Yukon bound

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Hi friends, just a brief note to say that I’m Yukon bound in about 2 hours…

Apparently it is -23C in Whitehorse today, but that’s okay cause it feels like -34C with the wind chill. I guess we’ll be testing the limits of my parka.

I’ll be back on Tuesday the 27th but am hoping to post, contingent, of course on having internet access.

Hope to have lots to share – including possibly some insights on my collaborator’s philosophy
of negotiation. Barry’s a great guy and I’m lucky to know him, obviously he’s been doing this a while longer than me, so I’m hoping to learn a ton.

Last exciting piece about this trip. Once concluded I’ll have visited every province and terrirtory excecpt NWT, PEI and Newfoundland. Can’t wait to get to them…

Democracy vs. Gender: The Liberal Solution (part II)

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Interestingly, as this 2001-02 Statistics Canada spreadsheet shows, 42% percent of registered undergraduates are male while 58% are female. Moreover, it is my understanding that these stats have gotten even more lopsided since this study was published. Indeed, from some professors I’ve talked to it is not unusual to have classes that are split 70-30 or even 80-20 in favour of female students.

I’m not sure that anyone has really grasped the seachange this will have on our society. For example, I’ve spoken to managing partners at law firms who are trying to “figure out” how to retain female attorney’s. They’d better work harder at cracking this problem – otherwise they’ll will wake up one morning and find there are no attorney’s left to make partner.

Many in management seem to still operate in an accomodation mode, trying to figure out how to alter the workplace on the margins in order to retain female talent. Marginal change will simply not cut it. Among professional firms the demand for greater flexibility to ensure a more effective balance between family and career will probably require significant structural changes to how firms are organized. Making women (or men) choose between the work or family is not going to cut it. In an aging workforce where their skills are in demand they will take their labour elsewhere. But here’s the bigger catch. Many, many men are going to demand this same flexibility as well. Consequently, I suspect this issue will be not framed in terms of a gender, but either as a general HR management challenge or a policy challenge that discriminates between married and single workers.

Politically, the interesting repercussion from all this is that, in 30-40 years, I suspect at least 50% of candidates could be women. Indeed we could end up in a world where the challenge is trying to achieve a candidate field that is at least 33% male. Wouldn’t that be interesting…

[tags]politics, gender, education, public policy[/tags]

Fit City, Fat City, Dialogue in Vancouver

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Vanessa Timmer (who also recently finished her PhD defence – congatulations!) is helping the GVRD host a series of regional dialogues on sustainability in and around Vancouver. The next one happens to be this Wednesday in downtown Vancouver.

What is the cross road between healthy living, urban planning andregional development? Should be an interesting discussion.

Details, ripped right from the GVRD site, are as follows:

Fit City? Fat City? – Are we tipping the scales?
Wednesday, February 21, 2007, 11:30 – 2 pm (lunch from 11:30 am – 12:00 pm)
Wosk Centre for Dialogue, Simon Fraser University, 580 West Hastings Street, Vancouver, BC

Facilitator:

Rafe Mair – Bio

Panelists:

Roland Guasparini – Bio
Diane Clement – Bio
Doug Clement – Bio
Faye Wightman – Bio
Larry Frank – Bio

If you are interested in attending, contact:

Heather schoemaker, Manager, Corporate Relations, Greater Vancouver Regional District (GVRD)

Democracy vs. Gender: The Liberal Solution

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Dion’s most notable promise of the leadership race was guaranteeing that at least 33% of Liberal Party candidates will be women. This is a laudable goal. Moreover, I suspect the press will follow it closely. If the Liberals fail to reach it Dion’s credibility could be seriously undermined. It is would not be unreasonable to ask: if Dion can’t implement change within a party he controls, how does he intend to affect change if in government?

Some people are – justly – worried about how the goal will be met. Obviously there is a tension between allowing open and democratic nomination contests and ensuring that at least 33% of candidates are women. The easiest option would be to appoint female candidates. This however, carries with it some significant costs. In addition to being bad for morale, disenfranchised riding associations may not donate their time, energy and money to an appointed candidate (male or female) thereby diminishing their chances of winning the actual election.

However, what I have seen in British Columbia (so far) has been an interesting and compelling solution to this quandry. Rather than rig nomination processes (or eliminate them altogether) the party is making two smart plays. First, it is aggresively seeking out highly qualified women in an effort to create a rich pool of candidates. Second, (and this is most compelling part) it is making a direct appeal to members. It is, in effect, saying: when selecting who to support we understand that each of you has a criteria by which you evaluate candidates, we would greatly appreciate it if you made gender a stronger component in this criteria. Interestingly, this appeal could be doubly effective because membership lists may remain closed. Consequently, those campaigning for nomination will probably not be able to sign up new members and with thus have to appeal to the current pool of members (who are more likely to take this messaging to heart).

