Five Women in Film Who Saved the Day When Men Couldn't

  When I’m not working diligently for BK Publishers, I blog for a couple of film-related websites.  I’ve been given an opportunity to meld these separate worlds in a brief article for this month’s newsletter.  Since the theme of this issue is Women, I’ve decided to give a few examples of powerful, heroic women in Cinema.  These are characters that stood up and saved the day when their male counterparts fell short.  Enjoy!

1. Ellen Ripley (played by Sigourney Weaver) from the Alien Franchise

Ellen Ripley was the only crewmember of the Nostromo to survive an alien infiltration in 1979.  In 1986’s sequel Aliens, she nearly single-handedly saves the day when a squadron of Colonia Marines is decimated by an infestation of the creatures.  In 1992, Ripley saved a colony of prisoners on a desolate penal planet and successfully prevented the nefarious Weiland Corporation from using the alien as a biological weapon. 

2. Sarah Conner (played by Linda Hamilton) from the Terminator Franchise

While she might have seemed a bit weepy when she was first introduced in 1984, Sarah Conner nonetheless survived a mechanized Arnold Schwarzenegger’s ruthless attack.  In the sequel, 1991’s Terminator 2: Judgment Day, Sarah does nothing less than save the entire world from potential nuclear annihilation.  

3. Buffy Summers (played by Kristy Swanson and Sarah Michelle Gellar) from the film and TV series Buffy the Vampire Slayer

First in a 1992 movie and then in a television series that ran from 1997 until 2003, Buffy Summers juggles school and dating with exterminating all manner of otherworldly beasties in Buffy the Vampire Slayer.  Gifted with strength and intelligence, she upends the stereotype of the dumb-blonde to save the world on numerous occasions.

4. Sidney Prescott (played by Neve Campbell) from the Scream Franchise

In 1996, Sidney Prescott completely shattered the “final girl” concept common to horror movies that sees female survivors as either victims or bimbos.  Sidney manages to summon strength and poise beyond her years as she dodges the knife-wielding Ghostface in Scream and three subsequent sequels. 

5. Alice (played by Milla Jovovich) from the Resident Evil Franchise

When the evil Umbrella Corporation doomed the planet by releasing a zombie-virus, they never considered that Alice would be their undoing.  Throughout Resident Evil and its four sequels (a 5^th sequel, Part 6 in the franchise, is currently in development), Alice dispatches legions of undead and genetically modified creatures as she leads a rag-tag band of survivors on a quest for a fabled safe-zone.

BK in SIngapore

The Inaugural Writing for Change Workshop on 25th November, 2014 in Singapore

A Berrett-Koehler Event in Association with The Sequoia Group


The Purpose
 
The Writing for Change initiative is a strategic initiative that emerged from the BK Global Task Force chaired by Johanna Vondeling, comprising a core team of BK staff, authors and local partners.  The purpose of the WfC is to help nurture and build a vibrant, local community and network of authors, emerging writers, activists, and practitioners dedicated to helping to “Create a World that works for All” (BK’s Mission).   Our collective aim is to increase conversations about creating positive change through writing, and to support the development, publication, and marketing of transformational books and other thought-inspiring content.

 
The Call

The call to help nurture the start-up of a Writing for Change (WfC)

Singapore community came through a chance meeting in January 2014 between Michael Prince, a BK Global Task Force member and Jacqueline Wong, Founder of Sequoia Group.  Following the format of the very first WfC held in Perth, the inaugural Writing for Change workshop in Singapore hosted by Sequoia Group was launched on 25 Nov 2014.



The People 

Twenty-five curious minds, current and aspiring writers, spanning

self-employed entrepreneurs, social activists, civil servants, teachers to senior doctors and corporate directors, executive coaches and consultants, received Sequoia Group’s invitation. They responded to the call to join this inaugural dialogue held in the pristine Ceylon room of the AXA Asia Pacific Campus at No. 3 Ladyhill Road.  Conserved from the colonial days, the room had a beautiful mix of the modern and the old and the walls were lined with paintings created by corporate leaders and participants of the AXA Campus programmes. 

The panelists comprise visiting BK author Dr Marcia Reynolds, who just completed her latest book, The Discomfort Zone, and  Singaporean writer and award-winning poet, Alvin Pang.  The event was co-hosted by Jacqueline Wong, Managing Director and Founder of Sequoia Group, and Michael Prince, member of the BK Global Task Force. 


The Writers’ Inner Journey

The seeding questions started with a walk down memory lane for

the authors to share their own personal stories about what and how they came to their own journey as writers.  

The audience enjoyed the landscape of personal motivations that had inspired the writers to make visible their thoughts through their works, as well as personal stories of life experiences shaped and impacted their world views.  Coming from different parts of the world, the cultural nuances stood out brightly through the two voices, one North American and one Asian, but both shared an underlying passion for creativity, expression and impact, and a deep desire contribute towards the advancement of the human spirit.

The authors shed light on an interesting fact that underscored what fuels their passion for writing – it is not just about how they hoped their writing would change the world, but how their writing has actually changed them.

What inspired all of us the most were perhaps the earnest, fiery and curious questions from the audience sharing their own deeper perceptions and fears about both ‘writing' and ‘change'.   For some, it was the very first time they are stepping into the realization that this is something they would actually pursue, regardless of what they do in their day jobs.  They all had something they cared deeply about, and were longing for a way to share these ideas and passions with other like-minded people.   


The Invitation into Possibilities

The Facilitators opened up the space to invite hosts from the

audience to step up with themes and questions that they are passionate or curious about and the rest of the audience to step up as ‘bumble-bees’ and ‘butterflies’ to travel to the emerging topics that they might be keen to pursue in their writing.  The audience, at this point, changed visibly to a self-organising community either hosting the space for deeper questions that are emerging for them to themes of books they wish to write and publish.  

Some of the Open Space topics that emerged include

+ Capturing stories and insights from the journey of healthcare transformation in an acute care hospital
+ Writing stories for my grandchildren
+ Enabling people to redefine and expand their definition of success in all its forms
+ How do we go beyond our inner dialogue and articulate them in a way that is meaningful through writing?
+ Writing for social change – How can we bring about positive change in the community through the nurturing of writing?

The group closed with new ideas, to first steps and new connections for follow-up with people whom they wish to carry the dialogue further.

The first Writing for Change evoked dreams and possibilities for everyone and left us with a sense that “we are not alone” in our own desires for a space to express the ideas, thoughts and insights we care deeply about.


What’s Next for WfC Singapore

Singapore is unique gateway between the east and the west and offers a colourful blend of the eastern and western traditions. It is a space rich with inspiration for aspiring writers who wish to be part-take in the capturing, harvesting and contribution of perspectives to Asia’s rising and transformation. From Singapore, we hope to contribute towards the co-creating of a world that works for all, one that honours the diversity, expression and promotes deeper understanding across boundaries.  As a way to continue fanning this spark, Sequoia Group will form an interest group in 2015, inviting participants from the first WfC to continue the dialogue about what supporting tools, resources, platforms and infrastructures will they need most going forward, and how they would like to play a role in contributing towards this ground-up initiative.  Together with our local authors, publisher, partners and co-sponsors, we hope conduct regular creative Writing for Change workshops to bring together a wider circle of people who are interested in the same mission.   


Our Special Thanks

We wish to express our appreciation to all the participants who made this possible.  Our special thanks to Berrett-Koehler, Johanna Vondeling and the BK Global Task Force members for their sponsorship and support, the AXA Asia Campus for their generous venue sponsorship; to our two wonderful panelists for inspiring us their personal writing journeys, and to Michael Prince, who got us all started on this journey. 


Written by Natasha Dalmia and Jacqueline Wong
Photographs by Zafirah Mohamed

The BK Foundation

BK Foundation Passes Major Milestones

The Berrett-KoehlerFoundation recently completed its first year since it was incorporated.  And it has already reached several major milestones.

First, the Foundation received official IRS 501(c)(3) tax-exempt status as a public charity.  This means that donations, transfers, and gifts to the Foundation are tax deductible.  We think that it is a good sign that the Foundation received this status more rapidly and cleanly than is the norm for most organizations that apply.

Second, this month the Foundation hired its first permanent executive director, Marielle Amrhein, who is a 32-year-old young leader herself and who has extensive experience both in nonprofit organization leadership and youth leadership development.  Our thanks go to BK author Jesse Stoner, who, as interim executive director, was the driving force in leading the Foundation from initial idea to functioning organization.

Third, the Foundation held its first public event on July 19 in Oakland, California.  This BK Leadership Exchange brought together 30 young and emerging leaders with 30 BK authors and other experienced leaders in interactive learning and practicing of new leadership approaches. 

Please check out this Foundation news story.

Thank you to many members of the BK community who have supported the Berrett-Koehler Foundation with your donations and volunteer efforts.

Steve Piersanti

The Eight Types of Office Coworkers No One Has Time For Any More

It's the New Year, and these people are already driving you nuts. They think they're helpful or even role models in some way, but they're just plain annoying, distracting, and in the way when you are trying to get stuff done. They are the enemies of execution.

