Some of the best coastline and beaches in the world?

Bemagui on the far south coast of NSW proved a delight and visits to Tathra and Wallagoot Lake revived memories from years ago. Seeing for the first time many of the beaches and inlets as we drove south, including two nights at the marvelously situated Marlo Hotel overlooking the mouth of the Snowy River, it was hard to imagine better beaches anywhere else.

There were also many new birds to be seen on our Easter 'circuit'.

Worth a listen from 'Background Briefing' - MBA: Mostly Bloody Awful!

'Something happened to management culture decades ago and now being a Master of Business Administration, especially from Harvard, is rather on the nose. MBA, it's being said, can also stand for 'Mediocre but Arrogant', or 'Management by Accident'.

This report by Stephen Crittenden features Henry Mintzberg:

'McGill University Professor Henry Mintzberg says what we call a financial crisis is really at its core a crisis of management, and not just a crisis of management, but a crisis of management culture.'

And quotes Russell Ackoff:

'In 1986, when Russell Ackoff, a pioneer of management education, retired as Professor at the Wharton Business School, he was asked what were the benefits of a business education. With savage irony he replied that there were three. The first was to equip students with a vocabulary that enabled them to talk with authority about subjects they did not understand. The second was to give students principles that would demonstrate their ability to withstand any amount of disconfirming evidence. The third was to give students a ticket of admission to a job where they could learn something about management.'

The following references provide further background.

Title: The Puritan Gift: Reclaiming the American Dream Amidst Global Financial Chaos
Author: Kenneth Hopper and William Hooper
Publisher: I.B. Taurus 2009

Title: Managers not MBAs: A Hard Look at the Soft Practice of Managing and Management Development
Author: Henry Mintzberg
Publisher: Berrett-Koehler, San Francisco, 2004

Title: From Higher Aims to Hired Hands:The Social Transformation of American Business Schools and the Unfulfilled Promise of Management as a Profession
Author: Rakesh Khurana
Publisher: Princetone University Press, 2007

Title: Business Schools Share the Blame for Enron
Author: Sumantra Ghoshal
Publisher: Financial Times, 17 July 2003

From mountains to coast - travels through a 'green drought'

I do not know the Monaro region of south-eastern NSW well. Travelling from Jindabyne to the coast via Dalgety was a new experience. I could not help but feel as we traversed the dissected but expansive plateau that many landholders must feel themselves trapped by their on-going commitments to farming in that region. Perhaps it has always been so?

An unexpected surprise was a large group of bikers travelling also from Dalgety towards the coast. We encountered them on a stretch of dirt road travelling slowly in single file. Given recent biker-gang violence in Australia I did not feel it prudent to pass them and expose them to my dust, but fortunately they pulled up and we were just able to edge past!

We spent two nights camping on a block owned by friends near Brogo (just north of Bega). We were prepared to enjoy one full night of rain - it is something one cannot complain about!