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Blog

Category Archives: Change

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Brexit: Crisis and Opportunity for Britain and the EU – a Systems Perspective

“In a multi-layered complex system stability is achieved by having the big and/or slow processes govern through constraint the smaller, faster processes. Sudden change can take place in a complex system when agents at one level escape the constraints usually … Continue reading →

Posted in Change, General | Tagged American government, Anglo-Saxon capitalism, complex systems, crisis, David Cameron, destruction, directdemocracy, ecological perspective, Founding Fathers, Great Britain, James Madison, Jeremy Corbyn, Little England, means and ends, Nigel Farage, renewal, representative democracy, rule by experts, rule by faction, Senate, Tony Judt | Comments Off on Brexit: Crisis and Opportunity for Britain and the EU – a Systems Perspective

Bloody Ships – Bloody Systems: A Managerial Reflection on the Centenary of the Battle of Jutland

“There seems to be something wrong with our bloody ships today…” remarked Vice Admiral David Beatty to his Flag Captain. Beatty was commander of the Battle Cruiser Fleet at Jutland, and his cool comment belied the scale of the catastrophe. … Continue reading →

Posted in Change, General | Tagged battle-cruiser, Bismarck, complex systems, context, David Beatty, HMS Hood, HMS Lion, Horace Hood, Indefatigable, innovation, Invincible, Jutland, Nelson, Queen Mary, Trafalgar | Comments Off on Bloody Ships – Bloody Systems: A Managerial Reflection on the Centenary of the Battle of Jutland

Down With Descartes! If You Can’t Measure It You Had Better Manage It

  In Landmarks of Tomorrow (1959) Peter Drucker wrote “We still profess and we still teach the world-view of the past three hundred years… a Cartesian world-view.” It is a world-view redefined by Lord Kelvin (1824-1907): “… when you can … Continue reading →

Posted in Change, General | Tagged Berlin, change, Descartes, Drucker, ecological perspective, Iraq, judgement, Kelvin, management principles, measurement, purpose, science, systems thinking, weight-loss | Comments Off on Down With Descartes! If You Can’t Measure It You Had Better Manage It

Cultivating Organizations – Background to The New Ecology of Leadership

I am now publishing my blogs both here and on LinkedIn. In this case this article is already on the site (in Latest News About the Book), so just the link is here. It’s an article I wrote last year for … Continue reading →

Posted in Change, General | Tagged change, complex systems, ecocycle, ecological perspective, means and ends, The New Ecology of Leadership | Comments Off on Cultivating Organizations – Background to The New Ecology of Leadership

For Innovation – Think Small – Like a Mindful Mollusk!

The story of Inky the octopus made headlines around the world this past week. In case you have been in Outer Mongolia (without the internet) Inky was a male common octopus on exhibit in New Zealand’s National Aquarium on the … Continue reading →

Posted in Change, General | Tagged 914, Arkansas, Arthur D. Little, Ben Franklin, change, ecology, IBM, Inky, innovation, mindfulness, mollusk, National Aquarium, New Zealand, octopus, Sam Walton, scale, Sear Roebuck, Walmart, Xerox | Comments Off on For Innovation – Think Small – Like a Mindful Mollusk!

Changing Our Models of Change: Nothing Lasts Unless It Is Incessantly Renewed”

In a blog last year, Matthew Taylor, Chief Executive of the Royal Society of the Arts wrote “Ideas about social and economic reform are only as useful as the model of change that goes with them.” I agree completely. We … Continue reading →

Posted in Change, General | Tagged Anglo-Saxon capitalism, blueprints, change, complex systems, ecocycle, ecological perspective, efficiency, engineering, Jonathan Haidt, Kurt Lewin, Matthew Taylor, narrative, objectivity, passion, power, reason, roadmap, RSA, servants of power, shareholder value, trust, unfreeze-change-refreeze | Comments Off on Changing Our Models of Change: Nothing Lasts Unless It Is Incessantly Renewed”

Capitalism as an Ecological Process

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 on Capitalism as an Ecological Process

The Ecodynamics of Donald Trump: Can The Centre Hold?

The rise of Donald Trump has been a puzzle to many political pundits and a shock to observers around the world. What explains his appeal and his ability to mobilize people who, for a long time have felt excluded from … Continue reading →

Posted in Change, General, Leadership | Tagged Bernie Sanders, Carrier, change, destruction, Donald Trump, ecological perspective, ecosystem, Hillary Clinton, Indianapolis, Lawrence Lessig, Mancur Olson, Mexico, narrative, Norman Orenstein, political ecology, Republican Party, social ecology, Thomas Mann | Comments Off on The Ecodynamics of Donald Trump: Can The Centre Hold?

Pope Francis and the Environment – Transformational Leadership in Action

A version of this post appeared earlier this year in the blog of the Drucker Society of Europe: To students of management Pope Francis is a fascinating study in leadership and organizational change. From his surprise election as an outsider, … Continue reading →

Posted in Change, General, Leadership, Uncategorized | Tagged Anglo-Saxon capitalism, business schools, crisis, culture, ecology, environment, externalities, faith, GNP, instrumental rationality, modernism, one-dimensional paradigm, Peter Drucker, Pope Francis, power, reason, Roman Catholic Church, science, social and moral development, transformational leadership | Comments Off on Pope Francis and the Environment – Transformational Leadership in Action

Claiming Our Humanity in a Digital Age: Big Questions in Vienna

The theme of the 2015 Drucker Forum that ended in Vienna two weeks ago was “Claiming Our Humanity: Managing in a Digital Age”. Nearly 500 management academics, business people and management consultants from all over the world attended the two-day … Continue reading →

Posted in Change, General, Leadership, Strategy | Tagged Adam Smith, All Blacks, augmentation, automation, change, cult of efficiency, digital, Drucker Forum, European Enlightenment, haka, humanity, ideology of reason, Julia Kirby, Kevin Roberts, Peter Drucker, post-rational, Robin Chase, Saatchi & Saatchi, sociology of virtue, Super-VUCA, Tom Davenport | Comments Off on Claiming Our Humanity in a Digital Age: Big Questions in Vienna ← Older posts Newer posts →