Those societies which retain, in changing circumstances, a lively sense of their own identity and continuity (which are without that hatred of their own experience… Read More »Michael Oakeshott on political activity and continuity
For those who came in late… U.S. Admiral Hyman Rickover – “the father of the nuclear navy” was a man who got things done: Within… Read More »Hyman G. Rickover’s management fundamentals
48:55 to 1:04:15 is insightful, nuanced, and heavily emphasises the human parts of a business system. In short, it is worth your time. See also:… Read More »“The best way to treat a problem is seldom where the problem appears” – a case study of solving problems in a complex system from Russell Ackoff
[The first requirement of a system is that] a system is a whole that consists of parts, each of which can affect its behaviour or… Read More »Russell Ackoff on Systems Thinking and improving system performance
Not to be taken for granted in the family, with members bound by blood, shared history, shared interests and (we hope) mutual affection. Challenging in… Read More »Good governance. Shared ownership. Tangible progress.
Here’s very-nearly the whole post: Engineers can optimize a bridge. There are some bridge designs that satisfy aesthetic, financial, durability, safety and efficiency needs better… Read More »Seth Godin on optimisation vs maximisation
You can understand the relative importance of a system’s elements, interconnections, and purposes by imagining them changed one by one. Changing elements usually has the… Read More »Donella Meadows on systems thinking: elements, interconnections, purposes
The Delusion of Learning from Experience The most powerful learning comes from direct experience. Indeed, we learn eating, crawling, walking, and communicating through direct trial… Read More »Peter Senge on complexity and the difficulty of organisational learning
We were working for a well-known software consultancy at a Big Bank that decided to introduce individual performance metrics, “for appraisal and personal development purposes”…… Read More »Dan North on deep productivity: Delivering the team