Tag Archives: ecological perspective

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Restoring Humanity to Management: the Power of Context

My blog on this topic has just been published on the Drucker Forum here. My biggest beef with mainstream Anglo-American management (‘Cartesian’ management, as I call it) is that it ignores context. It treats management as an amoral, technical practice, … Continue reading →

Posted in Change, General | Tagged Cartesian Management, change, context, Drucker Forum, dual process, ecological perspective, humanism, management, Peter Drucker, power, taijitu, yin-yang | Comments Off on Restoring Humanity to Management: the Power of Context

Toggling Between Two Worlds: Making Sense of Organizational Change (abridged)

“And twofold always. May God us keep From single vision and Newton’s sleep.” William Blake This is a summary of a longer article I have just posted on Medium to mark forty years since the publication of my first (and … Continue reading →

Posted in Change, General, Leadership, Strategy | Tagged adaptive cycle, change, complex systems, context, crisis, destruction, ecocycle, ecological perspective, ecology, ecosystem | Comments Off on Toggling Between Two Worlds: Making Sense of Organizational Change (abridged)

Don’t Mistake Outputs for Inputs: The Folly of Trying to Plant “Cut Flowers”

Why does so much management advice sound reasonable but turn out to be of little value? Most readers will know what I mean. Take the following guidance on how companies can ‘accelerate their agile transformation’: Create a C-suite with an … Continue reading →

Posted in Change, General | Tagged change, complex systems, Drucker Forum, ecological perspective, Gary Klein, Kahneman, Peter Drucker, sensemaking, The New Ecology of Leadership | Comments Off on Don’t Mistake Outputs for Inputs: The Folly of Trying to Plant “Cut Flowers”

The Ecology of Digital Transformation: Sense-Making in Silicon Valley

I have just returned from a week of “educating” in Palo Alto, where the third residency module of the 2022 De Groote EMBA Digital Transformation was taking place. Palo Alto is, of course, the epicentre of the great disruption known … Continue reading →

Posted in General | Tagged adaptive cycle, banyan, Bildung, ecological perspective, ecology, ecosystem, Goethe, Hannah Arendt, Hewlett-Packard, Holling, narrative, Palo Alto, Peter Drucker, rationality, reason, sequoia, Stanford, Stephen Toulmin, Vernunft, Verstand | Comments Off on The Ecology of Digital Transformation: Sense-Making in Silicon Valley

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

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

Podcast “Lead Like a Gardener: An Ecological Approach to Wicked Problems

Last week I did a podcast with Toby Corballis of Wicked Problems. Toby is an agile business transformation specialist based in The Hague in the Netherlands. I had been attracted to his site by his earlier excellent interview with Keith … Continue reading →

Posted in Change, General, Strategy | Tagged adaptive cycle, bureaucracy, complex systems, Dealingwith Darwin, ecocycle, ecological perspective, ecology, ecosystem, Geoffrey Moore, hierarchy, narrative, navigating, panarchy, product lifecycle, The New Ecology of Leadership, Toby Corballis, wayfinding, wicked problems | Comments Off on Podcast “Lead Like a Gardener: An Ecological Approach to Wicked Problems

You’re Gonna Need a Bigger Boat!

Steven Spielberg’s 1975 movie, Jaws, tells the story of a seaside town whose shores are terrorized by a killer shark. After several fatal attacks, the town sheriff, played by Roy Scheider, sets out to hunt the monster in a dilapidated … Continue reading →

Posted in Change, General, Leadership, Strategy | Tagged Adrian Wooldridge, change, complex systems, Dofasco, ecological perspective, figure and ground, Gore-Tex, human condition, humanistic management, Jaws, John Micklethwait, leadership, management theory, Peter Drucker, scientific management, Spotify, tensions, W.L. Gore | Comments Off on You’re Gonna Need a Bigger Boat!

Democracy, Capitalism and Donald Trump: An Ecological Perspective Part I: Midnight Reckoning

Back in November 2016 I wrote a blog in the immediate aftermath of Donald Trump’s election. As a Canadian I thought the Americans had had an awful choice to make but was just as surprised as many others were, when … Continue reading →

Posted in Change, General, Uncategorized | Tagged change, click-bait, complex systems, Demockracy, Donald Trump, ecocycle, ecological perspective, ecosystem, Lawrence Lessig, Lyn Nottage, narrative, Norman Orenstein, power, QAnon, Reading Pa., social enterprise, Sweat, systems trap, Thomas Mann | Comments Off on Democracy, Capitalism and Donald Trump: An Ecological Perspective Part I: Midnight Reckoning

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

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

Milton Friedman’s Philosophy: Invaluable at First but Deadly Afterward

2020 marks the 50th  anniversary of Chicago economist Milton Friedman’s famous (or infamous, depending on your point-of-view) claim that the only social purpose of business is to increase profits. This doctrine proved immensely popular among corporate managers but has been … Continue reading →

Posted in Change, General | Tagged Anglo-Saxon capitalism, argumentative theory of reason, Ayn Rand, change, complex systems, conglomerates, ecological perspective, Henry Mintzberg, innovation, leveraged buyouts, Milton Friedman, University of Chicago, Walter Bagehot | Comments Off on Milton Friedman’s Philosophy: Invaluable at First but Deadly Afterward ← Older posts