The Agile Mind: Scientific Thinking
-Agile neither fears nor worships failure. For some time, I’ve been noticing a trend. At conferences, in business schools, in business books and “business cartoons”: a trend that trivializes failure. The alarming equation I see set forth everywhere is: This newfound glorification of failure triggers the same mixture of alarm and sadness from another earlier extreme, before ‘failing forward’ rose to aspirational heights. In earlier times, the equation was: Two extremes. This previous obsession with failure avoidance produced a generation of steadfast fighters for the preservation of status quo surrounded by a dense layer of opacity around problems (aka opportunities).…
Leading the Agile Organization
-“62% of leaders we surveyed didn’t want to lead, but incentives lead them to take a promotion” Michael C. Bush This is a quote from Michael C. Bush, who recently took part on the HBR Webinar “Leading the Agile Organization”. I thought this was a really interesting insight, and very telling. In my perception if you want to create an agile organisation (ie nimble not Agile©) you need great leaders. If a person doesn’t want lead, they are going to struggle to execute the leadership needed to thrive in a complex and changing environment. The webinar hosted a pretty interesting…
Being Clear and Concise
-The date is November 19th, 1863. A crisp autumn day in the fields of southern Pennsylvania in a little farm-town called Gettysburg. Just four months earlier, the fierce battle of Gettysburg raged there as the Union and Confederate forces clashed in what mark the decisive high-water mark of the Confederate efforts to separate from the United States and become their own country. This was to be the day that the Gettysburg National Cemetery, through the efforts of David Willis, would be consecrated. And Willis had organized the day’s program which, among other aspects of the program, contained speeches from Edward…
OODA and Agility; Reaching a Conclusion Faster
-Since the beginning of recorded history, great leaders of engagements have known two things; 1) Time is the enemy with speed and decisiveness in making a decision being an advantage and 2) there is no such thing as the perfect plan. Therefore the ability to adapt as circumstances unfold is critical to success. Sun Tzu, a military strategist in the 6th century BC and known for his writings on military doctrine in “The Art of War”, recognized and understood the importance of speed and planning very well. On speed; “Quickness is the essence of the war. Therefore, it is the…
Improving productivity – time for a paradigm shift?
-Its time for improvement, as always! In the UK, we are constantly reminding ourselves – where others don’t do it for us – that “Productivity is a huge issue”. From Public to Private sector and now even Third sector (not for profit) organisations, calls for increased “efficiency”, “productivity” and “cost-effectiveness” to list but a few terms are common-place. It is big in the news. For the UK, it is increasingly important if we’re to remain competitive in the world market; especially following Brexit many believe – though who knows what that will mean… assuming it happens… as I write this, …
Lessons from the military on creating highly effective teams
-‘Leadership by intent’ has been described as the leadership technique that can best contribute to making organisations more adaptable and effective. That it can create an environment of employee empowerment. That it can help businesses thrive in environments that are increasingly volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous. In this article, I describe what leadership by intent is and where it comes from. However, the most interesting part is why it works so well, and the neuroscience of why it works. What is leading by intent? It is perhaps David Marquet, in his book ‘Turn the Ship Around’, that has made famous…
