Imagine you are an entrepreneur You have a great idea that needs funding, what do you do? Find a venture capitalist or business angel and ask them to invest. The chances are the first one will say no, but if it is a good idea and you ask ten dragons then maybe one will say […]
Management: Can You Have Too Much of a Good Thing?
Good management is a good thing and organisations have a shortage of “talent”. Having more and better managers is critical to success. So you should put all your effort into hiring and developing breadth and depth of leadership. Really, is more always more? In his book David and Goliath Malcolm Gladwell discusses school class sizes. Conventional […]
The Demons of Management
Why is operational improvement so difficult? Maybe it is because we are our own worst enemies. Here are a handful of our own organisational demons. Dogmatism ~ an unquestioning belief in our own “rightness” Instead of questioning our own beliefs we plough on regardless. The more senior we are the more dogmatic we become, after […]
Bonsai Management
I have started growing bonsai trees. It is immensely satisfying and the results are beautiful. It is not too difficult, this is how you do it… Pick a plant species that responds well Carefully trim back its roots and branches Choose a small container to constrain growth Plant in well-drained soil Feed and water regularly […]
How do you Make a Pencil?
In 1958 Leonard E Read wrote an essay about making pencils. He described: The growing of trees The work of a lumberjack The operation of the saw mill The making of the saw The transportation of the logs The mining of the graphite The production of the rubber The mixing of the paint The sourcing […]