I recently spoke to a colleague who noted that collaboration is all the rage now. I suppose I never thought of collaboration as being űber cool, but I got the sentiment of the observation. Often, many things in business, government and life in general become popular at some point. […]
Work is a deeply personal manifestation of the sum of human possibilities. Humans work for various reasons, some of which are not always explicitly clear. Sometimes this lack of insight can last over very many life cycles. We know that work is a means to something else. From […]
In this second part of my post examining how collaboration might play a part in the future of a city, I focus on some possible scenarios where collaboration may be of fundamental value. One of those possibilities is the potential for collaborative infrastructure. The idea here is that […]
Earlier this month, from 1-4 October, Brisbane hosted the 49th congress of the International Society of City and Regional Planners (ISOCARP). ISOCARP has memberships from nearly 100 countries including Australia and has its headquarters in the Hague. The theme of this year’s congress was Frontiers of Planning: Evolving and […]
Following on from a collaborative workshop hosted by the University of Queensland, this blog has been co-authored by the University of Queensland’s Prof. Helen Ross and Prof. Paul Turnbull, the University of Vienna’s Dr Gabriele Weichart and Jelenko Dragisic, On Tuesday 8 October 2013, the University of Queensland hosted a […]
Entrepreneurs drive innovation The Austrian-born economist Joseph Schumpeter is the father of economic innovation. In 1911 he published the first description of innovation through creative destruction, generating new products and forms of organisation that displaced older forms and created new value. For Schumpeter, the entrepreneur delivers innovation through […]
A recent report on the state of collaboration for the purpose of innovation indicated that Australia is ranked 23 out of 26 OECD countries. This ranking is even poorer with regard to international collaboration (despite evidence showing that ‘distance’ is not really a factor). So, a long journey […]
Collaboration is a natural disruptor. It leads us to re-examine assumptions we rely on to maintain our modus operandi. It challenges our adopted views on roles we play and our capacity to be transparent. It would be naive to ignore the fact that collaboration is something that not […]
Hopefully this edition of ROADMENDER Recommends will satisfy those in need of some inspiration, incentive and perhaps even motivation to tackle Monday head on. While Google’s innovative culture and creativity has been covered a lot, there always seems to be something new, as the last article here indicates. […]
The early, and somewhat negative, connotations of the term collaboration were formed during the Napoleonic era and then thoroughly reinforced during World War Two. The connotative reading of the term added a measure of reservation and thereby prevented an all-out enthusiastic embrace of the practice for some time. […]
Australian Universities, like their counterparts globally, have recognised for a long time the importance of collaboration in research. Furthermore, there is a growing appetite for collaboration with a broad range of industry partners which produces new kinds of opportunities for all stakeholders. This week’s guest blog is by […]
This edition of ROADMENDER Recommends is full of great finds. As usual there are great infographics for those who believe in the power of visuals. The standouts, however, are two articles on the history of collaboration in social and technological contexts. A growing number of those who see […]
Over the past 15-20 years collaboration has steadily gained increased recognition in different parts of the world as a genuinely enabling strategy. Different rationales have emerged suggesting a range of approaches; from the idea that collaboration is ‘new competition’ to the inescapable view that there is such a […]
In working with a number of collaborative efforts over the past twenty years between non-profits, corporates and universities I have come to several counter-intuitive understandings. Top of my list is that collaboration begins alone. Too often the effort to collaborate, whether this be instigated by financial hardship or […]
The History of Collaboration Collaboration has been around for some time but an investigation into its origins suggests that it has changed a lot over the past few decades. Like so many who have made it an effective strategy, I believe we are only seeing early signs of […]
We are only couple of days (more or less) away from exercising our civic duty and democratic right by going to ballot to choose a leader. Politics is not what ROADMENDER is about, however it is a rare opportunity perhaps to theme a post with a major event. […]
Let’s be honest. How often do we hear business leaders suggest that a not for profit enterprise is a good place to invest? While it might seem logical to believe that investing in a venture that does not provide direct profit cannot be good for business, I wouldn’t […]
In homage to the late Seamus Heaney, this eclectic selection of articles by ROADMENDER may be best summed up by the great man himself, who proclaimed: ’Write whatever you like!’. Apart from a mandatory reflection on collaboration and innovation, here are some useful bits of information that could […]
In the wise words of Arthur Schopenhauer; ‘talent hits the target nobody else can hit, genius hits the target nobody can see’. The reality though, is that most people don’t go around contemplating how to be geniuses; mostly they try to do the best with the talent they […]
This edition of selected articles charts a variety of angles on topics of entrepreneurialism and innovation. Equally valuable could be a couple of pieces that might inspire a hidden innovator, creative thinker, entrepreneur or a bleeding heart to start the next week differently. Accept the Burden of Uncertainty […]
Collaboration is not something new. However, the context within which it now takes place is new. Collaborating in a fast paced changing environment, or collaborating in times where uncertainty is a constant, is a very different kind of discipline. The use of a collaborative approach in solving major […]
Natural disasters are increasingly becoming less ‘newsy’ and one would be forgiven for not keeping up with the number of disasters occurring across the globe. The USA, like Australia, deals with its share of natural disasters and, in fact, averages at least one per week. Currently, there are major […]
A number of ROADMENDER blogs focused on the relationship (explicit or implicit) between innovation and collaboration. How well we recognise this relationship depends a lot on the kind of work we do on a daily basis. Sometimes we may not pay close enough attention to, and thereby potentially […]
Effectively functioning enterprises, be they commercial, not for profit or government, can be distinguished by the way they manage future opportunities. Many enterprises still hold the view that business works in cycles and that growth will emerge cyclically of itself. That may be a factor as has been […]
This week’s guest blog emerged after a conversation I had with a colleague, Josh Keegan, who identified a challenge and proposed an elegant solution that, with some support from corporate and government sectors, could see a major impact on making Brisbane a better place for young people desiring to start local initiatives. In Brisbane, as I […]
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