A casual retirement day

I joined the college in 2006 just as the mining boom was gathering pace, in some respects it was a difficult choice to make as the wages in the private sector are much higher. The attraction is the conditions of employment on offer and better than private sector benefits.

Employment in Western Australia tends to be relatively shorter term than most developed nations, the long-term employee is a relic of a past era. So arriving in the Western Australian public sector was an eye opener for me, the team was long-term and nearing retirement.

Once these guys got in the system, they tended to stay long-term until their retirement date. This is influenced by employment practices of selecting mature and experienced workers.

Although a minimum of five years post-trade experience is required; that is post four-year apprenticeship term. I came on board with a twenty year employment record including the mandated four-year apprenticeship served.

So I was very impressed with a colleague on his last day of employment, he was a fairly quiet guy who just got on with the job. He had taken long-service leave previously. This is a fully paid three month break after seven years continuous employment in the state government, one of the many benefits on offer.

We expected him to retire immediately afterwards but his wife was still employed as a nurse and he just spent his days pottering around the house with a number of projects down his shed.

He was somewhat bored and actually happy to return to work until his wife retired and they could do stuff together - fair enough. So after announcing his retirement, Arthur worked diligently until his final day no slacking off and no long discussions.

I came into the office for afternoon tea as I had spent the whole day supervising apprentices down the engineering workshops and just needed to sit down for a moment.

I had just taken a seat at the table when I saw Arthur get up, push his chair in and walk out of the office without a word to anybody or looking over his shoulder, he had finished his work and he was off.

I was going to wander over and have a chat to him but never got the opportunity on his final day. I have not seen Arthur again and while some view Arthur's final day as regrettable - I see this as a perfect exit, he pulled it off.

Why did kamikaze pilots wear helmets?

The obvious question is, why did kamikaze pilots wear helmets? After all, pilot safety wasn't really a consideration. I can't explain why the short guy on the end is smiling either - he must just be a happy guy.

Technically, they were not a helmet per se, they were a flight cap. So after re-framing the question, why did kamikaze pilots wear flight caps? The most obvious answer has nothing to do with pilot safety, it was mostly to keep his ears warm. I guess they wanted to treat their pilots well even though they were on a one-way flight - recruiting would have been difficult otherwise.

I was doing some reading and pilots during World War II would take off with their canopies open, I guess allowing a reasonably easy escape should they crash during take off. In the early days of World War II, they may have been following the traditions of more conventional pilots. Especially during the later stages of the war, kamikaze pilots were sent on one way flights when Japanese command knew all was lost.

The dark art of leadership

I am astounded to actually witness a lack of leadership in the workplace; after reading text after text on the mechanics of leadership; all that it has served to do is enlighten me on the absolute lack of leadership displayed in my former workplace.

However, this leadership vacuum in my former workplace has been somewhat to my advantage, I am able to fill the void to provide direction, purpose and motivation. Then never learned that a vacuum has to be filled by something - a bit of an oversight.

Likewise, I have also been able to fuel what would be considered by some as uprisings from the workforce when needed as the team leader does not act in the best interests of the team. The old adage of keeping friends close and enemies closer is not applied here.

Leadership is a little more than hanging apparent inspiring posters up on the walls with pictures of eagles soaring on thermal currents or mountaineers standing on the edge overlooking the cliff face and canyon.

Leadership is fulfilling a vision, providing focus, motivation, empowering team members and providing support; at times, leadership requires powers of persuasion and negotiation. If you are not doing this, then this isn't leadership. 

How a toxic workplace develops

I have been unfortunate enough to work in a number of workplaces that exhibit the characteristics of toxic work environments. This is due to the fact that I worked on a contract basis so saw plenty of varied workplaces. Fortunately, due to the contract style of work, I never had to stay there long but it was great to observe.

I believe organisational values is the key to creating healthy work environments; likewise, poor values at an organisational level becomes more apparent at an operational level. So how does a toxic workplace occur?

Management practices go a long way towards the work environment and this includes personal agendas and empire building. On-going personal conflicts tend to spill over into most workplace relationships with the stress enveloping all in the workplace.

The chaos principal applies in toxic work environments where apparent randomness related to chaotic and complex patterns exist with feedback loops and repetitive factors occur. Whilst this is a mathematical function, for those of us that aren't as competent at such an analytical level, we are still able to identify trends.

We have poor attendance in our workplace and this causes more stress, people have to pick up the work of those who are absent causing more resentment and conflict.

As a starting point, we have poor management practices that act as the genesis of all the causes of workplace conflict driven by personal agendas and empire building. Solve the management instigated stress and workplace culture improves remarkably quickly.