Best of all, I like what this messaging says about the party. Rather than adopt some centralized top-down way to shape and control the outcome this approach is compelling, appropriate and democratic because it does the exact opposite, it respects and appeals to the intelligence and integrity of party members. Very clever, and very liberal, indeed.

[tags]politics, canadian politics, liberal party of canada [/tags]

Vancouver Afghan Mission Dialogue – February 19th

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For those interested in the events in Afghanistan and living in Vancouver, SFU looks like it will be putting on an interesting dialogue. I’m hoping to attend and wanted to let others know about it. (thank you Veronica K. for the heads up!)

Details:

The Vancouver Dialogues on Foreign Affairs will be hosting a dialogue on the “Comparative Perspectives on the War in Afghanistan.” The dialogue will be initiated by:

Mr. Martin Cronin – Consul General, United Kingdom
Mr. Hans Driesser – Consul General, Netherlands
Ms. Joni Scandola – Deputy Consul General, United States of America
Mr. Hans-Michael Schwandt – Consul General, Germany,
Dr. Haider Nizamani – Department of Political Science, University of British Columbia

And the facilitators will be:

Robert Anderson – Morris J. Wosk Centre for Dialogue, SFU
Gordon Longmuir – Vice President, Canadian Institute of International Affairs, Vancouver
Registration and refreshments will be available on the 19th from 5:00 pm onwards and the dialogue will begin at 5:15 pm.

Location:
SFU Vancouver, Harbour Centre,
Room 1420 Segal Room
515 West Hastings Street

Apparently, space is limited so one should RSVP with “syap@sfu”

The Trouble with Citizens' Assemblies (part II)

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For those interested in (or, in my case, concerned with) so-called direct democracy initiatives this article, from the Guardian, on Tony Blair’s e-petitions may be of interest. It outlines a number of the concerns that were raised on the debate around citizens’ assemblies that occurred on this site.

Also, I’m currently about a quarter of the way through the thoroughly enjoyable book “The Wisdom of Crowds” and it is raising further issues regarding why citizens’ assemblies may not make sense. Hope to share more once I’ve finished the book.

Thank you Peter M. for sending me the Guardian link… particularly gracious given your advocacy for citizen assemblies.
[tags]citizens’ assemblies, e-petitions, public policy[/tags]

Norman Spector: legend and expert on gender and politics

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At risk of giving this piece more life then it deserves, did anyone else find this Norman Spector column completely offensive? It appeared in the BC section of the Globe so hopefully most of the country was spared.

Believe it or not the same man who, on the air and then in his column, called Belinda Stronarch a bitch over and over and over again now feels qualified to comment on gender and politics. My stomach turns.

If you read further (don’t), you’ll learn how “nice guys” like Stephen Owen “know intuitively that politics is not the right career choice.” This perfect statement reveals little about the nature of politics, but a lot about about Spector. Could he have a more succinctly summed up his worldview and modus operendi?

Oh Norman, just because you are boorish, mean-spirited, and vindictive doesn’t mean the rest of us have to be…

[tags]Canadian politics, gender politics[/tags]

Air Canada: A Case Study in how not to Negotiate with your Customers

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Fellow travelers looking for a laugh MUST check out my buddy Beltzner’s list of Air Canada inspired haiku’s. Pure genius.

Speaking of Air Canada, WestJet is creating a network of lounges across the country. Great news. Finally some comprehensive competition for Air Canada and some negotiation leverage for the consumer.
Most Canadians don’t even know how badly Air Canada treats them. My favourite example? Air Canada will launch a plane with empty business class seats. In contrast, most US carriers will keep upgrading passengers until all biz class seats are filled (usually prioritizing by status). Why? Because it costs them virtually nothing and helps maintain brand loyalty. In negotiation theory we call that a low-cost/high-value option – something that costs one party very little but benefits the other party significantly.
Alas, Air Canada is essentially telling its customers: Yes, we’d prefer to keep these seats empty rather than reward you for being our customer, even in spite of the fact that it would costs us nothing.

Second example: Never trust what an Aeroplan rep tells you on the phone. I’ve had two friends who, coming within a thousand miles of getting status, proactively called Aeroplan to see if they should book additional flights to ensure they would meet the threshold. Both were told not to worry, there was no need. Yet, in the new year, Aeroplan refused to grant them status. Needless to say, they now ALWAYS book their international flights with another carrier. Nothing breaks trust faster in a negotiation than breaking your word.
Air Canada better pray WestJet doesn’t join a reward program like One World. Between the lure of lounges and reward miles the only thing faster than an Air Canada jet will be the speed at which business travelers jump to WestJet.

