Archive for the ‘Archive’ Category

Superb Leaders Communicate Superbly. This is one of the things that happens when they don’t.

ARTICLE

Chief Executives Lack Credibility – Study

By Julian Lee – The Age

An academic, a non-government organisation or a person on the street are regarded as more credible sources of information about a firm than its own chief executive, a study has found.

The picture was even worse for governments in an election year, because people were more likely to trust businessmen before politicians, the survey by public relations firm Edelman said. Only 38 per cent of high-income earners surveyed said they listened to what a firm’s most senior executive had to say when they were formulating a view on a company.

But businesses can take heart that during the last year their standing has risen – in last year’s survey the figure was only 19 per cent.

I have a conference in Rhode Island so stopped off in New York for a couple of days. Will hopefully have some pics from the top of the Empire State Building in a couple of days. I went to go up tonight but it was misty so wouldn’t have seen anything.

And if you are going to buy the new Apple MacBook Air, where better than the Apple Store, Fifth Avenue.

Photos to follow . . .

When someone does something we want, we often explain it by saying they were using their common sense, and when they don’t, we explain it that they didn’t use their common sense. Unfortunately, when we explain behaviour because of common sense, we explain nothing.

ARTICLE

Driver lacked ‘common sense’

By SHAHRA WALSH – The Press

A Christchurch rail bridge was struck by an oversized truck yesterday, the third time in nine months.

The truck became “wedged” about 10.30am yesterday under the Martindales Rd bridge in Heathcote, causing delays for railway operators, OnTrack bridge inspector Buzz Terrey said. The bridge is on the main line from the West Coast to Port Lyttelton.

The truck had to be cut into pieces and its tyres deflated so it could be removed. .

Speed restrictions were put in place for trains using the line as engineers braced the bridge with timber. The one-lane road under the bridge will be closed for up to a week.

Terrey said $40,000 worth of repairs and reinforcement work had only recently been completed on the bridge after it was hit in December.

It was also struck by a truck in June and before that in 2004 and 2005.

The owner of the transport company involved yesterday, Philip Wareing, said the driver was not hurt, but the truck’s canopy was a “writeoff”.

“It’s just a lack of common sense; there were signs up to say [the clearance was] 3.75 metres and he’s driven long enough to know he’s four metres,” Wareing said.

I am on the business class Amtrak heading to Rhode Island sending this from my new MacBook Air.  Some amazing scenery (so won’t stare at the screen for too much longer). As promised, photos.

Forgot I had these on my iphone. If you look closely, really really closely, you’ll see the hornets flying over us at Easter. I pulled over to grab these photos from the car.

Back at Eden Park. Every time I go there I feel like a goldfish because I tell myself that I won’t be surprised by the progress when I am back next time … and then next time, as I drive up I am in absolute amazement at the progress.

I read this online this morning. The findings are intuitively attractive, though should also be taken with a grain of salt. If these results were the outcome of an experiment or direct observation, they would have more weight. However, I am always incredibly cautious with survey results. When answering a survey on behaviour, a couple of assumptions are implied. First, the person accurately reports their behaviour which is often not the case due to inaccurate recall, or they describe how they think they should answer. Second, asking “why” questions makes the assumption that people understand the variables that operate on their behaviour  – simply, in most cases, they do not.  This is evident in the article below where people answer why they kept to the speed limit and the reply was “due to safety.” Here we have the nominal fallacy of the description of behaviour (driving safely – keeping to the speed limit) used as the explanation of behaviour (keeping to the speed limit – driving safely) – nothing in this explanation adds to our knowledge of the variables operating on our driving behaviour.

Male motorists take more risks

Last updated 10:01 19/05/2010

Male motorists take more risks than women at drink-driving and speeding, an AA Insurance survey has found.

The survey of 4336 drivers aged 18-65 found men were more likely to drink and drive than women, with 32 percent of men and 24 percent of women saying they had driven when they were probably over the limit.

Nineteen percent of men said it was OK to drive after a few drinks as long as they felt capable, compared with 9 percent of women.

The same percentage of men said they sometimes altered their driving route to avoid being breathalysed after drinking, compared with 11 percent of women.

Nearly a quarter of men (24 percent) said they broke the speed limit ”most of the time”, compared with 16 percent of women, but 90 percent of those breaking the limit said they exceeded it by only 5-10kmh.

When asked why they kept to the speed limit, 47 percent of women and 36 percent of men said it was due to safety.

AA Insurance deputy general manager Martin Fox said men were more confident than women in their driving abilities and took more risks, but they also spent more time behind the wheel.

Men were also more confident in their ability to teach others to drive.

The drink-driving figures were “cause for real concern,” and the survey results suggested risk-taking behaviours could be passed on to the next generation of drivers, he said.

I saw Fisher and Paykel on Close Up talking about their offshore factories. Andrew Paykel stated he was “quite concerned” about the quality issues of some of the products. I am experiencing cognitive dissonance because what I see (an executive state he is quite concerned about a problem) and what I have experienced (see my blogs 9 and 14 February where my dishdrawer broke down and my email to the customer care centre has not been responded to) are completely different. And why is an executive only “quite” concerned? Shouldn’t he be “very” concerned? Wouldn’t it be better to be on the tv sharing your great products (Apple with the Ipad) rather than to try and justify that problems are being sorted. And … still waiting for a reply to my email from the Customer Care Centre – fortunately I didn’t hold my breath.

The stupidity at times, amazes even me.

I stay in a particular hotel in Auckland (which I won’t name as a client books it for me) about one week a month, so approximately 50-60 days a year. Now, that is a pretty good occupancy for them.

I leave my toothbrush charger in the bathroom. Imagine if the next day I received it in the post from the hotel with a note. Imagine how pleased I would have been, and how much I would have appreciated their service and thoughtfulness. Simple stuff, but of course, that is not what happened.

Four days later my toothbrush needs charging and, upon looking for the charger, I realise that I left it in the hotel. I email them and, here is the good part, they respond within 24 hours saying, that indeed, they have it. Now, my immediate reaction is, why on earth did no one contact me given that they had my contact details and must have known it was mine? Why was it up to me to email them and, if I hadn’t realised that is where I left it, would have spent about $200 buying another one? Absolutely bewildering. It gets worse – they are charging me to post it back! Fifty to sixty nights a year and they are going to charge me $10 (I hope no more) to post it back. It gets even worse. They won’t post it unless I send authorisation to debit my credit card (clearly high bureaucracy and zero trust for a regular guest). So, now I have to fill in a form, scan it and email it back, a whole 10 minutes of activity to rub salt into the wound.

Here is a hotel with posters about their service and values plastered all over the lifts, not telling me I have left something behind and waiting for me to phone them (presumably throwing it out if I don’t), charging me $10 to post it back, and making me fill in a form. Would you recommend this hotel to anyone? I certainly won’t be. Textbook dumb arse management!