A summer afternoon, it was thirty plus degrees after knocking off work late. So it was time to grab a bottle of Leeuwin Estate Riesling and head around for a drink with my old man. Exquisite floral flavours punctuate this wine with citrus overtures of lemon sorbet and lime; despite my general lack of interest in Riesling, I found the wine to be pretty refreshing on a hot February afternoon.

I was actually pretty happy with my choice this afternoon after I thought it could go either way, this is a great bottle of wine and will star in a few more Friday afternoon drinks. So it is with some irony that I find myself purchasing a bottle of Leeuwin Estate Riesling to drink at the club rooms in the middle of winter every fortnight, Riesling is a little too acidic to be drunk without food, as we are inside the stadium in the club rooms, it isn’t too cold, I am just finding it an unusual choice.

I had an amazing girlfriend living in Perth on a short term student visa who had to return to Switzerland for not only Christmas but forever, leaving me hanging in Perth – this was for all intense purposes the end of our oh so short and passionate relationship. Reluctantly, I had been searching music stores for one particular CD; much to chagrin, this CD couldn’t be found anywhere – damn.

So dropping her at Perth International Airport; the check-in line for Singapore Airlines was long, I decided to wander around and burn up some time, this was a fairly miserable day for me; better to be doing something – anything to take my mind off our final farewell. It was a sad day, I understood he need to go home at this time, she needed to get back for Christmas.

Meeting her at the Dome Cafe near the departures entrance, it was a fairly solemn occasion, not many words were exchanged, the mood was somber and body language awkward and subdued. This was the moment I had been dreading; I felt like I was not far away from flicking the switch on the life support system and waiting for the heartbeat to flatline. She reached into her hand luggage and looking away handed me a CD of The Four Seasons by Vanessa Mae, she knows I love the work of Vivaldi and a violin concerto.

I reached around my produced from the back on my pants Dizzy up the Girl by the Goo Goo Dolls, the alternate American rock band I really love. She produced a walkman from her hand luggage, this scene occurred more than a decade ago, so portable CD players were still in vogue. The Goo Goo Dolls are a favourite band of mine, so I was hoping she would like them too.

I told her to select track 11 and immediately Iris sprang to life, in my view the greatest pop song written. This is the point, the cracks in her facade formed, her face started to contort and then the tears suddenly flowed freely. In one last desperate attempt while waiting for her to check-in, I had a look through the music selection alongside Dome Cafe and the album that had eluded me for weeks suddenly materialised. This was the point I knew the relationship would survive, this wasn’t the end, this was the beginning.

She finally departed with a tortured face and beaten demeanor; she still had to leave but now with red eyes, tear tracks etched in her face and a look of total resignation. She told me later the immigration official took one look at her and inquired “why are you leaving?” and between sobs she replied “I don’t know.” I was asking the same question, but needed to respect her decision.

So six weeks later, I am back at Perth International Airport this time full of hope and anticipation. The words of Johnny Rzeznik’s “You’re the closest to heaven that I’ve ever been and I don’t want to go home right now followed by “When everything is made to be broken, I just want you to know who I am” rang true and loud, this was the moment she decided to return, this was the penultimate point in our relationship – this was the rebirth.

Sitting on my deckchair overlooking Kuta Beach at the Jayakarta Bali, I felt the cool breeze on my face punctuated by the rhythmic sounds of rolling surf, this was relaxing – this was living.

The odd motorbike broke the solitude, there wasn’t much traffic then, we were a week or so off the high season, people were still at work and preparing for their Christmas holidays. My holidays started two weeks before Christmas, my roster allowed me to end the year early and I feel fortunate to be in Bali before the rush. My time out the front enjoying the conditions was drawing to a close, dark clouds massed on the horizon, the delicate breeze that was providing me cool relief from the ravages of the tropical sun have substantially increased. 

The perimeter flag cracks from the rapid increase in wind strength, I now no longer have a faint covering of fresh sweat on my body, I could feel the moisture in the air. It was time to move, I didn’t mind walking back I the rain, it is February now and back in the work mode, Perth in summer is hot and dry, my pre-Christmas Bali break is a just distant memory now. Still, sitting on my balcony overlooking the gardens is a fairly decent compromise whilst the rain hangs around. 

A growing trend is the emergence of the corporate university; this strategic tool in organisational learning achieves its goals by fostering individual and organisational learning targeting highly specific outcomes applicable to their particular business.

