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    Are you an Advisor or a Consultant?

    Governance Leadership Management Performance Societal Wellbeing Teaching
    Periodically, I'm asked whether I'm an advisor or a consultant. For many years now, the answer I've provided has been 'advisor', often in an effort to avoid the stigma commonly associated with 'consultant'. (Consultants are the guys that borrow your watch to tell you the time, right?) However, as I've studied the English language more closely in the last couple of years, I've become much more comfortable with the term 'consultant', because it most accurately describes who I am and what I do. Let me explain.

    Generally speaking (although perhaps somewhat simplistically):
    • A consultant is a problem-solver, a simplifier. They are someone you call on to find a way forward, when you have a problem in need of a solution. At their best, consultants provide answers, or at least recommendations. They may or may not actually do the work to implement any solution you choose to pursue.
    • An advisor is a problem-definer. They are someone you call on as an impartial sounding board, to stimulate your thinking and to test ideas. At their best, advisors help survey the horizon and bring the future into focus. They may well recommend the names of others (consultants!) to help solve a problem once it is more clearly defined.

    While my priority as a pracademic is to think broadly about corporate governance and strategy in order to discover possibilities and pursue options, my clients are most interested in solutions to problems they face today – recommendations and answers – which fits nicely with my instinct to understand and solve problems.

    Now your turn: Are you an advisor or a consultant?
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    Gosh, is this a good governance practice?

    Governance Performance Societal Wellbeing
    Several months ago, Tony Marryatt left his job as CEO of Christchurch City Council, following a falling out with Mayor Bob Parker (now Sir Bob) and others. As part his severance deal, it appears that Marryatt agreed to resign also from the board of Civic Assurance (more correctly, of the parent, Local Government Insurance Corporation Limited), the Council's insurer (yes, that sounds like a conflict of interest to me as well). 

    Marryatt did fufill his commitment to resign from the LGIC board as required. However, he was reappointed immediately. Wow, this sounds like a highly unusual decision process, to say the least. Some serious questions need to be asked. Two that spring to mind are:
    • Why did Marryatt allow his name to be considered for reappointment, when many questions hung over his reputation and recent performance? (Marryatt's unhappy departure from the CEO role was not his first.)
    • Why did the LGIC appointment panel even consider Marryatt as a candidate, let alone immediately re-appoint him?

    The matter raises many more questions as well, mostly about the quality of governance practice and decision-making at LGIC. LGIC is owned by several local councils, a sector that has endured a few failures of governance in recent times. Transparency and accountability are crucial if the confidence of the public is to be maintained. Hopefully the LGIC board will put its collective ego (and political motivations?) to one side and commission an independent evaluation, of its appointment process and its overall performance. 
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    Signing off for 2013...

    Phd Research Societal Wellbeing
    Unless something compelling occurs in the next few days, this blog entry is likely to be my last for 2013. Christmas is upon us, so it is time to pause.

    Christmas can mean different things to different people. For some, the deep spiritual significance of remembering the birth of Jesus is almost palpable. For others, Christmas is an opportunity to buy and give gifts, to eat and to catch up with family and friends. Yet others enjoy Christmas because it is "time off"—a holiday. However you spend Christmas this year, may it be a joyful time for you.

    Overall, I've had a good year. The opportunity to travel (to speak in Australia, Asia and Europe), to meet some wonderful people, and to spend time pondering some pretty tough questions to do with my research, has been amazing. While there have been several times during the year when I've felt becalmed, it's not until I've stopped in the last few days and looked back that I've realised just how far I've travelled. I hope it's the same for you as you take stock this Christmas season. Thank you for your support and encouragement throughout the year, I appreciate it.
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    The troublesome march towards e-everything

    Societal Wellbeing
    In seven days' time, the mayhem so commonly associated with the lead-up to Christmas will be over for another twelve months—although the busyness of preparing for holidays, Boxing Day sales and other distractions will no doubt replace the void.

    This year, more than ever before, I feel under siege, by the marketers of technology. The march towards e-everything is becoming a little tedious, and it's starting to get in the way of meaningful interaction and learning. I'm no luddite—my iPhone and Macbook Air are useful productivity tools—but I draw the line at e-readers, Google Glass and other gizmos. 

    A couple of days ago I caught up with a friend over breakfast. We met each other 15 years or so ago, when we worked at the same company, and we've kept in touch periodically since. While standing at the counter to order, I noticed several groups of people sitting at tables. The scene looked a little odd, and then it dawned on me. In each case, every person was looking down, at an electronic device. Humans are social beings. What happened to the art of conversation? Are electronics actually getting in the way of progress in some cases?

    The reading of books, and pondering of events, situations and possibilities is a case in point. Rosemary McLeod sums it up so well. Books are for reading, and the experience of reading is as much tactile and sensory as it is a journey of discovery. I can relate to McLeod on this point, and hope that none of the gifts under the tree bearing my name contain e-anything. I'd rather pick up a book, feel the pages and devour the story. Simply it's more relaxing.
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    Self-assured hubris in local government

    Governance Leadership Societal Wellbeing
    I have commented on the topic of governance in the local government sector several times in the past six months—because there have been many avoidable situations that merit closer scrutiny. Today, I want to provide a short comment on the responses of the mayors to the situations they have found themselves in, not the situations themselves. For example, the recent (mis)behaviours of Mayor Brown of Auckland and Mayor Ford of Toronto have been widely criticised, yet both mayors, somewhat defiantly, remain in office.

    When one knowingly breaks the rules of office once, some of the trust one has garnered to secure the office is eroded. When one knowingly does so a second or subsequent time, trust cannot survive. Actions have consequences. Sadly, this reality seems to have evaded the mayors in question. Their continued reluctance to be held accountable for their actions is staggering. Resignation is the only acceptable response. The people of Auckland and Toronto deserve better than to suffer through these continued displays of self-assured hubris (although the tide does appear to be turning in Auckland with plans of a no-confidence vote by a group of Councillors). When will the constituency or, more importantly, the mayors themselves, wake up and act?