Question: I have an organizational situation that I need to address and I’m not sure how to go about it. I’ve been hearing a lot about something called systems thinking and I’m interested in understanding what it is and how I benefit from it addressing the situation at hand. Your thoughts on how to pursue […]
Archives for July 2017
Growth Mindset – Cultivating this Key Element of Success
“Every blade of grass has its angel that bends over it and whispers, ‘Grow, grow.” From The Talmud Do you feel as if you’re stuck the way you are or do you feel that you can grow? A book by a Stanford psychologist identifies a “fixed mindset” and a “growth mindset.” Depending on your mindset, […]
MBAs – Are They Killing Our Economy?
Dr. Deming said it years ago – MBAs teach students to raid companies, not to manage them. In her new book Makers & Takers: The Rise of Finance and the Fall of American Business, Rana Foroohar, assistant managing editor at Time, points a finger at business education. She states that in spite of the increase in people studying […]
Holacracy vs. Hierarchy? Try Managing Complexity
We recently saw introduced the notion of Holacracy in discussions about an innovative IT platform. Holacracy removes traditional managers and job titles. Zappos introduced it in the belief that this new structure would allow them to grow in a way that is less rigid and bureaucratic. While this may be a move in the right […]
Summer Reading: A Deming and Goldratt Business Novel for Complex Times
It’s summer and time for a good read. If you had to choose between reading a business text book on new management thinking and skills and reading a good story, you might be more tempted by the story. But what if you didn’t have to make that choice? What if you could learn about a […]
How to Predict the Future in Uncertain Times Part 2
In Part Two of this article on predicting the future with science, we look at the tool from Statistical Process Control that helps us understand behaviour patterns in our processes so we can make more informed decisions. When is a process predictable? We say that a process is “predictable” when it is in a state […]
Quantifying the Business Value of Systemic vs Silo Management
A business leader recently asked us about quantifying the business value of a systemic approach to management. This is someone who completely understands that it makes much more sense to work in an integrated and collaborative way rather than within a “functional empire”. The question was, what can we say to people about the quantifiable […]
