E-learning Curve Blog at Edublogs » economic downturn

Job-Hunting Tips for Recessionistas: Benefits of Learning Programs in a Depressed Economy

Michael Hanley — Fri, 29 May 2009 12:24:00 +0000

We’ve been doing a lot of good work on Instructional Design over the last week, so I think you deserve a break. Today I’m going to consider the wider implications of the benefits of learning and professional development in the current global economic environment.

Now read on…

Job seekers take heart! In the current financial maelstrom, you may suddenly find yourself unemployed, laid off, or downsized, with too much month at end of the money. Well, a report from the Harvard Business Review will bolster your confidence as you search for that all-too-elusive new role. So, especially you executives, take this time to retrain, build your skills, and take advantage of the excellent career development and e-learning programs that have emerged over the last decade or so.

No.

Actually: that’s wrong: it seems that you won’t be getting the keys to the executive restroom unless you’re a member of the correct ‘old school tie’ network, the right golf club, or can give the interview panel a "positive gut feeling" – whatever that is – in your single, not-very-rigorous meeting with your interrogators. That’s if a C-level exec bothers to attend your interview at all.

According to HBR,

…only half of those recruited for the top three tiers of management [in Fortune 500 companies] were interviewed by anyone in the C-suite. And fully half the companies relied primarily on the hiring manager’s gut feel, selecting a candidate believed to have ‘what it took’ to be successful in any job.

When the publication surveyed fifty CEOs of global companies, along with a pool of executive search consultants who work with about 500 organizations, they found hiring practices to be “disturbingly vague:” respondents relied heavily on subjective personal preferences or on largely unquestioned organizational traditions, often based on false assumptions.

Sir Fred Goodwin, ex-CEO, Royal Bank of Scotland: did he have “what it takes?” [Image courtesy The Guardian]

Even better news for jobseekers: the evidence of the survey indicates that regardless of a candidate’s suitability for the role, their professional experiences, and their range of competencies, the executives surveyed held

…widely differing views regarding the desirable attributes of new hires. They emphatically disagreed on whether it was best to hire insiders or outsiders, on who should be involved in the recruiting process, on what assessment tools were most suitable, and on what the keys were to successful hiring and retention.

Little surprise then that about a third of promising new hires leave an organization within three years of being recruited.

The HBR admitted to being "stunned" that many CEOs are ignorant of their company’s own demographic projections mandating hiring to replace soon-to-be-retiring managers; "even those who recognize the looming shortage of talent are ill-prepared to fill it."

However, don’t despair: I’m pleased to say these redoubtable captains of industry, the self-styled masters of the universe who got our economy into this whole mess are maintaining their impeccable record of due diligence, risk assessment, and forward planning, and can’t be accused of continuing to behave like the greedy, short-sighted, self-serving parasites they’ve proved to be in the past. Could anyone really agree with a shareholder who said of the board of one of the Irish banks:

If we didn’t live in a tolerant society, the chairman and the rest of the board would be hanging by their necks by piano wire.

Now – that’s wrong too.

In a recent blog post, I discussed some of the implications and consequences of the ‘PlayStation Generation’ entering the workforce; the HBR report supports the view that if the world’s ‘top’ organizations can’t even establish a process for on-boarding employees in the present, we ordinary working Joe’s and Josephine’s are all pretty much up the Swanee if we rely upon them to hire – and perform – effectively in times to come.

The famous Suwannee River, Florida. What we are up.

The Review published a very useful seven-step guide outlining the phases of a properly-structured interview process (see Figure 1).

Don’t forget, that these fine fellows – for it is mostly men – are all looking for gainful employment too, since they have all resigned their positions in ignominy, if not shame (most of them don’t seem to understand shame). Perhaps they can take advantage of this comprehensive process too:

Figure 1. Hiring Executives Process Guide (after Harvard Business Review, 2009)

Look and learn.

