While working with a client at their plant last week, our Founder, Dr. Domenico Lepore, told the dramatic story of his visit to a German aluminium plant, part of a multi-billion, multi-national business. The General Manager had invited Domenico to visit and give a presentation after hearing him speak at a Theory of Constraints (TOC) […]
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 […]
Purpose and Brand – Can They Be The Same?
One of the themes that comes up regularly in our work is that of purpose. This is because we generally start a relationship with a new client by analyzing where they are stuck today and how to move forward towards a more sustainable and satisfying future. In order to do this, we help them to […]
Is Amazon a Dysfunctional Organization? Definition and Cure
“There is no such thing as a dysfunctional organization, because every organization is perfectly aligned to achieve the results it gets.” – Jeff Lawrence. We were asked to comment on this statement. Here is our reply. The word dysfunctional contains the prefix dys- from the Greek meaning “bad”, “abnormal”, “difficult”, or “impaired”. We can say […]
Why you Need Theory, Not Tips, for Your Organization Today
The world is full of tips on how to do things better. The problem is that without some solid theory behind you, those tips are just patches. Theory, you say? But we need something practical, don’t we? Well, here’s the thing. There is no such thing as good practice without solid theory to back it […]
Empowerment: Making it Real in Your Organization
The word “empowerment “ has been applied so broadly that it is now meaningless. It has become “a catch-all and therefore empty word” as pointed out in reference to women by Hadley Freeman in her article (‘From shopping to naked selfies, how ‘empowerment’ lost its meaning’.) Sadly, with the overuse of certain words, many terms […]
New Essential Skills for Leaders in the Digital and Decentralized Age
There are new essential skills that leaders and managers need to acquire and that Business Schools are not offering. In the 21st century, organizations need to shift away from the artificial limitations of traditional hierarchies and silos and this change does require a cognitive shift. As we pointed out in our post Bulldoze business Schools? A New […]
Structuring Collaboration for Results
We are becoming increasingly aware of the need for collaboration and cooperation. This is not yet the mainstream for management and organizations, but the more complexity becomes the backdrop and context of what we do and experience, the more we need to find up-to-date ways to exist within that complexity. Is it just about being […]
The Science of Why Extra Effort Does Not Equal Extra Productivity in an Organization
People work hard when they care about achieving results in their organization. Sometimes very hard. And yet, why is that no matter how much extra effort they may make, this doesn’t always translate into extra results? In some cases, paradoxically, the harder people work the further they seem to be from where they expect. What’s […]
Understanding Uncertainty and Systemic Risk in Organizations
If we could predict the outcome of everything we do with mathematical certainty, then our lives would be much simpler. In reality, we exist within a complex web of interdependencies and such certainty is not possible. Hence, we live with uncertainty and its inevitable companion: risk. We perceive a risk any time we feel that […]