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January 28 - February 11, 2018
“Observe” means much more than “see.” “Absorb” might be more descriptive if it did not have a passive undertone. “Go out and get all the information you can by whatever means possible” is even closer.
position of playing catch-up. You will have lost the initiative, which is dangerous in any conflict.
A side in a conflict or competition is more agile than its opponent if it can execute its OODA loops more quickly.
What is needed is a vision rooted in human nature so noble, so attractive that it not only attracts the uncommitted and magnifies the spirit and strength of its adherents, but also undermines the dedication and determination of any competitors or adversaries. Moreover, such a unifying notion should be so compelling that it acts as a catalyst or beacon around which to evolve those qualities that permit a collective entity or organic whole to improve its stature in the scheme of things.95
Your purpose as a business is not to bring enlightenment to humanity but to, as Toyota puts it, “take our destiny into our own hands.” It is hypocritical to pretend otherwise, and any attempt to do so will be seen by your employees as the fraud that it is.
Strategy isn’t beating the competition, it’s serving the customer’s real needs. Kenichi Ohmae, Managing Director, McKinsey & Co., Tokyo Office.
Go find the best chess player you can and offer to play for $1,000 under the following conditions: • Your opponent moves first. • You move twice for every move of his or hers.
To think that you can predict what needs to be done a year from now is sheer arrogance.
There is nothing wrong with conducting post-mortem investigations into your success and failures and you should do this as a matter of course. Problems arise when you change strategies after every one. Management theorists call this tendency to chase the last data point the “Nelson Funnel.”113
On the other hand, explicit forms are often used not to communicate but to document, not to inform but to protect oneself. You may have been in organizations where everybody documented everything. My guess is that you did not notice much trust.
“Control eventually leads to resistance, and resistance to rebellion.”
“The more you try to control people, the less control you get.”
Formal decision making, of the type typically taught in business schools, is required only when experience is inadequate.
verbal communication is much quicker, and shows a higher level of mutual trust (assuming that it’s there), than does a written mission.
Futurist James Ogilvy simply denounced managing through goal setting as “bunk.” Instead, he recommends that: Organizations should tread near the edge of the future, making it up as they go along, with as much sensitivity, awareness, knowledge, compassion, feeling, and beauty as they can muster.139
