Whistleblower protections

So all hell has broken out at my workplace, a whistleblower has reported wrongdoing and corruption to the relevant authorities and the old boy's club is in damage control. So while one would expect a whole bunch of measures to prevent these occurrences happening again - that's not how we roll.

Instead we have to mount an inquisition, better known as a witch hunt to attempt to flush out the alleged perpetrator. Instead of providing leadership in a stressful period to stamp out the inequity leading to the disclosure, an approach reinforcing the negative behaviours is their modus operandi.

The Public Interest Disclosure Act 2003, Western Australia is designed to prevent whistleblowers from harassment in the workplace. Ok, so the objectives of these laws are to provide protection against victimisation and appropriate protection for those who make such reports.

The laws should provide a safe means to report wrongdoing with a framework to properly deal with and fix reported matters. So what really happens is the whistleblower whilst trying to remain anonymous really suffers detrimental career effects after the whistleblower is hunted down and harassed into submission.

The Big Short

I hardly go to the movies anymore despite wanting to view The Big Short and Star Wars: The Force Awakens. My second choice was much to my embarrassment but I wanted to see what the big deal was about anyway even if I am not a sci-fi geek.

It never happened but I wasn't perturbed as I knew I was flying Singapore Airlines in late April and could more than likely view the movie on the inflight entertainment system.

When Wall Street II: Money Never Sleeps was released, I immediately dragged my arse down the local cinema for a late night screening. I was not willing to wait a while to watch this excellent depiction of the GFC sub-prime crisis and resulting aftermath as Michael Douglas once again played Gordon Gekko brilliantly.

We already knew Ryan Gosling was an excellent dramatic actor, likewise Brad Pitt is well renowned but the real smokey is Steve Carell. A comedy actor owning a dramatic role in much the same way Robin Williams transitioned from Mork from Ork to Good Will Hunting is playing out before us. 

Carell plays a burnt out fund manager who through experience has observed a huge lie perpetuated by the banks and financial institutions. Lacking fundamental teamwork and communication skills, he attempts to reason with people who have no interest in putting an end to the greed.

Ironically when the collapse eventuated in late 2007, I was in the Philippines and instead of going diving that day I stayed glued to my hotel television screen watching Bloomberg and contemplating my next move. 

I still recall an industry expert telling me by 2010 this will all be a bad memory. Even as this event unfolded the financial experts grossly underestimated the extent of this financial disaster that ruined the retirements of so many innocent people across the globe.

Flying Cebu Pacific

Flying Cebu Pacific is like playing Russian roulette, it is a choice of either red or black. You can't hedge your bets, you are either in or you are out.

A recent flight from Manila to Iloilo saw an sms message received at 4:07 in the morning - are you fucking joking? The reason given was extended service of the aircraft, what that really means is a fault existed with the aircraft - fair enough as safety is paramount.

As the 11:30 am flight was cancelled; the next option was get the 3 pm flight, not a bad compromise I suppose. Though waiting at the airport for hours, the 3 pm flight was delayed, limited messages and limited staff interaction ensured - great. 

After extensive delays the flight was cancelled, luckily for me, I was proactive already changing to the next flight. I felt sorry for the all the people waiting patiently for a flight that wasn't going to happen. 

These poor people were left without a flight and they quickly scrambled to secure a flight when it became clear this one wasn't going; some were rebooked on PAL, many missed out - this is no way to run an airline.

Cebu Pacific totally wasted a day of my holiday; my time is precious and I do not appreciate being treated in such a manner. The wheels of the plane were still on the ground at 5:45 but at least we were on the taxiway now.

It was annoying after all the messing around and inefficiency, the weather had closed in now - great. The flight has been delayed because of weather conditions; the really annoying factor was - the weather was fine when the schedule was in time.

Can't this mob get anything right? I had an appointment that was cancelled - they totally wasted my precious time and they just don't care.

Clairault

The 2010 Clairault Margaret River cabernet sauvignon is not my choice of an outstanding expression of a varietal wine-making from this tremendously important wine region. According to my drinking partner, she detects hints of spice - me, I don't see that at all. She asked my opinion and I immediately shot back "lacks fruit, no wood"; I find it very non-descriptive actually.

