The McKinsey Engagement - Organize

Still reading this book... and come across a section that's about how to ORGANIZE the project:

''At the end of the day, the story is what matters. A lot of work needs to be done behind the scenes in order to craft the story well, but ultimately the most important thing is to come up with a story that the audience can follow and that produces the desired impact/effect.

You can have great ideas and great research to back it up, but if you don't present the story well, it falls flat. We found that by thinking about the story earlier in the process, especially during the Organize phase, our work was both more effective and efficient.

Many times we were tempted to gather data or do some analysis on areas or topics that ultimately were not that important. This becomes clear as you consider where it would fit in terms of the ultimate story and especially in terms of the final presentation.''

你肯唔肯食屎？

Read this article today which is about the attitude of younger generation towards career, quite meaningful:

From Appledaily @ September 26, 2012

成功的廣告人要識「食腦」，但林小琪（Carol）說還要肯「食屎（不錫身）」。林小琪20多年前於中文大學新聞系畢業後，一直在廣告界打滾，過去四年任職上海麥肯光明（McCann）董事總經理，最近成為跨國廣告公司Saatchi& Saatchi（盛世）首位女性南中國區首席創意官兼董事合夥人，對有志入行的年輕人，Carol會問：「你肯唔肯食屎？」雖然過去幾年在上海工作，但Carol一直留意香港新聞，而且曾在中大任兼職講師，經常接觸中港兩地的80、90後。Carol認為兩地新一代都有共通點，就是「講多過做，要求升職加人工就話自己ready，要孭飛又話其實自己唔係咁資深」，尤其香港新一代太「錫身」和受保護。

勿怕孭飛放膽闖蕩

「個個見工都話自己對廣告好有熱誠，但有幾熱誠先？」Carol舉例指，每逢暑假不少人應徵到上海做實習生，香港人知道薪酬是內地水平，熱情瞬間冷卻，有部份則因為沒有親友在上海照顧食宿便打退堂鼓，結果一位上門自薦的鬼仔贏得職位，Carol說：「佢同幾個朋友仔夾錢租又漏水又爛嘅單身宿舍。」近年香港樓價高企，又有雙非和水貨客問題，新一代反地產霸權也反內地人，Carol認同年輕人「係好似冇出路咁，啲嘢又咁貴，又買唔起樓」，認為年輕人沮喪根源來自「冇得發圍」，但正因如此更應拓闊視野，「歐洲經濟差，鬼仔都識得去中國搵機會」。Carol說年輕人要發圍首先要肯「食屎」，打好根基，放膽闖蕩，「唔好做幾年就怨冇得升，半途而廢」。不過，Carol相信每一代人總有精英，例如最近全城反國民教育，Carol便深深被學民思潮黃之鋒打動，令她對新一代充滿信心，因為「有得一個（黃之鋒）就會有好多個」。她指現時內地確實有很多問題，但畢竟是一個充滿發圍機會的戰場，希望年輕人不要「自己封咗自己條路」。

The McKinsey Engagement

I am just reading this book called "The McKinsey Engagement" and come across the Rules of Engagement which is quite interesting:

Generally, high-level roles that people play on teams boil down to two categories: 

Process and Content

Process Roles

 - "Big picture person." This team member focuses on the overall story of the project and the presentation

 - "Deliverables driver." This person keeps track of the time and the status of deliverables.

- "Communicator." This person is the one primary point of contact with clients.

- "Touchy feely." This is the person who continuously checks the morale of the team.

Content Roles

- "Functional expert." People in this role concentrate on strategy, marketing, finance, operations, or some other area

- "Relationship guru." This team member focuses on the relationship with external constituents.

- "Voice of experience." This is someone who has worked on a similar project in the past.

香港，你是中國民主的最後一片淨土

From 張敬軒 :

昨晚，在家看完當日新聞，決定去支持一下在絕食的朋友們，到擺花街7仔買了寶礦力和一箱葡萄適。到了政總，看見他們當中有些朋友還沒有睡，很想過去和之鋒握個手，但他們似乎在開會，所以沒有打擾。我在內地長大，家庭背景可謂根正苗紅。但我慶幸我來到香港工作、生活，然後定居，令我知道民主、自由的可貴。我總在想，中國戰爭年代的開國先驅不就是因為嚮往民主而反抗起義嗎？我們從小學習的歷史課本對始皇帝大興文字獄、焚書坑儒不也是定性為專制殘忍嗎？但那和現在的河蟹政策有甚麼區別？老百姓其實從來不是要革誰的命，只是想保有作為一個人的尊嚴和自由。

「香港，你是中國民主的最後一片淨土，請你堅強，好好保護自己，不讓下一代不明不白地愛國，不要讓告士打道、公主道、太子道數十年後被變成人民路、解放路、和諧路。請你讓自由行永遠名副其實，讓內地旅客來到這裏，領略自由的可貴。今天，黑色代表光明！