Links for the Week – April 29/06

What is ‘Leadership’?:

Leadership = Facilitation: Some businesses are finally catching on that the purpose of ‘leaders’ is to be role models and facilitators that make others more effective, not to make decisions and tell people what to do. The world is too complex for any individual or clique to have more than a random chance of improving things when they ‘boss people around’. Today, as Drucker said, everyone’s job is unique, and no one is likely to know how to do your job better than you. Steve Davis and Johnnie Moore get it. So does fouro, who sent me this link. Imagine if political ‘leaders’ figured this out..

Leadership = Authenticity: In a similar vein Alas a Blog suggests that if Al Gore had been more authentic about his feelings and beliefs, instead of relying on media advisors and coming off stiff, he would have won the 2000 election by an even wider margin, and saved us all from grief. 

Techie Stuff:

First One In Gets to Be Expert?: Several people have pointed me to Squidoo, which allows people to set up ‘lens pages’ on subjects about which they presume to have some expertise, or at least interesting stories. But tell me, if you want to learn about something, would you look to the individual who has tried to corner attention on this subject in Squidoo space, or would you look to the top Google result, which tells you who a billion people think merits your attention on this subject?

Technorati Charts: There used to be a service (can’t recall its name) that plotted how often particular subjects are mentioned in the blogosphere over time. Technorati is now offering such a service. Try it with your name or blog name. Here’s what it looks like:

Corporatism and the Environment

Ten Worst Corporations of 2005: A new book On the Rampage: Corporate Predators and the Destruction of Democracy by Russell Mokhiber, editor of the Corporate Crime Reporter and Robert Weissman, editor of the Multinational Monitor lists mostly the usual suspects for 2005. Common Dreams has the details.

Windfall Profits Tax on Oil: Weissman also has a good article on why now is the time for a windfall profits tax on oil, in Canada and the US especially. The tax proceeds should, however, go entirely to subsidizing renewable energy research and production until renewable technologies are price-competitive with non-renewable technologies. They should not go back to consumers, since this would effectively discourage conservation and aggravate the Peak Oil problem.

How NAFTA Exacerbated Mexico-to-US Emigration Pressure: Also in Common Dreams, an interesting perspective on how NAFTA, combined with massive US agricultural subsidies, is destroying the Mexican economy and society, adding to the flood of illegal immigrants. Just wait until the final corn duty disappears next year!

The Disappearance of US Jobs: Although I linked to this earlier in the week, Paul Craig Roberts in Counterpunch does a great job summarizing the massive US job losses under the Bush Regime. Thanks to Umair Haque for the link.

A Real Movie About Global Warming: In reviewing Al Gore’s new movie on Global Warming, An Inconvenient Truth, David Remnick in the New Yorker eviscerates Bush’s reckless oil policies. Thanks to Jon Husband for the link to the trailer.

You Think the End of Oil is Bad, Just Wait for the End of Water: In an interview with Fred Pearce, author of the new book When the Rivers Run Dry, Salon’s Katherine Mieszkowski reveals how much water we waste, and how much water scarcity is driving and will drive future political conflict. It’s subscription content. Non-subscribers can find an equally illuminating interview by Paul Comstock in the Cal Lit Review free of charge.

Just for Fun:

Walking Takes No Time at All: An interesting article by Alan Durning explains that for every x minutes you spend walking, you add 3x minutes to your life expectancy, so in effect walking takes no time at all. Thanks to Ran Prieur for the link.

LA’s Concrete River: From Geoff Manaugh, a fascinating historical and pictorial review of how engineering has dammed, rerouted and stopped up rivers, with specific focus on the LA River, reduced to a monstrous and massive concrete sculpture. Thanks to Jeremy Heigh for the link.

Horsing Around: Kathy at Creating Passionate Users has some adorable photos and video of a newborn foal.