Thanks to sootspace.blogspot.co.uk for capturing the opposite of what we are hoping for!

Are you a senior manager in a large or medium sized European business?
Do you ever wonder how good your company is at developing its business strategy? Or if some  co-creation might improve your strategy?

Join this senior managers online brainstorm in association with Solvay Brussels School of Economics and Management to share insights and ideas on the hows and whys of  strategy creation. What are the elements to be taken into account? Which approaches work? What is essential?

The discussion is part of a research project initiated by a Koen Tackx, a PhD student at Solvay under the direction of Professor Paul Verdin (Chair in Strategy and Organization). It will run on an innovative on-line brainstorm platform:  written and anonymous. You can expect an active and intense debate where you contribute your ideas, share your experience, hear from others and react to their opinions. All you need to participate is an internet connection.

What’s in it for you?

• You will get an overview of the opinions and best practices from other strategy managers, which you’ll be able to discuss immediately
• You will get to know a new online discussion platform which you’ll probably want to use yourself in the future
• You will have access to the conclusions of the discussions and of the overall research in a free webinar and via a presentation which we will forward to you

What’s your investment?

Half a minute to register and one hour of your time to take part in the debate at the date which suits you better.

Just select the date which suits you best and click on one of the links below – the organisers will send you confirmation with instructions on how to join on the day

• Tues May 14  (4:30 to 5:30pm London time) or 
• Thurs May 30 (between 11:30am to 12:30pm London time)

Click here to join the debate. Feb 14th, 4pm UK, 5pm CET, 11am Eastern time. Twitter hashtag #tttnews… feel free to share your views in advance of the debate

Today we will be considering three current news stories with a common theme – the pope, horsemeat and the Hadron Collider – to consider if things have to get worse before they get better. Is the disruption of change justified by the end result?

It may not be a traditional move to resign as pope, but do you see it as a wise and
generous move making way for new energy? With half of the world’s one billion Catholics
in the Americas (mostly South America) is it time for a non- European pope?

And while horses don’t seem to have any better argument for not being eaten than cows
or cod, the discovery that we are not eating what we thought we were strikes our primeval
instincts for self protection. D you think the current scandal is a sign of progress for
consumer protection or yet more evidence that everything is corrupt and misrepresented?

As for the Hadron Collider – it feels less exciting now we didn’t all go up in smoke, so how
do you feel about it being closed down for two years for maintenance and upgrades. When
it is switched on in 2015 with redoubled power will you still be interested?

So three examples in the news today of ways of moving from old ways to new. Are you
feeling hopeful or despairing. Or just uninterested in it all? Does the news even matter to
you? Hundreds of years ago we would have had no idea of most of the events in the news
- certainly not in the timescales we see today. Did it matter? Is the 24 hour news cycle
helping us evolve? Improve? Enjoy life?

Dive into the Thinking Tank today to share your insights and consider those of the diverse
group of participants we have come to expect. for a short while today think freely about
something that affects us all and let’s see where we can get together.

Join us to share your views on the news, on the day of the headlines.

Click here to join the debate. Feb 14th, 4pm UK, 5pm CET, 11am Eastern time. Twitter hashtag #tttnews… feel free to share your views in advance of the debate

LATTE REPORT

Download the more detailed report here: (coming soon)

ESPRESSO REPORT

These are the top statements that I tweeted immediately following the event (#tttpiracy):

Strongest statement (both groups)

• Artists have a right to get money for what they produce

And conversely, the most opposed statement was

• I think all music should be free for everybody

Other strong statements

In favour of piracy:

• No major jail time for downloading or distributing music/ movies/ media

Anti middle men

• I’d feel better about buying more music if I knew the money was going straight to the artist

Solutions:

• On download sites they could put banners “why not get the legal version for $2?”
• Micropayments… –> Bitcoin to the rescue!!!!!!
• I would find it a lot easier to do the decent thing” [with pop up micropayments]
• it is not about restoring the old market forces, but finding new ways for new channels to generate income to artists

ESPRESSO Report

Right after the discussion we tweet the top comments. Here they are:

Click on image

• top tip for @LOCOG: fight against corruption more obviously
• top tip for @LOCOG: give prizes beyond the competitions to the athletes with the “best” behaviour
• Enjoy the games as much as possible, and celebrate successes
• Friendship is important to make the world a ‘better’ place and is indeed based upon respect
• the major world problems we have are conflicts, and respect for others is a panacea for conflict
• [we need to increase] respect: for different people in different situations, having a open view
• Athletes train a lifetime to excel in their disciplines and inspire many around the world as role models

Latte report

Afternoon Tea Report

Read everything here

Join us online, 4pm UK time, Jul 19 and let’s see how Olympian we are. Meanwhile tweet your views #tttolympian

So how might we apply Olympian values to other aspects of our lives? The Olympic Museum website describes the Olympic approach as:

• According to Kimon Valskakis, Professor of Economics at the University of Montreal, Olympian philosophy is a good basis for moral capitalism.
• Find out here which of the 12 Olympian gods/goddesses you are most like

On July 19th from 4pm (UK time, for 45 mins) we will be discussing if and how the Olympian tradition fits with our own lives.