I don’t even have a hate on for Air Canada… but this guy does. Plus, the site is a good resource if you feel aggrieved.

(Added on Feb 13th: So I’ve heard through the grape vine that Air Canada does not fill its business class seats because it only packs enough biz class meals to feed the number of people who buy biz class seats. Is this really an insurmountable barrier? One wonders a) if the money saved from not tracking business class travelers might offset the cost of packing enough meals for everyone; or b) if anyone who were upgraded cared if they got a meal, I know I wouldn’t, frankly the extra leg room is far more valuable then airplane food. Was on a AC flight today where several seats in Biz Class remained empty…)

[tags]negotiation, air canada, airlines, air travel, travel[/tags]

too many good restaurants… must try all…

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If Vancouver has anything it is a plethora of good, affordable restaurants. For those who’ve never been to the city, it’s one of its charms… Having only just returned from a 10 year hiatus I’m doing my best to track down and check out the best places. This weekend I finally went to Vij’s, one of the city’s most celebrated hangouts.

The one thing you should know about Vij’s is that you can’t make a reservation, which means you should be prepared for an hour and half wait. But that’s okay, cause they have a great space where you can hang out, sip on drinks and eat the free appetizers that are floating around.

More importantly, it was worth the wait. The food was excellent but the best part is the warm atmosphere created, in large part, by the presence of the restaurant’s namesake and owner, Vikram, who runs around checking in on guests, offering advice and generally being a gracious host. Indeed, Vikram provided one of the evenings highlight moments. After being asked if he would open a sister restaurant in North Van he responded: ‘More is not necessarily better. At this size I can ensure the quality of my food. More importantly, I couldn’t call another location Vij’s. If I’d called my restaurant Taj Mahal or Indian Spice, then it would be okay if I wasn’t there. But since I named it Vij’s people know I will be here – ready to take care of them.’

Pretty much sums up the whole experience – while also maybe taking a little dig at Feenie’s?

[tags] restaurant review, Vij’s, vancouver [/tags]

Does Jobs really want to set my iPod free?

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Will your music be set free? Will you be able to share your songs from iTunes, move them from machine to machine with impunity? Steve Jobs claims “he’d like nothing more.”

Yes, some of you may have read this note from Steve Jobs about the current and possible futures of digital rights management (DRM) in the music industry. For those, like me, who don’t dabble in acronyms like DRM on a regular basis, this basically refers to how online resellers like iTunes encode their music so that a) you are limited to copying it 5 times; and b) you can only play it on their proprietary system (like an iPod – ever tried playing a song from iTunes on something else… it won’t work).

Taken on its own Jobs’ note makes it look like he’s taking on the music industry unprompted, fighting for the little guy – the consumer (that’s me and you!). The truth is a little more complicated. Even this Herald Tribune piece, which has all the pieces to the puzzle, reverses cause and effect and buries the important parts at the back of the piece. The important fact is that Norway’s consumer ombudsman, Bjoern Erik Thon, told Reuters that Apple “must make iTunes music compatible with other players than the iPod by the end of September, or we will take them to court.”

Apparently, several European countries are proposing similar rulings. What makes this interesting (and my understanding of EU law could be flawed here – so please send me clarifications) are the EU’s rules around mutual recognition. Consequently, a ruling that found Apple violating consumers rights in one EU country could be quickly adopted across all the member states. If that happened, the theoretical future scenarios Jobs mentions in his memo would very quickly become the here and now options he would have to implement in a manner of weeks.

I have little doubt that Jobs would prefer to maintain the status quo. He’s got the dominant online music vendor that forces people to use his proprietary hardware. Do you really think he wants to give up this virtual monopoly? No way. Let’s be clear, this memo is the opening salvo in an effort to renegotiate iTunes agreement with the record labels in case the European regulatory environment changes (which is beginning to look very possible). Like any savvy negotiator he’d prefer to negotiate today, when he’s got options, as opposed to 7 months from now, when he’s got a gun to his head and the music labels are threatening to pull the plug unless he shares Apple’s proprietary licensing system – FairPlay – with everyone. Such an agreement would allow anyone to sell music that can play on an iPod effectively destroying his monopoly distribution arrangement.

Jobs isn’t a champion of the little guy – he just likes to look like he is. The change of heart outlined in this memo was not prompted by his concern for consumers but out of concern for the future of iTunes.

Thank you Nicolas T. for the HT link and the prompting email.

[tags]itunes, steve jobs, copyright, copyright law, music, negotiation, apple, ipod, DRM[/tags]