Jarred Myers' Blog

Perma-frosties middle management malaise

Jarred Myers — Wed, 31 Aug 2011 17:10:14 +0000

Day 2 at the Innovation Summit: Brian Steinhobel, owner of the design firm bearing his surname Steinhobel Design shared his 3 decades of design successes, failures, hopes and failures for South Africa. My take aways were that the shortage of design and tooling infrastructure on the ground which are necessary for the innovation ecosystem to thrive are in short supply.

Strawberries on vacation - Innovation Summit

Jarred Myers — Tue, 30 Aug 2011 20:34:22 +0000

Day 1 of the Innovation Summit in Johannesburg got off to good start with Eskom discussing their open innovation pilot project showcasing South African corporate innovation. Results from the pilot are not yet public but Eskom managers after initial scepticism are pushing for the next round.

If you plant it, will it grow?

Jarred Myers — Tue, 23 Aug 2011 19:39:55 +0000

This years’ Innovation Summit in Johannesburg features what I consider to be the engine behind the event, “the Innovation Lab”.

Innovation in Africa, from cradle to gateway

Jarred Myers — Mon, 15 Aug 2011 16:31:55 +0000

Johannesburg is hosting the 4^th SA Innovation Summit at the end of this month and it’s raising the question, will innovation creep, crawl or leap out of the cradle of mankind?

Auditing chaos: streaming the line - lessons from Lagos

Jarred Myers — Wed, 13 Jul 2011 15:13:15 +0000

Lagos, Nigeria, July 11, 2011. After circling the capital city for an hour waiting for the down to pour its last drop I finally arrived on Nigerian Soil. Fresh from my MBA class on Operations Management I now viewed the world in terms of process flows, bottle necks and cycle times, so you can imagine my glee at the opportunity to informally audit a process flow from hell, enter Lagos Terminal 1.

MBA in a can Part 2 - statistics-peas vs. carrots and corn

Jarred Myers — Fri, 27 May 2011 11:35:40 +0000

Touchdown, 09:41 Dubai International Airport, Dubai, UAE. After a pleasant night flight on Emirates I arrived in Dubai with two of my classmates from the subcontinent, a surprisingly empty airport greeted us with friendly staff and sulking customs officials, as you will notice in Dubai, Emiratis generally populate the gentry class and enjoy much leisure in their lifestyle but some unfortunate sods have to be stationed at the customs desks for which they are visibly resentful.

MBA in a can Part 1 - corporate finance-tomato-souponomics

Jarred Myers — Mon, 16 May 2011 19:48:58 +0000

Touchdown, 08:38 Indira Ghandi International Airport, Delhi, India.

Taking advice from my travel packet I drew some Rupee’s at an ATM and ordered a pre-paid taxi to my hotel in the Janpath district, exiting the airport I cast my gaze on dozens of post-paid taxi’s (yes,They actually call them that!).

MBA in a can intro - get your fork ready

Jarred Myers — Mon, 16 May 2011 19:35:06 +0000

MBA in a can is a tongue in cheek Martian’s view of MBA candidates and the broad syllabi which they enjoy, endure, explore and store inside the tool belts with which they graduate.

Nowadays there are many goodies that you can “get in a can”, and this illustrated guide through my own MBA journey aims to give you a taste of the global immersion which is a part of a unique MBA which is offered by Duke University’s Fuqua School of Management.

Pie=3.14 (billion)

Jarred Myers — Mon, 13 Sep 2010 16:43:26 +0000

A Protestant from Texas, a Jew from Africa and a Buddhist from Beijing walk into a restaurant... this could be the intro to a banal joke but it was actually a night out on the town in Shanghai when half my team hopped into a taxi to grab a bite while simultaneously imbibing the local culture and environment.

Getting the “EM” out of MBA

Jarred Myers — Fri, 27 Aug 2010 09:32:14 +0000

Shanghai is in the rearview mirror and London is our next pit stop in the grand prix circuit which is the Duke Cross Continent MBA which I’m proud to be a part of.