Join us online, 4pm UK time, Jul 19 and let’s see how Olympian we are. Meanwhile tweet your views #tttolympian

Join us online, 4pm UK time, Apr 12 and let’s see how we think about feminism in 2012. Meanwhile tweet your views #tttfeminism

Here are a few points of view to get you thinking

@BillyBragg on physical equality: Anyone who believes that equality has been achieved and feminism no longer matters should listen to the women at #ididnotreport

@Pimpleye: I’m glad such a thing as feminism exists, it gives women something to occupy themselves with whilst the men do important stuff.

@Platform51: Our Woman of the Week is Fawzia Koofi, brave champion of feminism in Afghanistan.

@thenatfantastic: if you think you’re being ‘held back by feminism‘, chances are you are actually being held back by gross stupidity.

There is no shortage of strongly held views for and against, by both men and women. What are you thinking on this subject these days? Still work to be done? Time for a strategic repositioning? Wither feminism in 2012?

Join us online, 4pm UK time, Apr 12 and let’s see how we think

Click here to join our next debate on Mar 1. 4pm (UK time)

Let’s say we consider deBono’s approach of zero budget thinking. If nothing was already decided, what would we want our socio-economic model to look like?

That’s too big a question, so let’s reframe it.

What does the new capitalism have to do for me? What do you want from it?

Bill Gates says Creative Capitalism is the answer… more here

This RSAnimate video might also help get us started…

On Jan 26 we paused for thought to consider our relationship with time. We were joined by Old Father Time who posed some challenging questions. Quotes below got majority support from the group. Those in bold were top 10 statements. Read the full list here Thinking Tank Time or read the summary below

Short of time?

Many of us were aware of a time squeeze.

• chasing my tail trying to get what has to get done today done – thinking about this afternoon as opposed to time in the context of broader lifespan

While others seemed to have more of a balance

• Time is like a rhythm. I am invigorated by sometimes racing through tasks and doing a lot, other times by sitting in silence watching the water. I like the changes in pace
• I love wasting time once in a while.. just hang out, drink a glass, watch a stupid film on tv.. It gives me peace

So we had some advice on making better use of time

• I try to make sure there’s some time-freedom in amongst a usually time-bound week
• Those with life threatening illnesses talk positively about their better relationship with time and making good use of it

How much time do you want?

Old Father Time offered us a hypothetical choice of how long we wanted the rest of our life to last for. Choices varied from 10 to 1000 years but the majority plumped for about a century.Aside from wanting to be healthy during this time there were only two strongly shared views on the reason for wanting more time:

• [I would spend it ] enjoying it and giving it sense
• Time to have several lives /careers

Time for a change?

In closing we considered any learnings from the discussion. There was certainly more consideration of time, and an intention to be more conscious.

• I think we are not enough in touch with time, the present. How could it be is we feel we are chasing all the time, needing to prioritise constantly.  A greater connection with the moment should educate us to have a better relationship with time.
• [we can consider] high value uses of time and low value uses of time … looked at and determined by contribution, progress, impact on quality of life

Click here to join our next debate on Feb 23. 4pm (UK time) where we will be discussing the future of capitalism. Bring your bonus, your politics, your resentments and your ideas!

Espresso Summary: Top 5 (the most supported comments)

• You don’t need “official” rituals to have rituals of your own – different and at different periods of the year
• Rituals are fine as long as they can be somewhat “tempered” otherwise they could be quite boring
• Christmas feels like a big task. Not just the work involved (wrapping presents, preparing food etc) but also the ritualistic ways people behave at this time of year
• Christmas is too commercial
• Rituals don’t work when they too superficial – no time and no space to really pay attention to people

Latte Summary: when you have a bit more time

ROLE OF RITUALS

General view is that they can – and should – be personalised to increase their meaning

• You don’t need “official” rituals to have rituals of your own – different and at different periods of the year
• Rituals are fine as long as they can be somewhat “tempered” otherwise they could be quite boring
• Some of the old rituals appears as not mine, others are new and very welcome

There were less supported comments about the specifics of Christmas preparations – carols and family and gifts and food.

BENEFITS

Benefits of rituals were contemplative: a time for reflection, pause for thought.  rather than anything to do with pomp and circumstance.

• The positive side is that it creates space for family time, that it creates moments in the family history
• Is almost a way to learn myself better, getting a deeper insight into myself
• My marriage: although I don’t believe in God, I enjoyed the ritual.
• a time to share

Opinion was divided on more mundane rituals – these comments became Synthetrons but also attracted negative scoring.

