I'm sorry to those who have been looking at my site and wondering when I was going to update. Just to say that I've recently commenced a full time position with a major law firm. So until I get some guidance as to the comfort level they feel about me blogging. I haven't felt able to write - but I do hope to re-commence my blogging fairly soon via my new blog courtesy of Blogger at

Knowledge and the Cardinal


Many thanks for those who have read my slots over the last 6 months.

Andrew Trickett

My friends would probably quantify me as a technophile believing that the answer is out there in IT land. Well in one respect they are right and one application that is always open on my iBook is a programme called Notebook - by a company called Circus Ponies (Mac only I think) at www.circusponies.com - which I use to capture thoughts mostly from the internet.

I was rummaging around the other day and came across an old filofax which was good for capturing information on the hoof rather than me going for my Palm.

This got me thinking about another trend I've seen recently which is the return of the notebook - usually a Moleskine for people to jot thoughts about things down. Perhaps people like the slight effort that it takes to write something down - me I still use an ink pen in the office or when seeing a client because it slows me down a little and gives me some time to reflect. I also like the serendipity about flicking through an old notebook and coming across a long lost thought or idea that wasn't just right at that moment - but now might be worth the effort.

So why not take the plunge and buy a little notebook and jot a thought down now - you never really lose it and it does make you reflect a little which isn't a bad idea.

I always remember one comment - NASA spent millions developing a pen that wrote in zero gravity and upside down - the Russians used a pencil - occasionally simplicity triumphs over technology.

Sorry that there hasn't been a blog for a couple of days, been rather busy working on a new project.

I was talking to a group of friends the other day explaining my new business to them providing management training to lawyers. One friend commented that it was quite a risky thing for me to do especially as he found lawyers to be very arrogant and thinking that they didn't need management training.

I replied that if we don't venture into new waters and experiment then the whole system of enterprise would falter and companies that changed the world such as Apple(Happy 30th Birthday for the 1st) and Microsoft would never have existed. Ultimately if we all took this approach then the world would not be as open as it is today.

Perhaps the greater risk is to do nothing at all.

Picasso & the admiral

This reminded me of a quote that I read recently from Pablo Picasso - who said "Success is dangerous. one begins to copy oneself. It is more dangerous than to copy others, it leads to sterility.."

Readers of my previous blogs will remember my story of the Chinese admiral.

In the late 15th century, China was probably the worlds foremost maritime power and had explored to the shores of east Africa. The emperor decided that the fleet was not a cost effective idea and forebade future long distance sea trips. From that moment it began the slow but steady decline of nearly 500 years and lost the scientific and cultural superiority it had over the West.

It is the same with Management training for law firms - they rely on the same methods that have served them well and slowly and surely their exposure to new ideas that help them come to terms with change in their industry.

As Lincoln said during the Civil War " The dogmas of the quiet past, are inadequate to the stormy present."

It is the same with the legal industry here, a number of firms do recognise the need but they are in the minority of bringing in outside help who can bring new ideas to their partners of the future. Following the recent changes in the industry are like to find that stormy present has the same effect on the industry as the General Sherman's march south had on Georgia

I'm sure that the legal industry may also remember the opening line in the movie Gone with the Wind which says:-

Look for it only in books, for it is no more than a dream remembered. A Civilization gone with the wind...

Organisations are evolutionary beings and if they don't adapt then like the creatures of the Cretaceous era they will disappear and be replaced by new creatures better adapted to their new environment.

Also lawyers need to understand that even if they do send their people on training courses to improve their management skills it is only effective if they are allowed to practice and utilise those skills on their return and that their voices are heard in the managing councils of the firm and help to bring new ideas to those at the top so that everyone's knowledge and skills can be updated and adapt.

Conclusion

Law firms do not have a divine right to survive, they will survive based on being competitive and innovative and by harnessing the full knowledge portfolio that they have at their disposal.

If anyone would like to challenge me on this view point in the article, I'd be pleased to take up the challenge.

I very rarely move out of my field of management, but as Donne said - no man is an island and there are other things to pass on.

