Tag Archives: community

Social Renewal: The Story of the Quakers and the First Industrial Revolution

Posted on March 4, 2022 by David

“Progress, far from consisting in change, depends on retentiveness. When change is absolute there remains no being to improve and no direction is set for possible improvement: and when experience is not retained . . . infancy is perpetual. Those … Continue reading →

Posted in Change, General | Tagged Anglo-Saxon capitalism, community, context, destruction, ecological perspective, fission-fusion, innovation, meaning, narrative, Quakers, renewal | Comments Off

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

Posted on November 30, 2020 by David

“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

When the Science is Uncertain, Turn to the Humanities

Posted on June 15, 2020 by David

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

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

Posted on April 23, 2020 by David

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

Lead Like A Gardener: The Movie

Posted on April 6, 2019 by David

This is the video of my short plenary presentation at the 10th Annual Global Peter Drucker Forum held in Vienna on November 28 and 19 in Vienna. For all the video from the conference see: Global Peter Drucker Forum 2018 … Continue reading →

Posted in Change, General, Leadership, Strategy, Uncategorized | Tagged adaptive cycle, change, community, complex systems, ecocycle, ecological perspective, ecological rationality, ecology, ecosystem, Henry Mintzberg, leadership, meaning, means and ends, metaphor, mission, narrative, Pope Francis, The New Ecology of Leadership | Comments Off

BREXIT: A Study in Complexity

Posted on March 11, 2019 by David

British politics is in a real mess. Mired in the Brexit debate, its current predicament is best captured in the poetry of the Victorian writer Matthew Arnold; “Wandering between two worlds, the one dead, the other powerless to be born.” … Continue reading →

Posted in Change, General, Leadership | Tagged Brexit, change, community, complex adaptive systems, complex systems, creativity, David Cameron, ecocycle, ecological perspective, identity, Jeremy Corbyn, Labour, leadership, Matthew Arnold, Nigel Farage, Theresa May, Tory, UKIP, utility | Comments Off

The Ecology of a Social Movement: The Quakers and Social Reform – Public Talk RSA London December 7 2018

Posted on November 16, 2018 by David

On Friday December 7 2018 I will be at the RSA’s Rawthmell’s Café 8 John Adam Street, London, speaking on the Ecology of a Social Movement, using the Quakers of the First Industrial Revolution as my example. They were an astonishing … Continue reading →

Posted in Change, General, Leadership | Tagged Anglo-Saxon capitalism, change, community, complex systems, ecocycle, ecological perspective, ecological rationality, innovation, leadership, narrative, Quakers, renewal, social change, social reform | Comments Off

Management: a Noble Practice

Posted on April 18, 2017 by David

The theme of the 2017 Global Drucker Forum to be held in Vienna later this year is “Growth & Inclusive Prosperity – The Secular Management Challenge”. Dictionary definitions of prosperity mention a condition of being successful or thriving, especially economic … Continue reading →

Posted in Change, General, Leadership | Tagged Adler, Clayton Christensen, community, complex systems, Drucker, Frankl, Freud, identity, meaning, means and ends, pleasure, power, prosperity, purpose, utility | Comments Off

Renewing the American Republic: The Ecodynamics of Donald Trump Part II

Posted on November 11, 2016 by David

In the early hours of Wednesday November 9 2016 I was as bemused as everyone else. Donald Trump had won the presidential election and would be the 45th President of the United States. The last polls I saw had given … Continue reading →

Posted in Change, Leadership, Strategy | Tagged Anglo-Saxon capitalism, capitalism, change, community, complex systems, democracy, Donald Trump, ecocycle, ecological perspective, Hillary Clinton, Lawrence Lessig, lobbyists, Mancur Olson, narrative, NRA, power trap | Comments Off

Capitalism as an Ecological Process

Posted on April 5, 2016 by David

On April 2 The Economist published a book review of Valuation: Measuring and Managing the Value of Corporations, a 700-page manual on corporate finance and shareholder value published by McKinsey & Company. The views in both the book and the … Continue reading →

Posted in Change, General | Tagged Andy Haldane, Anglo-Saxon capitalism, Bank of England, Cartesian Management, community, complex systems, context, ecocycle, ecological perspective, innovation, management principles, McKinsey, shareholder value model, Valuation | Comments Off ← Older posts