Known as the Harvard of the fast food business, McDonald’s Illinois based Hamburger University opened in 1961 by McDonalds’ founder Ray Kroc. Training is aligned to specific career paths for outlet staff (I just can’t force myself to use the term restaurant), facility managers, mid-managers and executives. The use of classroom instruction, eLearning, practical activities and goal based scenarios allows flexible modes of delivery receiving college credits from the American Council of Education.

The Caterpillar University, also Illinois based opened in 2001, aligns training for dealers, suppliers and employees targeting the operational areas of safety, operator training and machine service and repair. I know first hand, the quality of their training materials is very high with the obvious specific focus on the Caterpillar range of machinery.

Seeking to increase innovation and productivity, the leader in Six Sigma business productivity utilising eLearning delivery methodology. The Singaporean government increased investment with coaching and mentoring strategies for Six Sigma, lean management and business process re-engineering at the Motorola University.

The growing influence of the corporate university will accelerate; however, the term university seems to be a misdemeanor, these focused learning institutions generally meet the requirements of in-house training in vocational education and training offering training and development opportunities to corporations and their employees boosting productivity.

I’m not sure if the study of business ethics extends to sitting on a Balinese deckchair on a warm tropical afternoon with a cool sea breeze offering relief. After all, the resorts of Bali were built on the exploitation of local the Balinese inhabitants and other Indonesian people – their forced labour has long been forgotten.

Yet, you have to appreciate the flexibility of online education and its effectiveness can\’t be denied. Sure, I still have to sit through recorded video lectures, links to short YouTube videos, read academic presentation notes, Adobe Connect sessions and of course the textbook. The global nature of business ethics is reflected in the textbook, Business Ethics: Managing Corporate Citizenship and Sustainability in the Age of Globalization from Oxford University Press.

There is still academic papers to be written, joining online discussion tutorials, a number of short online tests and a two and a quarter hour written examination at the end. But with a half decent internet connection, most coursework is performed on my tablet. The best part is, this and other courses are offered on-campus full-time, part-time or off-campus and we just watch and listen to recordings of the actual lecture.

With the exception of the written examination where I actually have to show up at on-campus or a designated examination centre, ironically at my college of employment, all coursework is done off-campus. As long as you learn the concepts, why burn up your time in lecture halls forgoing fulltime employment income when you learn the concepts and then apply the principles in the workplace the next day. I’m taking a short break to write this blog post, oh well back to the textbook and time to distinguish the difference between egoism and utiltarianism.

You are only a dive instructor when you are instructing, other duties in a dive business may include working as a divemaster, dive guide, boat skipper or behind the counter but you are only an instructor when you are instructing.

Naturally, it is a more efficient use of resources to have dive instructors performing those roles, as a dive centre manager, you have the ability to engage in job rotation to prevent people burning out. If this principle applies to dive centre staff, it certainly applies to customers. So why is it when divers show up at a dive centre as paying customers they need to let all and sundry know they are dive instructors? At this point they are paying customers. I never gave discounts to instructors who dived with us, why would anyone?

You are not getting paid so you are neither a dive master nor instructor at this stage. Would you let this person skipper the boat – not likely? Imagine the problems that would arise if an accident occurred, even though you have signed a liability release and possibly code of practice – the dive centre is liable.

When you show your rescue diver card, it tells the facility that you have done an AOW course, now you are not depth limited to 18 metres and you are capable of self rescue, now they should leave you alone to a degree. Any competent staff can work out your actual diving ability by the way you prepare, gear up and enter the water – that’s all you need.

When they ask about deepest dive during sign in, it is 40 metres as a PADI rescue diver, you have done 100+ dives and your last dive was you actual last dive, you have been honest and have not overstated your experience or ability. If they are not paying you to instruct, then you are not an instructor for this facility – it’s as easy as that.

What a great game, the momentum changes, twists and turns and the pressure. The final for BBL04 was an absolute cracker, I was jumping around all excited – the game came down to the last over, what looked unlosable for the Perth Scorchers was now looking decidedly shaky.

Brett Lee was handed the pill for the last over, eight runs required from 6 balls didn’t look a tall order – or so most people thought. In his last over in professional cricket, this wasn’t an easy task. With three balls to go and one run required, the result looked certain, get bat on ball because at Lee\’s pace the ball could end up anywhere. They could even scamper a run on a miss as the wicket keeper is so far back.