I'm somewhat disappointed actually, at $22 a bottle at airport duty free, I expected a whole lot more. Describing the flavours, I expected a 2010 to be a whole lot more developed, much smoother and finely structured. I struggled to identify a distinctive flavour, a sour note in the aftertaste was all I could find, not much tannin or acid to hold it together. This wine has no legs and I wouldn't be laying this wine down for more than 30 minutes. I decided to let it sit for about 4 hours and see if it develops further. The unfortunate answer is a resounding no.

Influencing and decision-making

The course title sounds interesting enough, influencing is leadership and decision-making is the quantitative section of the course. For me, the outcomes were not so clear, after 12 weeks, what could I take away from this? There was tons of reading involved and it was pretty drab material, maybe I expected more?

I am a concept person who prefers working with hard models and data, we never really worked our way through multiple  contemporary decision-making models analysing the positives and consequences of each model. In fact, I took on some extra reading because I didn't have enough hard models. I had to work through decision-making chapters from organisational behaviour and contemporary management reference books to get the information I desired.

This helped me immensely, we had to work in virtual teams to develop a decision-making rubric and I provided the bulk of the content from my organsational behaviour textbook to score our group an 88% high distinction. Of the 80+ students in the class, the second highest scoring group was 63% falling a couple of percent short of a credit and third place was 48%, a couple of percent short of a pass - the rest of the class were significantly lower.

The rubric case study made up 50% of the total marks of the course, the second exam for the remaining 50% was a one hour timed test taken online for a combined total. This will no doubt damage some grade point averages and absolutely add to the stress of the timed exam. I could relax to a certain degree knowing I only need to get 6% to pass the unit where as the majority of the class need a good result on the timed exam to get anywhere near passing.

This raises some serious questions regarding the content. If our team had the highest group mark out of the class and I wasn't really sure of the outcomes of the unit after getting bogged down in academic reading - what then? If I didn't have the organisational behaviour and contemporary management chapters of various textbooks, we would no doubt be in the same boat as the rest of the class.

In preparing for the timed exam, do I continue to review my outside organisational behaviour and contemporary management material that brought success to our team in the previous case study rubric? Or do I try a different approach using only their course material and risk bombing the exam?

Regardless of exam success or failure, the reason for undertaking this unit is to learn tangible principles to bring to the workplace to be more efficient and employable, we need to add value to our employment. I'm not sure this unit really met the objectives of what we hoped to achieve.

McKinsey and Co

Successfully completing an MBA once got you a shot at joining a market leading consulting firm like McKinsey and Co. That option is still available for young MBA recruits but is now reserved for the leading candidates in each class.

Normally the cut-throat world of consulting takes it toll on team members who normally commit to a number of years of consulting to gain a firm understanding of the core concepts and build their CV before embarking on a management career.The experience that a top line consulting firm offers builds capability, confidence and reputation for the consultant, what the role lacks is stability.

I'm guessing the world of consulting doesn't offer a regular pay-cheque as I once met a consultant while on a diving expedition, he was between contracts and only just got notification that the next contract would begin in the next month. It is probably a good start for a young guy starting out in the world of management, but once you have a number of responsibilities such as a mortgage, your consulting days are over.

The Aussie battler

A term that drives me mad and frequently overused is the Aussie battler. Whilst the term refers to working class individuals who perceive themselves to persevere through adversity. With the exception of a very small minority, we all have to head off to work daily, we all have to work to pay the bills - we are all working class. 

The notion that a certain subset of people battle harder than others because they find themselves in a bad financial position due to poor decision making really grinds on me. Whilst the term is considered one of respect and endearment; however, it really fails to recognise and empower those who feel they barely exist at the bottom of society.

The notion of the Aussie battler is an outdated mindset; instead, the term needs to reflect an aspirational class of people working towards a goal. Let's face it, Australian workers are some of the highest paid workers in the world, we also have a very strong social security system acting as a safety net for those who need help in times of hardship.

Getting started in diving

I had shot across to Thailand during the Australian winter to take a break from work, but more importantly undertake my dive ticket. I had no idea about open water certification or any of the other terms used. Back in those days, I was working on employment contracts in open-cut mining and it was difficult for me to schedule time for a ticket as it was a week long course or went over a number of weekends - scheduling of dive courses were pretty much inflexible. Also, back in those days you jumped on a plane and headed away to work for 12 - 16 weeks on average, longer stints were frequently required as a matter of choice.

