To be Gen-x or to be Gen-y… that is the question.

What was the question again? oh ya, with each new generation comes new challenges with understanding each other, how does one cope in a business with such diversity when it comes to generational gaps?

In Steve’s new article in the Workplace he speaks about just that.

Check out the PDF here, and let us know what you think.

Things can’t go on like this. I mean the whole thing – this global economy. It’s all up-side-down in its values and drivers. Just thinking about it threatens to make me wordless and hopeless. Eventually – because I have to get up every morning – I will start to nibble at it in my little corner of the world, do what I can, but inevitably my nibbles seem so insignificant when compared to the size of the problem. It’s such a very large and multi-faceted problem.

A shortlist I’ve been mulling over this weekend:

• Most people on the planet have given their decision-making power away to governments who do not serve them
• Capitalism (as it is) is reaching its sell-by date. The planet is running out of the basic resources to sustain a linear production-consumption system
• The gestures business and governments make to global ecological conservation and alleviation of global poverty are not helping enough
• There are too many people on the planet to allow for quality of life for most of us – our population projections tell us that we have already exceeded the planet’s capacity to sustain us all
• Primary resources (like water) have been centralised to governmental or big business distributors which lock people into relationships in which they have no power
• People in power have been corrupted by greed, people in positions of powerlessness have been corrupted by hopelessness.
• Media (the bulk of the  content of our global communications) is largely driven by consumerist messaging and sensationalist drama

Is it possible to fix a super-system that is just so sick? At times I would like to say that I wish we could all just stop and begin again. Chances are, we might get that opportunity – though not on our terms if Mother Nature is left to organise it.

With a sigh I look about me to see who’s doing something about all this. Doing seems like the best response, both practically and psychologically. Locally, Lead SA looks like a good idea: an opportunity for South Africans to roll their eyes at ineffective governance and get on with the job themselves.

Not-doing is another alternative. This means, not doing what we normally do, not defaulting to the easiest behaviours, not continuing to give energy to systems that have run their course and are no longer useful.

But I began with the title, “What would Marxists do?” If there is good one out there, let’s have a detailed critique which can lead us to some workable solution. Something that sees us clearly as the contradictory humans we are with an opportunity to turn a huge problem into something Truly Great.

Raelene has done it again, her new article is making waves around the sales world and has left Sales Guru’s editor HUNGRY for more…

Check out the article and let her know what you think by leaving a comment.

Click here to read the PDF article.

The risky thing that happens when there’s too much talk about ships and things (see previous blog), is that your metaphor runs away with you, and unanticipated consequences can occur.

This one, as anyone who has a history with Avo will know, has sent us reeling for a while. After almost a decade of being one of Avo’s key rainmakers, Hanli Buber has been given an offer she can’t refuse, and has decided to move on to a new and challenging role.  She will be the training manager in a company that designs staff share schemes, amongst other things, and it will be her job  to ensure that thousands of people are trained in line with that.  We’re hoping, of course, that she becomes one of our key customers in that regard!

Hanli was ‘Avo number 3′ when we started growing this company years ago.  She joined me to help with the SAB logistics account when it all got a bit much for me to manage on my own, and soon wove herself into the fabric of SAB to the point when they had no idea that she actually worked for us and not them!  She grew the SAB relationship in her own quirky fashion so that they have remained one of our key accounts throughout the decade, ensuring the sustainabiity of Avo, and adding significant value to SAB through the projects she spearheaded.

My road with Hanli has been rich, albeit bumpy.  In so many ways we have been each other’s teacher: we have worked together creatively so well, and have also knocked spots off one another along the road.  I have valued her courage to speak out when other voices have not been able to; her quick mind; her huge ability; her colourful way of approaching life, and the way she makes me laugh my head off! 

But more than anything, I have admired her braveness. There is a painting of Hanli which, until recently, has hung in the entrance hall to our Avo building, painted by my sister, Caroline.  It tells the story of a woman who has suffered in her life. The skin on her back is raw with the beating her journey has given her.  But the story she tells in the painting is that she has chosen to thrive and grow through her pain and vulnerability: her back is strong, her chin, proud.  It has been a great and inspirational privilege to be privy to the unfolding of Hanli’s power over this decade.  The painting has gone to live at Hanli’s house where it will become a cherished heirloom for her daughters, and, I hope, a powerful example to them of a woman who can overcome huge obstacles to become what God intended for her.

Han. Mate! You are one of my precious people.  I’m sad that we are losing your exceptional talent from the Avo space, but I know I’m not losing a friend. I hope you’ll find even more of that brave and powerful woman in your new space. Go with all my blessings and love!

There’s been a lot of ship talk around Avo lately.  Mostly because we’ve been feeling a bit low in the water after the recession and quiet world cup time.  But Avo isn’t the kind of place where the bosses would easily go ‘Hmmmmm… tooo many folks on the boat: Time to make some walk the plank!’  In a market where there have been 232 000 jobs lost already this year, that would just be tossing our precious people to the sharks, so to speak.

In a turn of fate that verges on divine intervention, though, a wonderful opportunity has presented itself in the form of a new ship that just pulled up alongside ours’. Ngikwazi, our sister company, just closed a really exciting deal with a new client which has meant that they have had to staff up an entirely new team.  In the last 3 weeks, some awesome job offers have come the way of our team, and some of our Avos have decided to take advantage of the opportunities that were on offer and ‘jumped ship’.  Most of them are already on board, slaving away at getting the new boat ship-shape and ready to sail.

It’s and exciting new development in the life of the Avo and Ngikwazi group of companies. Congratulations to Andre and his team for landing this fabulous deal. It increases the number of boats in our flotilla, creates real growth opportunities for our talented staff, and gives us all the chance to be part of growing South Africa.

Of course, the reality on our Avo office is that we have some empty chairs: Sandi, Soz, Stephen, Lele and Noma have already moved into new roles on the Ngikwazi ship.  Jeanette is moving across for a short term project 3-month period. And one or two more Avos are looking at roles that will become available a few months down the line. 

To all of you already on the new ship: bon voyage!  We’re missing you already, but wish you all the very very best in this next phase of your careers.  We’ll be watching your progress with pride.

To the Avos in the Avo ship: it’s been really hard to watch some of our precious Avos go, and it’s going to be tough sailing our ship without them.  But we’re now lighter in the water.  As the winds begin to blow after this sluggish time, we’re perfectly positioned to hoist our sails, and shoot off into the sunset.  And at the risk of making my reader vomit, of course I can’t resist saying “All hands on deck…..”!