The third last ball of the game smashed the stumps out of the ground, new batsmen in and no cross, imported specialist batsman Michael Carberry was purely an onlooker stuck at the non-striker’s end. The second last ball of the game, once again, Lee bowls fast and true and the stumps are shattered, another wicket falls and Lee is on a hat-trick for his last ball of professional cricket. Another wicket would force the game into a super over and Sydney has the chance to win, a run and Perth Scorchers win.

So the final is all set for the last ball of the game, Yasir Arafat makes his way to the crease – he is not a noted batsman and has to only face one ball – the last ball. Lee bowls well, Arafat makes contact and the ball races straight to a fieldsman – they run. As the ball is fielded and returned to the non-striker’s end, Arafat will be well short and run out. The throw is true and with one bounce makes its way into the hands of the fieldsman ready to break the stumps.

The ball is fumbled by Moises Henriques, the ball breaks free of Henriques’ hands as he breaks the stumps, Arafat makes his ground, Lee drops to one knee clutching his head and the Perth Scorchers are BBL champions for 2014/15. This was an amazing finish to Lee’s professional cricketing career and the series, this was an exciting game of cricket – fitting for a final.

My whole working life is based on schedules; I wear a watch at work, at home, when diving, sailing, in the shower and even in bed.

So my decision to head on my pre-Christmas holidays and intentionally leave my watch at home is proving to be more difficult than expected. I am used to the weight of the watch on my wrist, I always select a timepiece with a metal band, so I carry a little weight on my wrist. My wrist is bare without my watch, I frequently refer to the time throughout the day, whilst it was a purposeful decision to leave my watch at home, I won’t be making this mistake again.

Why does the top talent leave an organisation yet the non-performers remain in their jobs? Even worse, the poor performers are then promoted to the vacated positions when the talented employees leave. When conducting exit interviews; a lack of vision, poor organisational culture or ineffective management is cited but not usually enacted upon – but why? 

First and foremost is poor leadership in an organisation; a lack of confidence and loss of trust in senior managers failing to provide a clear vision and implementation of strategic plans risk alienation of talented individuals who know their skills and abilities are in demand. Naturally narcissistic and unethical managers quickly force employees who have current marketable knowledge to seek new employment opportunities.

Non-existent performance management hurts everybody; overly negative feedback and a lack of coaching generate a poor corporate culture. Poor managers ignore top performers; they view low maintenance employees as easy to manage citing the Pareto principle as gospel, they believe they can set them loose and just forget about them. As high performing people appear to be self-reliant; they still require feedback and support.

Effective communication is undoubtedly important – competent leaders ask rather than tell, they listen, provide timely feedback and encourage open discussion. Naturally, strong interpersonal skills are required. Competent leaders connect through rapport, adaptable management styles, behavioral flexibility and empathy. High performing managers need to demonstrate their trust and confidence in the workforce by delegating and not micromanaging.

Competent leaders embody strong organisational culture and values – they live and breathe personal ethics. They create strong employee engagement and loyalty. Competent leaders recognise, reward and empower staff; they understand and encourage aspirations, motivators and values that drives productivity and increases profitability. Competent leaders develop team building with the right people performing right roles with clear succession planning fully promoting people-focused principles driving the business creating improved company performance and results.

However, a lack of personal growth and advancement opportunities surely the raise ire of high performing team members; top-flight employees need and want personal growth opportunities. Research tells us developmental opportunities rate higher than remuneration, high performers seek new opportunities when they are not challenged; managers need to take development seriously.

Having been accepted into the Torrens University MBA program, it all starts this week; either the two most exciting years of my life or the two worst years of my life ahead – I guess I’ll find out soon. Starting with two units in trimester one, Accounting for Leaders & Economic Principles and Decision Making; it isn’t going to be easy. I have decided to kick off with what I perceive to be the most difficult units, so as I edge closer to the completion date, it should begin to get easier.

As I had previously completed Contemporary Management & Leading and Managing Teams and Dynamic Leadership; I was granted advanced standing on three units – that not only saves money, it saves time and effort. As a capstone project looms right at the end, life is going to get pretty tough so I thought better to start with difficult subjects and progressively lighten the load until the capstone project begins – I’m regretting this already.