Management Reviews
How to get a first-class mind
Source: Harvard Business Review
Reviewed: 08-June-07Source: Harvard Business Review
The most important ingredient to good business leadership is being able to think integratively, meaning one can hold two opposing ideas in one's mind at the same time.
By being able to handle complex and ambiguous matters, such individuals are able to synthesise the information and often produce a third idea. This goes to the heart of good decision-making and is exhibited by most of the top business leaders.
More than 60 years ago F. Scott Fitzgerald said the "ability to hold two opposing ideas in mind at the same time and still retain the ability to function" was the sign of a truly intelligent individual. Whilst he believed only first-class minds could achieve this feat, it may be possible to teach yourself how to think more integratively.
One must shun the normal tendency to seek simplicity and regard complex, opposing ideas as desirable. A nineteenth-century American geologist, Thomas C Chamberlin, advocated just such a method for conducting trial and error scientific experiments. He argued that such an approach could develop the "habit of parallel or complex thought".
Source:How successful leaders think
By Roger Martin
Harvard Business Review, June 2007
Sharp thinking
Source: European Business Forum
Source: European Business Forum
Reviewed: 06-Jun-07
Top leaders adopt the Socratic method of falsification to encourage people to think more sharply and justify their points of view.
A good leader acts as the chief questioner, asking whether something that seems to be true may not be or whether something that seems untrue is true. Leaders must encourage people to ask questions and be unafraid to show doubt.
They can also drive new thinking by matching employees with interesting and knowledgeable individuals outside corporate walls. People must know that they are investigating something for a purpose, otherwise, the Socratic method of questioning could encourage them to second-guess one another, creating a negative back-stabbing culture.
Former IBM head Lou Gerstner used to encourage his staff to engage in simple conversations, and not waste time planning elaborate presentations.
The leader as Socrates,
Top leaders adopt the Socratic method of falsification to encourage people to think more sharply and justify their points of view.
A good leader acts as the chief questioner, asking whether something that seems to be true may not be or whether something that seems untrue is true. Leaders must encourage people to ask questions and be unafraid to show doubt.
They can also drive new thinking by matching employees with interesting and knowledgeable individuals outside corporate walls. People must know that they are investigating something for a purpose, otherwise, the Socratic method of questioning could encourage them to second-guess one another, creating a negative back-stabbing culture.
Former IBM head Lou Gerstner used to encourage his staff to engage in simple conversations, and not waste time planning elaborate presentations.
The leader as Socrates,
Lynda Gratton,
European Business Forum, Issue 28, Spring 2007
Leading through complexity
Source: IMD Reviewed: 12-Apr-07
Complexity might be the latest buzzword in management, but for leaders, it is the latest nut to crack, and a tough one at that.
Researchers at IMD identified four sources of complexity, all feeding into each other, which leaders had to reckon with: increased diversity inside the organisation (through its global workforce, and multiple organisational layers); interdependence (companies are more exposed to events and actions taking place outside of their usual circle of activity); ambiguity (information overload and difficulty to interpret that information); and an ever faster pace of change which researchers call flux, whereby today's solutions may be outdated tomorrow.
Companies have responded with a confused mix of simplification techniques and new levels of complexity within organisations. But IMD researchers suggest that establishing simple principles in a few well chosen areas might be the solution to make sense of, and cope with, complexity elsewhere.
Purpose and values is the first one: the guidance that such clarity will provide will be a critical tool to avoid the pitfalls of complex environments. Core processes, those used by the entire company, should be standardised to leave room for adaptations at the subsidiary level. Managers should also set clear limits to the amount of complexity allowed in their organisation, and contingency plans for when things get out of hand.
Finally, leaders working in complex organisations should adopt a mindset whereby they rely on the creativity and initiative of their team members and help the different parts of their organisation to work together to create value.
Once these four key issues are clear and consistent throughout, managers in different parts of the company can respond to complexity according to their own needs and capabilities.
Source: Mastering global complexity
Source: IMD Reviewed: 12-Apr-07
Complexity might be the latest buzzword in management, but for leaders, it is the latest nut to crack, and a tough one at that.
Researchers at IMD identified four sources of complexity, all feeding into each other, which leaders had to reckon with: increased diversity inside the organisation (through its global workforce, and multiple organisational layers); interdependence (companies are more exposed to events and actions taking place outside of their usual circle of activity); ambiguity (information overload and difficulty to interpret that information); and an ever faster pace of change which researchers call flux, whereby today's solutions may be outdated tomorrow.
Companies have responded with a confused mix of simplification techniques and new levels of complexity within organisations. But IMD researchers suggest that establishing simple principles in a few well chosen areas might be the solution to make sense of, and cope with, complexity elsewhere.
Purpose and values is the first one: the guidance that such clarity will provide will be a critical tool to avoid the pitfalls of complex environments. Core processes, those used by the entire company, should be standardised to leave room for adaptations at the subsidiary level. Managers should also set clear limits to the amount of complexity allowed in their organisation, and contingency plans for when things get out of hand.
Finally, leaders working in complex organisations should adopt a mindset whereby they rely on the creativity and initiative of their team members and help the different parts of their organisation to work together to create value.
Once these four key issues are clear and consistent throughout, managers in different parts of the company can respond to complexity according to their own needs and capabilities.
Source: Mastering global complexity
M Maznevski, U Steger and W Amann
Real Learning @ IMD
Review by Emilie Filou
Review by Emilie Filou
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