Social commentary Archives

13 things I’ve learnt about Tasmania

by Anna Ridgway | Jan 3, 2017 | blog, export, Social commentary

‘Tassie’ is a place to watch. Australia’s smallest and most southerly state has been making deep impressions in global markets as the flag bearer of Australia’s ‘clean and green’ image. So it’s a good time to find out more about Tasmania and...

Class prejudice – the diversity and inclusion white elephant

by Anna Ridgway | Jun 22, 2016 | Adapting to change, blog, Social commentary, Unconscious bias

The troubling phenomenon of ‘white flight’ in Australia was raised in a recent report about schools in Melbourne’s ‘progressive’ inner suburbs that were full of non-Caucasian migrant kids from the local housing commission flats but scarce...

Hastening slowly changing cultures of contempt for others

by Anna Ridgway | Jun 20, 2016 | Adapting to change, blog, Social commentary, Unconscious bias

In all the noise surrounding Eddie McGuire’s public remarks about holding veteran Australian sport commentator Caroline Jones underwater, inviting onlookers to ‘bomb’ her in so doing, I’ve been wondering what’s really going on his mind....

Valuing time across cultures

by Anna Ridgway | May 8, 2016 | Adapting to change, blog, Developing trust, Global dexterity, Managing across cultures, Social commentary

In Australia, and other industrialised countries with strong shared cultural traits, there’s a consensus that these cultures have world’s best practice on how to ‘manage’ time. So why has time anxiety increased exponentially and why is feeding the time...

Our bias is your bias because we say so

by Anna Ridgway | Apr 29, 2016 | Adapting to change, blog, Marketing and social media, Social commentary, Unconscious bias

We risk reinforcing bias when we reach for the same old pool of cultural narratives in seeking to raise awareness and support change. The other day a LinkedIn connection who has unconscious bias training in her repertoire posted a trailer for a documentary, The Mask...

Women raised ‘capable of anything’ aren’t raised to deal with reality of discrimination

by Anna Ridgway | Apr 20, 2016 | Adapting to change, blog, Social commentary, Unconscious bias

At a Christmas barbecue last year, I got chatting with our host’s 15-year old daughter (let’s call her Madison) about the school she and I both attended, a large Melbourne private college. As we compared then-and-now notes, Madison said, ‘You know...