Auren Hoffman's Summation Push for the week of March 15, 1998

You can visit my thoughts and reflections at http://www.summation.net or you can be lazy and wait for these tidbits to be sent right to your in box (subscribe and unsubscribe information is at the end of this e-mail).

This issue:
* Industry Insights
* Corporate Diversity
* Career Tip
* Summation Push Picks Links

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INDUSTRY INSIGHTS:

Last Summation Push I pushed the rumor that WhoWhere (http://www.whowhere.com) is ripe for the picking. I listed the possible suitors of Excite, Lycos, Infoseek, and News Corp.

This week, one of my friends writes from Internet World: "Though WhoWhere was awfully close to Excite, I hear the big rumor is Netscape." That's right folks, Netscape, looking to add some new features to its site, is seriously looking at WhoWhere.

My thoughts: let the bidding begin. WhoWhere is a good site (except for the fact it has a link to one of BridgePath's competitors) and many companies are going to be actively bidding for it.

(all rumors and insights sent to auren@summation.net will be kept confidential)

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the real deal about Corporate Diversity
did George Washington have it right?

by Auren Hoffman

Corporate diversity is extremely important. A company can only go so far without new or divergent ideas coming from within. George Washington understood this. He surrounded himself with a diverse group of advisors so he could pool their knowledge and experiences together to make the best decision. By utilizing this strategy, Washington was able to make wise decisions that have made the U.S. a great country.

Washington's two main advisors, Alexander Hamilton and Thomas Jefferson, had severely opposite views. These men, bitter enemies until Hamilton's death, would debate in front of Washington for hours until the President could make a decision about a certain policy or issue. Though Washington ultimately adopted most of Hamilton's ideas and few of Jefferson's plans, the two advisors had a profound effect on policy and decision making.

Like Washington, a good corporate chief executive should surround himself or herself with people who have divergent views, live different lifestyles, and possess diverse backgrounds. This strategy is especially important in today's fast changing business world where new ideas are essential and opening new markets must be explored. Unfortunately, many people have a negative reaction to the word "diversity." "Diversity" does not just mean different races.

"Diversity" means:

Different Backgrounds - like race, color, religion, economic status, geography, education, family life, ethnic status, etc. Diverse Lifestyles - like marital status, sexual orientation, those who party and those who do not, hobbies, etc.
Divergent Views - like political affiliation, economic philosophy, social philosophy, area of knowledge, etc.

George Bush is a good counter-example. Almost all his domestic advisors, like Darwin and Brady, had the same views and backgrounds. This lead to a very misguided domestic policy and ultimately to Clinton's election. Bush's inner domestic circle was tight and rigid and excluded people like Jack Kemp who had different and more viable views. In fact, Bush's inner domestic advisors possessed the classic symptoms of "groupthink," where a group comes to a conclusion on a major issue without challenging its assumptions.

This does not mean, however, that diversity should come at the expense of talent or intelligence. On the contrary, diversity should act as a tool to expand knowledge and generate ideas. Both Alexander Hamilton and Thomas Jefferson were very intelligent men and nobody has ever claimed that Washington compromised his cabinet to achieve diversity.

A President of a large corporation, must hire a diverse group of high-level executives to succeed in today's business world.

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CAREER TIP:

How do you know you work too hard?

When you are home and you dial "9" before every phone number.

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THIS WEEK'S LINKS:

* PlanetAll (http://www.planetall.com) -- Contact Managing on the Web
* AppointNet (http://www.appoint.net) -- Cool web calendar
* Drudge Report (http://www.drudgereport.com/) -- will this be the future of news?

SUMMATION