Four careers over 50+ years. USMC, engineering, consulting, education. Past twenty years have focused on helping leaders become and remain relevant during times of change.
Looking Back
|
Reader, I’ve been in the “the world of work” for long time and I recently spent a few minutes pondering the metaphorical road I’ve traveled. Let’s take a tour and you can tell me what I’ve forgotten. I once worked for a printing company. I remember when typesetting, film preparation, past-up, and traditional print production were good paying middle class jobs. I remember when Business Process Engineering was going to help us redesign our operations. Unfortunately, the “reengineering” work became associated with downsizing. A good idea was misused. I’m a leading-edge Boomer. I remember when I was expected to have a long career with one employer. I remember when seeing a PC on a manger’s desk was unusual. Now it’s unusual because newer managers are using tablets and smartphones. I remember when Kodak was admired and dominant. Too bad that they defended film when all customers wanted were pictures. I remember when managers built careers partly on knowing where information was located or how to do routine analyses. I remember when we were told to focus on our “core competencies” and outsource everything else. I think we gave China a very big gift. I remember the 1980s and 1990s globalization era. Falling trade barriers, containerization, China’s integration into the world economy, and the push for global supply chains transformed “purchasing, trucking, and warehousing” into the glory of “supply chain.” However, I also remember U.S.-China tensions, tariffs, export controls, sanctions, Covid-19, and reshoring and the impact on fragile supply chains. They were built for efficiency, not effectiveness. I’ve flown a couple of million miles on commercial airlines. Their sophisticated route planning models were radically altered after the 9/11 attacks. So, what would you add to my memory road trip? Learn from the pastWhat looks permanent while you are living through it often turns out to have been temporary. And so ....I wrote Navigating the Wicked World because I know that today’s environment is a lot different than the one I used to know so well. Get a copy for your favorite manager. They are living in the wicked world. Cheers, Bill |
Bill @ MindPrep
Four careers over 50+ years. USMC, engineering, consulting, education. Past twenty years have focused on helping leaders become and remain relevant during times of change.
Reader, Think about a big project that is going to get you from “here” to “there.” Let’s assume you have the money and the talent to make it happen. Now think about your most precious and non-renewable resource -- time. A Metaphor: The River of Time We often think and write about “the” past, or “the” future as a thing. But time is not static; it flows minute-by-minute, day-by-day, and week-by-week. Time is a river. Today is yesterday’s tomorrow and the past is always influencing today. The...
Reader Wicked problems are not simply very difficult problems. They are situations in which stakeholders disagree about what is wrong, causes and effects are entangled, actions change the situation, and no final or universally accepted solution exists. Wicked! We cannot fix healthcare, but we can improve it. We cannot eliminate homelessness, but we can help homeless people. We cannot eliminate hatred, but we can get some people to talk with one another. Our task is therefore not to solve the...
Reader, I’ve been writing about wicked worlds and wicked problems for a couple of years (although the concepts are much older than my writing). I’ve also been facilitating strategic thinking workshops for over 20 years and one of the topics I include is a discussion of unintended consequences. And, in case you haven’t noticed, Iran and Strait of Hormuz have been the news lately. So I went to my hard-working intern, Chat GPT, and asked it to comment on the wickedness of the situation. Here is...