The pandemic crisis is revealing unsustainable economic and business models and practices in a brutal and accelerated way. Nobody can predict today what the “new normal” is going to look like, in spite of the myriad of articles offering advice on how to adapt and be more resilient in a post-COVID-19 reality. One such article […]
Transformation for Optimization – Learning from Deming to Start Again
In a moment when so many businesses must learn to start again, they could not do better than build their efforts on the solid foundations of Deming’s Theory of Profound Knowledge. His credentials are impeccable: Japan was able to emerge from devastation and become an economic powerhouse by absorbing and applying his teachings after WWII. […]
Out of the Crisis
This week, the Intelligent Management team is in Italy for week 4 of total lockdown. We hope that all our subscribers and readers and their families are safe and healthy and have the opportunity to practice the social and physical distancing that is gradually producing its first results in Italy. May we all emerge from […]
A Practical Process for Working Remotely in a Team from the Theory of Constraints
Over the last three weeks of lockdown in Italy, the team at Intelligent Management has been working intensively with clients and partners remotely. We have been able to switch from working onsite to working remotely with great ease thanks to years of consolidated practice using the Thinking Processes from the Theory of Constraints. People always […]
How Coronavirus in Italy Revealed a Digital Business Innovation Success
The Intelligent Management team is currently in northern Italy where the Coronavirus has created unprecedented levels of disruption to daily life and to businesses and the economy at large. The extraordinary circumstances, however, have also highlighted the unique advantages of a solution developed by one of our oldest clients and dear friends at Hyphen-Italia, a […]
Why Your Pricing Strategy is Losing You Business
A company in the furniture business lost a good repeat customer a few months back. They were devastated because they were already selling considerably less than previous years. Their customer wanted to a pay a price for their product that, according to traditional cost accounting, was not a price that allowed them to make any […]
Why Your Functional Hierarchy Is Stifling Your Results
We’re in week two of the course we were invited by the University of Venice to design and deliver for businesses so they can manage complexity. To survive and thrive in our new reality dominated by complexity, companies need to adopt a systemic perspective and a systemic way of operating. So it was satisfying to […]
How Systemic Management Can Help SMEs Survive and Thrive
On Tuesday, we were in Venice, Italy to kick off our course for SMEs on managing complexity through Systemic Management by invitation of the Fondazione Università Ca Foscari. The classroom was called ‘Infinity’ and that name seems like an auspicious start. We are particularly thrilled to begin this path of learning with a group of […]
Transforming Fear and Disaster with Brilliant Business
As a new year begins, reasons for fear and uncertainty are multiplying: the devastating effects of the climate crisis, threats of military action, accelerating polarization and blatant incompetence in prominent leaders in various countries. These are all symptoms of a world that is struggling to adapt to increasing complexity and interdependence. Far from being an […]
Celebrating a Year of Disruptive Thinking
As 2019 comes to a close, all of us at Intelligent Management send our warmest wishes to those who have taken the time to read our work. We are proud to have concluded another year of disruptive thinking. It is not disruption for the sake of it, but the creative disruption that comes from challenging […]