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References:

Fernández-Aráoz., Groysberg, B., Nohria, N. (2009). The Definitive Guide to Recruiting in Good Times and Bad. Harvard Business Review [Internet] Available from: http://hbr.harvardbusiness.org/2009/05/the-definitive-guide-to-recruiting-in-good-times-and-bad/ar/1?cm_mmc=npv-_-DAILY_STAT-_-MAY_2009-_-STAT0519 Accessed 19 May 2009

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E-Learning and Depression 2.0 Revisited

Michael Hanley — Thu, 29 Jan 2009 17:11:00 +0000

Prologue: Today’s post was meant to be a short piece about how the e-learning industry is faring in current market conditions, but as I carried out my research for the article, something a little more worrying emerged from the source information.

Now read on…

About a year ago, I began commenting on the affects of the current financial crisis on the e- learning industry; it’s been a while, so I guess that it’s about time I revisited the subject. In my post Recession and the Challenge to E-Learning in February 2008 I remarked that:

Historically, when a slowdown or organization rationalization occurs, the first against the wall are the folks in the PR, marketing, and training departments. Typically, individuals and organizations revert to previously-learned behaviors in tough times; this usually means going through the process of carrying out tried-and-tested, though not necessarily logical responses to the problems put in front of them. Outcome: tea and sympathetic chat, and the Training team get their pink slips / P45s. …I reckon that this will be strategy undertaken by a significant number of organizations over the next year or so.

Sadly, it seems that my prediction was correct.

According to a recent Expertus/Training Industry, Inc. report: for 2009 over twice as many training professionals who responded to their survey said that they expected budget decreases rather than increases. Forty-eight percent expect their budgets to decrease in 2009, up from 41% in 2008. Less than one-fifth expect their budgets to increase in 2009, down from 31% in 2008. Similarly, since 2008 budgets were first approved, far more saw decreases (38%) than increases (11%) in funding and capital.

These data are reinforced by the findings of a 2009 Bersin & Associates study: B&A’s Karen O’Leonard indicated that the U.S. corporate training market shrank from $58.5 billion in 2007 to $56.2 billion in 2008, the greatest decline in revenue in over a decade.

In a 23 January 2009 press release, Josh Bersin himself stated that

…to reduce costs, companies are switching from e-learning [my italics] to coaching, collaboration and on-the-job training methods

The press release also states:

Today’s business world demands a combination of formal and informal learning with an emphasis on collaboration, knowledge sharing, social networking, coaching, and mentoring. While formal, instructor-led training is not going away, it is becoming a smaller and smaller percentage of training budgets.

This shift in organizations’ thinking and strategy merits discussion in it’s own right, so I will return to the topic once I have given it more consideration.

However, I have to say that I’m not encouraged by the inaccurate terminology Mr. Bersin used in the press release: I want to know – how do Bersin & Associates define ‘e-learning’? Based upon the above statement, collaboration and knowledge-sharing in particular, but also mentoring, coaching, and OTJ training are not categories of e-learning.

I’m sure you have your own favorite definition of e-learning – I’ve included mine below – but regardless of how you define it, you are in the e-learning domain if the learning materials are

networked
delivered to end-users via a computer using standard internet technology
focused on the broadest view of learning

By e-learning, Bersin & Associates of course mean “e-training” – those superannuated, expensive page-turner style self-paced courseware libraries provided by vendors like SmartForce and HMH. You may argue that I am merely fussing over semantics, and that such terminology is unimportant. Tomayto / tomahto.

When questions are investigated using quantitative analysis, the Scientific Method is being used. Contingent with that is a healthy skepticism of the assumptions and conclusions made by the investigator. This is the essence of progress, acquiring new knowledge, or correcting and integrating previous knowledge. To be termed scientific, a method of inquiry must be based on gathering observable, empirical and measurable evidence subject to specific principles of reasoning and criticism.

In this context I would assert that precise categorization of terms is an essential part of communicating meaning accurately. If you consider that e-learning is

The continuous assimilation of knowledge and skills by adults stimulated by synchronous and asynchronous learning events – and sometimes knowledge management outputs – which are authored, delivered engaged with, supported and administered using internet technologies,

(Morrison, D. 2004, p.4)

then we must say that the Bersin statement contradicts itself.

