Author Archives: David

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Bain or Bane? Private-Equity and Creative Destruction

With Mitt Romney now the inevitable Republican Presidential candidate, renewed attention is being focused on his incredibly lucrative years running Bain Capital. In that private-equity firm he and his colleagues played key roles, mostly as the turnaround managers of mature … Continue reading →

Posted in Change, General | Tagged American economy, Anglo-Saxon capitalism, Bain, complex systems, creative destruction, ecological perspective, forest renewal, incentives, innovation, Mitt Romney, neoclassical economics, Obama, predator, private-equity, scavenger, shareholders, tax policy, The Economist, venture capital | Comments Off on Bain or Bane? Private-Equity and Creative Destruction

Sustaining Complex Systems: Fairways and Traps

This past Sunday’s New York Times contained another cautionary tale about complex systems and the people who live in them. It is the story of the seaside town of Matunuck on the southern coastline of Rhode Island. The entire region … Continue reading →

Posted in Change, General | Tagged American politics, complex systems, decision-making, expedient, important, quick fix, Senate, sustainability, urgent | Comments Off on Sustaining Complex Systems: Fairways and Traps

The Re-Enchantment of Management and The Renewal of Capitalism

Recently the Harvard Business Review, McKinsey & Company and the Management Innovation eXchange (MIX) conducted a series of three competitions on “Reinventing Management”. The first was the The Management 2.0 Challenge, which characterized the existing version of management as version … Continue reading →

Posted in Change, General, Leadership, Strategy | Tagged Anglo-Saxon capitalism, disenchantment, ends, financialization, Harvard Business Review, human potential, management academy, McKinsey, means, mission, MIX, nurture, positivism, purpose, re-enchantment, release, renewal | Comments Off on The Re-Enchantment of Management and The Renewal of Capitalism

The Poverty of Economics: Capitalism Is Not Just About Competition

Last week David Brooks wrote a column titled “The Creative Monopoly” (New York Times, April 24). In it he told a story about Peter Thiel, the entrepreneur who founded PayPal and the course he is now teaching about entrepreneurial startups … Continue reading →

Posted in Change, General | Tagged Anglo-Saxon capitalism, creative monopoly, David Brooks, ecological narrative, Fannie Mae, IMF, market power, neoclassical economics, niche, perfect competition, Peter Thiel, regulator capture, Simon Johnson | Comments Off on The Poverty of Economics: Capitalism Is Not Just About Competition

Breaking the Cake of Custom: A Cavalry Charge with Fresh Horses

Organizations have to do two things to survive in a sustainable fashion: Conserve their core business Innovate to change their business The current term for this ability of organizations to both “exploit” and “explore” is “ambidexterity”, but it has long … Continue reading →

Posted in Change | Tagged Alfred North Whitehead, cake of custom, conservation, Dan Señor, habit, innovation, Israel, Mormon, noveltyPlato, Peter Drucker, progress.order, Saul Singer, think and act, Walter Bagehot | Comments Off on Breaking the Cake of Custom: A Cavalry Charge with Fresh Horses

Disrupting the Past: (Channeling David Brooks #2)

As readers of my blog know from a previous posting, New York Times columnist David Brooks is an alumnus of the University of Chicago. Famously he got his big break when he wrote a satirical parody of William F. Buckley’s memoir Overdrive, just … Continue reading →

Posted in General | Tagged Adolph Hitler, anomalies, causes, competency, context, continuities, David Brooks, disrupting the past, ecocycle, Elliot Gorn, Henry Ford, history, John Lewis Gaddis, Marc Bloch, Peter Drucker, Saddam Hussein, science of change, singularities, strategy, University of Chicago, Vietnam. Philippines, virtuous habits | Comments Off on Disrupting the Past: (Channeling David Brooks #2)

Management Without Principles

Management “principles” have been a prominent feature of the field ever since the 1950s, when a concerted attempt was made to put management on the path to becoming a social science. With economics as their guide and physics as the … Continue reading →

Posted in Change, General | Tagged Cartesian mind, complex systems, context, contextual intelligence, ecological rationality, economics, history matters, innovation skills, management principles, Master's golf, meaning, POSDCORB, The Innovator's DNA | 1 Comment

Measuring Buzz: Hunting Dynamics in the 21st Century

Every manager knows that the “buzz” on a team is an important indicator of their likely success. You can poke your head into a meeting room and, without hearing a word of what is being said, get an instant impression … Continue reading →

Posted in Change, General | Tagged body language, buzz, communication media, engagement, exploration, fission-fusion, hunter-gatherer, hunters and herders, hunting dynamics, narrative | Comments Off on Measuring Buzz: Hunting Dynamics in the 21st Century

Channeling David Brooks #1: Asking the Right Question about America

New York Times columnist David Brooks is an alumnus of the University of Chicago. Famously he got his big break when he wrote a satirical parody of William F. Buckley’s memoir, Overdrive, just as the conservative pundit was coming to campus to … Continue reading →

Posted in General | Tagged American constitution, Daniel Dennett, David Brooks, Greatest Generation, mission, narrative centre of gravity, political gridlock, purpose, Robert McKee, Toyota Production System, University of Chicago | Comments Off on Channeling David Brooks #1: Asking the Right Question about America

Bad Apples or Bad Barrels? An ecological perspective on ethics in management

In my last two blogs I have suggested that many of our institutions have lost their sense of purpose, as their means to success have steadily become ends-in-themselves. This loss of purpose has been accompanied by a steady increase in … Continue reading →

Posted in Change, General | Tagged bad apples, Douglas McGregor, ecological rationality, evildoers, figure and ground, George W. Bush, management ethics, MBA Oath, Mr. Spock, rational model, Theory X | Comments Off on Bad Apples or Bad Barrels? An ecological perspective on ethics in management ← Older posts Newer posts →