Sharing the Knowledge

November 13, 2012
by Rodney Olsen
6 Comments

The world is your classroom … but what are you teaching?

As I cycled home yesterday I spotted a fellow cyclist by the side of the bike path with his bike upside down and his back wheel in his hand. Whenever I spot someone with a flat or mechanical issue I slow down enough to ask if they have all they need to get back on the road. Most of the time the cyclist will have everything under control and so I just keep going but Glen was having a few issues.

He had owned his carbon fibre road bike for four months and this was his first flat tyre. He had absolutely no idea what to do. The interesting thing was that he said he couldn’t get good reception on his phone so he couldn’t head to YouTube for help. After giving him a quick lesson on tyre changing he was ready to get back on the road.

Doing what comes naturally

After that encounter I started thinking about a couple of things. Firstly how most of us have skills that we just take for granted that we can pass on to others. I’ve changed way too many flat tyres over the years so I can do a change in fairly quick time. I sometimes forget that something so natural for me is anything but natural for others.

What simple skills can you pass on to other people?

YouTube is your friend

The other thing I thought about was the rise of YouTube as a way of learning from each other. While Glen couldn’t get reception to watch any tyre changing action, he did say that he was going to watch some YouTube clips once he got home to learn more about the process.

Several months ago I had the unenviable task of changing parts inside our toilet cistern. I had the parts but no instructions so I searched YouTube to find some guy with the same cistern as us demonstrating what I needed to know. He wasn’t an expert, just a guy who had the same difficulties as me so once he figured out what to do he videoed a demonstration. Brilliant.

Do you head to YouTube to learn skills of any kind? Have you ever created a YouTube video to show how to accomplish simple tasks? Maybe I should video myself changing a bike tyre.



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More about Girls off the Streets

November 13, 2012
by Rodney Olsen
2 Comments

As I’ve mentioned before in my post Girls off the Streets, I’m getting ready to head to Bangladesh and India to see the work that SIMaid is doing to rehabilitate girls who have been rescued from forced prostitution.

Please take five minutes to watch this video where the project is explained and I talk about my reasons for being part of the trip.



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Suitcases

November 7, 2012
by Rodney Olsen
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If you’re looking for something to read and ponder today, you really can’t go past Abandoned Suitcases Reveal Private Lives of Insane Asylum Patients.

It’s a fascinating and beautifully written piece that deserves to be read more widely.



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Cutting Out Credit

November 6, 2012
by Rodney Olsen
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I was interested to read yesterday that Australians are ditching credit cards. Maybe not completely but we’re on a downhill trend.

New figures show card applications have hit a nine-year low.

Credit reporting agency Veda’s consumer credit demand index for the September quarter found that year-on-year, applications for plastic are down a staggering 10 per cent.

Veda’s general manager of consumer risk, Angus Luffman, says there are several reasons why people have moved away from unsecured debt such as credit cards. – News.com.au

I’m glad that the tide is turning because I know a lot of people have found themselves in a lot of trouble by overextending themselves with credit cards. We’ve had many offers to increase our credit limit and while it’s tempting when you see the kind of money that we could have at our disposal, we just know it spells trouble.

So, are you one of those opting out of the credit trap? Have you cut up your credit cards?



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A Christian Vision for the Marketplace

November 6, 2012
by Rodney Olsen
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Dr Ian Harper is one of Australia’s best known economists. He has worked closely with governments, banks, and corporations at the highest level. He is sought after as a commentator and public speaker on economics and financial issues and has been described as “one of those relatively rare academics who can communicate extremely well with both the business community and the academic community”.

In 2008, following a 25-year academic career – including 16 years in various roles at Melbourne Business School – Ian left academic life to become a director of Access Economics. In recognition of his service to the University of Melbourne, Ian was elected Emeritus Professor on his departure. More recently, he joined Deloitte Access Economics as a Partner when Deloitte acquired Access Economics in March 2011.

From December 2005 to July 2009, Ian served as inaugural Chairman of the Australian Fair Pay Commission, an independent statutory body whose role was to set and adjust minimum wages in Australia. In January 2011, he was appointed by the Baillieu Government of Victoria as one of three panelists to the Independent Review of State Finances.

He’s currently in Perth to speak about a Christian Vision for the Marketplace at Vose College. He joined me in the studio yesterday morning during my radio program on 98five Sonshine FM.

We live in an age when we’re being told more and more that we can believe what we want but that we should leave our beliefs at home when we head off to work. How then do we begin to create a Christian Vision for the Marketplace? I asked Ian the question and enjoyed hearing his perspective on faith in the workplace.

You can listen to our conversation by clicking the play button on the audio player at the bottom of this post.



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