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Net Zero and The Law of Horse Manure
Catastrophic predictions that spell dark days for humanity are nothing new. The Times predicted in 1894 that in 50 years time, every street in London would be buried under nine feet of horse manure. It was the crisis of all crises. There was, to be fair, some evidence for this. As urban populations rapidly increased… Read more
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The Gravitational Pull Of Business As Usual
The interior secrets of black holes are guarded by a one-way light-trapping boundary called the event horizon. This horizon is the point, according to NASA, that the gravitational influence of the black hole becomes so intense that not even light is fast enough to escape it. A very different horizon exists in many organisations, except… Read more
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Avoiding The Iceberg of Organisational Change
Formal reorganisation is an elaborate illusion. Reorganisation has to be part of an organisation, not something done to it – Harold Jarche The concept of the ‘iceberg of ignorance’ – that most problems in organisations are invisible to leaders, and therefore unsolvable – was popularised by Sidney Yoshida in the late 1980’s. Nearly 30 years… Read more
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Stop Talking, Start Experimenting
Thinking different isn’t enough, you have to act different – Jorge Barba I took a call this week from a person working for another organisation, we’ll call her Bill. Despite having a hugely supportive executive team the problems Bill faces are numerous: Managers are asking why are we working on a new initiative when the… Read more
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Why Do We Still Need Managers?
“Management is not only dysfunctional, Management is also destructive” – Companies Without Managers Last week we held the first of the Bromford #inspiremelab sessions – where colleagues curated and then discussed provocations around the future of how we work. We covered off a range of subjects but the conversation kept coming back to that opening quote… Read more
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What Does Your Social Media Say About Your Organisation?
Please for the love of God can we stop with the Digital by Default, the Digital by Design – It’s just life! – Amy Nettleton There’s a danger we can overthink digital. Whilst organisations grapple with the ‘cultural challenges’ of digital transformation, real people – the citizens, customers and users with more important things to… Read more
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Redefining Trust In A Digital Age
Trust is not coming back. Scepticism reigns, as it should. – Gerry McGovern Since the industrial revolution, a trusting relationship between individuals and organisations has been the norm. This has shaped the way we communicate – both internally and externally. It has resulted in the issuing of corporate annual reports, press releases , customer satisfaction scores… Read more
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Complex Problems Require Rapid Experiments
“Multiple iterations almost always beat a single-minded commitment to building your first idea” – Peter Skillman Most of you will have taken part in the Marshmallow Challenge or a variant of it. It’s the team exercise where you get a load of spaghetti, some tape, a marshmallow, a piece of string, and 18 minutes to… Read more
Paul Taylor 