If we want to manage our organizations more effectively, profitably and respectfully, we need to heed the work of Dr. W. Edwards Deming, American physicist and statistician, and the man who helped Japan rebuild itself after World War II. Though Deming is regularly quoted in articles and blog posts, sadly it is often out of […]
Archives for 2019
It Takes a C-Suite with a Clear Purpose to Go Beyond Shareholder Value
The Business Roundtable recently announced a major policy change declaring that the purpose of a corporation is not just to serve shareholders – its official position since 1997 – but “to create value for all our stakeholders.” Over the last 25 years, Intelligent Management has developed and implemented a systemic approach to management that inherently brings attention to the […]
Digital Content and Business – Systemic Lessons Learned
Every brand is a media company. This is a huge take away from our friends at Hyphen-Italia at their event yesterday on Omnichannel Digital Production Management. No matter what kind of a business you are today, you must produce digital content that can be published on multiple channels. When you consider that over 80% of commercial […]
The Limiting Beliefs Holding Your Business Back – and What to Do About It
If a business is not growing, it’s shrinking. It’s a hard truth to accept. There is no such thing as standing still because plenty of other businesses are moving forward. Even if your market share increases, how much is it increasing in proportion with the growth of the market? So what is it that holds businesses […]
Some Summer Reading for Whole System Change
The famous “brioche con gelato” in Salerno, Italy. As we take a few days off mid-August Italian style, we wish all our subscribers and readers a serene and regenerating summer period. We will be back soon with our regular blog. In the meantime, here is a selection of some of our most popular posts […]
How to Do New Product Development Seamlessly with a Systems Approach
Any organization that wishes to innovate must be able to develop new products. The ability to develop new ideas, and new products in particular, can be stimulated and increased systemically by addressing the “cognitive limits” of the organization using the Thinking Processes from the Theory of Constraints. The capacity to continuously innovate has become a […]
The Transformational Message of Deming for Today’s Fragmented World
“It would be better if everyone worked together as a system.” These few, simple words reveal a mindset and worldview capable of transforming everything we do. Transforming what? A divisive, zero-sum-game way of doing business and managing/controlling people towards one of whole systems optimization. This is not idealism. This is applying systems science to human […]
The Human Advantage of Every Leader Over Technology
We recently heard about a company that has been struggling for some time to deliver their service in a satisfactory way. Life in that company has become a daily, stressful grind. Leadership has tried several things to lift morale but the disappointing numbers on the balance sheet continue to worsen. To solve these issues, […]
A Systemic Skill to Create Economic Sustainability that Businesses Must Learn
Every business today shares a legitimate desire: to achieve not just economic success but economic sustainability. But we are living with unprecedented uncertainty. The world is changing at such a pace that it seems almost impossible to stay abreast of the shifts. While there are young companies that seem to grow exponentially, we can […]
Principles for Uncertainty to Guide Leaders Today
The threats of the 21st century are real – environmental, economic and social. It’s a challenging reality for everyone and it puts an even heavier burden on the shoulders of those who are in leadership. When faced with what feels like unprecedented uncertainty, how can leaders get a grip? How can they exercise any form […]
