Monthly Archives: March 2005

Five Questions

Posted on March 31, 2005 by Dave Pollard

I‘ll be out of town and offline for a couple of days, so I thought I’d take a day to think about where to go next with How to Save the World. Therefore please consider this as a kind of … Continue reading →

Posted in Our Culture / Ourselves | 20 Comments

How Corporations Became Culturally Dysfunctional and Why Simple Solutions Won’t Fix Them

Posted on March 30, 2005 by Dave Pollard

The Idea: We’ve already been told that corporations are psychopathic. There’s evidence they are also culturally dysfunctional, an inappropriate construct to do what they were designed to do, or could do. But because they’re part of a complex system, there … Continue reading →

Posted in How the World Really Works | 8 Comments

Domestic Security: Some Complex Thinking

Posted on March 29, 2005 by Dave Pollard

The Idea: Maybe the reason we can’t agree on how to deal with terrorism is that we’re all using illogical, inappropriate and overly simplistic thinking. If we used ‘complex thinking’ would we stop arguing and start getting somewhere? It is … Continue reading →

Posted in How the World Really Works | 4 Comments

A Proposal to Make Blogs More Conversational

Posted on March 28, 2005 by Dave Pollard

The Idea: A proposal to have hosted ‘conversations’ on blogs to allow more cross-pollination of ideas and more interactivity between bloggers, in order to bring good ideas to fruition. Ottawa economist Jeremy Heigh has been exchanging thoughts with me about … Continue reading →

Posted in Using Weblogs and Technology | 18 Comments

The Geese of Beaver Bog

Posted on March 27, 2005 by Dave Pollard

The Idea: Bernd Heinrich’s new book will change the way you look at nature. I‘ve written about several of biologist Bernd Heinrich‘s books before, notably Mind of the Raven, Winter World and Why We Run. His latest book The Geese … Continue reading →

Posted in Collapse Watch | 2 Comments

Protesters Call for End to Canada’s Annual Slaughter of Conservatives

Posted on March 26, 2005 by Dave Pollard

The Idea: I couldn’t resist after reading this. I’m kidding. Really. The snow and ice of Canada is set to turn red with blood once again as hunters prepare to embark on an operation to club or shoot up to … Continue reading →

Posted in Creative Works | 4 Comments

Will That Be Coordination, Cooperation, or Collaboration?

Posted on March 25, 2005 by Dave Pollard

The Idea: Three Words: Coordination, Cooperation, and Collaboration, are often used interchangeably. They shouldn’t be. Recently I specified the requirements for collaboration: Collaboration entails finding the right group of people (skills, personalities, knowledge, work-styles, and chemistry), ensuring they share commitment … Continue reading →

Posted in Working Smarter | 5 Comments

Appreciative Inquiry, Complex Systems, and the Four Practices of Open Space

Posted on March 24, 2005 by Dave Pollard

The Idea: A combination of the Appreciative Inquiry approach, Four Practices skills and attitudes, and Open Space meeting protocols might be the ideal combination for dealing with complex systems — which we are learning most systems are. I was initially … Continue reading →

Posted in Working Smarter | 7 Comments

A Short History of Progress

Posted on March 23, 2005 by Dave Pollard

The Idea:  Archaeologist-historian-novelist Ronald Wright summarizes and analyzes six spectacular civilizational collapses from throughout our history, and reads us the riot act about what we need to do now to avoid another collapse, this time a global one. It is … Continue reading →

Posted in Collapse Watch | 7 Comments

Innovating from the Ground Up, and the Idea-Implementation Disconnect

Posted on March 22, 2005 by Dave Pollard

The Ideas: (1) Instead of thinking about technological innovation that applies top-down (improving our cities, our institutions, our communities) what if we thought about such innovation at the personal level, bottom-up, the way nature does? (2) Why are we so … Continue reading →

Posted in Working Smarter | 8 Comments