Autum crowds in Bruges

Even in autumn, I could not believe the crowds that descended upon Bruges, we struggled to move freely, we bumped into people and we could hardly move at times in the city centre. The train from Brussels took about an hour and ten minutes, I love this European train network.

You can't complain when you are adding to the mass of numbers, I just wasn't expecting what I considered to be summer crowds in autumn. As we stepped on the train at Brussels Nord we were guaranteed a seat, we knew the return trip would off no such luxuries as our return trip on the same train just a couple of days before offered no such luxuries.

I could hardly believe Bruges was so crowded for a weekday that wasn't summer holidays or any other holiday for that matter. I can understand the locals getting peeved at the the congestion in their city. I am not sure what winter holds for locals, there may be some respite from the onslaught of tourists. They might even be employed in the hospitality industry and benefit from tourists.

Success as a team

When the Kellogg School of Management infographic flashed across my computer, this promotes thinking. Well at least for me, in what it takes to achieve organisational success, after moving back into a high performing team environment - I comprehend the team effort and how we grow as a team.

Firstly I need to ask, what is this company Northern Trust? What do they do and are they a leader in their market segment as hailing from the southern hemisphere, I had never heard of them.

Northern Trust is a US financial services company providing wealth management, asset management and asset servicing that opened for business in 1889. It is reported Northern Trust is Headquartered in Chicago and has offices worldwide.

This investment banking and wealth management has $120 billion in banking assets, $6 trillion in funds under custody and $887 funds under management - this is a big show. So now I need to undertake some more research, who exactly do they advise?

Some searching informed me they had offices in both Sydney and Melbourne - much to my embarrassment. Northern Trust is a seriously large business employing over 14,000 people so it would be fair to suggest Rick Waddell would have a pretty strong grasp on the situation.

I do not believe in this rock star/demi-god CEO notion where the CEO is the absolute leader, what is interesting is the promotion of self-functioning teams making decisions driving the organisation forward through active participation and authority to act.

As a financial business, the ability to not only attract knowledgeable and motivated staff is a must, they require the ability to manage clients accounts in the best interests of the people who pay their salaries.

A little dog named Toby

I have been fortunate enough to spend some time with a little dog named Toby. My own dog died just short of her 16th birthday. I always maintained I didn't want another dog as she was irreplaceable.

I was happy to befriend Toby, I have kind of adopted him as my pseudo dog as I really like his yest for life. Toby was a sick little dog when I first came across him, he had distemper, was bleeding from the nose and we didn't think he was going to make it.

Even when he recovered, he had no energy, was very withdrawn and timid. It didn't help that at nearly six feet I towered over him so I was imposing. My attitude to dogs is to ignore them and when they feel comfortable around you, they come to you.

I was in his territory one night and walked downstairs to use the toilet. He had wandered over to see me when I walked out of the door and kicked him in the dark, he raced off for cover and safety yelping and wouldn't trust me again for ages.

Time has passed and we are best friends now, he has forgiven my size 12 feet and my obvious lack of coordination. He now has energy and races around. He is not the ugliest dog in the world but could be a candidate, his legs are too short, his tail is too long and rubs along the ground.

He has an underbite, has two teeth sticking upwards, his left eye is milky and his tail is too long when you take into account his short legs. His tail actually drags on the ground, you could say Toby is a genuinely ugly dog yet he is my favourite. He is lucky to still be alive and every day he lives it is a better day when he is around.

Between dives in Moalboal

You have a couple of options of diving in Moalboal, you can dive the walls close to the dive centre for a local dive and then there is Pescador island, a longer banca ride but well worth the trip.

Regardless, you will be back at the dive centre between dives and a multi-day stay should see a combination of local and Pescador Island dives. There are only a couple of restaurants to choose from in Moalboal, they do have splendid views over the water.

My favourite time to visit is lunch while the sun is out and shining. It's now been ages since I have been to Moalboal and another trip is maybe on the cards, I have been there twice in the past decade and it's about time to head back again.

Jollibee purchases Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf

In what could possibly be my worst nightmare, Philippines based fastfood retailer Jollibee has purchased Californian coffee roaster and cafe The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf. I sometimes joke about certain takeovers where it it like finding out your favourite restaurant has been purchased by McDonalds.

The Filipinos are extremely proud of their favourite national fastfood retailer, for the life of me I don't know why, its product is awful. But I have eaten there on occasions, especially when I am in the provinces and lack choice.

Jollibee Inc is a big business enterprise supported by a proud and fanatical population. The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf isn't a young business, it has been around since 1963 and operating in many countries with a large consumer base in South East Asia.