Based upon the Bersin & Associates data (see Table 1), what seems to be occurring is a contraction in the use by organizations of one e-learning modality (the self-paced page-turner – in a sense the methodology most aligned with traditional instructor-led workplace learning), and the growth or expansion of a range of other modalities of e-learning, based upon non-formal and informal structures, Web 2.0 principles, and the removal of intermediaries in the workplace learning & development supply chain.

Table 1 Distribution of training categories (after Bersin & Associates, 2009)

More…
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References:

Bersin & Associates (2009) 2009 Corporate Learning Factbook Reveals 11% Decline in Corporate Training Spending [Internet] Available from: http://www.bersin.com/News/Content.aspx?id=8438 Accessed 24 January 2009

Expertus (2008) Measuring Learning as Budgets Tighten [Internet] Available from: http://www.trainingefficiency.com/system/files/Survey+Results_Learning+Measurement_+Expertus_Nov08.pdf Accessed 12 January 2009

Frauenheim, E. (2009) Training Is Taking a Beating in Recession, Studies Find Workforce Management. [Internet] Available from: http://www.workforce.com/section/00/article/26/12/95.php Accessed 23 January 2009

Morrison, D. (2004) E-Learning Strategies: how to get implementation and delivery right first time Chichester: John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Economic downturn – a Systems Interpretation?

Michael Hanley — Mon, 15 Dec 2008 15:32:00 +0000

Sadly, I don’t have much time to blog this week, as I’m facilitating a symposium later in the week. I’ll talk more about the event in the future, but today I just want to point you towards Donald ‘Plan B’ Clark’s article concerning the role of leadership training in our current economic troubles. Real soul food for thought, in my view.

The author discusses how

the cult of ‘leadership’ contributed to megalomaniac behaviour that ultimately led to the financial crisis… All of this leadership lark is quite recent. For years we got by with management training, good old sensible stuff about being nice, clear and organised. Then, around the Millennium, the training world went all evangelical about ‘Leadership’.
Now the last thing you want to do with a bloated ego is feed it a diet of hubris. These guys […] think they’re omniscient and omnipotent.

Mr. Clark provides a well-structured, comprehensive, and frequently hilarious analysis of the snake oil of “leadership” and those who subscribe to it.

While I don’t have time to discuss this in more detail, think about the subject in the context of Peter Senge’s notion of learning organisations and systems thinking.

_______________

References:

Clark, D. (2008) Leadership training – cause of credit crunch? [Internet] Available from: http://donaldclarkplanb.blogspot.com/2008/11/leadership-training-cause-of-credit.html Accessed 12 December 2008

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Recession, the challenge to e-learning, and HMH in Ireland

Michael Hanley — Mon, 15 Sep 2008 11:45:00 +0000

I’ll start this post by issuing a mixed metaphor alert: today, we’re going to talk about an elephant in the room, which also happens to be an 800lb gorilla.

Intrigued? Now read on…

Back in February this year, I wrote the first of my occasional series on Recession and the challenge to e-learning; in that first piece, I concluded by suggesting that

in the era of $100 a barrel oil and the value of virtual classrooms; the ROI of e-learning as opposed to traditional methods; even the impact of traditional ways of teaching on the environment (”e-learning” becomes “eco-learning” anyone?).

Based on an announcement made last Thursday 10th September 2008, I can now assert that we are beginning to see that there is validity in this conclusion. Based on the level of investment one e-learning enterprise has committed to developing the industry in the medium- to long term, the market in now in a place to support the proposition that the ROI on e-learning makes sense, and generates profit.

E-learning giant Houghton Mifflin Harcourt (HMH) – formerly known as Riverdeep – is to create 450 jobs at a new R&D headquarters in Dublin. Riverdeep had its origins in Dublin in 1995 and under the leadership of Barry O’Callaghan became a global name in the e-learning K-12 market space. As an educational publisher, HMH has over 100,000 customers, generating approximately US$2.5bn in annual revenues, profits in the region of US$1bn, and 50 per cent market share of the US K-12 market, the world’s largest education market.

