It’s time for companies to update their knowledge and approach to business–what may have worked before is inadequate for the complexity all organizations face today. Our new series focuses on what companies need to embrace today to succeed and scale up. It is based on our new book ‘From Silos to Network: A New Kind of Science […]
Enjoy the Process of Improvement- You Were Made For It
We talk a lot about processes at Intelligent Management. That’s because well-designed and well-managed processes are the bedrock of Quality and healthy organizations. But it’s more than that. Processes require constant attention and continuous improvement. In case that begins to sound like a treadmill, let’s remember something very important and fundamental for our lives: we can […]
Variation in Processes: The Time it Takes to Sell
Everything we do in an organization can be considered as a process. We’ve said it before and we’ll say it again: whether we realize it or not, every process is affected by variation. We need to understand and manage this phenomenon of variation in processes if we want to achieve the best results. Let’s look at […]
What Is Variation and Why Can’t Leaders and Managers Ignore It?
Asking somebody to lead or manage without knowledge of variation in our opinion is like asking them to sail a boat without a rudder. That’s an observation based on 20 years of working with organizations and witnessing the effects of managing (or not managing) variation. We’ve been asked to explain some more about variation following our post […]
Mining the Past to Create the Future
The ancient industry of glass blowing in Venice is threatened by a grim economy, changing taste, and cheaper alternatives. A recent article from The Economist concentrates on the famous island of Murano and the challenges facing the centuries-old tradition. One glass-blowing studio in Murano has found success by working with fine artists to produce rare […]
Connecting in a Network? Its usefulness is all about affinity.
Is all that effort to make connections in a network a waste of time? Network theory has something to teach us about all that. A lot of energy is consumed every day by people, groups, and organizations who frantically try to make as many connections as possible. They do so for a reason: to increase […]
Everything Is Connected: A New Economics
After a hiatus over the New Year and preparations for a big move West to British Columbia, the Intelligent Management Blog is back! What do a Theatre Director, an entrepreneur and an organizational scientist have in common? When it comes to creating a New Economics, a great deal. Last weekend in Los Angeles, I had […]
A Mining Company With A Heart of Gold
In a recent article by Dawn Cranfield in The Guardian Express entitled A Mining Company with a Heart of Gold – Comstock Mining, Inc., the author draws attention to what makes Comstock a very different kind of mining company: “Comstock Mining, Inc. had their first pour of gold and silver doré, unrefined gold bullion, on […]
Management and Control: a New Perspective
The traditional model for control is the hierarchical model, and the reason for its existence is because personal capacity for control is limited, and adding hierarchical levels increases personal capacity of control. On the other hand, if we want to increase the capacity to listen to the customers and the suppliers, in order to satisfy […]
Intelligent Emotions the Statistical Way
All processes, human and non, whether we are aware of it or not, are affected by variation. If we want to be able to predict the outcome of our processes, i.e. manage them, we need to understand, measure and manage the variation in those processes. The alternative is to manage by the seat of our […]
