Events
Futures Jobs starting to emerge
Monday 6 April 2009
If there's one thing that a sense of panic and crisis causes it is 'focus'. Typically that focus will be geared around identifying the critical elements required for a certain level of performance to be achieved. Often that will also lead to an assessment of 'capability' matching - seeking to ensure that the required capabilities are matched to the intended future outcome for an organisation. So it is no surprise that over the past couple of years we've been seeing more organisations seeking staff with 'futures' skills. The two below are no different and if you're in the future fields or looking to enter it, they might appeal greatly
Southern Grampians Shire based in Hamilton are looking for a Director, Shire Futures. This is a new department aimed at assisting the Shire to assess and develop its future environment across all aspects of business. Certainly looks to be a great role and ideally positioned for anyone with strong futures skills and attracted to a package of around $130k. The position description can be found at their website here
The second position is with Open Universities Australia, a consortium of seven Australian Universities. The position 'Strategic Analyst' looks to be a high end advisory role with a solid opportunities to get your hands dirty doing some development work. Although the salary is a tad on the light side, coming in at 'circa $100k' there is a performance bonus available which might make this more attractive. I worked for one of the consortium partners before as their Strategy & Foresight Analyst so if you'd like to ask me what I did for almost three years, feel free to contact me here. Further details for this role can be gained via the acting CEO Mr David Masters on 03 8628 2504 and resumes can be sent straight through to Suzette Oxley
Best of luck
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Events
Friday 16 July 2010
A series of recent activities has me writing on the idea of 'future strategy' and how different organisations are approaching their future development. What is interesting is the strong sense that preparing for your potential future requires multiple paths forward, not a single 'home run'. To that end I've recently considered sporting bodies and local community driven programs which has triggered these 'thought bubbles'
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Monday 5 July 2010
Stephen Downes is one the handful of bloggers I follow consistently. I do so because Downes (unlike many others unfortunately) like to write about his thinking AS WELL AS promoting the thinking of others, whether or not he agrees with them. In that way you get a solid collection of alternative views within his field of endeavour (learning & teaching et al). The link below will take you to a presentation by David Harvey that walks you through an interesting interpretation of the Capitalist model and where we are at in the world affairs. Whether or not you agree with the content, it is highly recommended
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Monday 28 June 2010
Coming off what has been undoubtedly my busiest period (3 months) in the past decade, I'm in the throws of catching up on some light reading. I usually have at least two books on the go and my preference is for the books to be about diverse topics because it allows the mind to seek out random connections. I once 'solved' the nuclear fusion problem whilst reading books by Umberto Eco and John D Barrow. A physicist friend of mine suggested my idea was radical and yet theoretically possible. But I digress. Right now I have a wide combination - 'From Poverty to Peace' by Duncan Green looks at ways in which we can empower people to help themselves more effectively, whilst looking at the myriad of mistakes so commonly made in the area of 'aid'. 'New knowledge in Human Values' is an older book edited by Ambraham Maslow with a wide contribution of thoughts from the likes of Pitirim Sorokin, Dorothy Lee and Paul Tillich (among others) and is a walk through some of the thinking about Human Values emerging in the late 1950's. The chapters are appropriately dense undertakings and I'm finding it hard to stick with, especially as I'm more inclined to lean towards the model of Clare W Graves and his Value Systems Thoery; 'Coercion as Cure' by Thomas Szasz is a ripper of a book thus far, though I'm only a few chapters in, I can tell the quality of a book by how much 'tagging' I do within a text
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