I was reading an article by Eamonn Butler on the Adam Smith institute following the passing of the ID Card bill, which I for one are concerned about. I don't buy the argument that if you've done nothing wrong you've got nothing to fear.

Here is the article in full for you to consider

The ID Card bill has passed critical stages in Parliament. We should be worried. Here is why:

The new ID Card will be unlike any other bit of ID you hold. It is the key to a National Identity Register (NIR) that will give you a unique number, and will hold images of your fingerprints, a scan of the back of your eye, and your photograph (you will have to turn up at the authorities' convenience to be fingerprinted, scanned, and photographed).

Your name, address, and date of birth will be stored there, and you will have to inform the authorities if you move. There is plenty of space on the database to capture other information on you too, and ministers will be able to add new details without going back to Parliament.

The government says it will not be compulsory to carry the card, but in fact it will be essential for everyday living. Card readers will be everywhere. They will help stores check ID fraud when people pay by credit card, and banks when people withdraw cash. Pubs, discos, and traders selling alcohol or cigarettes will want to swipe your card to make sure you are not under age, so they do not get fined.

All these swipes could provide a detailed record of where you are at any time. Buy a mobile phone or a London Transport Oyster Card and that will enable the authorities to track who you talk to and where you travel to. Likewise if you set up an internet account or an ordinary phone line. Buy groceries and your data are instantly allied to your Nectar card or credit card, so all of your purchases can be traced as well. Pick up your prescription at the chemist and you will show up again.

There will be no escape. Refuse to be fingerprinted, scanned and photographed, and you will not get a new passport, your pension, or your social benefits. If the Home Secretary decides to revoke your card, you become a non-person, unable to draw money or even buy cigarettes, until your status is restored. Bureaucrats who are in charge of this information will be obvious targets for blackmail or bribery from anyone who wants to dig up dirt on you. All they need is your ID number.

Of course, ID Cards in Spain did not stop the Madrid bombing. But then who ever said this was all about controlling terrorism? Oh yes, the government did. But you did not really believe that, did you? It’s about controlling us.

Do us all a favour. Pass this on to your friends.

The final element of my MBA was my thesis on knowledge sharing within professional service firms. I didn't look at the ICT element, but looked and considered why human beings in a law firm shared information.

A number of my colleagues in law firms have asked me to why I haven't yet done a module for law firms as they would find it useful.

Well after a couple of weeks work, I now have prepared a module and this is available now under the training courses section of the web site.

I'd welcome any feedback on the outline that people might have and any areas for improvement that they would like me to cover. This course is probably a 2 dayer in my mind.

However, knowledge management is the key management competency for this century - don't believe me but that was Peter Drucker's observation also.

I've been talking to a couple of friends recently who have asked me why I set up my own business providing management training to lawyers. One friend asked me whether it was to make loads of money and retire off to some sun kissed island.

I actually responded to him that yes money was of interest to me - but that I wanted to earn what is called an elegant sufficiency - enough for me to do some of the things that i like to do, like watching a cricket match when i please or the odd holiday to say France with someone special.

However the major reason why I took this step was to utilise the skills that I was provided with without the hindrance of corporate politics and also look to find like minded people who wanted to fully utilise their gifts in a collective endeavour to bring management training in all areas to people. I think that organisations do have a corporate soul and ethos that pervades everything that they touch.

There is a joy that I get when I am working in this way - yes it is difficult as I struggle to find my feet and initially there is the need to survive, but as the organisation grows there needs to be another underlying purpose that gets us out of bed in the morning.

I believe that it is the desire for some form of independence, to be masters of our own destiny and also the chance to be an instrument of the sublime.

I have believed that corporate life stifles people opportunities to express their inner skills and that organisations that look to control people to the nth degree are left with the equivalent of corporate zombies. These are people who have been so conditioned that they are at a stage where they refuse to take action and rely on other people to take decisions for themselves.

Mazarin will always be an organisation that will encourage people to deliver a superior product and so long as it is of their highest standard and that they take responsibility for success or learn lessons if it has not delivered, isn't a bad corporate epitaph.

I saw this on the blog today and have placed it in full here - I leave it up to you the reader to see how true it is.

