I feel that this quote is particularly apt this week as we moved towards looking at the drivers of change today and realizing that it is not just major factors such as technological development or economic activity that is changing things today but how each and everyone of us reacts to these happenings that is causing change in the world.
This week, prof talked about the major factors that were causing world change and how to adapt to the change. We discussed about changing our attitudes and mindsets to one that did not just accept the status quo but looked towards change. We then looked at various models such as the pessimism time-curve and talked about the importance of change leadership.
Interesting Observations and Ideas
Prof revealed this rather shocking statistic which was that "If everyone consumed as much energy as the average Singaporean and U.S. resident, the world's oil reserves would be depleted in 9 years."
This was indeed a very surprising thought as we often think of Singapore as small and as such having a less substantial influence on world issues. However, as we can see from this statistic, the rate of energy consumption in Singapore is so high that it is actually a major contributor to rapid energy depletion in our world today.
As such we should no longer recognise that environmental degradation is a world problem. With Singapore's advanced technological know-how, we can develop new environmentally friendly methods of living and we can share these ideas with the world. As global citizens, we need to take the initiative to support local environmental efforts such as this attempt to convert drink packets from NDP into usable items.
We also learnt about a book called Crossing the Chasm.
A main idea in Crossing the Chasm is the Technology Adoption Life Cycle.
 |
| www.readwrite.com |
However, this actually made me consider the possibility about being able to target different forms of advertising to different buyers. Also, I realised why certain advertising may be more relevant to me than other types of advertising because they speak to me as a pragmatist and the criteria that I look for in a product. This has helped me have a better idea of how to market things to people in the future.
Another interesting idea shared was about change leadership was that there is just as much importance in being the first follower as being the leader which was illustrated in the video that Prof showed in class.
This video was rather revolutionary because there were two ideas raised. The first was that the leader was only as important as his first follower because the follower showed that the leader was not a lone nut. The second thing was that it was important for the leader to treat his first follower as an equal and welcome him in joining the movement.
What I really found educational about this was the idea that it did not have to be two people trying to do something very visionary or revolutionary. It just had to be one person with an idea and one person willing to support him to do something rather simple and in the end the following that they managed to get was quite extensive.
Hence, if we are looking towards change, we should not try and start out big but rather convincing the people around us to believe in our ideas and perhaps from there we can start a movement. I did some research and found that some of the key components of change leadership that was suggested included moral purpose and relationship building as well as coherence making. I agree strongly and feel that in leadership, it is not just setting out a vision but convincing each and every person you know to believe in your vision and agree to work together to achieve your vision before any movement can succeed.
As Margaret Mead said correctly, "Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.
Key Takeaways points
1. We talked about the difference between a manager and a leader. A leader is someone who sets out the vision of the company while the manager works with the people to achieve the leader's vision.
2. The need to move from the traditional model where a company would chart their progress every 5 years or so to the current modern model where the company would have continuous renewal and assessment which I find is a good model to move to wards with the emphasis on the concept of singularity in our world today.
Issues for discussion
1. One issue that I felt could have been discussed further was the idea about how to be the best first follower. I think that often much is said about being the leader, about how you have to be visionary and have people share in a common vision with you. Much less on the other hand has been explored about how to be a good first follower. We could have talked about not only how to make people want to follow the movement that you are supporting but also how to spot movements that are worth supporting.
2. Another issue that I felt could have been discussed further was the idea that Alister raised in his presentation about whether flight technology was a boon or a bane to human society. I feel that this question could be further expanded to look at whether technology as a whole was a boon or a bane to human society. Often it is said that it is not the technology that is harmful but how humans use it that makes it harmful and I felt that we could discuss on how we can manage technology such that it is not used for harmful purposes.
Responses to the presentations
One of the rather revolutionary ideas raised during the presentation was that of wiki cells. This was a form of skin that could be wrapped around food instead of the usual plastic wrappers that are used to wrap food like burgers and fries. The skin could be peeled off or could be washed and eaten together with the food.
I felt that this was a really good idea because it could really reduce the large amount of waste that is caused by disposal of the wrappers especially in fast food restaurants. However, I was worried that there may be health implications and adverse effects on the taste of the food. Some research that I did revealed that there are no such known concerns to date.
That said, these wrappers are still more biodegradable than those currently being used and I think that people should use these wrappers as even if they choose not to eat them, they are still much more environmentally friendly than the current wrappers used. These wrappers should first be introduced in fast-food restaurants as these are the food outlets that use the most wrappers and it would be the easiest to introduce as it will most likely be in line with their corporate social responsibility agenda and as fast-food has a mostly inelastic demand curve, the introduction of such wrappers will not affect their business too adversely and they are most likely to be willing to introduce the use of such wrappers.
Personal ratings for the session
I felt that in this session all the presenters put in a lot of hard work to make it visually interesting and interactive for the audience. I also particularly enjoyed the idea of Crossing the Chasm because its something that I have often noticed about technology adoption but I have not been able to come up with distinct categories to categorise my observations which is why I was pleased to know that I am not the only person to think this way and to see how other people articulated these same ideas.
I am glad that Prof pushes us to think critically about the questions and encourages to read widely and share outside information whether in class or on our class facebook wall because it gives me the feeling of being in an intellectual community where I can share my ideas freely and I enjoy it very much.
I would rate this session an 8/10!
I am excited about studying communication technology especially social media in the next lesson :)
Cheers,
Amanda Tan
No comments:
Post a Comment