I’ve always internally debated the managerial value of an MBA, with my cynical side chirping in my ear that the program is a formality and it’s all about getting in, networking, getting the pedigree and climbing back onto the hamster wheel of capitalism to turn and churn.

Shanghai, North Carolina

Jarred Myers — Thu, 29 Jul 2010 10:05:43 +0000

Well it’s that time of the life again and I’m getting set to ignite my MBA next week. My first module is taking place in the quaint little village of Shanghai. I’m wondering how previous generations of MBA students began their programs cold turkey compared with MBA 2.0 approach I’m experiencing, already most of my class mates have facebooked, linkedin and tweeted sweet nothings in each other’s ears, not to mention organized pub crawls and local adventures.

The World Cup- Owning the goal

Jarred Myers — Thu, 08 Jul 2010 19:07:29 +0000

Front row seats are great at a musical, but front row for the Football World Cup is about more than just watching 22 chaps jostle around the Jabulani (the name of the official ball), it’s about observing the social phenomenon which IS the greatest sporting even in the world, and watching Africa’s only World Cup in most of our lifetimes front row in South Africa has been a privilege and a treat.

Anatomy of an NGO - The Personal Value Index

Jarred Myers — Tue, 27 Apr 2010 10:42:25 +0000

Last week 3 of our "boys" competed in a triathlon in Las Vegas, Nevada. Why this sporting event was unique was not due to the nature of the event but rather the circumstances by which these three individuals found themselves in Vegas.

Gen X + Gen Y = Boomer-ang

Jarred Myers — Tue, 16 Mar 2010 11:23:04 +0000

My blogs have been truant of late but not without just cause, I recently moved jobs and was hurled into the financial yearend maelstrom from which I'm gradually beginning to surface. After spending my Sunday drafting the national budget I decided that Monday was ripe for some introspection into my new workplace settings.

Exposé- Does your job really suck?

Jarred Myers — Fri, 12 Feb 2010 09:51:55 +0000

Fiscal incontinence

Jarred Myers — Fri, 05 Feb 2010 10:55:48 +0000

The other day I was chatting to a mate of mine who works as a ship doctor on a mega luxury cruise liner. He pointed out many interesting observations from his unusual work environ, one of which peaked my interest.

Not surprisingly these cruises are frequented by the fabulously wealthy retirees and captains of industry, neither of which are much fodder for my keyboard, but he pointed out a category which I wouldn’t have thought of; people who were loaded, not from a large capital base , but rather who received their monthly fix from family trust accounts.

The economics of why women don’t have pockets

Jarred Myers — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 08:56:42 +0000

Yesterday I went off to see the much acclaimed Avatar in 3D, while my eyes re-adjust to my real world which is mostly 2D (my laptop screen), I noticed a phenomenon, surprisingly for the first time. I went in a group and was asked by one of the ladies to keep her cash for her. I don’t doubt my fiduciary abilities in carrying out the task but was perplexed with a question, why don’t you keep your own money, to which she responded with a thumping “duh”, I don’t have any pockets!

Quad Bott – When a triple bottom line just ain’t enough

Jarred Myers — Wed, 13 Jan 2010 12:56:57 +0000

Triple bottom lines have been in vogue for a while and the social innovators have been due for an upgrade, so here it is ,"Quad Bott", double the "t" and you can double the "b" (for benefits).

MBA applications- Ready, Aim…Fire

Jarred Myers — Mon, 04 Jan 2010 12:18:22 +0000

I received some interesting replies to my previous blog "Pulling the pants down on MBA rankings". In case I was unclear, despite having put a lot of effort into my own research I don’t claim to be an authority on the subject and free advice is usually worth what you paid for it. That being said my theory which I espoused in my previous blog was a "management tool" and a tool for making an informed decision based on objective facts that are easy to obscure.

Pulling the pants down on MBA Rankings

Jarred Myers — Tue, 15 Dec 2009 14:42:07 +0000

The last 2 years I’ve pondered the option of doing an MBA and I’ve done a serious amount of research on the subject. When looking at the 1st tier programs it’s pretty easy to know what you’re getting but as you consider the non-super duper programs you enter a grey area because the brand recognition doesn’t exist.