The classic fable:
The ant works all summer in withering heat to build his house. The grasshopper scoffs and lazes. Come winter, the ant is warm and well-fed inside, while the grasshopper dies cold and hungry outside.

The modern version:
Come winter, the grasshopper calls a press conference to show the injustice of the ant being warm and well-fed while he starves in the cold. BBC documentaries contrast the lives of emaciated grasshoppers with those of comfortably-off ants.

Parliamentarians call for an immediate tax on ants to provide social benefits for grasshoppers. The Insect Justice Bill soon becomes law, with retroactive effect, raising ants' taxes and fining them for not using grasshopper labour to build their houses. Unable to pay, the ant's home is confiscated, and he moves to France to set up a smallholding and live on EU farm subsidies.

Meanwhile the grasshopper has been moved into the ant's former home. Although summer is months away, he has consumed all the food and is again facing hunger. In response, the government sets up an Insect Inequality Commission, which says that more money is needed to tackle such social problems. By this time the grasshopper has turned to stealing food from other insects, and dies of a drug overdose while on remand in prison.

The moral:
Hard work never killed anyone, but too much government can.

If you want to see other interesting ideas then here is the link to the site

http://www.adamsmith.org/blog/

Occasionally in life you can have strange synergies that get you thinking in new ways and seeing the boulders mentioned in my previous blog.

A work colleague at my old organisation on Friday the 3rd February had two twin boys safely delivered in to this wonderful and intriguing world that we live in. That afternoon, coincidentally I was reading an article on the Internet about the problems that they are having in Japan with the succession to the Japanese Emperor.

For more details, click on the link here

BBC Article

The Japanese government are trying to push a bill through Parliament to allow female succession to the chrysanthemum throne but there is deep conservative disquiet about this radical change. The crisis has occurred because no boys since 1965. The problem has become so intense to traditionalists, that a cousin of Emperor Akihito, has suggested that Crown Prince Naruhito take concubines in an attempt to produce a male heir.

Of course disquiet about the Japanese emperors succession issues masks a more disturbing trend not only in Japan but in other economies especially Russia ,Germany and Italy on the European continent.

At the recent Japanese census announced last year, deaths had outstripped births for the first time in piece time. If there is no change in the current fertility rate of 1.3 children per woman of child bearing age, then in 2800, the last Japanese person will die.

Japan's population by 2025 30% of the population will be 65 and above which means that fewer workers will support an expanding number of non-workers. It maybe that in order to survive that we will have to raise the mandatory retirement age not only to cover pensions but also the custodians of years of technical and managerial skills.

If we take Russia then it's population will decline by 22% over the next 45 years. By 2020, Germany will have the lowest proportion of young people in Europe and it's birth rate is 1.4 children per woman of child bearing age and the age that a woman has her first child has gone up by nearly 3 years to just under 30 in just under 20 years. Germany's population by the end of this century could be down from 80 million to about 50 million. Italy isn't much better, by 2050 the number of Italians may have reduced it's population from 57.5m in 2000 to around 45m.

Demographics are a bit like glaciers in the way that they move. However like glaciers although they move slowly they possess great power. They do tend to worry historians as in the past demographic reduction in population have presaged economic decline. Leaders of countries tend to shudder when they hear of shrinking populations because GDP growth tends to slow as domestic markets start to shrink. also it matters geo- politically also as the general rule of thumb as Paul Kennedy has pointed out - the bigger the economy, the bigger the military, the greater geo-political punching weight.

Though one article that I've read on the subject does point out there is some good news. When I was studying geography in the 1970's we were being taught that the earth couldn't sustain the impending population explosion and that the earth faced a neo Malthusian dilemma as resources ran out and that this is what countries would go to war over.

However , we may have broken the link and moved away from where countries had to have high birth rates to try and offset the high mortality rates and moved where death rates are lower and women have better control of their fertility is now more common. It maybe that new ways of working and new technologies will offset the decline in labour and that workers overall efficiencies will increase.

One advantage might be that the last acceptable discrimination might be finally abolished namely the use of age discrimination in job applications so that would be one big hooray from me for a start.