Condensed concepts

It is now quite common for university management and funding agencies to run "consultations" where they interact with members of the "community" and "stakeholders". An example, I recently attended at my university was one concerning the university developing a "Mental Health Strategy". Some departments run "retreats" for staff members with similar aims. For reasons I describe below, I think such events vary greatly in their value and effectiveness. I write this because I would like to hear from readers what they think are important ingredients for an effective and meaningful consultation. My interest is partly because my wife and I were asked by a NGO and a philanthropic organisation to facilitate several consultations with a view to future grant-making initiatives. My literature search for "best practises" did not yield much. But here are two resources we did find helpful. How Employees Shaped Strategy at the New Yo

Today the Australian Medical Journal published an article Legal does not mean unaccountable: suing tobacco companies to recover health care costs  Ross MacKenzie, Eric LeGresley and Mike Daube This is getting some press and community attention. For the public record, I am not one of the authors. I am Ross McKenzie. Yesterday, I got an invitation to do an interview with a radio station in New Zealand! Now, I just received the following hate mail. Pity that you don't advocate for the government to recoup alcohol costs from companies, who have caused much more damage to drunks and others, you intellectual pigmy

1. Delegate 2. It can wait. These are also conducive to good mental health. The second is not a mandate for procrastination. Rather it is a mandate to be pro-active rather than reactive, to set and stick to priorities, to not let the squeaky wheel get the most oil, to let people solve their own problems,  .... I often feel pressure to get a long list of things done as soon as possible. This is not good for my stress level and mental health. However, if I can calm down and let things go, and come back to them later, I will have a better sense of perspective. I don't claim to have the best time management. Some earlier thoughts are here.

Different qualities are used to describe and characterise societies: civil, fair, intolerant, racist, corrupt, free,  …. Two big questions are: How does a society make a transition between from a bad quality and a good quality? What kind of initiatives can induce changes? Initiatives can be individual or collective, political or economic, local or national, ... For example, how does reduce corruption, which is endemic in many Majority world countries? Or in the USA, why is public debate losing civility? I think it is helpful to acknowledge the complexity of these issues. They have some similarity to wicked problems . They are problems that involve multiple interactions at multiple scales. Some of these interactions are competing and frustrated (in the spin glass sense!) and initiatives can lead to unintended consequences. Whether you look at societies from a sociological, cultural, geographical, political, or economic perspective they involve multiple scales. For example