HMH is to establish its global e-learning R&D centre in the greater Dublin area, creating 450 “high-value” jobs over the next five years.

Fiona O’Carroll, senior vice-president, Digital Products R&D at HMH confirmed the Irish Government’s vision to create a knowledge economy by investing in people, research and innovation was a key factor in the company’s decision.

The new R&D centre will be a focal point for e-learning and educational innovation. Employees, partner companies and collaborating universities will be attracted by the quality of research, people, innovation and commercialisation activity in the centre.

The Centre will involve establishing a globally networked team in Ireland with team members and innovation partners based in the US and around the globe. The company said these jobs should be very attractive to seasoned technology professionals, engineering and technology graduates, highly creative thinkers and innovators in the e-learning space.

As I’ve said in the past, Ireland has a vibrant technology and knowledge-based industrial economy, and one of the domains we excel in, is in e-learning – I guess most people in the industry have heard of SmartForce and Electric Paper, for example. These large companies notwithstanding, there are over fifty ‘other’ e-learning development houses in the country. Not bad for a country with a population of under 5 million people.

In my view, this investment will prove to be a game-changer. As it is, you could say that HMH are the only game in (e-learning) town – if they manage the innovations and outputs afforded by this R&D centre correctly, HMH will grow to become the Google of e-learning. Indeed, the Google approach (especially the famed “20 per cent time”) is a perfect model for any knowledge-based organization that wants to stimulate growth through innovative new products invented and developed by their own subject matter experts. Similarly, this R&D centre will provide the organization with the potential benefits of having an audience for life: if HMH products have the skill and facility to instil the joy of learning in the kids that they currently provide e-learning solutions for, they will have an audience for life, given that these Digital Natives (click on the link for Marc Prensky’s seminal article) will grow up associating the brand with discovering knowledge and the fun of learning. In essence, we can say that the company has the potential to mould a whole generation of learners, which is an extraordinary business opportunity, but also a huge responsibility.

Do I now hear the distant trumpet of an approaching elephant?

I do…

Just an observation really. Rumours of this investment have on the jungle telegraph here in Ireland for some time now, and I was originally going to post on this topic last Thursday (the day of the announcement).

An African elephant (sans room)

I held back, because I wanted to see what reaction would come for the Irish L&D and e-learning blogosphere. I’m disappointed to say that no-one has posted a reaction to the largest investment in their industry, ever.

I’m sure people are still formulating their thoughts – I for one want to read how others in the e-learning industry here in Ireland are responding to this investment.

_____________

References:

HMH to Create 450 Jobs and Base Global R&D Headquarters in Dublin. Enterprise Ireland Press Release. [Internet] Available from: http://www.enterprise-ireland.com/eicms/interiorpage.aspx?NRMODE=Published&NRORIGINALURL=%2FNews%2FPress%2BReleases%2F2008%2FPressSep102008.htm&NRNODEGUID={077DB63F-4925-4D96-BEB3-364BF11C8EB1}&NRCACHEHINT=Guest

[Accessed 10th September 2008]

Ireland wins €350m HMH deal after tough worldwide battle. Irish Independent. [Internet] Available from: http://www.independent.ie/business/irish/ireland-wins-8364350m-hmh-deal–after-tough-worldwide-battle-1473370.html

[Accessed 10th September 2008]

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Recession, the challenge to e-learning, and HMH in Ireland

Michael Hanley — Mon, 15 Sep 2008 11:45:00 +0000

I’ll start this post by issuing a mixed metaphor alert: today, we’re going to talk about an elephant in the room, which also happens to be an 800lb gorilla.

Intrigued? Now read on…

Back in February this year, I wrote the first of my occasional series on Recession and the challenge to e-learning; in that first piece, I concluded by suggesting that

in the era of $100 a barrel oil and the value of virtual classrooms; the ROI of e-learning as opposed to traditional methods; even the impact of traditional ways of teaching on the environment (”e-learning” becomes “eco-learning” anyone?).

HMH is to establish its global e-learning R&D centre in the greater Dublin area, creating 450 “high-value” jobs over the next five years.