So I returned to Perth and headed back to work after a two-week hiatus on a new employment contract, it was going to be a while before I dived again so I gave up any notion of hitting the water for a while. Upon my return to Perth, I purchased a regulator, BCD and cylinder assembly and headed out on my old man's boat. 

Equipped with a newly purchased set of dive tables, I used an old sailing wetsuit leggings and football guernsey to hit the water - in winter, it was a tab fresh. My dive plan was simple, we would use the bottom sounder to scan the bottom for depth, I would consult the tables and my old man would start the engine and rev it in neutral five times to signal my time to ascend to the surface as I didn't have a dive watch at this stage or reliable depth gauge. 

I already had a mask, snorkel and fins as I had spent a considerable amount of time as a young guy skin diving, I was also equipped with a weight-belt, speargun, cray loop, catch bag and gidgee - so I had all the important equipment for diving in Perth water.  

As I progressed, I decided to purchase a proper dive watch (that failed within 10 dives), a depth gauge, a hood and finally a two-piece wetsuit after about a year of being really cold and the divemaster on a charter boat asking me, "why the f@#k are you wearing that in the water?"  

With more neoprene, I now had to purchase some more weights as a two-piece 5mm wetsuit was very buoyant with an aluminium cylinder. As I progressed, I became more professional and took the tables underwater with me and no longer relied upon my old man to rev the engine up and I had a little more control of my maximum depth.

When I finally got serious, I headed back to the dive shop and purchased an Aladin Sport computer with a better SPG, depth gauge and compass console. The dive shops dictated what equipment you purchased back then and the configuration you wore, you had no say in the matter. It wasn't until I was diving in Europe that I finally broke down that console and finally had myself a wrist mounted computer - a significant improvement.

Being a relatively frugal person, that's code for a cheap bastard, I never relied upon a single shop to dictate my equipment purchases. I bought my equipment in a series of stages with regular purchases as equipment configurations were very regional and dictated by the dive shops that really suited their needs and not the needs of the consumer. 

I also never thought I would dive so much or so often and didn't want a huge outlay of equipment sitting around gathering dust in the shed. I thought my trip to Thailand was going to be my one and only overseas diving adventure, I was wrong there too as I now dive more overseas than I do in Perth - that I would have never considered this to be a reality when I received my original c-card.

The Amex Centurion card

The Amex Centurion card, known as the Black Card is issued by invitation only; for that invitation to arrive in the mail, you need to be spending at least $21,000 per month on credit - oh, that's gotta hurt.

According to the advertising, current cards are manufactured from anodised titanium. This laser etched card is targeting seriously affluent clients as you need up to a $5000 nomination fee plus a $2500 annual fee - that's pretty exclusive. I had a standard green Amex card before updating to the gold card for reasons I have no idea why. 

But, I thought the fees were pretty rich and instead opted for the standard bank issued credit card that offered Qantas frequent flyer points as an inducement - that keeps me happy and I'm not getting ripped for a $2500 annual fee. 

The classic martini

Instantly recognisable from the American prohibition era of 1920 to 1933; the martini is a cocktail blend of gin and vermouth garnished with either an olive or a lemon twist. An American gin innovation, the martini is the classic cocktail of the roaring twenties and then the more subdued 1930s. By 1922 the Martini reached its most recognisable form of London dry gin mixed with dry vermouth.

At a ratio of 2:1, the classic gin martini is stirred in a mixing glass with ice cubes and poured into a martini glass; a gin based martini is stirred and not shaken. Aromatic bitters can be blended into the mixing glass and then strained into a chilled cocktail glass to add a little complexity to the flavour but I prefer mine at a 5:1 ratio with only a green olive to complete the drink.

Dive centre decisions

I gained experience in managing dive resort operations overseas before coming back to Perth, my home city to work in a city-based dive centre. I had a multitude of ideas and strategies to recruit and retain divers - or so I thought.

I learned pretty quickly what worked at a dive resort didn't work nearly as well in a dive centre. That was not to say I didn't keep trying so it could be argued I didn't learn all that quickly. Back in those days, I had no formal business and management training and learned from untrained peers who were experimenting just like me.

