Excerpts from
The Future of Management
“As much as we might deplore “bureaucracy,” it still constitutes the organizing
principle for virtually every commercial organization in the world, yours included. And
while managers here and there may work to ameliorate some of its stultifying effects,
there are few who can imagine a root-and-branch alternative.”
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“When it comes to innovation, most companies have a barn-sized blind spot.
Perversely, the sorts of innovation that are least likely to produce long-term competitive
advantage—operational innovation and product innovation—are those that get the
most attention. Yet if you accept the lessons gleaned from 700 years of military conflict
and a century-plus of industrial competition, it is management innovation that yields
the biggest, longest-lasting performance advantages.”
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“Management innovation yields an enduring advantage when one or more of three
conditions are met: the innovation is based on a novel management principle which challenges
some long-standing orthodoxy; the innovation is systemic, encompassing a range
of processes and methods; and/or the innovation is part of an ongoing program of rapidfire
invention where progress compounds over time.”
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“Over the coming decades, an accelerating pace of change will test the resilience of
every society, organization and individual. Luckily, perturbations create opportunities
as well as challenges. But the balance of promise and peril confronting any particular
organization will depend on its capacity for adaptation. Hence the most important
question for any company is this: Are we changing as fast as the world around us?”
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“Turns out that in an age of wrenching change and hyper-competition, the most
valuable human capabilities are precisely those that are least manage-able. Nerve.
Artistry. Élan. Originality. Grit. Non-conformity. Valor. Derring-do. These are the
qualities that create value in the 21st century. Self-discipline. Economy. Orderliness.
Rationality. Prudence. Reliability. Moderation. Fastidiousness. These are the human
qualities modern management was designed to foster and reward. No wonder most
organizations are less resilient and inventive than the people who work for them.”