In the corporate underground, creative intrapreneurs produce ideas autonomously and without the consent of management. Such informal activity frequently 'corrects' and compensates for the weaknesses of formal organizational systems. The corporate underground is an adjusting element for a number of organizational paradoxes. This imposes a certain legitimacy on covert activities such as bootlegging and constructive deviance. It reflects a basic axiom of the evolutionary perspective: change a...

This book is based on the findings, issues and questions related to an ongoing decade-old research project named the Innovation Lab (www.innovation-lab.org). The research project focuses on discontinuous innovation in more than thirteen countries, most of which are European, and provides useful insights into its different challenges. It also raises several questions related to the subject, some of which are: how do firms pick up weak signals on emerging — and possibly radically different —...

New tools for managing complexityDoes your organization manage complexity by making things more complicated? If so, you are not alone.According to The Boston Consulting Group’s fascinating Complexity Index, business complexity has increased sixfold during the past sixty years. And, all the while, organizational complicatedness-that is, the number of structures, processes, committees, decision-making forums, and systems-has increased by a whopping f...

A comprehensive playbook for applied design thinking in business and management, complete with concepts and toolkitsAs many companies have lost confidence in the traditional ways of running a business, design thinking has entered the mix. Design Thinking for Strategic Innovation presents a framework for design thinking that is relevant to business management, marketing, and design strategies and also provides a toolkit to apply concepts for immediate use i...

Global customers, supply chains and more integrated business functions mean that work now cuts across the traditional vertical silos of country and function. But the 'solution' of the matrix structure also brings multiple bosses, competing goals and higher levels of complexity. Traditional management training prioritizes clarity, predictability and control.In a matrix we need to be able to balance this with the ability to tolerate ambiguity, manage uncertainty and decentralize cont...

Join forces with others inside and outside your organization to solve your toughest problems.If you read nothing else on collaborating effectively, read these 10 articles. We’ve combed through hundreds of articles in the Harvard Business Review archive and selected the most important ones to help you work more productively with people on your team, in other departments, and in other organizations.Leading experts such as Daniel Goleman, Herm...

This book is an invaluable desk reference for facilitators, leaders, coaches and anyone who wants to engage in more effective learning and decision-making conversations. It offers over 1700 rich questions that you can borrow or adapt to improve your inquiry skills, and provides clear frameworks that point to when, where, and why particular questions are most useful.

Widely recognised as a leading practical resource on coaching and mentoring, The Coaching and Mentoring Learning Resource Manual by Jimmy Petruzzi combines an understanding of coaching and mentoring principles, skills, attitudes and behaviours, along with practical guidance and a comprehensive tool kit for coaches and mentors. A pragmatic and passionate learning resource that establishes the many benefits of coaching and mentoring in order to create a working environment for individuals an...

Even world-class companies, with powerful and proven business models, eventually discover limits to growth. That's what makes emerging high-growth industries so attractive. Although they lack a proven formula for making a profit, these industries represent huge opportunities for the companies that are fast enough and smart enough. But constructing tomorrow's businesses while simultaneously sustaining excellence in today's, demands a delicate balance. It is a quest fraught with contradictio...

The world of management is in crisis - the old remedies no longer work and organizations are failing at an increasing rate. Although many talk of 'joined up thinking', few offer practical guidance on how to achieve this in organizations. The Fractal Organization sets down the practical implications of a well tested systemic approach to building organizations that are capable of surviving and flourishing in these turbulent times."An excellent read…Many orga...

As you're well aware, your individual energy ebbs and flows--leading to high and low productivity cycles. Fail to manage your energy correctly, and you risk falling into traps including inertia, complacency, and frenzied, unfocused activity that only erodes the quality of your life.The same holds true for your entire organization. In Fully Charged, Heike Bruch and Bernd Vogel provide tools and strategies to help you manage your company's collective energy.First, diagnose yo...

Innovation leaders promote and address the innovation agenda in their company. Through personal conviction or competitive necessity they are obsessed with providing superior value to customers through innovation. They know how to mobilize their staff behind concrete innovation initiatives and do not hesitate to personally coach innovation teams.For innovation to occur leadership has to be collective. To create a momentum for innovation in their company, leaders from different funct...