Solar Windows from Sony that generate electricity

Sony conducts research on proprietary technologies that contribute to reduction of environmental impact so that they can be applied to new products and services, as well as manufacturing processes.

Sony is engaged in research on dye-sensitized solar cells, which use photosensitive organic dyes adsorbed on the porous electrode surface to convert light energy to electrical energy. Unlike conventional silicon-based solar cells, dye-sensitized solar cells do not require a large vacuum process machine in fabrication. Also, because they use a coating and a printing process, these cells allow low-cost fabrication and exert less of an impact on the environment due to the fact that they require fewer materials and less energy. Dye-sensitized solar cells have the additional advantage of providing excellent power generation especially in low-light situations, such as indoors or under cloudy skies. Depending on the dye color, these cells can even provide color variations.
Owing to these advantages, dye-sensitized solar cells are viewed as one of the most promising next-generation solar cell technologies.

Related Links :
- http://www.sony.net/Products/
- http://www.sony.net/SonyInfo/
- http://eco-pro.com/

A minimally invasive surgical approach developed by head and neck surgeons at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicinehas been cleared by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The Da Vinci Surgical System (Intuitive Surgical, Inc., Sunnyvale, California) has been cleared for TransOral otolaryngologic surgical procedures to treat benign tumors and select malignant tumors in adults.

Drs. Gregory S. Weinstein and Bert W. O’Malley, Jr. of the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine’s Department of Otorhinolaryngology: Head and Neck Surgery founded the world’s first TransOral Robotic Surgery (TORS) programat Penn Medicine in 2004, where they developed and researched the TORS approach for a variety of robotic surgical neck approaches for both malignant and benign tumors of the mouth, voice box, tonsil, tongue and other parts of the throat. Since 2005, approximately 350 Penn patients have participated in the world’s first prospective clinical trials of TORS. These research trials compromise the largest and most comprehensive studies of the technology on record.
“TORS has dramatically improved the way we treat head and neck cancer patients, completely removing tumors while preserving speech, swallowing, and other key quality of life issues,” said Bert O’Malley, Jr., MD, professor and chairman of Penn Medicine’s Department of Otorhinolaryngology:Head and Neck Surgery.

“It is very exciting that a concept conceived at PENN, evaluated in pre-clinical experimental models at PENN, tested in clinical trials at PENN, and then taught to key surgeons and institutions both within the U.S. and internationally has been officially recognized by our federal governing agencies and peers around the world as a new and improved therapy for select neck cancers and all benign tumors.”

45,000 Americans and approximately 500,000 people worldwide are diagnosed with head and neck cancers each year. Head and neck tumor treatments often involve a combination of surgery, radiation therapy, and chemotherapy. In many cases, surgery offers the greatest chance of cure; yet conventional surgery may require an almost ear-to-ear incision across the throat or splitting the jaw, resulting in speech and swallowing deficits for patients. In comparison, the minimally invasive TORS approach, which accesses the surgical site through the mouth, has been shown to improve long term swallowing function and reduce risk of infection while speeding up the recovery time. When compared to traditional surgeries, after their cancers have been removed successfully, patients have been able to begin swallowing on their own sooner and leave the hospital earlier. TORS outcomes are markedly improved when compared to standard chemotherapy, radiation or traditional open surgical approaches for oropharyngeal cancer.

“Based on our data and patient outcomes, coupled with the national and international enthusiasm and interest for TORS, we are changing the way oropharyngeal cancer and tumors will be treated now and in years to come,” noted Gregory Weinstein, MD, FACS, professor and vice chair of the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine’s Department of Otorhinolaryngology: Head and Neck Surgery, director of the Division of Head and Neck Surgery and current president of The Society of Robotic Surgery. “We are already investigating new TORS treatments for other conditions such as sleep apnea, and collaborating with colleagues in Penn Neurosurgery to use TORS to remove skull base tumors and repair cervical spine disease.”

The Penn TORS program developed an international training program that has trained numerous surgical teams from 12 different countries, many of whom have started establishing TORS programs at their respective institutions. With the FDA clearance of the da Vinci System for transoral otolaryngology, Penn Medicine will immediately expand its well established training program to include surgical teams from the United States.
Dr. Weinstein and O’Malley have no financial ties or consulting agreement with the surgical company. 
For more information about the Penn TORS Program, please visit http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/pennorl/research/tors/ or call 215-349-5390.
A 2005 Penn Medicine press release on TORS can be found online at: http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/may05/TORS.htm

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Penn Medicine is one of the world’s leading academic medical centers, dedicated to the related missions of medical education, biomedical research, and excellence in patient care. Penn Medicine consists of the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine (founded in 1765 as the nation's first medical school) and the University of Pennsylvania Health System, which together form a $3.6 billion enterprise.

Penn’s School of Medicine is currently ranked #3 in U.S. News & World Report’s survey of research-oriented medical schools, and is consistently among the nation’s top recipients of funding from the National Institutes of Health, with $367.2 million awarded in the 2008 fiscal year.

Penn Medicine’s patient care facilities include:

• The Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania – the nation’s first teaching hospital, recognized as one of the nation’s top 10 hospitals by U.S. News & World Report.
• Penn Presbyterian Medical Center – named one of the top 100 hospitals for cardiovascular care by Thomson Reuters for six years.
• Pennsylvania Hospital – the nation’s first hospital, founded in 1751, nationally recognized for excellence in orthopaedics, obstetrics & gynecology, and behavioral health. 

