2011 – Wine Review – Top 20 and One

In 2011 I have had the pleasure of enjoying some great bottles of wine. Below are my top 20 (and 1). While it is hard, if not, impossible to rank these bottles. I would have to say the top 10 (and 1) were:

  • 1979 Château Pouget, France, Bordeaux, Médoc, Margaux
  • 1979 Chanson Père et Fils Bonnes Mares Grand Cru
  • 1982 Château du Tertre, France, Bordeaux, Médoc, Margaux
  • 1992 Opus One, Napa, California
  • 1990 Carpineto Vino Nobile di Montepulciano Riserva
  • 1995 Château Léoville Barton, France, Bordeaux, Médoc, St. Julien
  • 1996 Rocche dei Manzoni Barolo Vigna Cappella di Santo Stefano
  • 1997 Vietti Barolo Villero Riserva
  • 1999 Vega Sicilia Unico
  • 2001 Paolo Scavino Barolo Bric del Fiasc
  • 2005 Tenuta Dell'Ornellaia Bolgheri Superiore Ornellaia

Wrap-Up – First Semester as Director of the Metropolitan Institute

I have wrapped up my first semester as the Director of the Metropolitan Institute at Virginia Tech. See here for my report on the major accomplishments from the first semester. It has been a busy four months, a lot has been accomplished, but a lot more work lies ahead of us. For now, I will enjoy some time to relax, recoup, and re-energize for 2012.

Reflecting on a Career – A Manager of Managers

Playing football has taught me a lot beyond the pitch. It has provided me a framework by which to assemble a team, lead a group of players, deal with adversity, and win. Sir Alex Ferguson, in particular, is a manager, leader, coach, and visionary who inspires my approach to building organizations. He recently completed 25 years at Manchester United and has won more than 30 trophies during this period.

Yes, like all great leaders, Sir Alex Ferguson has been known to have a controversial (unique) style of leadership and management. But where others find controversies, I see the brilliance of his approach.

Reflecting on Questions: Are you a Professional?

As the year wraps up, I have been taking time to relax, reflect, and plan for 2012. I have been always intrigued by the questions we ask ourselves when we reflect. Questions, and our ability to engaging in the questioning process, both introspectively and with others, is critical for the development of our cognitive, emotional, and spiritual capacities.

Investigative Journalism

Over the next few months, I will be working with a team of researchers, graduate students, and practitioners to study the resiliency of local networks to crises (and catastrophic disasters) using a journalistic lens. Through interviewing subjects, we hope to collect a series of videos that can be used for traditional research analysis, but can also make for interesting teaching material, weblogs, etc.

Research Award by the Faculty of Economics, University of Ljubljana

Faculty of EconomicsUniversity of Ljubljana awarded my co-authored paper the runner-up prize for the the best scientific journal article at the annual research achievements event. The paper is co-authored with Miha Škerlavaj(University of Ljubljana) and Vlado Dimovski (University of Ljubljana) and examines network-based learning in organizations.  I hold a visiting professorship at the University of Ljubljana.

Škerlavaj, M., Dimovski, V., & Desouza, K.C. (2010): Patterns and Structures of Intra-Organizational Learning Networks Within a Knowledge-Intensive Organization, Journal of Information Technology, 25(2):189-204.

This paper employs the network perspective to study patterns and structures of intra-organizational learning networks. The theoretical background draws from cognitive theories, theories of homophily and proximity, theories of social exchange, the theory of generalized exchange, small-worlds theory, and social process theory. The levels of analysis applied are actor, dyadic, triadic, and global. Confirmatory social network analysis (exponential random graph modeling) was employed for data analysis. Findings suggest: (1) central actors in the learning network are experienced and hold senior positions in the organizational hierarchy, (2) evidence of homophily (in terms of gender, tenure, and hierarchical level relations) and proximity (in terms of geographical and departmental distances) in learning relationships, (3) learning relationships are non-reciprocal, and (4) transitivity and high local clustering with sparse inter-cluster ties are significant for intra-organizational learning networks.

Intrapreneurship Book Released Today

My book, Intrapreneurship: Managing Ideas within Your Organization (University of Toronto Press, 2011) was released today. See below for the jacket cover.

 

 

 

 

 

You can order the book from the University of Toronto Press or any bookseller (e.g. Amazon.com)

Metropolitan Institute Partnership with German Marshall Fund Awarded $2.5 million Grant

Christmas came early for us at the Metropolitan Institute!  We were recently awarded a grant from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). HUD chose the  German Marshall Fund (GMF) partnership as the recipient of the $2.5 million award to manage the Strong Cities, Strong Communities (SC2) fellowship program. GMF’s Urban and Regional Policy Program leads a partnership that includes Cleveland State University’s Levin College of Urban Affairs and the Metropolitan Institute at Virginia Tech. My colleague, Joe Schilling, Associate Director at the Metropolitan Institute, will serve as the principle investigator on this three-year project.

Press Releases: