Tag Archives: Milton Friedman

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

The Great Transformation: a Historical Perspective

The sixth annual Drucker Forum takes place in Vienna from November 13 to 14. The theme is the “The Great Transformation: Managing Our Way to Prosperity” and the forum features a pantheon of the ABCs (academics, business people, and consultants) … Continue reading →

Posted in Change, General | Tagged Adrian Wooldridge, Andrew Hill, Clayton Christensen, Conservative, Drucker Forum, Ecological Vision, Gary Hamel, Gemeinschaft, Gesellschaft, Great Transformation, liberal, Martin Wolf, Milton Friedman, Peter Drucker, Rita McGrath, Roger Martin, The Fatal Conceit, Walter Bagehot | Comments Off on The Great Transformation: a Historical Perspective

Economics as a Moral Science and the Capitalist Dilemma: An Ecological Perspective

As I mentioned last week, Kenneth Boulding was and is my favourite economist and I was reminded again of his work when I came across a New York Times article on capitalism and the Dalai Lama. In it His Holiness … Continue reading →

Posted in Change, General | Tagged Adam Smith, Alfred Marshall, capitalist dilemma, Clayton Christensen, Dalai Lama, ecocycle, economics, evolutionary perspective, exchange, integration, Jeffrey Pfeffer, John Dewey, Kenneth Boulding, Maynard Keynes, Milton Friedman, moral science, Paul Samuelson, Pitirim Sorokin, real world economics, threat | Comments Off on Economics as a Moral Science and the Capitalist Dilemma: An Ecological Perspective

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

Obama and Romney: Prisoners of the System?

I spent Thursday and Friday of last week at a conference in Las Vegas where I was speaking. The meeting was put on by the Applied Finance Group (AFG), a financial consulting company who create sophisticated corporate valuation models for … Continue reading →

Posted in Change, General, Leadership | Tagged addiction, Barack Obama, Clinton incrementalism, Congress, corruption, creative destruction, dependency, East Coker, ecological perspective, economic rents, Facebook, flat tax, gift economy, House of Representatives, Instagram, Lawrence Lessig, Milton Friedman, Mitt Romney, Republic Lost, Ronald Reagan, rootstriker, Senate, social traps, sunset clause, The New Ecology of Leadership, Thoreau, TS Eliot | Comments Off on Obama and Romney: Prisoners of the System?