Maximize your time and efficacy by avoiding the distractions from these eight types of people:

1. The Grammar Nazis: Oh, yes, it's thoroughly amazing how these lit-wonks know all about subordinating and coordinating conjunctions. Actually, no, it's annoying, and no one else cares but other people who also  compensate for their total lack of creativity by nitpicking others' work. They are the institutional killers of ideas.

2. The Pontificators: Pontificators could state their point concisely and directly, but why do that when you can overexplain and explicate? Why use five words when fifty could be accommodated? What these people don't realize is that after the first five minutes, they may as well be reading a recipe because no one is listening.

3. The Keyboard Punishers: These people believe not in typing or even tapping keys on the keyboard but in assaulting them and bashing them into submission. This habit wouldn't be so bad if everyone couldn't hear the loud squeaky death rattles of keys dying.

4. The Mass Email Forwarders: You know the type -- he or she will send a message that contains up to thirty other messages as forwards along with a general question such as, "What do you advise?" And you have to dig through the e-trail all the way to the bottom of the chain to know what the email is all about.

5. The No-Whisperers: Some people are unable to whisper, so they carry on side conversations in any meeting at full volume. Often, the people the no-whisperer is talking to remain aware that everyone else in the room is glaring at them, but they are helpless to say anything. If you don't know any of these people, you are likely one of them.

6. The Moody Bluers: These naysayers walk around in perpetually bad moods. They think they are serving a vital role by challenging conventional thinking but fail to realize they are so predictable that people stopped listening to them years ago. Moodly Bluers think of themselves as curmudgeonly and lovable, but everyone else just thinks they're a pain.

7. The Sunshiners: Proof that too much of a good thing is bad for you, sunshiners are those always-happy people -- you know the ones. You secretly wish something horrible would happen to them just so they'd shut up about their "loving life" attitude.

8. The Ugly Laughers: Laughter is always a nice thing to hear -- unless you hear it all the time. From the same person. Who's fifteen cubicles away. Worse yet, ugly laughers have a laugh like a barnyard animal in heat. Laughter can be the best medicine, but coming from certain people, it can be an ice pick to the eardrums.

Any ideas for others?

Five Incredibly Easy New Year's Resolutions That Will Make a Difference

It's pretty much guaranteed that every year millions will make resolutions that will last a total of four days into the first week of January before they're abandoned. The reason is that most people set incredible goals for themselves ("I will lose 50 pounds by summer!") that are doomed to fail because they require an inordinate amount of energy and attention. However, most don't realize that the smallest, easily doable actions can have incredible impact and in many cases, serve as the gateway to larger actions.

1. Commit to Doing Just One Push-Up a Day
That's it. Just one push-up. Every day. This is the opposite of pushing yourself to too-lofty fitness goals in an incredibly accelerated schedule (which you'll inevitably abandon when you see yourself slipping up). By committing to just one push-up a day, you'll soon get to the point (in some cases almost immediately) where you'll want to do more than just one. Then do as many as you can, but know that you really need to do just one a day. You'll be amazed at what happens -- trust us.

2. Commit to Giving to the Poor Only Loose Change
Many feel guilty when they would like to help others in need but don't have the funds to spare even $20 or so. Here is a simple plan: keep a large empty milk bottle by the front door and every day, when you walk in the door, empty out all the loose change in your pockets into that bottle -- whether that's just a couple of pennies or maybe 75 cents, it all goes in the bottle. When the bottle is full, plug it up with a cork and wrap a bow around it and drop it off at your nearest charity or just give it to someone in need. A standard wine bottle can hold over $50 in change, and that's a chunk of money that can make a difference. (You could try a wine bottle but quarters may not fit into the neck.)

3. Commit to Paying Someone's Toll Once a Month
When crossing a bridge and needing to pay the toll, pay for the person behind you as well. The trick is that you cannot look behind you to see who it is or what kind of a car he or she is driving. You just pay for the person behind you and then put on your sunglasses and drive. The person who was behind you may try to drive up to you to wave thanks or even figure out what that was all about. Don't acknowledge the person -- it will only add to your mystery. More importantly, this will be a great lesson on what it is to give without expecting (or looking) back, and you will like how it feels to commit anonymous acts of decency.