The new R&D centre will be a focal point for e-learning and educational innovation. Employees, partner companies and collaborating universities will be attracted by the quality of research, people, innovation and commercialisation activity in the centre.

Do I now hear the distant trumpet of an approaching elephant?

I do…

An African elephant (sans room)

I’m sure people are still formulating their thoughts – I for one want to read how others in the e-learning industry here in Ireland are responding to this investment.

_____________

References:

[Accessed 10th September 2008]

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The Half-Life of the Knowledge Worker

Michael Hanley — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 12:29:00 +0000

If you don’t like change, you’re going to like irrelevance even less.

Gen. Eric Shinseki

The US and EuroZone economies are in recession, China is ascendant, Russia is asserting it’s regional dominance, all the knowledge jobs are going to India, and it hasn’t stopped raining for two weeks.

As you know if you’re a regular reader of The E-Learning Curve Blog, I occasionally reflect on e-learning, the economy, and the effect that the one has on the other.

This time I have decided to discuss the emergence and current role of knowledge workers, how this role is changing, and will come to propose a definition for a new type of worker that seems to emerging, particularly in the traditional home of knowledge work, North America and Europe.

Now read on…

In 1959 Peter Drucker coined the term “knowledge worker” to describe

one who works primarily with information or one who develops and uses knowledge in the workplace. It is performed by subject-matter specialists in all areas of an organisation;

(1973, p.839)

their tools are the knowledge assets they use in an organisation. Knowledge workers are characterised by a number of traits, among them the ability to extract and synthesize key information to enhance innovation and productivity.

It is “generally accepted” (Drucker, 2006, p.165) that the knowledge workers’ expertise in their role is the starting point for enhancing productivity, quality and performance. If knowledge workers are to continue contributing to an organisation and the economy at large, their knowledge must remain up-to-date. Ongoing training and continuous learning must accompany gains in performance; “the greatest benefit of training comes not from learning something new but from doing better what we already do well” (2006, p.165).

Three years later, Fritz Machlup published The Production and Distribution of Knowledge in the United States. In concert with Drucker’s work, we can say that the early 1960’s marked the beginning of the study of the post-industrial information society. Machlup coined the phrase “knowledge economy” to include everything from stationery and typewriters, advertising, and presidential addresses – in fact, anything that involved the activity of telling anyone anything – to evaluate the use of knowledge technologies to produce economic benefits.

The transformation to a knowledge economy continued throughout the rest of the 20th century, especially following the invention and growth of the Internet.

Especially in the wake of the invention and growth of the Internet, we can say that today’s global economy is characterized as being in transition to a knowledge economy, and an extension of what we can call an information society. This transition requires that the rules and practices that determined success in the industrial economy need to be rewritten in an interconnected, globalized economy where knowledge resources such as know-how, expertise, and intellectual property are more critical than other economic resources such as land, natural resources, and even manpower. According to analysts of the knowledge economy, these rules need to be re-factored at the levels of companies, organizations, and industries in the context of managing knowledge and (possibly more imperatively) at the level of government- or public policy.

Due to the increasingly technological nature of industrial growth and the emergence of globalization as a influencing factor on the world economy of the last 60 years, there is an ongoing and increasing requirement for an academically capable workforce. As a result, knowledge workers are now estimated to outnumber all other workers in North America by at least four-to-one (Haag et al, 2006, pg. 4).

…and at this point I will conclude for today, as this is a blog post, not an essay and I’m sure, dear reader, that you have other things to be getting on with. In tomorrow’s post, I will continue to develop the concept of the half-life of the knowledge worker and begin to look at how the Asian Tigers have superceded the advanced industrial nations of the 20th century.

