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Category Archives: General

In and Around London: A Trip to the Theatre

Posted on May 7, 2013 by David

It’s been a great middle week of my trip to the UK and Europe. I had an excellent reception for the ecological perspectives from The New Ecology of Leadership in all the places I visited. In Nottingham about 50 people … Continue reading →

Posted in Change, General | Tagged Canada House, Canada-UK Chamber of Commerce, change, community, context, ecocycle, ecological perspective, emotion and reason, Henry Goodman, Macdonald House, narrative, Nottingham, Old Vic, Raleigh Bicycle, Rattigan, Square Peg International, Sturmey-Archer, The New Ecology of Leadership, The Winslow Boy, theatre | Comments Off

On The Road

Posted on April 30, 2013 by David

Last week was the first of three weeks “on the road” for me in the UK and Europe. I am doing a series of corporate education sessions, and book-related presentations at business schools and management associations. The past week was … Continue reading →

Posted in Change, General | Tagged Berkeley Consulting Group, Canada-UK Chamber of Commerce, change, complex systems, Doug Ross, ecocycle, ecological perspective, hunter-gatherer, Ken Starkey, London, London Business School, reform business schools, Square Peg, University of Nottingham Business School | Comments Off

Don’t Throw the Past Away

Posted on April 23, 2013 by David

The study of business history in North American business schools has been on the wane for some time now, crowded out by “more practical”, “hard” topics. History is seen as nice, rather than necessary. But if contexts matter in management, … Continue reading →

Posted in Change, General, Leadership, Strategy | Tagged anagnorisis, Andreas Kluth, change, context, disaster, German General Staff, Hannibal and Me, history, means and ends, narrative, Rudyard Kipling, staff ride, strategy.competency, The Economist, triumph | Comments Off

Margaret Thatcher: Britain’s Turnaround Guy

Posted on April 16, 2013 by David

The death of Margaret Thatcher, Britain’s Prime Minister from 1979 to1990, and her impending funeral have aroused passions and divisions as fierce as those when she was alive. Conservative Prime Minister, David Cameron, recalled parliament from its Easter recess to … Continue reading →

Posted in Change, General, Leadership, Strategy | Tagged Argentina, Arthur Scargill, Britain, change, community, Conservative, David Cameron, ecocycle, ecological perspective, Edward Heath, Falkland Islands, Gorbachev, Gordian knot, Harold Macmillan, Harold Wilson, Iron Lady, James Callaghan, Kahneman, Labour, Margaret Thatcher, narrative, negativity dominance, power, Reagan, Shakespeare, Soviet Union, The New Ecology of Leadership, Tony Blair, turnaround, Tversky | 1 Comment

When Metrics Become Targets Part II: Wicked Problems

Posted on April 9, 2013 by David

Last week I wrote about the cheating scandal in the Atlanta schools and the charging of 35 teachers and administrators with racketeering. The incident has created a furor in Atlanta over the charges themselves and the amount of bail initially … Continue reading →

Posted in Change, General, Leadership | Tagged Atlanta schools, change, cheating, complex systems, context, ecological perspective, Finnish schools, Laurence J. Peter, means and ends, Peter Principle, Rittel, standardized testing, sweet zone, Toyota Production System, Webber, wicked problems | Comments Off

When Metrics Become Targets, Trouble Surely Follows

Posted on April 2, 2013 by David

Charles Goodhart, chief economic adviser to the Bank of England for many years, is credited with formulating the law that “As soon as the government attempts to regulate any particular set of financial assets, these become unreliable as indicators of … Continue reading →

Posted in Change, General, Leadership | Tagged academic ability, Atlanta educators, Beverly Hall, change, Charles Goodhart, cheating, complex systems, CRTC, education, faith-based initiative, George Bush, Georgia, means and ends, No Child Left Behind, Rosabeth Moss Kanter, schools, testing | 4 Comments

New Beginnings: Stories of Resilience and Renewal

Posted on March 26, 2013 by David

It’s spring in the Northern Hemisphere, or at least the calendar says it ought to be. But it has been cold and grey with a gusty wind here in Southern Ontario as we wobble our way back to the sun. … Continue reading →

Posted in Change, General | Tagged beginnings, cardinal, centre of gravity, change, Christian, crucifixion, destruction, Easter, ecological perspective, Egypt, festival, fractal, Garden of Eden, Good Friday, Haggadah, Hollywood, Horatio Alger, Jew, Passover, Pope, religion, scale, spring, strong families, The New Ecology of Leadership, unifying narrative | 2 Comments

The Decline of Detroit: An Ecological Interpretation

Posted on March 19, 2013 by David

The value of an ecological perspective is that it views organizations primarily as movements, rather than as structures and it can be used at many different levels of analysis. It can be applied, for example, to the life of a … Continue reading →

Posted in Change, General | Tagged automotive, Buffalo, Chrysler, cities, Cleveland, community, crisis, decline, destruction, Detroit, ecocycle, ecological perspective, ecosystem, Ford, General Motors, means and ends, Pete Saunders, Peter Drucker, Pittsburg, sweet zone | 2 Comments

Innovation at Yahoo – Where Is the Gemba?

Posted on March 5, 2013 by David

This past week the management news was headlined by Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer’s decision to ban the firm’s staff from working remotely. Annoyed Yahoo employees quickly leaked the clumsily worded memo from the head of HR. It read in part: … Continue reading →

Posted in Change, General, Leadership | Tagged change, Clayton Christensen, community, ecosystem, fission-fusion, gatekeepers, gemba, Google, Gore, herder, hunter, hunter-gatherer, hunting dynamics, innovation, leadership, Marissa Mayer, narrative, Yahoo | 2 Comments

Objectivity: The View from Everywhere

Posted on February 26, 2013 by David

I have been working on revisions to my Drucker Challenge Essay so that a version of it can be published in Management Research Review later this year. The reviewers felt that I needed to deal with the implications for management … Continue reading →