 sure that we are doing this work in ways that express our core values.
One Vision Drive.
I invited the executive team to meet on Tuesday to discuss this process of cascading the vision.
First, John, Boyne and I shared a little of our insights and discoveries on our recent India visit.
Among the things we agreed among ourselves was that a commitment to a transformational development process was a fundamental part of our vision.
We wanted to commit ourselves, as leaders, to processes that would release the potential in people.
This is true for people in project communities, our supporters, and us.
We helped one another to make clear what we meant by terms like development, transform and empower.
We cannot take for granted that the words mean the same things to all.
Next we said, "What in the vision statement is helpful or unhelpful to me in my work?"
This also helped to make things clear.
What emerged was understanding and acceptance of the vision and values.
Next we committed ourselves to a workshop process so that we have common understanding and acceptance throughout World Vision. In every department. In every function.
After this we shall apply the vision and values to our work. We shall ask the question, "What are the key result areas required to achieve this vision and to act consistently with these values?"
A series of workshops will be held to do this. They will be held within existing structures, but each workshop will include a reflector or facilitator who comes from outside that group.
This person will help the group to connect with the wider organisation, helping us to see beyond the top of our desks, and challenging short-sightedness.
The process we described is really not a process at all. It is a framework for a process. How this work is done (processed) is a matter for you to work out in your teams.
Only when the vision is understood, accepted, and applied to our daily work can we truly say we live, not at two-vision drive, or eighty-vision drive, but at One Vision Drive.
Apres Le Deluge...
After the cascade, what?
One will be a Vision Challenge process. The corporate vision is not a static thing. We need to review it, challenge it, amend it as we change, and the world changes. We shall probably conduct a corporate-wide vision challenge process later in 1994.
Second, the real work. Change.
The vision cascade process is not warm fuzzies. It must be tough and results oriented.
We need to affirm those bits of our work that really do help us to accomplish the vision. Both the things we do, and the ways we do them.
And the other side of the coin too. We must stop doing those things that do not assist us to accomplish our vision. And those things that do not line up with our values.
As we apply the vision and values we shall each one discover things that need to change.
We can and will change things we do in our own area.
And we shall work with colleagues on problems that can be fixed through collaboration.
Get a haircut, son!
I went to high school in the Sixties. Long hair was in fashion then. But not at Brisbane Boy's College.
The sportsmaster hated long hairs.
"When are you getting a haircut, son?"
"It's on the agenda for the weekend, sir."
I heard later that he told the whole teaching staff about this smart alec kid who had "an agenda for his weekends."
World Vision is not like my alma mater (Bill Walker went to the same school too). We don't care how long your hair is. Anything between the Krause/White/Downs variants and the Alley-/Ridler/Apokis variants is OK.
It is an example of how we live out our values. We value people. We act in ways that respect the dignity, uniqueness, and intrinsic worth of every person.... We celebrate the richness of diversity in human personality, culture and contribution.
At World Vision we put this to work by the avoidance of a strict dress code, and a complete absence of rules about how many ear-rings you can wear.
Colleagues put this freedom to work with responsibility, and a combination of tolerance and celebration.
But should the chief executive wear a pony tail?
Christians must behave with integrity. We must be who we are and not who the image consultants tell us we need to be.
I have seen too many people who sacrificed their personal integrity by trying to become someone they were not.
And we must allow people the freedom to make these decisions themselves. I happily wear a tie even though I don't care for the fashion. Others would find a collar and tie a serious attack on their personal integrity.
Anyway, Judith loves it. And she loves telling the other Mums at school that she has to hurry home to do her husband's hair!Would I buy another? Not sure if I would, but it is a close thing.
My four years with my Audi A6 are just about up and when faced with the decision to have another, I had to reluctantly say no. This A6 has a lot going for it. It looks fantastic, on a motorway drive is almost silent, equipment levels are good (although I do have several extras added), so why not another?
Overall, for a £40k car, I just can’t say I would buy again, but I could not say to anyone not to buy one.
Or: How The Fuso Battleship Went From Horrible to Awesome!
Last week I said goodbye to the stellar tier V IJN Kongo battleship and moved into the tier VI Fuso battleship... and was promptly left aghast. In my first battle I looked at a target in binocular mode and was floored when I saw my range of my artillery was only 13 km. This was a huge shock after the Kongo with its almost 20km range plus the boost from a scout plane to get me to around 24 km.
Turns out the stock Fuso has range worse than the tier IV Myogi.
If you look at the ship's modules and hover over the Fire Control System, you see its firing range is 13.2 km, and if you work your way up to the second Fire Control System, it gets a slight improvement to 14.5 km.
I resigned myself to being a short range brawler and started working on the experience for the second hull of the Fuso and last night I got. I strapped myself in, got in a match, and WHOA! Almost 19km range?!?! HOW?!
Yep, slated for October if the news is to be believed, and the sister BB Tripitz is rumoured to be the tier VIII Premium ship.Q:Here is a review left by a customer on a product. Would you say he was satisfied or dissatisfied? Title: His weakest Review: it is great that he found himself back on "sacred love".here he is unsure what to play...Pop?dance?jazz??soul?rock?you can surely pass this album by...even the best song from here ("after the rain has fallen") is not that good to buy whole album.go and get SACRED LOVE!
A:
dissatisfiedThe House of Representatives will soon take up legislation (H.R. 3961) to “fix” the Medicare physician payment update formula. The likely result: huge new costs on taxpayers.
In recent years, the Medicare trustees have included a caveat when presenting the forecasts for Medicare Part B expenditures. Specifically, the trustees’ forecasts are based on current law (as is appropriate, since to do otherwise would be an attempt to predict the specific form of new legislation), but since 2003 the physician payment reductions required under the Sustainable Growth Rate (SGR) provisions of current law have been consistently overridden by Congress.
Recently introduced legislation (H.R. 3961) would restructure the SGR formula and increase spending by $210 billion over the next 10 years, according to a recent scoring by the Congressional Budget Office.[3] But, as with any legislation, the 10-year costs only scratch the surface, since long-term impacts are ignored.
The transitional update for 2010 in H.R. 3961 sets the update as the percentage increase in the MEI. We assume that the actuaries’ estimates using the MEI as a base in their supplemental report provide a reasonable indication of the long-term costs. The effect of this methodology on Medicare Part B spending over the next 75 years can be seen in the following figure.
Table 2 below shows the unfunded Medicare obligations when Part B projections incorporate physician payment updates equal to the percentage change in the MEI in all future years.[4] Since the Medicare Part A unfunded obligation is unaffected by any adjustment in the physician payment updates, as are the general revenues required to fund Part D, these columns are invariant to any changes in current law regarding physician payment updates.
Allowing the physician payment updates to match the percentage change in the MEI increases Medicare’s unfunded obligation by $1.9 trillion using the 75-year horizon and by $4.1 trillion in the long term.
In sum, if the MEI adjustments to Part B spending persist indefinitely, then Congress will have to raise $4.1 trillion more in general revenue than is reflected in the 2009 trustees’ report. This additional funding requirement by itself accounts for almost 3 percent of federal income taxes at historical levels.
The experience since 2003—with Congress repeatedly overriding the SGR and disregarding the general revenue funding warning—is instructive when considering legislative promises of future cost-cutting in Medicare.
[1]