Additional patient care facilities and services include Penn Medicine at Rittenhouse, a Philadelphia campus offering inpatient rehabilitation and outpatient care in many specialties; as well as a primary care provider network; a faculty practice plan; home care and hospice services; and several multispecialty outpatient facilities across the Philadelphia region.

Penn Medicine is committed to improving lives and health through a variety of community-based programs and activities. In fiscal year 2009, Penn Medicine provided $733.5 million to benefit our community.

The Thanko eco-friendly Cranking MP3 Player is equipped with a wind up charger that will let you wind it up when you run dry.

The Cranking MP3 player can be charged just by simply holding the lever with one hand and pressing it continuously until the device has received full charge from its battery and power system.
The device can also be charged using a USB port or with the AC adapter.

Its size is 75 × 45 × 34.5 mm, it weighs 88.8 grams and features 1 GB of storage capacity.

Bluelounge, the groundbreaking design studio known for such award-winning products as the SpaceStation, CableBox and The Sanctuary, introduces StudioDesk: their most advanced cable management solution to date. A traditional workspace with a modern twist, the StudioDesk is specifically designed to offer laptop users a clutter-free working environment. Its sliding top surface uncovers a large easily accessed storage compartment that completely conceals all one’s peripheral hardware and their accompanying cables.

Bluelounge’s StudioDesk is immediately available for $599.95 US Dollars through www.bluelounge.com.

"After the success of The Sanctuary and CableBox, I was committed to creating a new product that would bring cable management full circle," said Bluelounge Principal and Designer, Dominic Symons. “The StudioDesk brings harmony to one's workspace. It is perfectly suited for the studio, home, office, conference & classroom environments, in fact wherever laptops are frequently used."

StudioDesk’s ingenious sliding lid allows all ancillary equipment and excess cables to be safely stowed away under the desktop in the concealed, but easily accessed, storage compartment. An elongated slot across the width of the desktop lets the user easily inter-connect all the hidden power strips, AC adapters, hubs, external hard drives, routers etc, thereby keeping the desktop always completely clutter-free. An opening discretely located below the StudioDesk’s rear corners means that only a single cable is needed to connect everything to a power socket. So less floor level clutter too!

The StudioDesk’s timeless design features solid mahogany legs and details. For durability, white laminate is used for the desktop surfaces and storage spaces. In addition, StudioDesk comes with a removable faux leather mat to cover and protect the sliding portion of the desktop. StudioDesk measures 47” x 27.5” X 29.5”. Shipping by UPS ground, knocked down into one package. Assembly tools & instructions are included.

About Bluelounge

Bluelounge, founded in 1999 by designers Dominic Symons and Melissa Sunjaya, is a multidisciplinary design studio that creates a synergy of product, graphic, interactive design and original illustration. Bluelounge products are distributed through over 100 U.S. locations and 17 international distributors, promotional agents and licensees. Bluelounge’s design studios and administrative offices are in both Los Angeles and Jakarta, Indonesia. In addition to their own branded products, Bluelounge has undertaken design commissions for major corporations such as Airwalk, Microsoft, Panasonic, and Trina Turk.

http://www.bluelounge.com/

Intraoperative diagnostics have long since become standard in modern clinical work and boost precision in surgery. A unique hybrid solution is now being offered by Siemens and TRUMPF: The C-arm and the operating table are capable of communicating one with another; their motions are precisely coordinated. This opens the door to new, integrated diagnostic and surgical techniques and at the same times offers hospitals maximum flexibility in patient positioning, regardless of the surgical discipline involved.

A mighty team
Completely matched to each other are the Artis zee ceiling and Artis zeego X-ray and angiography systems made by Siemens and the version of the TRUMPF operating table engineered especially for these applications, the “TruSystem 7500 for Artis zee systems”. In coupled operation, the Artis control module can steer both units simultaneously. The high-resolution X-ray systems register the position of the operating table and use this information to avoid collisions between the operating table and the C-arm.

The operating table support column is fitted with a one-piece, carbon-fiber-reinforced table top. If desired, a segmented, all-purpose table top may be used instead. Both table tops can easily be changed out with the help of a shuttle.

The complete integration of the operating table into the Siemens angiography systems enables quick rotation and 3D images using the C-arm. The table top with its modular design makes for versatility when positioning the patients, accommodating every surgical discipline. Complicated setups such as the lateral position with elevated thorax can be achieved quickly, precisely and conveniently.

New therapy options
Both surgeons and patients benefit from high-resolution imaging procedures, during and after the intervention, without time-consuming, expensive and potentially risky patient transfers. This also expands the therapeutic latitude for neurosurgery and orthopedics since there, in particular, flexible positioning capabilities play a decisive role.

Flexible use
No matter whether for combined, special-purpose surgery, conventional surgery or pure diagnosis – hybrid ORs can be used in many ways and by many medical disciplines. The operating table concept used by TRUMPF throughout enables universal use. Table tops and components are compatible one with another and can be flexibly configured. In addition to carbon-fiber-reinforced table tops, which permit intraoperative diagnostics with artifact-free X-rays, the surgical staff can also use all-purpose table tops. Patented couplers make it possible to configure these quickly and easily, as may be needed by any given surgical discipline. Thus a table for universal use quickly becomes a special-purpose table. With its many adjustment capabilities, it will do justice to every intervention.

