Heard of the term "Quantum"? Quantum improvements. Quantum leaps. Quantum shifts. Quantum this. Quantum that. Now, what IS a "quantum", anyway? If you really don't know, go to the dictionary and you will see that it means:
1. quantity or amount: the least quantum of evidence.
2. a particular amount.
3. a share or portion.
4. a large quantity; bulk.
5. Physics
a. the smallest quantity of radiant energy equal to Planck's constant times the frequency of the associated radiation.
b. the fundamental unit of a quantized physical magnitude, as angular momentum.
Essentially, a quantum is a discrete quantity, a "packet" of energy. It implies a specific amount of something. It is akin to the concept of irreducible complexity, like a package deal, take it or leave it.
And what caused this quantum shift in interest? Something I read on
Profiles International's "Eight Signs of Incompetent Managers". Under "Inability or unwillingness to adapt to change", the sub-header read "You cannot leap a twenty-foot chasm in two ten-foot jumps". Some changes cannot be engendered progressively. You either make it or you don't! It's like making a perfect fish trap and putting it in a place where no fish will come. The trap is perfect, but you go hungry because you don't catch a fish. It's like flying land-based B-25 Mitchell bombers off the flight deck of USS Hornet. You train hard, lighten the aircraft, do everything you can to make sure that the planes DO take off the Hornet. It is a case of you take off or you ditch in the Pacific.
Do you have similar types of "quantum" situations at your workplace? What are you doing to prepare for them? Don't make the mistake of believing that everything can be improved incrementally, even if they do appear so on the outside. It might be another proverbial case of the latent heat of vaporization. See "Personal Breakthrough Point" for details. Have a quantum breakthrough this week!
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Leadership Lessons Men Could Learn From Women.
Josef Klus shared this on LinkedIn. http://linkd.in/XRQVtI. I commented on the post and would like to share a little more here, as I think it is important.
With all the proposed moves to legislate the presence of women on boards to forty percent, and similar initiatives, I would like to state here again clearly that I am NOT in favour of such legislation. Read more...
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