What we lacked in experience, we certainly made up for with enthusiasm. It was a very hands on approach, we had the most successful dive operation in town so what we were doing was done well, we had a customer based approach.

Decision-making may be simply broken down into programmed and unprogrammed decisions; that is dealing with familiar and unfamiliar problems. Programmed decision-making is simple, it is repeating previous successful examples.

The development of unique approaches to complex problems is far more difficult - this is especially true when you have a vested financial interest.

This was where my decision-making broke down at the time, I was unfamiliar with formalised decision-making models although I was open to suggestion. My previous employment saw me making high value decisions in large companies at an operational level. 

This was different as I was undertaking diagnostic and trouble-shooting decisions based on proven engineering principles. I am a person who utilises models, matrix and programs; I am an extremely extremely process driven individual who detests fumbling my way through to a shaky solution.

Now viewing dive operations from the perspective of an experienced operator, I see that decision-makers in dive resorts and dive centres not only lack the experience to make good decisions based business principles. 

Many dive centre managers lack vital industry experience required for a competitive service orientated market. The recreational dive industry tends to attract more alternate lifestyle types and not typical business managers.

This is why in successful dive locations, inexperienced dive operators immediately engage in a price war under-cutting each other. They fail to calculate their costs and have no idea what their break-even point is, they engage in a downward spiral of pricing their products and services below their competitors until everyone is losing money. 

I sometimes marvel at the stupidity of such strategies, the consumer doesn't always benefit as equipment and services are run down, poor maintenance and a general lack of safety tarnish the industry.

So what is the answer then? The dive training agencies need to offer greater training opportunities based on the business of diving, many tertiary institutions offer hospitality and tourism courses. 

The problem arises from the issue that the low wage environment of the recreational dive industry generally attracts lifestyle based workers on minimum wage. Why pay big dollars for a business orientated education for a minimum wage job?

This means you generally don't attract serious business orientated operators seeking a real return on investment. When dealing with micro-economic theory, a business person looks at opportunity cost, when combined with finance principles of the time value of money and accounting principles of return on investment - you have to ask, why bother?

Mastery learning

As an instructional strategy, mastery learning stems from the research of Benjamin Bloom in 1971, 1976 and 1984. Traditional classroom learning sees trainees undertake a learning event to study for a test, then regardless of the results moves onto the next chapter of the reference book or program until the course is complete.

The trainee is tested on the next chapter or stage of the program until the course is completed. Mastery learning is a unique approach as compared to traditional training methodologies where material is taught and trainee comprehension is evaluated before they are able to move on to the next unit.

Bloom observed traditional classroom practice was to organise content into units evaluating progress at the end of each unit. Bloom reasoned such evaluations of learning would be more efficient if they were utilised as a sub-task in the teaching and learning process providing immediate feedback targeting individual learning difficulties prescribing specific remediation interventions to enhance learning.

The facilitator breaks down the curriculum into a series of smaller sub-lessons that are taught throughout the duration of the course. At the end of each learning intervention, a diagnostic assessment (usually a short quiz) is administered serving as a evaluation of learning. 

The assessment then acts as a guide where the facilitator builds a prescriptive feedback lesson targeting the areas of weakness. I am a supporter of Bloom's research and processes, mastery learning greatly improves trainee outcomes.

The routes to wealth

The routes to financial wealth are numerous; a number of options are available for savvy capitalists on the road to affluence; instead hoping to short-cut the process of generating wealth through alternate means.

These routes to financial wealth include: winning it, suing for it, marrying into it or inheriting it. The lottery is pretty lucrative if you don't care about odds, the legal system is also lucrative in many countries although legal fees can put a dent in your return on investment. Marrying into money is pretty instantaneous, you have the advantage of having a significant other to help you spend it, although you might have to give half of it back if the relationship turn sour and there is always the issue of pre-martial contracts.

Inheritance is good in many respects, the downside is someone has to actually die for you to get your hands on their money. That's actually a bit of a downer but new found wealth allows you to get over it pretty quickly and people really don't live forever. Entrepreneurship is the obvious solution to financial independence, a number of possibilities do exist if innovation, hard work or sacrifice are not for you; you really can't beat earning it for yourself.