More space in the OR
TRUMPF surgical lights, too, with their extended range of horizontal and vertical motion, expand freedom of movement in the OR. They ensure perfect illumination during both open surgery and interventional procedures. Thus they are available for every hybrid use. The TRUMPF ceiling pendants as well can play an important role in the hybrid operating theater. They can be set up close to the ceiling to avoid collisions with other equipment. Thanks to their long support arms they can quickly be swung out of the scanning range.

Exact planning makes it possible to seamlessly integrate hybrid ORs into the central surgical department and at the same time adhere to all the hygiene concepts and specified work sequences. This makes it possible to achieve a high degree of utilization even in smaller hospitals. That is a great advantage – not just in difficult economic times.

 A growing number of mobile applications, or "apps," are helping to keep boaters informed, on course and entertained.

Plus, they're often free or low cost, making a $25 gift card go a long way.
For the uninitiated, a mobile app is software that downloads just like a ring tone to a Web-enabled phone or other device.

Kahn's iPhone 3GS, packed in a watertight OtterBox case, runs an app his company developed called MotionX-GPS. A thousand miles from California, racing his boat, Pegasus, in this year's Transpac to Honolulu, Kahn used MotionX to navigate, record his course and upload his positions to a Google map, Facebook and Twitter with comments, photos and video. Incidentally, Pegasus set a world double-handed record in that race.
Palm and mobile Windows devices have some apps, but Apple's iTunes store has the most.
There's an impressive array of navigation apps there, in addition to full GPS navigation such as MotionX-GPS ($2.99). For instance, Navionics offers $9.99 interactive marine charts with navigation and a database of tide, current and marine services. Wondering how long it takes to tack toward Alcatraz? SailTimer ($13.99) calculates the answer. Anchor Alarm ($9.99) says your boat is drifting, Ship Finder ($4.99) gives details of that ship about to run you over (California not yet available), and StarPilot is a celestial almanac ($29.99) that could be used with a 99-cent Sextant app.
Mark Wilson of Concord religiously packs his iPhone in an Aquapac dry pack on a lanyard to check conditions before and during a day of fly-fishing.
Surf Report is a free app for coastal conditions. Tide Graph ($1.99) and apps like it deliver tide, current, sun and moon information. RiverGuide for Kayakers ($4.99) gives real-time river flow information. The NOAA Buoy Data Reader ($2.99) and Boating Weather ($1.99) deliver easy access to government weather feeds.
Wilson says such apps are great for potentially dangerous river and ocean conditions: "They tell you real-time information, what the seas are, what the winds are, what the temperatures are."
Mobile apps pack a ton of technical reference in a tiny space for a tiny cost. Boater's Pocket Reference ($4.99) is a mini encyclopedia. Official navigation rules go for $2.99, while $1.99 buys cool apps for identifying the navigation lights of vessels (Ship Shape) and the code flags they fly (Naviflags). A mere 99 cents buys Boat Ramps, which shows exactly where to put your boat in the water.
Some learning tools use animation to teach tricky things such as knot-tying and sail adjustments.

Non-Apple devices won't run these apps. Practical Sailor's December issue reviews three pocket navigation apps for Palm and Windows.
Yet even different versions of the iPhone and iPod touch have different position-tracking, motion-sensing and communications capabilities.
Bottom line: Always check whether the app matches the device, and never let technology distract from safety or enjoying the outdoors.

Paul Oliva is a consultant, writer and sailor. He advises and teaches sailing-related groups on San Francisco Bay and sails his boat from South Beach Harbor. E-mail datebookletters@sfchronicle.com.

This article appeared on page F - 5 of the San Francisco Chronicle

Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/12/04/DD0S1ATU55.DTL#ixzz0Ynh0kuPt

Video of Solar Islands -- a concept by CSEM, Switzerland (www.csem.ch)

These artificial islands are giant platforms that float on the sea and which, in the long term, will produce the same amount of electricity as a small nuclear-power station.

Thanks to a simple design, coupled with optimized technologies and suitable materials, the energy produced could be offered at a competitive price of 10 to 20 centimes per kWh.

Cardinally, process is about the principle of continuity - uninterrupted connection or union – within an organisation. When leaders make decisions, the impact of that decision is by and large greater than he or she is aware. If we change something less than the whole of a system, it will always impact systems outside the one we have modified. The concept of process serves a consolidative role. It helps us to see how things we manage are related, even though these things look dissimilar. With change, there is a connective unity, which underlies apparent disparity. For example, with decentralisation comes disruption and sometimes confusion; people have varying views as to its wisdom; yet, the unity is in pride of achievement, or in the willingness by the leaders to “give it a go”.

Focussing on process is focussing on the “how” things are done, not the “what” is done. Learning to acknowledge that there are interconnections between apparently disparate parts of an organisation, and learning not to prejudge outcomes, but to focus on the ebbing and flowing of connections, is process management.

Having an eye on process, and having faith in process, often produces an unpredictable extra. It is somewhat akin to synergy. Synergism, in broad terms, may be defined as two or more agents working together to produce a result not obtainable by any of the agents independently. The word synergy or synergism comes from two Greek words: erg meaning "to work", and syn meaning "together"; hence, synergism is a "working together".

