Newsletter of July 19, 2010

More on Why Great KM Programs Fail

My most popular blog-post of all time was the July 4 article on Why Great KM Programs Fail. The post appears to have gone viral, and new traffic keeps flocking to it, without my doing anything. This last Friday, I was talking about the same subject at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, just outside Washington DC. I made a 20 minute presentation and there was a 20 minute discussion. On hand, were Kent Greenes who discussed what happened at BP (a company in the news), and Larry Prusak, who talked about IBM and the public sector. You can listen to the presentation (mp3) here.

Why do intelligent people act unintelligently?

Why do intelligent people act unintelligently? Why is it so difficult to shed our illusions? It took me the longest time to figure out that storytelling was not just a toy for children and primitive peoples. What made it difficult, and took so long, was that my whole self-image was bound up in the idea of myself as a highly competent, analytic kind of person. Equally, as I look back on my encounters with Dilbert-style management over the years, I also wonder at how long it took me to figure out what was wrong and how to fix it. Once again, my self-image was bound up in being a competent "manager". You can read the account of my journey, along with my reflections what it means for the prospects of getting better management accepted around the world, here.

How do you make the entire organization Agile?

How can entire organizations become agile? How can agility and innovation become an organization-wide capability, a part of the firm's DNA? While Agile thinking is crucial for dealing with these challenges, the methodology and terminology of the celebrated Agile Manifesto (2001), which was formulated specifically for software development, cannot be applied with change. It must be adapted and updated to meet needs of general management today, if it is to achieve widespread acceptance outside software development. To find out what adaptations are needed, go here.

Positive examples of radical management

"Come on, Steve. You're always writing about examples of bad traditional management. How about something positive? Why don't you tell us about firms who are doing it right?" Well, I did write a couple of posts this last week about positive examples of radical management. One was Toyota (yes, Toyota!). Read it here. here. And the other was about French cuisine: Let them eat foie gras! Radical management in French cuisine

Survey results and Winners of the raffle

Thanks to all those 67 of you who filled out the survey about the online learning event in October-November 2010. That is a great response for a web survey. Much appreciated! You can find out more about the results and the winners of the raffle here.