What my concern is that executives will want to start playing around with the winning retail formula and try to put their own style on the business and ruin the consumer experience. Without reviewing their financial statements, I can see The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf has expanded in many countries and may have not developed their supply chains extensively.

Jollibee has a pretty captive market, sure the fast food business is crowded with American giants McDonalds, KFC, Burger King and Pizza Hut dominating markets, but they are able to draw on nationalistic influences and attract consumers. I hope they just leave the business along and allow it to start trading profitably again.

A right wing socialist or a left wing capitalist?

Am I a right wing socialist or a left wing capitalist? I am really not sure of the answer, I am certainly a capitalist but I also believe in government intervention in markets to a degree to regulate industry to prevent monopolies and oligopolies.

I am certainly not of the Ronald Reagan view that government is not the solution to problems but government is the problem. I have moved between private enterprise and state government employment in my working life and certainly believe in the role of government.

I believe government institutions are poorly managed, they have managers running around believing they are running a business with little to no experience in actual business management. I have had colleagues that have never held a position in a non-government job in their life.

I believe businesses have a corporate social responsibility and unlike the Friedman doctrine of business ethics that a firm’s main responsibility is to its shareholders. Friedman, in a 1970 essay to The New York Times argued a firm has no corporate responsibility to the public or society but only to shareholders.

I believe private enterprise provides services more efficiently than the public sector and government services should be involved in licencing and registration providing the regulation for the industry sector.

If it is not financially feasible for a private industry organisation to make a profit in a particular sector as margins are not available then a government body can either subsidise an industry or deliver the service themselves.

This may be defense, transport, education, medical treatment, aged care, police, fire, justice, disability services or low income housing. I am certainly a believer in a safety net for those unable to provide for themselves or family that includes unemployment benefits or disability payments.

After weighing up the evidence, I am certainly a capitalist, that is without doubt, but I believe the role of government is to create the conditions of a safe and successful society. I still don’t know if I am a left wing capitalist or right wing socialist - maybe they are the same thing?

James Blunt - taking down the haters

I can't say I am a huge James Blunt fan, but what I really like about the guy is how he takes down haters online.

James utilises smart and witty responses to poke fun at his legion of haters and make them the butt of his jokes. What James does is reply to individual posts, he uses his sharp wit to publicly humiliate trolls. He doesn't engage in trolling himself, he just responds to the ugly side of the internet.

As the story goes, he was asked by his record label to gain an online presence on Twitter, the record label also asked him to tone it down but there was no chance. 

We all know the style of music he plays, I won't be racing out and buying his next album but I do like how he humiliates keyboard warriors.

Money can't buy happiness

It is often said that money can't buy happiness, I think this is a myth perpetrated by people without means and motivation.

Being poor doesn't necessarily make you any happier either, more than likely you lack medical facilities and opportunity. This is just an excuse to explain a lack of means - a cop out.

What money buys is life experiences, I am a diver and I have had the opportunity to dive in a number of countries and regions. Likewise, I am into sailing and have sailed in different locations and I hope to do more in the future.

I am not travelling first class, I stay in humble accommodation and use local transport as much as possible. I have worked as a dive guide and dive instructor in a number of countries and whilst the money isn't fantastic, the life experiences are.

I don't own the yacht, I know how to crew the various positions, set and trim sails and I race yachts throughout the summer months. When required, I always make my time available to work on the yacht to support the boat owner.

I sleep on the boat or stay at cheap accommodation without running showers instead using a small saucepan to tip cold water over my head. You wash yourself and cold water during the summer months isn’t an issue, life experience is everything and you don’t need to travel first class to experience it.

China - get your act together

One of the positives to arise from the Chinese economic slowdown is that it may substantially damage their economic growth. Let’s face it, they caused this mess and they should be the ones to pay, there is no trust with China.

China relies on exports, they have now wiped out the major economies of the developed world due to their carelessness. They shut down their country early, well before the rest of the world and now they are opening up production again.

But where will this production go? The very markets they export their goods to are caught up in the mess they created. They are a long way from becoming a consumer economy, maybe they will realign and ramp up domestic production.

No one can believe that these wet markets with exotic animals can go on without government knowledge in such a totalitarian state. They know and for too long they have allowed this to continue, this must be the point where they shut this down or face economic sanctions.

They monitor and mark their very own citizens for their adherence to strict communist guidelines. Therefore, it is implausible that they could have these markets operating without official sanction.

The Chinese government must swiftly move to close down these cesspit markets for the sake of not only China but the world. Their lack of hygiene has caused the developed world to endure this calamity - get your act together.