Cultural change requires a leader to adopt a process that attempts to modify all infrastructural elements. The consequences of partial and incremental changes are generally bad, as the organisation as a dynamic whole inevitably moves out of balance, in part due to its inertia.

steve@zerotcd.com.au

Authentic leaders have the unenviable task of making decisions in risk environments, and under conditions of uncertainty. Leaders must have the capacity to move ahead in spite of risks, no matter how grave. Authentic leaders must manage the risk taking, not the risk avoidance process. This requires centeredness and courage.

I am not talking here about corporate cowboys (and girls), but rather the courage to manage the process of creating, or co-creating, a new vision, new organisation, and new processes. Clearly the status quo has not the answers to 21st century progress, and so cannot remain the standard text from which we navigate out of the organisational mire that inertia and pseudo-leadership has allowed to engulf our institutions.

The major paradigm shift that is required to succeed in this century will require major change within our structures. This will require creative courage. Major change requires major creative courage. The challenge for leaders will be about professional decision-making process in the midst of organisational environments that say it cannot happen. Courage is the key.

steve@zerotcd.com.au

Douglas G. Long of Sydney once likened leadership to a diamond. Just as a diamond is “...a very hard and brilliant precious stone, consisting of pure carbon crystallised in regular octahedrons [a polyhedron having eight plane faces]...and the hardest substance known”, so leadership (and effective management, for that matter) can be likened to a diamond. Hard and multi-faceted.

In his 1995 work “The Challenge of the Diamond”, Long described the eight facets of leadership, they being: Self Confidence; Values; Integrity; People; Change; Creativity; Communication; and Environment.

In his Leadership/Diamond simile, he defined leadership as: the hardest task known in the management function: the ultimate jewel and the most precious gem in the entire organisational galaxy.

As Long says, most leadership approaches are unitary...they deal with one aspect of leadership – generally that of influencing an individual or a group of individuals. By taking Long’s organic approach to leadership, the aberrations of one or more leaders can be corrected and the organisation can be better equipped to achieve its results.

steve@zerotcd.com.au

Employee involvement and leadership are interdependent. The leader’s role is to add value to the work of those led. By not consulting effectively, leaders are not using the resources available to them. Leadership is a boomerang, and a little like karma. What you throw out there can come back to you a hundred-fold!

steve@zerotcd.com.au

Group/organisational leaders are sometimes catalytic and sometimes prescriptive. However, authentic leaders always hold onto their objective of facilitating the aims of the group.

Catalysis can be defined as the process in which the rate of a chemical reaction is either increased or decreased by means of a chemical substance known as a catalyst. Unlike other reagents that participate in the chemical reaction, a catalyst is not consumed by the reaction itself. A values based leader either accelerates or puts a brake on the learning of a group.

Because he/she is centred by his/her values, the group process does not change them. They remain focussed on the desired outcome.

The leader, however, is entirely within his/her rights to act in a way that is prescriptive, i.e. prescribe behaviour based on a norm or standard.

What is important in leadership is communication, not necessarily process.

steve@zerotcd.com.au

Authentic leadership in an organisation comes from competency, respect and courage, not necessarily from position. Pseudo-leaders are mangers of intrigue. Authentic leaders are managers of integrity.

steve@zerotcd.com.au

Leadership permeates an organisation. If it is not visionary, courageous, and methodical, it will render the enterprise ineffective.

Leadership, facilitated through effective communication, spreads or diffuses in a positive way through an organisation. Just as molecules of oxygen pass through membrane of a cell, giving life, leadership enlivens an organisation.
It is important to remember that visionary leaders do not have to be idealistic or utopian. Often times authentic and prophetic leaders point backward to that of which we have lost sight.

steve@zerotcd.com.au

Given good leadership at the top, however, much can be done, if leadership is considered as a force threading through the organisation as opposed to that type of headship that comes with position (which is sometimes mistaken as leadership. i.e. "pseudo-leadership").

Leadership and communication are force which have a powerful effect or influence, and should be differentiated from coercion, which forces change through pressure or necessity, by physical, moral or intellectual means. Coercion is ultimately destructive, as it does not engage peoples’ hearts or minds. One is constructive and leads to powerful construction and action. The other might change things incrementally or by fiat, but ultimately does not achieve the goals of stakeholders, which requires leadership and communication.

steve@zerotcd.com.au

Gordon Jackson once wrote, “Unless the top management team has vision, method, and courage, any attempt at an effective organisational change is too hard.”

The term “team” infers a cooperative unit, comprising of a group of people coupled in the goal of attaining a common purpose. The leader of a team (which it is important to remember may not be its designated leader) needs the charism of communication in order to attain that goal of a group common purpose. Unless the leader can clearly communicate what the group as an organism is trying to achieve, then there is no guarantee that the goal is common to the group. The leadership skill, par excellence, is communication.

The Book of Proverbs says something along the lines of: “Where there is no vision, the people perish.” Vision implies an idealised reality, like, “We want to be number one in car sales this year”. A vision is image of something that is not necessarily perceived as real and concrete and is not necessarily present to the senses, as such. Again, it is necessary for the leader of the group to lead the team in the management of a process of a group – as opposed to individualistic – vision. What is required to achieve this group vision? Communication. Tools are compliant (most of the time). Leaders enable vision and help communicate it both internally and externally.

Method infers a way of doing something, usually a systematic way, and implies an orderly logical arrangement (usually in steps); however, it is important to understand that in a process those steps can sometimes be missed. A group can “leap-frog” some of the steps and arrive at the result synergistically. Other-times, group method and objectives are cascading, and ultimately a group can arrive at a method and process that is way beyond what its original objective was. What is required in the management of method and process? Communication.

