Great day, sour ending

Today in Canberra was a series of meetings, starting with the Footprints in Time team who will be using SenseMaker™ as a part of their study of indigenous children. Good conversation and lunch with the RAAF team we worked with last year was then followed by a scheduled half hour (which became an hour) with Major.General Symon. Over the last few years I have spent time with senior commanders in Australia, Singapore, the US and the UK. One of the big contrasts with industrial leaders is their ability (at least the ones I meet) to grasp theoretical concepts while maintaining a pragmatic focus. They also seem more prepared to learn from failure than is the case in industry. It’s no coincidence that Weick & Sutcliffe singled out military groups as willing to share failure. From there to two hours with ActKM in a special event organised by Dave WIlliams and Nerida Hart at short notice. It was a chance to present a whole range of current projects to a broad ranging government audience, including many old friends. Qantas of course provided the sour counterpoint to the day, cancelling my flight delaying me by the best part of two hours when I was already tired. I suppose you can’t have everything!