The Laws of Systems Thinking
In The Fifth Discipline, there's a useful primer on systems thinking that I keep going back to. Senge calls it…
Complexity
VUCA is the norm in which we operate. Question is whether we thrive in it or just survive. Most of us including large organizations recognize complexity but do not know how to navigate it.
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Viktor Frankl’s Laws of Dimensional Ontology and The Fallacy of the Dominant Dimension
Viktor Frankl, a concentration camp survivor and the founder of Logotherapy, is most known for his classic book Man’s…
Problem-Solving is Overrated. Problem-Setting is More Critical.
Almost everyone has the term “problem-solving” featured prominently in their resumes. Conversely, barely anyone uses the term “problem-setting”. Except in…
Authentic leadership as knowing what your people actually do
There are scores of tomes written on “authentic” leadership, but all too often in practice they come across as farce.…
The Power of Framing in Creating Psychological Safety
Over the past two decades, psychological safety has gotten significant traction both in academia and in real world applications. It’…
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Mental Models - A Subtractive Approach
Most common discourse on mental models takes an additive approach. But this tends to be half-baked, often useless in practice.…
Why We Copy Leaders — A Complexity Point of View
Leaders are often cautioned to watch their actions and behavior because it sets an example and gets replicated through the…
General McChrystal on Leading like a Gardener, not a Chess Master
How do you view your role of lead or manager? Is it as a chess master or a gardener?
The…
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Why Developing Negative Capability is Critical in Leadership
We think of capability as a positive term— it’s active and additive rather than passive and subtractive. In leadership,…
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A Strategy of Small Wins and Small Bets - Typical Mistakes and How to Get it Right
In 1984 Karl Weick published a seminal paper titled Small Wins in the American Psychologist Journal. Four decades later, the…
Strategic Timeframes - Balancing Long Term Focus with Short Term Actions
Leadership, management, and organizations are riddled with paradoxes. The more we recognize them the more we can be effective in…
Linear Causality vs Circular Causality in Decision Making
The "if...then" way of thinking about cause and effect is common in business. Circular causality is often missed in…