Courage is closely linked to inspiration, and like leadership, seems to me more a quality of spirit. I do not think it can be learnt in business school. I think it more stems from the quality of one’s life and the ability to transcend the physical and the worship of the mundane; to rise above the ordinary and reach for the stars. What is the quality that is required to convey courage? Communication and leadership.

When leaders and teams have the leadership qualities of vision, method, and courage, however, facilitated by communication, anything is possible. It wasn’t John F. Kennedy’s words that put man on the moon. It was vision and communication, coupled with method and a great deal of courage.

steve@zerotcd.com.au

As John Wilson (1995) wrote in The Self-Managing Strategy, we create our own “virtual reality” by the quality of our vision. If we don’t have a strong personal vision, then the script is handed to us by other people, or prevailing situations and circumstances. Developing vision is an opportunity to engage with the world in new and different ways. A vision is a powerful picture of the future that we carry in our head and in our hearts.

Authentic leaders do not have scripts handed to us by other people. We are the script; we write the script; we live the script. If we don’t like the script, we start again. We must continually be on the aware of pseudo-scripts as well as pseudo-leaders.

Australian Prime Minister P.J. Keating wrote in 1994 that:

“One of the great challenges we face as a nation is to generate a deep sense of optimism within our young people. We need to do that because without optimism, without a sense that we do have the wherewithal to build a better future, we will find no reason to build that future. By failing to act, by failing to lead, we are in effect saying that we’re happy for our future to be built by others, and for their benefit not ours.

“I think the main challenge you face as young leaders is to grow your optimism in your friends and peers.

“If you can do that and if, at the same time, you give fully of your love, your labour and your imagination then there is no reason why Australia will not become a model society in the 21st century.

In order to become that model society, Australia desperately needs to identify and nurture its authentic values based leaders.

During this present global financial crisis (which is very much a crisis brought about by a lack of leadership) there is an even greater urgency in selecting and training leaders who not only can manage the complexity of corporate and organisational life - which will grow more complex during the next decade because of aging populations, increased regulation, an increasingly diversified work force, and fewer financial resources - but can also focus the attention of the members of their organisations on a validating vision that will unite individual efforts in the realisation of communal mission.

The most striking deficit among pseudo-leaders is their inability to formulate a strategy to accomplish a purpose or mission.

Successful and authentic leaders focus on the future of the organisation, both its viability and the appropriate use of its resources toward specified ends. An organisation’s mission, stratagem, and structure may of itself affect the sort of leadership needed and the kinds and degrees of competency required of leaders.

Mission orientation is a core competency. It is essential for all leaders of an organisation not only to be heedful of its mission, but also to be proficient in communicating it to internal and external stakeholders. Mission focus is foundational to the leadership role; it is a core competency that all leaders should demonstrate. The authentic leader acts as a concenter: bring into focus or alignment organisations objectives; causing the ideas or emotions of the group to converge.

We don’t talk and focus enough on values. Values, visioning, and planning should be considered in that order. It’s important to remember that planning is the organizational process of creating and maintaining a plan; it is also the psychological process of thinking about the activities required to create a desired goal on some scale.

Pseudo-leaders launch into planning through pseudo-consultation without considering the organisation’s values. “Let’s have this meeting so we can do some planning!” It’s like me trying to shoot clay pigeons. I might hit one (extremely unlikely!) but you never know. Unfortunately, by the time we realise what an unmitigated disaster these pseudo-leaders are, they’ve hopped on a plane with a huge bucket load of our cash and waved “Adios!”

Authentic leaders differentiate themselves from pseudo-leaders in several ways. Authentic leaders focus and continually talk about values and the things that are not negotiable. Authentic leaders are success orientated and proactive, and they focus forward after laying the foundation of the superstructure with the concrete of values-based leadership.

Leaders empathise. Empathy plays a role at several levels. Empathy facilitates the leader appreciate what needs to be attended to in the organisation; it assists leaders construct commitment among the members of an organisation, as they feel attended to and understood; empathy enables the leader to plan for shared action productively because they understand the values of their members.

Leadership is a discrete charism from management. It can exist quite apart from authority. It is more to do with a person’s giftedness (from whence is derived the word “charisma”). It is a charism articulated in special personal qualities which inspire ("stimulating or exalting to the spirit") respect, trust, following, and sometimes enthusiasm. Leadership can also be challenging to the status quo. Most authentic leaders challenge the existing state of affairs.

Whilst leaders are often prophetic, and frequently show the way forward, sometimes leaders and prophets point backwards, and point out that which we have lost sight of, like authentic respect and dignity, honour, duty, a sense of perspective and history.

Emerging trends and markets are important, but also crucial is the interpretation of thousands of years of leadership. Those who forget the lessons of history are doomed to repeat it. The core tenants of leadership also require the wisdom to reflect on it and make it alive...it’s like the two sides of the leadership coin.

Since it depends on the traits of a person, leadership is an enduring endowment, not something assumed for a certain time and laid down at the end of a mandate. It is not conferred or restricted by constitutions, and it cannot be legislated. It derives not from external to the circumstances, but from inner sources, and it is associated much more with what a person is than with what he or she does. Leadership is found in many spheres other than government and business.

