Tag Archives: Taoism

The Engineer and The Gardener: the Central Tension in 21st Century Management

“Warm hearts allied with cool heads seek a middle way between the extremes of abstract theory and personal impulse”                                         Stephen Toulmin, … Continue reading →

Posted in Change, General, Leadership | Tagged Bagehot, change, complex, complex systems, complicated, ecological, efficiency, engineer, engineering, existential instrumental, gardener, innovation, opposites, sawubona, sikhona, stability, Taoism, tensions, Toulmin, ubuntu, Wooldridge, Zulu | Comments Off on The Engineer and The Gardener: the Central Tension in 21st Century Management

Double Vision: “Boxes and Bubbles” Thirty Years On [Part II]

This is the second blog on the thirtieth anniversary of my article “Of Boxes, Bubbles and Effective Management” appearing in the May-June 1984 issue of the Harvard Business Review. I had been inspired to write the article when I read … Continue reading →

Posted in Change, General, Leadership, Strategy | Tagged Accelerate, adaptive cycle, Boxes & Bubbles, change, Chuang-tzu, Crisis & Renewal, ecocycle, ecological perspective, ecosystem, Holling, Kotter, McGilchrist, Tao Te Ching, Taoism, The New Ecology of Leadership, yang, yin | Comments Off on Double Vision: “Boxes and Bubbles” Thirty Years On [Part II]

The Double Vision: “Boxes and Bubbles” Thirty Years On [Part I]

“For double the vision my Eyes do see, And a double vision is always with me:” In 1984 the first article I ever wrote on management appeared in the May-June issue of the Harvard Business Review. Entitled “Of Boxes, Bubbles … Continue reading →

Posted in Change, General, Leadership, Strategy | Tagged Boxes & Bubbles, hard, Harvard Business Review, holism, Jay Galbraith, leveraged buyout, reflective practitioner, relationships, soft, systemic, Tao of Pooh, Taoism, task, yang, yin | Comments Off on The Double Vision: “Boxes and Bubbles” Thirty Years On [Part I]

Why Isn’t ‘Servant Leadership’ More Prevalent?

This was the question posed recently on the Wisdom Research Network of the University of Chicago by James L. Heskett, Baker Foundation Professor, Emeritus at the Graduate School of Business Administration, Harvard University. He continued: “Servant leadership is an age-old … Continue reading →

Posted in General, Leadership | Tagged Adam Grant, First Industrial Revolution, Give and Take, Herman Miller, James L. Heskett, Lao-Tzu, leadership, Mary Parker Follett, Max de Pree, power-over, power-with, Quakers, Robert Greenleaf, servant-leadership, ServiceMaster, Taoism, wisdom | 5 Comments