The major problem managers face today is complexity, and the current MBAs on offer are not equipping their graduates with the right knowledge and tools. Managers today must be able to understand how things interdepend and evolve in order to navigate complexity. Here we offer a solution. Why MBAs are stuck in the past Many business […]
Why a Performance Review Makes No Sense – a Systems View
A company is not a collection of individuals. Contemporary science helps us to understand that organizations are, instead, “complex systems”, ruled by non-linear interactions that make it difficult to make any prediction when any change is effected. That’s why any approach to improve the system has to be “holistic”, and consider all the interactions/interdependencies. The […]
Idle Is Good – Resource Optimization Part 2
Our recent post, ‘Resource Optimization? Don’t Make the 100% Efficiency Mistake‘ received thousands of views, hundreds of likes and we are grateful for the many insightful comments received. Here, Dr. Giovanni Siepe takes a further look at resource optimization and why it is essential to always have some excess capacity. Infinite resources only exist in Heaven In our […]
Systemic Organization Management for the Age of Complexity
As this post is being written in Italy where we first set up our firm and where we are visiting for projects, it’s not surprising that we often think about how we first started in the mid 1990s in Milan. Back then, we worked with organizations to transfer Deming’s principles about Quality. It quickly became clear […]
Resource Optimization – Don’t Make the 100% Efficiency Mistake
Do you think getting everything in your system/organization to work at 100% is the right way to create maximum efficiency? Dr. Giovanni Siepe explains how we can learn from management science (and other sources) that there is a better way. Not too long ago I was reading about “Sukkot”, a holiday celebrated at the end […]
I’m Right, You’re Wrong. I Win, You Lose – Try Joy Instead
We have all experienced this. The desire to prevail, to show we know best, to come out as the “winner”. Cultures are based on it and awards are won for it. It is a zero sum game. This attitude promotes a divisive and competitive humanity. Social media often serves to encourage and magnify arguments and […]
Sustainable Prosperity is Within Our Reach – A Systems View
Is there a way for everyone to prosper in the market? Systemic Thinking leads us to believe there is. In this extract from The Human Constraint business novel, systems thinker Dr. Sam Deluca offers a way ahead for sustainable prosperity. “What is the market then, in your opinion?” Sam gripped the front of the lectern. A piece […]
Radically Rethinking How to Improve Work-Life Balance
Is it possible to find that elusive work-life balance so many seek? We think that’s the wrong question. However, there is something you can do to focus your energies on what you truly need. It works for organizations, and it can work for individuals too. I want it all, and I want it now Our reality […]
Why Acknowledging Fears and Desires is Better than a Mission Statement
While working with a startup group of entrepreneurs, the notion of writing a mission statement came up. While this is a common practice, it can often lead to a bunch of meaningless words. There is a much better way of setting the course of an organization. Setting the direction There is nothing more exciting that working with […]
Leveraging the Path of Least Resistance for Organizations
Which path is the easiest way to get from A to B? The path of least resistance, one that provides the least resistance to forward motion among a set of alternative paths. Look at the way raindrops make their way down a window, for instance. The path of least resistance is a familiar concept from […]