Pseudo-leaders pay lip-sevice to history and tradition. Authentic leaders look both backwards; understand the importance of corporate memory and culture; and look forwards, re-interpreting the past in new and inspiring ways.

Herman Bryant Maynard, Jr. & Susan E. Mayrtens wrote back in 1993 “The Fourth Wave: Business in the 21st Century.”

Maynard and Mayrtens invited readers to consider the following visions of the new corporation:

As an exemplar for other institutions in society. The new leader can teach other business, government, church and the community in which it operates through its example. As a global citizen acting locally, while thinking globally. To me, this is live Mick Yates leadership paradox. We act local, but dream of a better future for everyone.

Maynard and Mayrtens also suggested other possible visions for the new corporation:

As an advocate of the living economy, practicing social and resource accounting.
As an organisation committed to serve, aware of its identity as a producer of moral effects.
As a community of wellness, aware of the full range of its corporate stakeholders.
As a model of environmental concern.
As a pioneer in appropriate technologies, skilled in technology assessment.
As an organisation led by bio-politicians who are fully aware of their responsibility to realise the destiny of modern men and women.

As Maynard and Mayrtens assert, the business of business is not only business. In recent decades, business has emerged as the dominant institution in global culture. The other institutions of society - political, educational, religious, and social - have a decreasing ability to offer effective leadership: their resources limited, their following fragmented, their legitimacy increasingly questioned, politicians, academics, priests, and proselytizers have neither the resources not the flexibility to mount an effective response to the manifold challenges we are facing. Business, by default, must begin to assume responsibility for the whole.

With this hair shirt mantle of leadership, I suggest, comes responsibility. We live and work in societies where everyone is aware of their rights but forget their responsibilities. Rights and responsibilities are two sides of the one coin, like leadership and followership.

As contemporary futurists, social and business analysts, and businesspersons see this challenge, business must begin to identify the needs of the planet and move to fill these needs. In doing so, business will take on a much wider range of activities and, more importantly, come to be redefined in the process.

Resistance to change correlates directly to the level of fear in a given environment. New corporations require new leadership. As leaders, we must mitigate and manage that fear.

Many years before one of John F. Kennedy’s speechwriters put these famous words into his mouth in his inaugural speech, the great Lebanese poet, painter, and philosopher Gibran Khalil Gibran wrote The New Frontier.

Gibran said, “There are in the Middle East today two challenging ideas: old and new.”

“The old ideas will vanish because they are weak and exhausted.

“There is in this Middle East an awakening that defies slumber. This awakening will conquer because the sun is its leader and the dawn is its army.

“In the fields of the Middle East, which have been a large burial ground, stand the youth of spring calling the occupants of the sepulchres to rise and march toward the new frontiers.

“There are today, in the Middle East, two men: one of the past and one of the future. Which one are you?

“Are you a politician asking what your country can do for you or a zealous one asking what you can do for your country?

“If you are the first, then you are a parasite; if the second, then you are an oasis in a desert.

“Or are you a devout and pious man who sees in the piety of the individual the foundation for a progressive nation, and who can see through a profound search in the depths of his own soul a ladder to the eternal soul that directs the world?

“Or are you a companion, taking no action except hand in hand, nor doing anything unless she gives her thoughts and opinions, and sharing with her your happiness and success?

“In the Middle East there are two processions: One procession is of old people walking with bent backs, supported with bent canes; they are out of breath though their path is downhill.

"The other is a procession of young men, running as if on winged feet, and jubilant as with musical strings in their throats, surmounting obstacles as if there were magnets drawing them up the mountainside and magic enchanting their hearts.

“Which are you and in which procession do you move?

“Ask yourself and meditate in the still of the night; find if you are a slave of yesterday or free for the morrow.

“But the children of tomorrow are the ones called by life...They are few in number, but the difference is as between a grain of wheat and a stack of hay. No one knows them but they know each other...They are the seed dropped by the hand of God in the field, breaking through its pod and waving its sapling leaves before the face of the sun.

The authentic leader needs to ask themselves this question, “What kind of leader am I? Do I belong to the past or do I belong the future?”

Justice is one of the four classic cardinal virtues – justice, prudence, fortitude, and temperance. These four are called “cardinal” virtues from the Latin word for “hinge”. All other virtues hinge on these four.

The authentic leader is committed to justice. Without justice, he/she has no credibility. As Robert F. Kennedy said, “Each time a man stands up for an ideal, or acts to improve the lot of others, or strikes out against injustice, he sends a tiny ripple of hope, and crossing each other from a million different centres of energy and daring, those ripples build a current which can sweep down the mightiest walls of oppression and resistance.”

Never before have we more needed leaders who can orchestrate these ripples of hope.

Gordon Jackson, convenor of the New Leaders Forum, said once:

“Leadership is of the Spirit...Management is of the mind.”

Not contradictory. Merely Different sides of the same coin. Wisdom is in knowing the difference, and knowing what lever to push!

Leadership – and good management – is a paradox. Yes...leaders know that both are important. Brilliant leaders know how to differentiate. And take appropriate action.

God – and leadership – is a verb, not a noun. Think about it.

I really like Lau Tsu, for many reasons, but particularly his quote where he explicitly mentions leadership (among many others where he alludes to it):

The worst kind of leader is the one the people fear.
The next is the leader the people hate.
The better leader is the one the people love.
Even better is the leader the people respect.
Better still is the leader the people love and respect.
But the best kind of leader is the one when the job is done
Of whom the people say:
‘We did it ourselves”.

