Nine Shift

Wisconsin Protests: Solution to Losing Signs

Lots of humor and good fun on the recall campaign.

A man called the recall office and told Julie that someone, assumedly a Tea Party person, tore down his signs.

Julie suggested he spray his signs with pepper spray, which would get in the person's eyes and really discourage further vandalism.  The man replied he was a police officer and knew all about pepper spray.

They both laughed.  Then Julie said, "Well it works on squirrels.  I don't see why it wouldn't work on the Tea Party."  More laughter. 

Wisconsin Protests: Recall Election Update

From ground zero in the fight to save the middle class and bring our nation into the 21st century, here's the latest.

*While cutting everyone else's benefits, we are finding out that our Tea Party State Senator, one of those being recalled,  gets $50,000 a year in agricultural subsidies. 

*Recall Girl Julie Coates recruited 30 volunteers in one day.

*Local citizens donated $2,800 for a larger recall office in River Falls.  Too many volunteers packed into the existing one.

*We're leading in Parades.  People keep score in lots of ways, including newspaper letters, signs, and now - - parades. 

* Optimism still high. Volunteers still high.  Still plans to recall Walker in six months.

* The GOP Fake Primaries will happen July 12, costing taxpayers money of course.  Then the real recall elections take place on August 9. 

Economic pressure for trains will grow

You didn't really think the U.S. was going to be a leader in passenger trains, did you?

I was hoping, but clearly the U.S. is behind, far behind.  Yet economic pressure for trains will grow, led by the need to compete with Europe and China.

Three big train stories this week:
1.China is building high speed rail lines. The trains run every 10 minutes!
2.European cities are actively discouraging car driving with laws, pedestrian malls, surcharges and reduced parking, reports The New York Times.
3. Train protests.  Just like the old protests over highways.  For a high speed train from Italy to France. Here's that story.

It's all good.  Sooner or later, the U.S. will be economically forced to build passenger trains. 
Photo: The irony of it all.  A car ad above the NY TImes story about trains. 

 

Another Sign the Organization Chart is Collapsing

Another sign this month that the Organization Chart is collapsing: the food pyramid has been replaced by a plate.

This might seem a stretch, but visuals and images presented to the public have a huge impact, carry various levels of meaning, and create a framework by which people view life, not just bread and vegetables.

Like telework, the shift from the pyramid to networks (Number 3 in our Nine Shifts) is more-or-less a silent shift. But powerful nevertheless.  Goodbye food pyramid, goodbye Org Chart.

 

Gadget Girl Does Her First Prezi Presentation

   Prezi is a kind of PowerPoint for Gen X. 

   It is not linear, like PowerPoint, but relational. Slides relate to each other. You can zoom in, or zoom out.  You see the big picture as well as the details. Check it out.
   My brilliant co-author Julie, formerly known as the Fabulous Brochure Babe and now known as Gadget Girl, did her first Prezi presentation. She said it takes a while to learn.  But the presentation got rave reviews.

 

Virtual Game for Nurses Being Created

Virtual game for nurses being created
   While visiting Norfolk State University last month, I got a chance to see grad students building a virtual simulation game for nursing students.  It is part of a grant from the government, so the game will likely be shared with nursing schools all over the United States.
   Soon there will be games for many professions, as the training time is reduced, cost of training reduced, accuracy and efficiency increases, and valuable human resources used in other better ways doing things computers cannot do. Very exciting.

Photo: Virtual nursing game being created at Norfolk State University

Light Rail Stop Huge Advantage for Norfolk State

Light Rail Stop Huge Advantage for Norfolk State

   The first light rail line in the growing prosperous area of Hampton Roads Virginia is being built.  And it will stop at Norfolk State University.
   This is a huge advantage for Norfolk State.  It means students do not have to buy a car to attend the university. It means students can study to and from the campus.  It means faculty save time. It means the campus can convert parking lots into better uses.  It means the land around the university becomes very valuable, and other high value properties, stores and apartments get built, making the whole neighborhood a desirable place.

Photo: Dr. Hill of Norfolk State University at the light rail stop under construction right now.

College Deadline to Shift to Network

   If you work for a college, you have just 40 months, til January 1, 2015, for your institution to get rid of your organizational chart and to implement a network structure.
   The network has proven to be so superior that the org chart is disintegrating. You simply cannot claim to be preparing your students for the real world without being a part of the real world.
   If you are in continuing education, you simply cannot train people in the workforce if you are clueless as to how the work place works. 

FREE Nine Shift Webinar Thursday

Free Nine Shift webinar Thursday at 2 pm ET  (1 pm CT; Noon Mountain;  11 am PT).

Some 200 people have already signed up to participate!

If you missed the live "Nine Shift for 2011 " presentation in Chicago last November, don't miss the replay.

No charge.  Just register here.  

College deadline set to Telework

   If you work for a college, you have just 40 months, til January 1, 2015, for you and your faculty and staff to begin telecommuting.
   From the torrent of conversations and articles on and from people who telework in the past few months, it is now clear that business and corporations are now solidly in the telework camp, meaning an end to the office culture, organizational chart and in-person supervision.
   What that means for your college is that in a few short years your institution will be reduced to having little credibility in the business world. 
  That’s because you will no longer be preparing your students for the “real world”.  Instead you will be preparing them for the “old world.”
   Understanding that, businesses will stop looking to your institution for recruiting graduates. Students will stop coming becoming you do not prepare them for the “real world” of the 21^st century.
   You have 40 months, around 1,200 days. The countdown begins now.