Aviv's Blog

The KEY: The Future of Work

Aviv Shahar — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 05:13:53 +0000

The difference between market leadership and chapter 11 is the ability to attract and retain the best people. With rapid change accelerating, leaders must develop practical strategies to recruit, develop and collaboratively engage five generations in the workplace. This has never happened before, so coalescing these generations at work in the dynamic environment ahead presents extraordinary opportunities and challenges. Companies that are not prepared to meet these opportunities risk their viability. In this KEY you will discover five forces shaping the future of work.

The Global Business Context: A Davos CEO Panel

Aviv Shahar — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 04:01:40 +0000

Here are key themes from the Davos panel about the strategic, organizational and operational issues that are reshaping how businesses operate worldwide. The CEOs on the panel included:
• John T. Chambers, Cisco
• Thomas Enders, Airbus
• Klaus Kleinfeld, Alcoa
• Duncan Niederauer, NYSE Euronext
• Ferit F. Sahenk, Dogus Group
• Patricia A. Woertz, Archer Daniels Midland (ADM)
• Hans-Paul Bürkner, The Boston Consulting Group

Themes:

24/7 mindset is yesterday. The volatility and velocity of change requires a 25/8 mindset.
We are going through rapid market transition, economic transition, and technological transition… the big question for organizations: how do we reinvent ourselves? Unless you can reinvent, you will have your “Kodak Moment” and die.
Deleveraging is here to stay. Together with higher capital requirement this chokes credit and makes for a tough environment for small and medium businesses.
You must build flexible organization with dynamic human capital.
We all want to live better and do better.
Think One World.
Think collective wisdom.
We are all watched in real time.
A quarter of global aircraft orders is for china.
Maintain a bifocal focus on short and long term. Be realistic about what is possible in the short term. But for the long term strategy you must plan for growth with two billion people entering global market and aspiring for urban life style. You cannot entrench and grow. Manage the short term with the long term in mind. Work on the long term by capitalizing on opportunities here and now. You must earn the right to grow.
The potential for upside breakout is in better collaboration between government and the private sector.
Most successful needs to give back most.
Execution is leadership.
The only sustainable competitive advantage is your people and having the brightest talent.

The KEY:Top 5 for 2012

Aviv Shahar — Mon, 02 Jan 2012 13:19:48 +0000

The top lesson I propose you take forward into 2012 is to be surprised by nothing. Always expect the best and believe in possibilities, but be prepared for any eventuality, wild card and setback. Anything and everything you assume is stable and safe may not be. Look at the world with new eyes. In the next five years there will be very few institutions and structures, if any, that will be left unchanged. Read more about my top 5 for 2012 here.

Panama City, Panama

Aviv Shahar — Wed, 28 Dec 2011 20:17:11 +0000

My immersion and acclimatization to Panama City, Panama is through rhythm and is immediate. The Taxi driver who drives me from the airport to the hotel taps the rhythm of the music his radio plays. This is a short work visit and I ask him to take me directly to the Canal. We tour the city and the Panama Canal and we both tap the rhythm. Music is the fastest way to get to know people and to feel what moves them. The music tells the story of people’s attitude to life, challenge, joy, love and more… Panamanians’ pride is different to the way Mexicans or Brazilians express their pride. The Brazilian pride is about the national character and how they express it. The Mexican pride is expressed in the beliefs they hold and the stories they tell. The Panamanian pride is about resilience and what they are able to do.

Here are some photos from the city and the canal.

The Panama Canal

The KEY: Your Biggest Choice Ever

Aviv Shahar — Wed, 30 Nov 2011 09:48:57 +0000

We are entering the most critical period of our lives. This coming decade is perhaps the most crucial time of all times. Immense struggles everywhere indicate that Planet Earth and Humanity as a whole are experiencing a transformative change. The promise of this change is a birthing into a new time. We are all called to take a stand, to choose in small and big ways to make a difference. Your biggest choice ever defines you as a leader. The default option chosen by most is easy but dangerous. If ever there was an important resolution to make, this is it. Click here to discover your biggest choice ever.

Iceland

Aviv Shahar — Thu, 24 Nov 2011 22:35:22 +0000

Edan in Iceland

Reykjavik Iceland

The KEY: Your Accelerating Universe

Aviv Shahar — Tue, 01 Nov 2011 10:37:57 +0000

The 2011 Nobel Prize in Physics is the inspiration for this KEY. Humans have struggled to embrace new paradigms about the world and about themselves from the beginning of time. We are now living through such a disruptive period where breakdowns and breakthroughs converge into confusing and chaotic change. But amidst dysfunction and impossibility, profound breakthroughs and system upgrades are possible.

Man’s view of the universe is a reflection of man’s view of himself. Scientists now believe the Universe is pumping extra space between celestial bodies at an accelerated rate. In this KEY we explore the breakthrough implications of an accelerating Universe. Once you embrace this new paradigm and way of looking at the world, just about everything gets redefined, including the meaning of work, creativity and innovation. Click here to discover the shocking realization of the accelerating Universe and how it can transform your view of almost everything.

Geneva

Aviv Shahar — Sat, 29 Oct 2011 16:23:45 +0000

The Jet d’Eau is located at the point where Lake Geneva empties into the Rhone River. It pumps five hundred liters of water per second, jetted to an altitude of 229 feet. The water leaves the nozzle at a speed of 200 km/h (124 mph).

The St. Pierre Cathedral begun under Arducius de Faucigny, the prince-bishop of the Diocese of Geneva, in the 12th century and is best known as the adopted home church of John Calvin, one of the leaders of the Protestant Reformation. Inside the church is a wooden chair used by Calvin.

The KEY: Cast Your Net

Aviv Shahar — Mon, 26 Sep 2011 13:12:08 +0000

Are you fully present to lead the opportunities in front of you? You must separate the essentials from the noise. Are you fully engaged in your growth opportunities right here, right now?

Every season and every New Year brings in a flux of growth opportunities and challenges, and energy to address both. Each year, I begin to cast the net for the New Year in October. It’s a great time to focus, reflect, explore ideas, and deliberate on options.

Click here to learn about the three speeds of your mind, the three horizons and how to work on your vision and planning cast up.

Casting Your Net

Aviv Shahar — Mon, 19 Sep 2011 13:42:33 +0000

Our upcoming KEY, titled Cast Your Net explores the three speeds of the mind and invites you to use October, November and December to reflect on learning and focus on opportunities. Here are a series of questions I use in my cast-up process which you can adopt and customize to your needs. I encourage you to copy these to a working document or print them out and journal about them:

What have I observed and learned this last year?
What have I enjoyed and found satisfying?
What helped me gain new perspective? What surprised me? How did I surprise myself?
Looking at all the situations and the roles I participate in, where do I draw energy? What challenges me into new growth? Where and how do I make a difference?
What calls for balancing? What needs are not well served?
Reflecting on my space and the environments I create, what do I no longer need? What can I clear out of the way to make space for something new?
Reflecting on all my circles: Who are the important people in my life that help me be the person I am? What do they need from me? How can I be there for them?
Looking at all that I do, what am I doing that I no longer need to do? What am I ready to stop doing?
What do I want to learn? What new skills and capabilities do I want to develop?
Forgiveness is the greatest act of self-love. What am I prepared to forgive?
What new growth opportunities will excite and energize me? What will absolutely exhilarate me?
If I knew I could not fail, what would I start doing today?
What risks am I ready to take? Where am I ready to step into new unknown territories?
What support system will I create? What new habits will I build to support my endeavors?
What will make me very proud next year?

Cast your net for the year coming to build readiness and engage opportunities.