Which kind of leader are you?

One of the most inspiring leaders in Australia to me is Michael Rennie. Michael is the director of a large management consulting company, and battled a serious cancer in his youth that changed his life, and inspired me.

Despite facing death, Michael said once, “There are limits in the world, but these limits are much less than the limits we place on ourselves. The constraining limit is yours – no one else’s. It’s your own sense of what you can do, and when you break through that, you can break through the limits of the world. That’s the message about leadership.”

I’ve had the colossal privilege of hearing Michael speak several times, and whenever Michael speaks, people listen...and think. One of the enormous gifts Michael gave me is the opportunity to sit down and talk to me one-on-one, and my leadership journey has never been the same again.

As Michael supposed, we place more limits on ourselves than the world places on us. Michael is a leader in Australia and in the world business community. We can only hope that he continues to spread his light in Australia for the betterment of the global community.

Michael Rennie – inspiration personified. All leaders can learn from him.

Steve Lourey steve@zerotcd.com.au

Donna Ritchie, one of Australia’s great Paralympics’ basketballers, and an elite champion athlete and leader (and inspiration to us all), was injured in a horrific accident which left her in a wheelchair, and spend a considerable time in rehabilitation.

Donna could easily have given up, and succumbed to her appalling difficulties, but Donna refused to give in to her challenges, and went on to become an elite athlete through sheer “guts”, determination, and strength of character.

I had the enormous privilege of spending time with Donna on a number of occasions, and she has never not impressed me by her determination to get on with a wonderful life, and her energy. She is a wonderful example of the strength of the human spirit, and leadership in adversity.

Someone asked Donna, (and I had the good fortune to be there), whether she ever thought of giving up to the pain and difficulty. Donna’s response still rings in my ears: “It never ever, ever, ever, ever crossed my mind to give up. Not ever. Not once.”

As an “able bodied” person, I felt very humbled. Donna has achieved greatness and leadership despite enormous difficulties and suffering, and is a great example to me.

Looking at Donna’s guts and achievements, what excuse do I have? What excuse do you have not to take on the mantle of leadership?

Not only has Donna made me re-evaluate the concept on “dis-ability”, she has made me re-examine the fundamentals on leadership. She is an example to us all.

Joshua Owen, former director of the Institute of Administration within the University of New South Wales, said once:

“You can make a difference with visionary leadership. Visionary leaders do not change with the times. They change ahead of the time – indeed they change the times. They know the way, they show the way and they go the way. If you can dream it, you can achieve it. Sooner or later the one who wins is the one who says ‘I can’”.

Like many other leaders in Australia, I’ve had the privilege of hearing Joshua speak, and in his guided reflection, taken his legendary ride in the helicopter where he urges us to “rise above the ordinary.”

As Joshua says, you can make a difference with visionary leadership.

Counterfeit “leaders” do not understand the concept of visionary leadership. Real leaders realise that visionary leadership is first and foremost.

As Joshua says, visionary leaders change ahead of the time - they change the times. Visionary leaders do not wait for trends to develop – they create the trends and help shape them!

Joshua told me, “The one who wins is the one who says ‘I can’.” What is required is the will...and the determination to achieve – and dialogue.

At the Inaugural Johnson & Johnson New Leaders Forum, Roger Allsop, then director of Johnson & Johnson Pacific, said:

“Leadership is about persuading others to act to achieve goals that represent true values, and the wants, needs, motivations, aspirations and expectation of both leaders and followers.”

Whilst Roger was “spot on”, and authentic leaders understand what is meant by true values, what is really important is identifying goals that correspond to true values, and the desires, wants, motivations, goals and hopes of both leaders and followers.

This requires both genuine leadership, and bona fide communication. We have all experienced ersatz communication, and from my observation – having worked extensively in both the public and private sectors – I think this false communication is sadly the default method of both management and trade unions.

What is desperately needed as we face the vast challenges of the 21st century and the recession is real dialogue to identifying mutual goals and the goodwill to work together to achieve synergy.

Any loser can talk...real leaders and authentic followers dialogue. If you are a leader without followers (an oxymoron), then you’re just a guy/gal going for a walk!

Steve Lourey steve@zerotcd.com.au

At the inaugural Annual Forum for New Leaders in 1993, auspiced by Johnson & Johnson Pacific, Catholic priest and author Father Christopher Gleeson, S.J., and then headmaster of St Ignatius College Riverview said:

“If we don’t stand for something, we will fall for anything. If we want to change things then we must first of all change ourselves. The true leader begins from the inside out – with the capacity for vision, for self reflection, for discernment of what is reactive and proactive in me, between the negative and the positive, between false and true self.”

Many years hence, Pope Benedict XVI said something similar:

“We are moving toward a dictatorship of relativism which does not recognize anything as definitive and has as its highest value one's own ego and one's own desires...”

What we lack, it seems, is a moral compass amongst our “leaders” within politics and business. Despite the “If it feels OK, and it doesn’t hurt me, then go for it” attitude that seems to permeate Australian and American society, there are some moral absolute that we in positions of influence and leadership need to consider.

Some things are right, just, and true, whether we want to acknowledge them or not, and regardless of whether or not we like them. Fairness to me is sacred, along with the dignity of human life in all its stages, as well as the dignity of human work, and the fact that all men and women are created equal and have an inherent right to the dignity that is innate in the human person.

