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Showing posts from June, 2009

NEED FOR NEW ORGANIZING PRINCIPLES

Recently I attended the VINT symposium. Among the great speakers were Umair Haque and Don Tapscott. It was interesting that all speakers agreed on the fact that we now experience different sort of crises at the same time. They refer to many failing institutions, like the financial system, energy platform, global governance, education system, government & democracy, industrial age corporation, media, science, health care, cities and food. Most surprising was that both the speakers and the (engaged) audience thought that there is no way back to the ‘old situation’, the way it was before the crisis. This crisis is so fundamental that a radical redesign of our institutions is needed in order to move forward again. This change has to be guided by a set of NEW principles. Both Haque and Tapscott came up with their own suggestions. Haque calls them the new ideals/organizing principles: for ‘constructive capitalism’: 1. from exploitation to renewal 2. from tyranny to democracy 3. from war

RADICAL INNOVATION NEEDS ICONOCLASTS

I just finished reading Iconoclast from Gegory Burns. It is about how the brain sabotages creative thinking for most ordinary people. An iconoclast is a person who does something that others say can’t be done. It is clear that the current crises (financial, environmental, energy, government, industrial age corporations) is in urgent need of a new approach. It was Einstein who said that you cannot solve a problem at the level at which it originated. So, you need iconoclasts/pioneers/change agents in your organization, who think differently. They should be nurtured and supported. The iconoclastic brain differs in these three functions and the circuits that implement them: Perception Fear response Social intelligence PERCEPTION Perception is heavily influenced by past experience and what other people say. To see things differently the most effective solution is to bombard the brain with things it has never encountered before. Well that is happening today, th

10 most common leadership shortcomings and how to resolve them

After scrutinizing 360-degree feedback data on over 11,000 leaders and evaluating the 10% considered the least effective, Jack Zenger and Joseph Folkman found the 10 most common leadership shortcomings . These are ranked according to the size of the difference between successful and unsuccessful leaders' scores; successful and failed leaders differed most significantly in their energy and enthusiasm.  Please find the listing below as well my suggestions on how to change them.   1.     Lack of energy and enthusiasm If you do your job just because you have to, if it feels like it is something you should do (rather than would like to do), then it drains your energy. If you are a leader mainly because you are attracted to the status, the power and the money, then you will lack the necessary enthusiasm. Your heart is not connected, so it just is an economic and rational activity. This activity is not fuelled by your enthusiasm. If you do work, which you love to do, if you foll

TEAM: TOGETHER EVERYONE ACHIEVES MIRACLES

This is the acronym, which is used in the book One Minute Millionaire from Hansen/Allen. It stipulates the important role that every individual plays in the team.   This weekend I saw some excellent examples of team work (or the lack of it) in the world of sports. First there was Denis Menchov cycling in the last time trial of the Giro d’ Italia. He was clearly in the lead when one kilometer before the finish he fell due to the rain and the slippery road. This was an incredible event, after cycling for three weeks and so close to the finish. Would he now miss   his victory? Well, I froze at watching this on the tv and the commentators were astounded as well. But, there was one guy who did not freeze, actually he took immediate action. It was the mechanic from the Rabobank team. When the car in which he was following Menchov stopped, he jumped out of it, took a new bike from the roof and offered it to Menchov. Then he put Menchov on the bike and pushed him as hard as he could to

TEAM: TOGETHER EVERYONE ACHIEVES MIRACLES

This is the acronym, which is used in the book One Minute Millionaire from Hansen/Allen. It stipulates the important role that every individual plays in the team.   This weekend I saw some excellent examples of team work (or the lack of it) in the world of sports. First there was Denis Menchov cycling in the last time trial of the Giro d’ Italia. He was clearly in the lead when one kilometer before the finish he fell due to the rain and the slippery road. This was an incredible event, after cycling for three weeks and so close to the finish. Would he now miss   his victory? Well, I froze at watching this on the tv and the commentators were astounded as well. But, there was one guy who did not freeze, actually he took immediate action. It was the mechanic from the Rabobank team. When the car in which he was following Menchov stopped, he jumped out of it, took a new bike from the roof and offered it to Menchov. Then he put Menchov on the bike and pushed him as hard as he could to