Reflections on the zero cost and inconsequential time to deliver a 2,500 page book.

Delivering books in PDF format is old news.

Today I looked at the process anew and laughed in marvel at the simplicity, low-cost, and blinding speed of doing so. Posted my thoughts on my other blog Outrun Change at: It’s a blast being alive today, or, isn’t technology cool?

This is how you apologize

In its October 22 edition, The Economist issues An Apology to Rachid Ghannouchi.

The magazine restated two comments it made the previous week.  I’m not tracking the backstory, but am interested in what is happening in Tunisia.  I’m don’t understand the implications of the statements, but guess there are some major side issues.  However, the magazine then says they were wrong.

We accept that neither of these statements is true: Mr Ghannouchi has expressly said that he accepts the Code of Personal Status; and he never threatened to hang Ms bin Salama.

No quibbling. No ‘we were misunderstood.’ No ‘we misstated our idea.’

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Two overlapping recessions?

We may be in two simultaneous, overlapping recessions.  One will go away, but the other won’t.

I have two posts at my other blog, Outrun Change, discussing this idea of overlapping recessions:

I’m trying to move my discussions of massive change in the economy and the work world to my other blog.

Are you on the staff of a cruise ship or a battleship?

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HIUaa1P5fTY&feature=player_embedded]

link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HIUaa1P5fTY&feature=player_embedded

Elders, which are you on? Does your pastor know that you can tell the difference?

Dear beloved Pastors, which are you captain of?

Hat tip: CyberBrethern-A Lutheran Blog

Constant skill upgrade

The radical changes in the work world, which are very real today, are going to require constant upgrades to our skills.

The 9-10-11 edition of The Economist had a series of articles on the changing work environment. One article in particular, My big fat career, discusses the changes already underway.

One particular author, Lynda Gratton from the London Business School, suggests you will need to acquire a new skill or expertise every few years.  Continuous learning in other words.

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Free agent status for everyone!

The world of work has changed. We are all free agents.

Even if we don’t change jobs or stay with one employer for decades, we are all now free agents.

That will be the theme of a series of posts. Probably the theme for a new blog, since those discussions will wander far away from issues of immediate interest to the nonprofit community.

What has happened?

The nature of work has changed.

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Aircraft carrier as illustration of “overhead” needed to get something done

4,100 people work so 200 can fly.

In August, my wife and I toured the USS Midway aircraft carrier museum in San Diego. Quite a treat if you enjoy either airplanes or naval ships.

One narrative plaque really caught my attention. It quoted someone as saying that 4,100 people are hard at work onboard so 200 can fly airplanes. Since the purpose of the carrier is to put planes in the air, everyone else on board is in a ‘supporting’ function.

Seems to me that this is a good illustration of the concept of overhead or functional allocation that we work with in the nonprofit world.

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Happy birthday to Nonprofit Update

It has been one year since I launched Nonprofit Update. On August 29, 2010 I started this blog to talk about issues affecting the nonprofit community. On October 14, 2010 I started moving topics of more interest to CPAs to a new blog, Attestation Update.

Many thanks to all who have stopped by to read!  This has been fun and I look forward to many more years of blogging.

Here are some stats from the first year for those who are interested in such things.

Number of posts: (more…)

It’s better to teach someone to someone to fish, but if you’re just going to give someone fish, at least you shouldn’t poison the village lake

The Apparent Project Blog explains the serous unintended consequence of giving help in Haiti while ignoring the economic context in their post Peanut Butter and Shelley.

Those of us in the West desperately need to understand the culture, economy, and local situation when we want to move cross-culturally. We can provide wonderful blessings but can cause harm without intending to.

I’ve discussed this in other posts: Does humanitarian aid actually help and how do we know? along with Cross-cultural partnerships.

Back to the situation in Haiti.

Some churches in the US are trying to help the hungry in Haiti by shipping huge quantities of peanut butter. Sounds like a great way to help since it is a superb source of protein – as good as pork for nourishment.

What do you think happens to the local economy if peanut butter and pork are major products? It can seriously disrupt the economy.

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