Leadership

Fog and Friction – The limitations of strategy when dealing with uncertainty

This blog post is a work-in-progress… Military history and grand strategy have long offered sources of inspiration to business leaders. In a previous blog on the subject, I touched on how the insights of historical figures such as Sun Tzu remain relevant to those navigating the fast-moving tech space. In that blog I made no mention of Carl von Clausewitz, one of the most pre-eminent and well-known military theorists. Here I try to make up for that omission. The Fog … Read more…

Even more Digital Transformation Must-Read Books

As I have mentioned before in the preface to a similar collection of books, I remain embarrassed by the “Digital Transformation” title of this little series of book reviews, as it really conjures images of management consultants selling snake oil. Nevertheless, having started with this moniker, I will stick with it, and hope that the title doesn’t put you off too much. Here is a collection of titles I have read over the past year or so. It is somewhat … Read more…

Diversity of Thought – How to Avoid Groupthink

In 1960, shortly after being elected, John F Kennedy was approached by the CIA to approve a plan to train, equip and support an invasion of communist Cuba by Cuban exiles opposed to the government of Fidel Castro. The invasion that ensued at the Bay of Pigs became one of the major US foreign policy fiascos of the 20th century. It entrenched Fidel Castro as leader of Cuba with communism persisting in Cuba to this very day. A decade later, … Read more…

Systems Thinking – When the human is in the machine

Consider any connected product or application that you may have – a fitness device, a mapping application, a dating app, a payment app, or a smart thermostat. On the face of it, these are superficially quite simple products. A fitness app tracks your activity, a mapping app helps you get from A to B, and a dating app matches you with potential dates. However, beneath that veneer of simplicity lies something else. All these products are systems that connecting people … Read more…

10 Must-Read Digital Transformation Books

Here is a collection of digital transformation books from a technology, product, organisation and strategic perspective. One of the great fallacies of digital transformation initiatives is that it is the preserve of the technical function, be it the CIO or the CTO’s remit. A truly successful digital initiative requires the mobilisation of the entire business. These books explain both the how and why, including highlighting any pitfalls. Note, this post collates reviews from two previously published posts for convenience. The … Read more…

Five (more) Digital Transformation must-reads

One of the blessings of spending the past few months working from home, with my daily commute suspended, is that I have had time to start to tackle some of the tomes on my bookcase. Oh, and yes, I know that it is ironic to be talking about physical books in a blog dedicated to all that is digital and connected. Truth is that I find that my trusty Kindle cannot match the uniquely tactile experience of scribbling comments and … Read more…

Crossing the Change Chasm – Succeeding in driving change

First of all, change is hard One of the key success factors to any successful organisation change programme is getting all members of the team on board with the proposed changes. To most people, change is at best, difficult. It often means coming out of one’s comfort zone, often ditching old skills, roles and responsibilities that have served oneself well. All this is done in the quest of a better way of working, new business models, a new product strategy … Read more…

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