, both internal to the organisation and external to customers, suppliers and the rest of the global community.  The internal dependencies are difficult to influence and impossible to control.  The external interdependencies are even more remote.  Now the business school solutions to these complex problems are often based on subdivision, breaking down the internal organisation into units, divisions and departments, whilst creating neat sub-contract-driven supply chains to 'control' the outside world.  I'm not saying that this is not the way to try to bring some sort of control and certainty to an uncontrollable and uncertain business environment.  But the mistake is to believe such a structure, together with a few business improvement techniques thrown in, is the panacea for success........it ain't!  In my opinion, it doesn't matter how many case studies you review, there are not common threads for success, or conversely, for failure.

I ask myself, if I'm not happy with what's on offer at business schools right now, then what am I proposing?  Well I believe that the talent we all need to develop throughout our lives is thinking.  We have to be able to apply different types of thinking to situations and in the complex world of business, there is rarely a formulaic approach.  It is also dangerous to become too obsessed with both measuring things that have happened and applying measurements to things that have yet to happen.  Let me explain with an example.  I like to watch the UK BBC programme 'Dragons' Den'.  This is where budding entrepreneurs present business cases to proven entrepreneurs (the Dragons) to try to get investment by one or more Dragons into their businesses.  The Dragons will inevitably explore 'the numbers', i.e. the sales and profit to date and the projected sales and profit usually over the next three years.  If the budding entrepreneurs don't understand, or worse still don't know, their numbers they will be crucified by the Dragons.  Whereas if they present a good set of numbers, they get a big tick in the box.  But in reality, the past numbers are history and the future numbers are pie in the sky.  There is generally an obsession with profit but in the words of Peter Senge:

"Profit for a company is like oxygen for a person....unfortunately most businesses operate as if their purpose is breathing."

So in my opinion, understanding business is part of understanding life, because each business is a sub system within life's system.  Now to get from that level to tangible day-to-day actions to improve business performance, will not unfortunately lead to self-contained simplistic processes.  There might be some simple processes  but they cannot be viewed in isolation of the whole.  You might create the most efficient typewriter factory on the planet, but if the world has moved on from typewriters and doesn't use them anymore, you have wasted your time and money.

Now if you have read this blog post and ended up confused, I am not surprised.  I haven't attempted to answer any questions but merely to issue a health warning on the misuse of management fads.  There are no standard prescriptions for business success and in the words of Dr Deming:

"

"Improvement is a process, and not a pill.