Tag Archives: ecocycle

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Every Manager a “Janus”: Ambidexterity and the Ecological Perspective

I can’t believe it’s almost January again, but perhaps it could make a timely theme for a blog. The month is named after Janus, the Roman god of thresholds – beginnings and endings – who looked two ways, toward both … Continue reading →

Posted in Change, General | Tagged Academy of Management Perspectives, ambidexterity, change, complex systems, creative leadership.strategic management, Duncan, ecocycle, ecological perspective, Janus, Jesuits, means and ends, O'Reilly, Pope Francis, Roger Martin, Roman Catholic Church, Roman god, Rothenberg, The Opposable Mind, Tushman | 1 Comment

European Union: If You Have Them By Their Wallets, Will Their Hearts and Minds Follow?

Last Thursday I was the opening speaker at the International Forum for Future Europe held November 7- 8 in Vilnius, Lithuania. The theme of the conference was Sustainable Development and Harmonious Society and the title of my talk was “European … Continue reading →

Posted in Change, General, Leadership, Strategy | Tagged buy-in, change, Charles de Gaulle, community, complex systems, ecocycle, ecological perspective, ECSC, European community, European integration, European Union, French army, means and ends, Moebius strip, narrative, national identity, Nigel Farage, power, power trap, Thirty Year War, Tony Judt, UKIP, Vilnius | 1 Comment

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

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

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

In and Around London: A Trip to the Theatre

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 In and Around London: A Trip to the Theatre

On The Road

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 on On The Road

Margaret Thatcher: Britain’s Turnaround Guy

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

The Decline of Detroit: An Ecological Interpretation

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

The Natural Case for Employee Engagement

Yesterday the Strategic Management Bureau asked, “Is the unending search for ‘the business case’ for employee engagement a futile exercise?” and cited an article on the topic. In my response to the question I suggested that the attempt to create … Continue reading →

Posted in Change, General, Leadership, Strategy | Tagged change, community, complex systems, creativity, crisis, destruction, ecocycle, ecological perspective, ecosystem, empowerment, engagement, KPI, KSF, leadership, lean, management ethics, Max Weber, means and ends, passion, power, purpose, reason, renewal, scorecard, shareholder value model, social traps, strategy, sustainability, sweet zone, Toyota Production System, trust, value stream, wertrationale, zweckrationale | 1 Comment ← Older posts Newer posts →