In the meantime, as I started today’s piece with a quote, I think that for the sake of symmetry I should conclude this article with another excerpt:

Turning and turning in the widening gyre
The falcon cannot hear the falconer;
Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;

W.B. Yeats The Second Coming

___________

References:

Drucker, P. F. (1973) Management: Tasks, Responsibilities, Practices. New York, Harper & Row

Drucker, P. F. (2006) Classic Drucker. Boston, MA. Harvard Business School Publishing Corporation

Haag, S. Cummings, M. McCubbrey, D. Pinsonneault, A. & Donovan, R. (2006) Management Information Systems For the Information Age (3rd Ed.). London, McGraw-Hill Education

Machlup, F. (1962) The Production and Distribution of Knowledge in the United States. Princeton University Press

Yeats, W. B. (1920) The Second Coming. The Norton Anthology of English Literature, 8th Edition. W. W. Norton & Co.

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The Half-Life of the Knowledge Worker

Michael Hanley — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 12:29:00 +0000

If you don’t like change, you’re going to like irrelevance even less.

Gen. Eric Shinseki

As you know if you’re a regular reader of The E-Learning Curve Blog, I occasionally reflect on e-learning, the economy, and the effect that the one has on the other.

Now read on…

In 1959 Peter Drucker coined the term “knowledge worker” to describe

one who works primarily with information or one who develops and uses knowledge in the workplace. It is performed by subject-matter specialists in all areas of an organisation;

(1973, p.839)

The transformation to a knowledge economy continued throughout the rest of the 20th century, especially following the invention and growth of the Internet.

Especially in the wake of the invention and growth of the Internet, we can say that today’s global economy as one in transition to a knowledge economy, as an extension of an information society. This transition requires that the rules and practices that determined success in the industrial economy need to be rewritten in an interconnected, globalized economy where knowledge resources such as know-how, expertise, and intellectual property are more critical than other economic resources such as land, natural resources, and even manpower. According to analysts of the knowledge economy, these rules need to be re-factored at the levels of companies, organizations, and industries in the context of managing knowledge and (possibly more imperatively) at the level of government- or public policy.

In the meantime, as I started today’s piece with a quote, I think that for the sake of symmetry I should conclude this article with another excerpt:

Turning and turning in the widening gyre
The falcon cannot hear the falconer;
Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;

W.B. Yeats The Second Coming

___________

References:

Drucker, P. F. (1973) Management: Tasks, Responsibilities, Practices. New York, Harper & Row

Drucker, P. F. (2006) Classic Drucker. Boston, MA. Harvard Business School Publishing Corporation

Haag, S. Cummings, M. McCubbrey, D. Pinsonneault, A. & Donovan, R. (2006) Management Information Systems For the Information Age (3rd Ed.). London, McGraw-Hill Education

Machlup, F. (1962) The Production and Distribution of Knowledge in the United States. Princeton University Press

Yeats, W. B. (1920) The Second Coming. The Norton Anthology of English Literature, 8th Edition. W. W. Norton & Co.

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E-Learning and the Economic Downturn: A Salutary Excursus

Michael Hanley — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 16:10:00 +0000

And Lo! it came to pass that a friend of mine who would describe herself as a training practitioner based out of Hartford, CT. found herself bereft of employment, for the economic downturn that is called Recession was cast upon the land, and the days were dark.

Straitly was she in need of employment, forasmuch as without an income, the door of her house would be riven and the walls of her home would fall down flat, and the silver, and the gold, and the vessels of brass and of iron, they would take from the treasury of the house.

And it came to be that by the power of the mighty word processor and the e-mail, posted she her résumé unto many an organization, including unto those that call themselves Financial Institutions.

And so it was that with mighty trumpets the Tribe of Human Resources responded to her. And they declared unto her that without a special power called “financial experience” she was as a beggar cast into the night, and they smote her down into the good earth with the jawbone of the Ox .

And she was afraid.

And so it was that she said this tale unto me, and she beseeched unto me “What is this Financial Experience in Fund Management that they speak of?”

And I said unto her:

“Verily, fear not these Children of the Almighty Dollar!

For it has come to pass that they are responsible for many a woe among the people, including the fearsome Enron Scandal, and the lending of the silver and the gold in the Sub-Prime Sector, and the Dealing upon the Inside, and the Credit Crunch, and Bear Stearns and Northern Rock shall be as naught. The Prince of Citigroup and the chief of the tribe of Merrill Lynch will rightly fall upon their swords, and they will be mocked when they speak of Golden Parachutes, for they spoke not of fiscal rectitude, and the Walls of The Street did tremble.

