Books, themes, and tools to keep in mind for 2005

Books

1. Hidden Value by Jeffry Pfeffer is a hidden masterpiece, demonstrating that business doesn't require toxic workplaces to make money.

2. James Surowiecki's The Wisdom of Crowds is the most original book on people, diversity, and collaboration for years.

Themes

1. Employment. Where unemployment remains high, some managements will continue to think this allows them to treat employees as wage slaves, whose work and commitment is measured in hours.  If unemployment comes down, we will see more people rejecting these cultures as soon as they can.

2. Women-owned businesses are dramatically changing business ecology, with new cultures and attitudes. Their continued growth may start to provide more options and more humane environments for men and women alike.

3. Executive Education will become a matter of increasing urgency. Companies currently hire smart people and turn them stupid, using only 5-10% of their skills at work. We will see more experiential forms of learning as companies try to figure out how to get employees to use their full capacity at work.

4. Business education generally will continue a great deal of soul searching as the traditional MBA struggles to teach contingency, discontinuity, and improvisation. 

5. Insecurity. On a global security index, the US now ranks 25th, below all of Europe, Canada, Australia, Israel and Japan for job security. 20% of all Americans have been laid off at least once since 1985. This will change the contract between employees and employers, making trust elusive.

6. Elderly Care. As the issue of caring for elderly parents continues to grow, work-life balance issues will cease to become identified with women and become a concern for the entire workforce.

7. Gender makes a comeback. But this time, it is women who are in the lead, demanding an end to the extreme polarization between work values and life values. In this battle, men and women are allies, trying to build workplaces that treat them both with respect.

Tools

10. x1. This software has saved my life on more than one occasion. It indexes every word on your hard drive, thus acknowledging that most documents have multiple uses and aren't where you expect to find them.