• arriving home. Not just shuffling in and getting straight into the jobs but taking a moment to arrive, greet each other, be present
• Having a cold shower after a family struggle – you are immediately nourished by fresh energy
• The checkin and checkout of meetings: To get a sense of the feelings that are in the room, to see the development of the meeting, to get a closer feeling to what happens

HAZARDS

There are potential downsides to rituals that the group were aware of, mostly around coercion and falseness:

• when a ritual is felt more as a constraint rather than an event to look forward to
• When the ritual itself becomes more important than its original intention
• When everyone pretends

The group agreed on some strategies to avoid these risks

• rituals must be considered as occasions – not obligations
• Distinguish between personal rituals and traditional rituals. Maybe knowing our own reason for participating makes a difference too. It’s not the ritual that has meaning in itself, it is we who choose to bring it meaning (or just go through the emotions)

IDEAL CHARACTERISTICS OF A RITUAL

Ah. Let’s hope that we can all remember these wise words in our hearts during the Christmas and other seasonal festivities

• a ritual that encourages me to think of the rhythm of life, the tides, the seasons, the births and deaths. Get a sense of perspective and stop obsessing about my own trivia
• a ritual that encourages us to look within hearts and also at our global connectedness
• A trueness-ritual … perhaps … like this: If I was born in Ohio, now i would be this, if i was born in Kabul, now i would be this, if I was born in ….
• A ritual that includes time for deep reflection in a safe environment
• pause to think about the meaning of what we do
• It’s not about the stuff – or the stuffing! It’s about the meaning. I can choose for it to be meaningful or I can choose for it to be a chore. Right now I am hoping to have the presence of mind to choose meaningful.
• Relax, be authentic, thoughtful of others

Full Summary

Click on this pdf file to see all the comments 1112 Rituals full report

Click here to join the debate at 4pm UK time, Thurs Nov 24

One Thinking Tanker has commented

“The war on drugs not only is a total failure, it makes the problem much worse.
It creates much more and much bigger problems than it is trying to resolve, because it starts form a totally wrong premise: for purely ideological reasons, it totally irrationally defines a difficult medical problem as a criminal one.”

Click here to join the debate at 4pm UK time, Thurs Nov 24

Start the debate now by tweeting with #thinkingtank

Stimulus

• Yesterday’s article in the NY Times ““It could lead to a nationalist backlash in the countries involved,””
• Huffington Post: Is legalisation the answer?
• RSA Drugs – is it always abuse?

Click here to join the debate at 4pm UK time, Thurs Nov 17

Future Thinking Tank Discussions

(always Thursdays, always 4pm UK  / 5pm Euro / 11am US East Coast…). Topics may change if there is a more pressing issue at the time. Please feel free to make suggestions by adding a comment below

• 22 Dec (Winter Solstice): Rituals and their role in modern society. As you prepare for Christmas, Hannukah, recover from Eid or plan your own rites, we take a break to reflect on why rituals are so important to us and how they might help even a post-modernist society.
• New Year (Jan 26). Stopping and Starting. What will you leave behind with 2011, what will you work on in 2012?
• Feb 23: The F-word. Over a century after New Zealand gave all women the right to vote and nearly 50 years after the US Equal Pay Act the situation is still far from balanced. 70% of the world’s poor are women and girls and the gender pay gap still exists. Where do we go from here?

Here are some highlights of what they said (statements in italics are verbatim, those in bold were supported by at least 70%):

Prosperity is a broad concept

• My definition of prosperity is much broader than when I was in my 20s. The sun is shining, I am learning new things

Also mentioned: freedom,. education, family, sharing, mentors, work hard play hard. Seen by some as a privilege, a luxury for some people in some countries, not broadly available to all.

Prosperity is desirable and allows progress / evolution

• Your kids are learning a lot of things that you had no chance to… (thanks to increased prosperity)
• if all my energy goes into finding the next meal, when is the moment of brilliance going to emerge?

Prosperity also comes with risks

• risk: smugness, complacency, stagnation
• Risk to forget about the less fortunate

Though a smaller group disagreed with this view

• At systemic level I disagree about complacency …. there is always a push from the bottom …. if you get complacent you stop growing …. others will ….

Prosperity and Scarcity

• Scarcity creates some urgency in solving problems. So a good driver. But I think it leads us to focus on the basics so no good for human evolution
• I like the occasional bit of scarcity eg a 2 hour power cut, a day when the shops are closed. It leaves me joyful when it is over
• Plenty of budget makes us unimaginative, plenty of time makes me lazy
• At the begining, need / scarcity motivates change, creativity …. then without a bit of prosperity you get stuck

Prosperity can be nurtured

The greatest levels of agreement were around ways to encourage properity

• Continue to give freedom to women
• Invest in clean and cheap energy (we are not there yet!)
• Teach prosperity in schools (an inclusive view of prosperity which includes social capital, beauty, creativity, caring as well as financial security)
• Continue to reduce trade barriers (e.g. CAP policy in Europe, fran subsidies in the US)
• Continue to try to remove dictators …. (e.g. good news today about Gaddafi!)
• Continue to educate all people
• Nobody needs more than ten years living expenses. So increase your prosperity by sharing your wealth (or skills)