It is also imperative to remember that leadership and management are different charisms. Not mutually exclusive, but distinct. The manager of a company might be the managing director or the CEO. The real leader might be the person who works in the mailroom or the tea lady. In this era of “down sizing” and “right sizing”, the person who sorts the mail or pours the tea might well have been “let go”. In return, just how many real leaders have we let go?

This is to the detriment of corporate governance. Instead of nurturing and encouraging these people, we have allowed them to join the unemployment queue. Corporate Australia is the poorer for this myopia.

What we need desperately are leaders with a set of corrective moral lenses, intestinal fortitude, and strong vertebrae.

Steve Lourey

Back in 1993, on of Australia’s unsung heroes and leaders, Gordon Jackson, created the New Leaders Forum. The program was called the Johnson & Johnson Forum for New Leaders, and I was privileged to be both one of the original participants, and organisers, of the forum, working under the leadership and vision of Gordon.

Gordon is a great man, and deserves recognition for his vision and leadership in convincing initially Johnson & Johnson Pacific, and later the Johnson & Johnson Family of Companies, to embrace his vision of a better Australia and the world.

As the Forum convenor, Gordon said to the inaugural New Leaders Forum, “We have to produce a vision and put Australia back where it’s supposed to be. So let’s do it – together.”

Gordon’s words have inspired me for more than 15 years – to strive for a better, fairer Australia, and to aim for greatness. Gordon and Johnson & Johnson inspired me to put on the mantle of leadership; to drink from the (sometimes) poisonous chalice of leadership at a time when society seems to be celebrating the cult of mediocrity as a virtue.

As Nick Farr-Jones A.M. said at the inaugural Forum (and I’m definitely not a rugby fan!), “...to be successful you must couple the dream with something. That something is commitment. Losers make promises, winners make commitments.”

Commitment, by friends, is what sorts the “sheep from the goats”. It’s kind of like the acid test for leadership. As Nick said, losers make promises, winners make commitments.

Leadership is what we desperately need in this new Millennium...not empty rhetoric and promises, but authentic vision, values and inspiration. We all owe Gordon Jackson and Johnson & Johnson an enormous debt in providing countless young people with the spark to have the courage and power to believe in themselves...and in a better for this great country.

steve@zerotcd.com.au

Fast Company has put together a very funny "Tongue-in-Cheek Guide for Green Gadget Buyers", which is made of obvious, common-sense devices for everyday use.

We find specially amusing The Subaquatic Flow and Volume Regulator:

It's made from recycled materials, and by simply dropping it into your toilet tank you will enjoy substantial savings on water usage.
According to Fast Company, Americans will save a whopping 900 billion gallons of water per year if this technology goes viral, which is simply amazing.
We sincerely hope this "technology" goes viral ...

Also check out the ioAerial Garment Purifier:

the Anti-Solar Panels:

or the Population-Density Moderators:
at:
http://www.fastcompany.com

---

Fast Company believes Ethonomics is the future of business.

"The end of the modern financial system as we know it has cleared the way for an era of ethical economics, or "Ethonomics." We live in a world that's resource-constrained but ingenuity-rich. So an upstart generation of entrepreneurs--and innovators within the world's biggest companies--are founding businesses that are good for the world as well as the bottom line. They are practicing social change through urban revitalization, sustainable agriculture, green IT, alternative energy and online community-powered investing. Any business that claims to be truly sustainable and innovative should be increasingly efficient with energy and natural resources, transparent and accountable, and good on balance for people and other living things. Ethonomics is a hybrid of technology, design, and social responsibility."

Also see the definition of Ethonomics at Wikipedia:

"Ethonomics is the provisional name for the discipline of formally mapping and defining the prioritization of values within value systems, with the intent of understanding differences between seemingly disparate value systems, the people who hold those value systems, and the decisions they make based on those value systems. The intent is also to provide a mechanism for resolving conflicts between value systems through rational analysis."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ethonomics

The 72' Commuter Cat is an 18 knot rigid wing sail power assisted catamaran designed by Antrim Associates.

The Catamaran is currently being used for commuter runs between Tahiti and the Tuamotus.

Six stateroom design.



18 knot cruising speed.

The free solar energy station is a concept that is made for open public and commercial spaces.
At this station, every person could charge his/her gadget for free. Simply plug in a cell phone, computer or any other gadget to the electric socket or to any of the available USB connections

The station is made of solar panels, treated bamboo, recycled metals, batteries and electronic components. The solar panels are attached to a rotational hinge. This function enables the panels to rotate and be perpendicular to the sun’s light wave; thus maximizing the energy produced.

The colors of the object are brown and green so it would capture a greener look compared to the gray city’s environment which surrounds it. The Free Energy Station could be sponsored by various organizations such as city governments and commercial companies.


The Free Solar Energy Station was designed for the Greener Gadget Design Competition. The emphasis of the design is on its sustainability.

I wanted to create an object whose output would produce energy; I liked the idea of giving away free energy, so I looked for ways to do so,

says the designer of the project, Jonathan Globerson;

solar power stands as the foundation of my idea. But I wanted to take into consideration the social impact. This is by way of helping citizens of the world get familiarized with alternative energy resources. The 'Free Solar Energy Station' will allow the average person to experience the usability of alternative energy without paying for it. It will help make 'solar energy' an everyday term, in the user’s vocabulary.