Believe ye in the power of Education and Technology, and the Learning that is called ‘E’!

For in days to come, the Children of the Almighty Dollar will see that they too are mere knowledge workers, like unto all others in different sectors of the economy.

I say unto thee, they will cry across the land:

“Oh woe are we who were blind! We could not see that learning and development skills are cross-discipline! And frankly we could have done with a bit of expertise from outside the narrow confines of the financial world considering the fix we’re in! We thought ourselves as blessèd among ordinary knowledge workers, with skills in software and pharmaceuticals and such.

Oh! Vanity! Pride! In our ignorance of the meaning of the global economy we have been led astray from the path of righteousness!”

For during the Boom Years they did utter nonsense and PR, and the diviners they call stockbrokers saw lies; the analysts told false dreams, and gave empty consolation.

Therefore the People of Finance wander like sheep; they are afflicted for want of a shepherd. Go unto them with thine expertise in workplace learning and say unto them “WISDOM AND KNOWLEDGE SHALL BE THE STABILITY OF THY TIMES!”

And nail ye them to the wall with high Per Diem consultancy rates, for revenge is sweet.

Here Endeth The Lesson.

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E-Learning and the Economic Downturn: A Salutary Lesson

Michael Hanley — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 16:10:00 +0000

And she was afraid.

And so it was that she said this tale unto me, and she beseeched unto me “What is this Financial Experience in Fund Management that they speak of?”

And I said unto her:

“Verily, fear not these Children of the Almighty Dollar!

Believe ye in the power of Education and Technology, and the Learning that is called ‘E’!

For in days to come, the Children of the Almighty Dollar will see that they too are mere knowledge workers, like unto all others in different sectors of the economy.

I say unto thee, they will cry across the land:

Oh! Vanity! Pride! In our ignorance of the meaning of the global economy we have been led astray from the path of righteousness!”

For during the Boom Years they did utter nonsense and PR, and the diviners they call stockbrokers saw lies; the analysts told false dreams, and gave empty consolation.

And nail ye them to the wall with high Per Diem consultancy rates, for revenge is sweet.

Here Endeth The Lesson.

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E-Learning and the Economic Downturn: A Salutary Excursus

Michael Hanley — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 16:10:00 +0000

And she was afraid.

And so it was that she said this tale unto me, and she beseeched unto me “What is this Financial Experience in Fund Management that they speak of?”

And I said unto her:

“Verily, fear not these Children of the Almighty Dollar!

For it has come to pass that they are responsible for many a woe among the people, including the fearsome Enron Scandal, and the lending of the silver and the gold in the Sub-Prime Sector, and the Dealing upon the Inside, and the Credit Crunch, and Bear Stearns and Northern Rock shall be as naught. The chiefs of the tribes of Merrill Lynch and Citigroup will rightly fall upon their swords, and they will be mocked when they speak of Golden Parachutes, for they spoke not of fiscal rectitude, and the Walls of The Street did tremble.

There will be the taking away of the honey and the wheat and the barley, and the oxen, and the axe and the plough that is called Repossession. For they that giveth, also they taketh away.

Believe ye in the power of Education and Technology, and the Learning that is called ‘E’!

For in days to come, the Children of the Almighty Dollar will see that they too are mere knowledge workers, unto like all others in different sectors of the economy.

I say unto thee, they will cry across the land:

“Oh woe are we who were blind! We could not see that learning and development skills are cross-discipline! And frankly we could have done with a bit of expertise from outside the narrow confines of the financial world! We thought ourselves as blessèd among ordinary knowledge workers, with skills in software and pharmaceuticals and such.

Oh! Vanity! Pride! In our ignorance of the meaning of the global economy we have been led astray from the path of righteousness!”

For during the Boom Years they did utter nonsense and PR, and the diviners they call stockbrokers saw lies; the analysts told false dreams, and gave empty consolation.

And nail ye them to the wall with high Per Diem consultancy rates, for revenge is sweet.

Here Endeth The Lesson.

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