4. Commit to a Hefty Tip on Every Fifth Occasion You Eat Out
Working as a waiter or waitress is thankless and exhausting and tips don't exactly let waitpersons live in the lap of luxury. Assuming that you have no issues with your service, on every fifth occasion you eat out (it can get pricey on a more regular basis, but if you've got it, by all means give it), tip the waiter or waitress 40%. Yes, it's ridiculous, but honestly, the difference it will make to you at most midrange restaurants is about $20-$30 above the standard, but the difference it makes to that waitperson? Much, much bigger. Also, keep in mind that it is a luxury to be seated and to have others cook and bring your food to you and wash your dishes afterward. If you're going to be luxurious with yourself, be so with those who serve you as well.

5. Commit to the Ten-Minute Rule Whenever Possible
Most overriding urges -- whether for food or cigarettes or any other compulsion, seem much stronger than they are because of their concentrated severity. That said, our brains are pretty good at finding new things to focus on if given the time because most urges are momentary. When you have the urge to eat or smoke or do anything else that is questionable for your health, give yourself ten minutes. Know that if, after ten minutes, you are still craving whatever it was, you can have it, but you have to wait ten minutes first. You'll be surprised at how often a compulsion can die down in just that long.

The key is not to go big but to start small and go bigger from there if you want, but know that staying small is not so bad, either.

Bob's Five Tech Trends to NOT Watch Out for in 2013

Our friend Bob Lewis heads a tech consultancy out in the Midwest and has always been our go-to guy for everything from complex industry developments to tech advice and pointers. And Bob delivers it all with his trademark style and wit.

Since everyone seems to have an opinion of what tech trends we should look out for in 2013, I challenged Bob to point out five trends we should NOT follow blindly in 2013.

Here's Bob's list in response:

Trend #1 to Avoid: Trendspotting. Let’s get this straight between us: In business, nothing is worth doing because it’s trendy. It either makes actual sense or it doesn’t. Just think how many companies wasted how much time and money recreating their websites on Facebook, only to discover that while the Supreme Court might think corporations are people too, not very many actual people want to be their Friends.

Trendspotting doesn’t pass the Mom Test. Remember it? When Mom asked you, “If all of your friends were jumping off a cliff, would you jump too?” Following business trends is like that.

Trend #2 to Avoid: Bypassing the IT department: Not only is it fashionable to bypass IT these days, the big research firms have enshrined it as a trend, and it serves IT right because they make everything so hard.

Go right ahead. Bypass IT. If and only if, that is, you (1) are willing to live with a stand-alone “stovepipe” solution that only integrates with the rest of your company’s systems through the magic of your re-typing everything; (2) the application will live in “the cloud,” not your data center; and (3) the only support you’ll need will come from the vendor you’re using.

Otherwise, you’d better call IT first. There’s a reason IT projects are bigger than you’d like, and it isn’t because they’re all idiots, propeller-heads, or budding bureaucrats. It’s because integrating new applications into everything you have is hard, complicated work.

Remember why God was able to create the world in only six days: He didn’t have an installed base.

Trend #3 to Avoid: "Big" Data. There are companies and situations where the amount of data flowing in is truly massive, and being able to gain some knowledge from it will help you make smarter decisions. If you know the questions you want to ask and know how you’ll analyze your data to ask them, go for it.

But for every situation like this there are dozens where all the “data scientist” (what trendy people like to call “statisticians” these days) does is sort through everything, searching for correlations. But as everyone knows, correlation doesn’t imply causation, so what do you think you’ve actually learned? Worse, not all correlations mean anything – many are spurious, for example, the statistically significant correlation between IQ and length of the big toe. Size really doesn’t matter here. Neither will many of the correlations you’ll find mining whatever mass of bits your company has accumulated over the years.

Trend #4 to Avoid: Blaming the consultants. There are times I think companies only bring in consultants for two reasons: To read a script (“Please tell our board of directors we need to make massive investments in Big Data technology. They’ll listen to you!”). Or to take the blame (“Our consultants told us Big Data was a sure thing. So we collected it and analyzed it, and it predicted exponential growth in sheep liver futures. What were we supposed to do? They’re the experts!”)

If you know the answer you want, don’t hire a consultant. Hire an actor. They’re cheaper, there are more of them and they’re more convincing. And if you need a fall guy, call me. I have a whole rate schedule for blame-taking.

But really, don’t. Bring in consultants when you need a fresh pair of eyes on a problem, and a thought process that will give you a different perspective than the one you’re accustomed to. Listen to what the consultant recommends. Understand why he or she recommends it. Then, visualize the result in action in your actual company and decide accordingly.

Consultants know things you don’t, but on the other hand, you know things they don’t. Together, you ought to be smarter than either of you are on your own. Don’t insist on making it the opposite.

