Yesterday is so … Yesterday

HOT READS FOR THE PRACTITIONER

Title: What Matters Now: How to Win in a World of Relentless Change, Ferocious Competition, and Unstoppable Innovation

Competencies: executive leadership, visionary leadership

Who benefits: executives, consultants and students of organizational change

Consultant Usage: organizational development consultants, executive coaches, large scale change agents

What’s it about? It’s a new year.  Time to think big.  Today’s review is about a book that hasn’t even been published (although you can order it if you like).  The author of the book is Gary Hamel.  He is currently the Professor of Strategic and International Management at the London Business School. He has been around long enough to write a number of well received books.  He writes about the Big Picture.

Unless you are a very senior executive, this book is not practical.  This does not diminish its value.  It is still educational to all readers of management and I would consider it a must read for consultants who deal directly with the C-suite.

Dr. Hamel rejects the notion of doing better.  He wants to reinvent management as currently practiced and to rethink the fundamental assumptions we have about capitalism, organizational life, and the meaning of work.

Here is a quick summary to help you determine if this is a good read for you:

He says he is writing an essential agenda for leaders everywhere who are eager to…

“defeat bureaucracy
astonish their customers
foster extraordinary contribution
capture the moral high ground
outrun change
build a company that’s truly fit for the future”

To get there he writes the book centered on five paramount issues:
 
“Values: With trust in large organizations at an all time low, there is an urgent need to rebuild the ethical foundations of capitalism. What’s required is nothing less than a moral renaissance in business.

Innovation: Innovation is the only defense against margin-crushing competition, and the only way to outgrow a dismal economy. In too many companies, innovation is still a buzzword, rather than the responsibility of every single individual. This must change.

Adaptability: In a world of accelerating change, every company must build an evolutionary advantage. The forces of inertia must be vanquished. The ultimate prize: an organization that is as nimble as change itself.

Passion: In business as in life, the difference between “insipid” and “inspired” is passion. With mediocrity fast becoming a competitive liability, success depends on finding new ways to rouse the human spirit at work.

Ideology: Today, businesses need more than better practices; they need better principles. Bureaucracy and control have had their day. It’s time for a new ideology based on freedom and self-determination.”

If you want more of Dr. Hamel, you can read his earlier thoughts (2007) on the same topic in his well-reviewed The Future of Management.

And finally, if you have the curiosity, you can compare Hamel’s 2012  five paramount issues with Peter Drucker’s The Five Most Important Questions You Will Ever Ask About Your Organization.

2012 is now with us.  Embrace the change.

Catch you later.

Bill Bradley

Bill Bradley (mostly) retired after 35 years in organizational consulting, training and management development. During those years he worked internally with seven organizations and trained and consulted externally with more than 90 large and small businesses, government agencies, hospitals and schools.