Author Archives: David

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Democracy, Capitalism and Donald Trump: An Ecological Perspective Part I: Midnight Reckoning

Back in November 2016 I wrote a blog in the immediate aftermath of Donald Trump’s election. As a Canadian I thought the Americans had had an awful choice to make but was just as surprised as many others were, when … Continue reading →

Posted in Change, General, Uncategorized | Tagged change, click-bait, complex systems, Demockracy, Donald Trump, ecocycle, ecological perspective, ecosystem, Lawrence Lessig, Lyn Nottage, narrative, Norman Orenstein, power, QAnon, Reading Pa., social enterprise, Sweat, systems trap, Thomas Mann | Leave a comment

Jonathan Sacks (1948-2020): Jewish Wisdom and Our Binocular Minds

“And twofold always… May God us keep  From single vision and Newton’s sleep!” (William Blake, Double Vision) I read with great sadness of Rabbi Lord Sacks’ sudden, untimely passing on November 7. His writings have been a source of inspiration … Continue reading →

Posted in Change, General | Tagged altruism, analogy, analysis, attachment, both...and, change, community, David Brooks, detachment, dual systems, ecological perspective, either/or, ethics, existential, faith, Genesis, Gilligan, Greek, Gregory Bateson, Hillel the Elder, instrumental, Jewish wisdom.binocular mind, Jonathan Sacks, Judaic, McGilchrist, meaning, narrative, Nottage, Quaker, religion, science, selfishness, sociobiology, Soloveitchik, story, Sweat, The Great Partnership, The New Ecology of Leadership, trust, William Blake | Comments Off on Jonathan Sacks (1948-2020): Jewish Wisdom and Our Binocular Minds

Milton Friedman’s Philosophy: Invaluable at First but Deadly Afterward

2020 marks the 50th  anniversary of Chicago economist Milton Friedman’s famous (or infamous, depending on your point-of-view) claim that the only social purpose of business is to increase profits. This doctrine proved immensely popular among corporate managers but has been … Continue reading →

Posted in Change, General | Tagged Anglo-Saxon capitalism, argumentative theory of reason, Ayn Rand, change, complex systems, conglomerates, ecological perspective, Henry Mintzberg, innovation, leveraged buyouts, Milton Friedman, University of Chicago, Walter Bagehot | Comments Off on Milton Friedman’s Philosophy: Invaluable at First but Deadly Afterward

Austrian Economics and the Ecological Perspective

A few months ago I had the pleasure of meeting Hunter Hastings online. Hunter is an economist by training, a member of the Mises Institute and a follower of the Austrian School of economics. We got to chatting and he … Continue reading →

Posted in Change, General, Leadership, Strategy | Tagged Austrian School, change, complex systems, ecocycle, Hayek, Mises | Comments Off on Austrian Economics and the Ecological Perspective

A Fierce Old Story: Fighting a Plague with Common Decency

The rats gave the first clue: they staggered onto the streets, emitted a drop of blood from their noses and died in droves. As their bodies piled up, newspapers agitated, and citizens complained – why was the sanitation department not … Continue reading →

Posted in Change, General, Leadership | Tagged Albert Camus, allegory, analogical inquiry, analogy, common decency, COVID-19, evidence-based, leadership, pandemic, plague, Robert McKee, Willa Cather | Comments Off on A Fierce Old Story: Fighting a Plague with Common Decency

When the Science is Uncertain, Turn to the Humanities

On June 17, 2020 from 1pm to 2pm. Eastern Time I will be giving a TED-style talk and hosting a discussion with i4j. The password is i4jcommunity. i4j Innovation for Jobs is a global leadership forum organized by the IIIJ Foundation, … Continue reading →

Posted in Change, General, Leadership, Strategy | Tagged abstraction.navigatng, analogical inquiry, change, community, complex systems, context, coronavirus, creativity, crisis, destruction, ecocycle, ecological perspective, innovation, leadership, narrative, renewal, wayfinding | Comments Off on When the Science is Uncertain, Turn to the Humanities

Forces of Nature: Understanding How Ecosystems Grow, Thrive and Regenerate

My latest article, Forces of Nature, has just been published in Strategy+Business. In it I discuss Canadian ecologist, “Buzz” Holling’s adaptive cycle and how, transformed into the ecocycle, it can help us understand the dynamics of complex adaptive systems.

Posted in Change, General, Leadership | Tagged adaptive cycle, complex, ecocycle, Holling, innovation, leadership, The New Ecology of Leadership | Comments Off on Forces of Nature: Understanding How Ecosystems Grow, Thrive and Regenerate

The Hammer and The Dance: The Case for Crushing the Coronavirus with Coercive Bureaucracy

Metaphors matter, especially in uncertain times, when the only way to frame a complex predicament is to use models from a familiar past.   The title of this blog borrows from Tomas Pueyo’s excellent article and the picture that accompanies it is … Continue reading →

Posted in Change, General, Leadership, Strategy | Tagged change, china, cities, coercive bureaucracy, community, complex systems, coronavirus, corporation, dance, destruction, Geoffrey West, Germany, hammer, herd immunity, innovation, mortality, Netherlands, Spain, Sweden, Tomas Pueyo | Comments Off on The Hammer and The Dance: The Case for Crushing the Coronavirus with Coercive Bureaucracy

Peter F. Drucker and the Society of the Future

This is a report on a Round Table discussion at the 2019 Global Peter Drucker Forum. Click here for the LinkedIn version which has hyperlinks Panelists: Chair: Richard Brem, Senior Advisor, Peter Drucker Society of Europe, Peter Paschek, Management Consultant, Timo … Continue reading →

Posted in Change, General | Tagged Constrained Vision, Drucker Forum, future of society, Karl Polanyi, Peter Drucker, Thomas Sowell, Unconstrained Vision, Vision | Comments Off on Peter F. Drucker and the Society of the Future

True But Useless: Why So Much Management Advice Sucks (and what to do about it).

Why does so much management advice sound reasonable but turn out to be of little value? Most readers will know what I mean. Take the following guidance on how companies can ‘accelerate their agile transformation’: Create a C-suite with an … Continue reading →

Posted in Change, General, Leadership, Strategy | Tagged abstraction, Alfred North Whitehead, altruism, Aristotle, BSC, budgets, cause-and-effect, complex adaptive systems, Daniel Boorstin, experience, gardeners, gemba, growing people, KPI, Lao-Tzu, management, Mary Parker Follett, MBO, means and ends, measurement, mindset, RONA, selfishness, Stanley McChrystal, Tao Te Ching, truisms | Comments Off on True But Useless: Why So Much Management Advice Sucks (and what to do about it). ← Older posts