Digital Transformation has become a prevalent topic on the boardroom agenda, however, according to BT most CEOs aren’t that confident that their company will be able to profit from it. But there is another issue left untouched: digital can’t transform a business, only people can. According to the findings of a global survey amongst 400 CEOs in 13 countries by BT, ‘Three-quarters of global CEOs are confident about their digital strategy but inflexible technology, lack of skills and security concerns cited as biggest barriers.’ There is a high level of confidence that their specific programmes will help them achieve their…

Concerning the Responsive-state of the ROUNDMAP™ Cycle of Transformation, we’ll need to consider whether we are preparing for Change or Transformation. Let’s discuss the difference and how these two initiatives relate to robustness and resilience. What’s the difference between Change and Transformation? Change fixes the past. Transformation creates the future. Transformation always involves change but not all change is transformational. When your organization undertakes projects or initiatives to improve performance, seize opportunities or address key issues, they often require changes; changes to processes, job roles, organizational structures and types and uses of technology. Change is about doing the same thing…

Following our previous post in which we introduced the Cycle of Transformation and the Cycle of Disruption, we like to propose the antifragile counterpart of the Master of Business Administration (MBA): the Master of Business Resilience (MBR).
To explain why we are proposing a transformational-counterpart to the MBA-graduates, let’s recall the Cycle of Transformation:

A few days ago I had the privilege to listen to the stories of two retired professionals as they looked back on their careers. Their stories, although worlds apart, made me realize that standardization, needed to deliver products and services efficiently and reliably, inhibits one’s improvisation skills and creativity needed to combat disruption. One of the retired professionals, a former technician, had worked for a Dutch foundation acting as a go-between by shipping used dialysis equipment to less fortunate parts of the world. The technician explained how he had helped clinics and hospitals in Indonesia and Surinam. However, despite his…

Nassim Nicholas Taleb, the author of the book The Black Swan, claims:

We only perceive about 20% of our field of vision, called our perceptual span. The same thing occurs when we listen. Our situational awareness is limited to what we perceive as relevant to what we believe matters.

In summary: customers are shaped by their memories and focus exclusively on what they believe matters. They will collect fragments of stories that they preperceive will help them to whatever they pursue. They will investigate if the claims made in these stories are valid. …

Until yesterday, I was totally unaware of the existence of something called the Wheel of Dharma neither did I know anything of the Eightfold Path associated with this symbol. However, as soon as I became aware of it, the resemblance with the structure of ROUNDMAP™ was astounding.

What is the Wheel of Dharma?

Margaret Heffernan is a former CEO of five businesses, author of five books in which she explores business and effective leadership, and a part-time lecturer at the University of Bath School of Management in England. She gave a series of TED talks that touch so much of what I found to withhold people from giving their best, that I feel I have to share these presentations with you.

Dare to Disagree In this presentation Margaret ─ a great storyteller ─ gives a wonderful example of why people should dare to prove each other wrong instead of creating echo chambers. Constructive…

Margaret Heffernan is a former CEO of five businesses, author of five books in which she explores business and effective leadership, and a part-time lecturer at the University of Bath School of Management in England. She gave a series of TED talks that touch so much of what I found to withhold people from giving their best, that I feel I have to share these presentations with you.

The Human Skills we need in an Unpredictable World We know from Frederick Taylor that standardizing and allocating tasks is very likely to raise operational efficiency and that we could even further…