It’s not a trick, a gimmick or a quick fix recipe. It’s a way of thinking, a mindset; some would go as far as saying it’s a way of being. The revolutionary nature of Goldratt’s approach to Project Management often gets lost. In this post, we look at just one of the crucial aspects that […]
Ethical, Sustainable and for the Common Good – a Playbook
As Super Bowl fever rises, it’s worth recalling that Chrystia Freeland, global editor at large for Reuters, reviewed a book that suggests capitalism has something to learn from the NFL; it is the duty of society to ensure that the rules of capitalism are working for the common good. The NFL continuously tweaks the rules […]
Complexity – We Can’t Work in Silos to Solve Systemic Problems
It may still not be obvious to all organizations and corporations, but they urgently need to come to terms with complexity and its implications. Most organizations are already feeling complexity biting but they don’t know how to identify it or how to manage it. That’s not surprising. The term complexity is often misunderstood. It doesn’t […]
Network of Networks (continued): The Intrinsic Risk of Super Hubs
When an enterprise is successful and grows in size, there is inevitably an increase in the number and quality of interdependencies, i.e. exchanges with other parts of the network of enterprises it is part of. These can include information, money, manpower, and goods etc. This leads to a double level of complexity: one level is […]
Skills vs. Culture in Education – Developing a Solution
In our previous post we looked at the conflicting positions of a school that emphasizes skills vs. a school that emphasizes culture. The ‘skill school’ protects the need to develop ability to apply skills in a work environment, whereas the ‘culture school’ protects the need to develop the ability to think and analyze in an […]
Looking at the Core Conflict in Education and Innovation Today
In this post we will be looking at what we consider to be the Core Conflict regarding Education and Innovation. We have analyzed this conflict using a rigorous tool that combines intuition with logical analysis to produce a solution that is a non-linear synthesis. This Thinking Process Tool is known as the Core Conflict Cloud […]
While Greece sinks, Canada launches a thousand ships
In the past few days we have read about two starkly contrasting scenarios. In one, the Canadian government awarded three decades of shipbuilding work (33 billion dollars) to two private shipbuilding yards in Halifax and Vancouver. Reports from Greece, instead, speak of entrepreneurs sacking workers who earn 1200 Euros per month to replace them with […]
Think different, and develop and execute different: the pattern of sustainable innovation
There is a unique human ability to conceive an idea. Ideas are born every minute, but only some of them actually make it into the world, and even fewer survive as a sustainable innovation, something that brings benefits to all involved. Apple products are some of the most satisfying innovations in our lives. There is […]
Learning to connect the systemic dots
In Toronto, this morning’s paper came with a copy of ‘Corporate Knights – the magazine for Clean Capitalism’. In her Publisher’s Note, Karen Kun raises an urgent question: “In an increasingly interconnected global community, students will need to apply systems thinking on a level not seen by previous generations… If such principles are not included […]
