Author Archives: David

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Organic and Mechanical Approaches to Complex Systems

The last week a blog I wrote for the Harvard Business Review and the Drucker Forum was published on the HBR site. It brought together a number of issues that I have been talking about in the past few months … Continue reading →

Posted in Change, General, Leadership, Strategy | Tagged change, Cirque du Soleil, constructive, creativity, critical, Drucker Forum, ecological perspective, ecology, engineering, guba, innovation, Iraq, Kim, lincoln, Mauborgne, narrative, philosophy, positives, reverse-engineer, success factors, The New Ecology of Leadership | Comments Off on Organic and Mechanical Approaches to Complex Systems

Renewing Rome Part III: The Future is the Means – the Present is the End

Last week I took an ecological perspective on Pope Francis and his efforts to renew the Roman Catholic Church (RCC). His chosen role of prophet (rather than the other two religious offices of priest and king) is to bring passion … Continue reading →

Posted in Change, General, Leadership | Tagged analogy, bureaucracy, change, community, context, ecocycle, Fritz Roethlisberger, leadership, metaphor, narrative, Pope Francis, renewal, Roman Catholic Church | Comments Off on Renewing Rome Part III: The Future is the Means – the Present is the End

Renewing Rome Part II: Pope Francis and Creative Leadership

Six months ago, before the election of Pope Francis, I wrote (as a non-Catholic) about the challenge of change in the Roman Catholic Church (RCC). I depicted the church as wandering the wilderness for the past 50 years, ever since … Continue reading →

Posted in Change, General, Leadership | Tagged change, community, ecological perspective, ecosystem, Jesuits, king, leadership, narrative, Pope Francis, priest, prophet, Roman Catholic Church | Comments Off on Renewing Rome Part II: Pope Francis and Creative Leadership

Harvard Business School: The Reality Show?

A fascinating front-page article in the New York Times reported on Harvard Business School’s attempt to achieve “gender equity”. HBS has had problems attracting and retaining female faculty. They comprise 22% of the faculty and the “pipeline” that leads to tenure … Continue reading →

Posted in Change, General, Leadership, Uncategorized | Tagged change, complex systems, context, ecocycle, ecological perspective, ecological rationality, gender equity, Harvard Business School, Jonathan Haidt, leadership, means and ends, New York Times, power, Rakesh Khurana, reality television, The New Ecology of Leadership | 1 Comment

Syria – complexity, dilemmas and a quest for leadership

The theme of the Drucker Forum to be held in Vienna November 14-15 is “Managing Complexity” and Richard Straub, the President of the Peter Drucker Society Europe has been posing various provocative questions to publicize it. Recently he posed a … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | 1 Comment

Ecology versus Engineering: Why Reverse-Engineered Strategy Is No Better Than A Paint-by-Numbers Kit

Recently there has been a lively discussion on LinkedIn about the similarities and differences between Kim and Mauborgne’s Blue Ocean strategy and Michael Porter’s strategic frameworks. What became clear in the debate is that the shared methodology behind both approaches … Continue reading →

Posted in Change, General, Leadership, Strategy, Uncategorized | Tagged as if arguments, baseball, Blue Ocean, Cirque du Soleil, ecological perspective, implementation, Kim and Mauborgne, Milton Friedman, Paul Krugman, Porter, rationalist delusion, reverse-engineered strategy, strategy | 2 Comments

Is Storytelling a Strategy or a Competency?

Several weeks ago a blog appeared on the Harvard Business Review site entitled “Good Companies are Storytellers. Great Companies Are Storydoers.” In it its author, Ty Montague, outlined the characteristics of a storydoing company: 1. They have a story 2. … Continue reading →

Posted in Change, General, Leadership, Strategy | Tagged competency, Cynthia Kurtz, deliberate practice, ecology, engineering, feedback, narrative, principles, story, story being, story doing, storytelling, strategy, Ty Montague | Comments Off on Is Storytelling a Strategy or a Competency?

Addicted to Heroes: The Struggle to Improve America’s Schools

I have been reading Diane Ravitch’s 2010 book, The Death and Life of the Great American School System. She was an appointee to the Department of Education by both George H.W. Bush and Bill Clinton and initially a supporter of … Continue reading →

Posted in Change, General, Leadership, Strategy | Tagged Alan Bersin, American schools, Bill Clinton, community, complex systems, Diane Ravitch, ecocycle, ecological perspective, education system, factory, farmers, George Bush, heroes, Jim Womack, Joel Klein, lean, market, Michelle Rhee, NCLB, No Child Left Behind, rank-and-yank | 1 Comment

See-Feel-Smell-Change? Changing Behaviour Without Changing Minds Part II

The essence of an ecological perspective on human behavior is that our minds are rational, but in an ecological way. That is we automatically take into account myriad aspects of our environment using all our senses and adjust our behavior … Continue reading →

Posted in Change, General | Tagged Brunete, context, dog poo, dog poo fairy, ecological perspective, John Kotter, see-feel-change, Stockholm congestion charge | 1 Comment

The Counsel of Desirable Outcomes: Actions versus Achievements

The bane of most, perhaps all, how-to books in management and business is what I call the “Counsel of Desirable Outcomes” – advice that sounds like action but really consists of achievements. Take a recent article in the Financial Times … Continue reading →

Posted in Change, General | Tagged achievement verbs, action verbs, ecological perspective, Gilbert Ryle, inputs, outputs, productivity growth, PwC, RONA | 1 Comment ← Older posts Newer posts →