Trend #5 to Avoid: Ludditism: “I just want a cell phone that makes phone calls!” is the new “I don’t know how to balance my checkbook!” If that’s all you want, fine and dandy but don’t brag about it. All those other people who like what they can do on a computer enough to want to be able to do it when they aren’t in front of a computer too? Maybe they know something you don’t.

Or maybe they just have different tastes than you do. So if all you want is a cell phone that makes calls, buy one. If you have no need for an iPad, don’t get one.

Just don’t bend my ear about how smart you are for not wanting them, and I promise, I won’t bend your ear about how smart I am for using them.

Follow Bob's thoughts and musings on his blog.

Bob's 2012 Trends

So we're halfway through the year and we got curious -- what is going to happen within the next six months that we're just not going to expect or be prepared for in technology? We asked our pal Bob Lewis over at IT Catalysts  to give us a list of five surprises we should prepare for because (a) he's a contrarian, (b) he's funny, and (c) he's usually right about tech stuff. Here's what he said:

Surprise #1: Windows 8 will be horrible for PCs and laptops (not the surprise) but not bad at all for tablets and smartphones. Especially corporate tablets and smartphones. Quite a few people will like the tablets better than the iPad, in fact.

Surprise #2: The Cloud will disappoint most of the companies that try to move their corporate IT infrastructure to it. It will cost more, take longer, integrate worse, and be harder to debug than anyone expects. In most cases, companies will decide to use private clouds, instead, "private cloud" meaning "the same stuff we've been using all along inside our firewall, but if we call it a cloud we won't have egg on our faces."

Surprise #3: Many business pundits have been predicting the end of IT. Most of it, they claimed, will move into the cloud; the rest will move into the business. It won't, and it won't.

Surprise #4: Tablets won't replace laptops. When employees have to do actual work, they'll still need a keyboard, screen, and mouse. The programs their employers use for conducting business … accounting, HR, supply chain and so on … won't go away and won't work well on a 10" screen that shares real estate with a virtual keyboard. And, they'll need more than the nearly featureless word processor, spreadsheet, and presentation programs they can get for their tablets.

Surprise #5: Companies that follow the trends will find that following the offshoring trend and following the Agile programming trend at the same time just doesn't work. Agile means programmers are face-to-face with users every day. Offshoring means programmers are 12 time zones away from those users. Pick one.

Keep up with Bob's musings here.

Happy Holidays from Everyone at Berrett-Koehler

May your holidays be as festive and joyful as his.

Devora Taps

Devora Zack, author of the bestselling Networking for People Who Hate Networking and a tap-dancing maven.

Joseph Jaworski: In His Own Words

Our First Enhanced E-Book

David Marshall presents our hot new offering to the e-masses, an enhanced e-book version of The Power of Purpose, 2nd edition. Also note the hip camera action and stylings of Cynthia Shannon, our publicist and resident film-maker.

Joe Pine and Kim Korn's Author Day

Bestselling author Joe Pine ("The Experience Economy") and his co-author Kim Korn joined us for their Author Day. Check out this video to see what their book is about.

Ruma Bose and Lou Faust's Author Day

The authors of Mother Teresa, CEO had a great time at their author day at BK.

If Digital Became Analog

Martin Davidson interviewed on video by BusinessWeek

BK: The Choice of Champions!

Organizational culture legend and bestselling author Ed Schein sings our praises...

What Women Bring to Leadership

Linda Tarr-Whelan interviewed at the Salzburg Global Seminar

Deanna Zandt on Grit TV

E-Book Page

Thank you for taking our survey. To show our appreciation, we are offering you a free e-book of one of our bestsellers. We had direct download links on this page but they seemed to malfunction, so now we are taking a more direct approach. Below is a listing of three (one from each agenda) e-books.

a. BK Currents: The e-book of David Korten's "Agenda for a New Economy"

b. BK Life: The e-book of John Izzo's "The Five Secrets You Must Discover Before You Die."

c. BK Business: The e-book of Janelle Barlow's "A Complaint is a Gift."

Please select a title and email the executive managing editor, Jeevan Sivasubramaniam, at jsiva@bkpub.com and let him know which title you would like. Jeevan will email you back within 24 hours (max) with the e-book you requested as an attachment.

Apologies for the confusion...Thank you!

PLEASE NOTE THAT THE COMMENTS BELOW ABOUT MALFUNCTIONING URLS WERE MADE BEFORE THIS POSTING'S INSTRUCTIONS WERE AMENDED. E-MAIL JSIVA@BKPUB.COM TO RECEIVE YOUR FREE E-BOOK.

Forget Twitter, Flutter!

Affluenza in Middle-Class Homes?

When we realize how much we take for granted, we also realize how materialistic we are.