What’s Wrong With My Organization

I can’t say I’ve ever much cared about inflation—or global currency fluctuations. Generally it’s not much of a topic for my sector, media, and not so much as a small business owner. But it’s certainly gotten our attention recently—whether it’s the way that prices have shot up at the corner shop, or whether my family can afford to visit from abroad. What’s going on here, and should I as a small business care about these changes?

Recently I got some new software and it’s taken me a week to get it up and running. Ever so helpful, my teenaged child said: “dad—look at YouTube. It SHOWS you how it works”. It’s a miracle I didn’t tell that child about walking to school, uphill, in both directions. However—it did make me think about how we learn things—should I take a class? Would I learn something? And could it resolve why that software still doesn’t sync with my phone? Let’s ask our experts—how do you teach an old dog new tricks?

Tho not a fan of American baseball, most people can embrace one of its most quotable players, Yogi Berra. Often attributed it him, the wonderful saying “I don’t know where we’re going, but we’re making great time!” More often than not, 2022 has had that feeling—and aren’t we supposed to know where we’re going? Shouldn’t I have a solid plan for where my business is going? Tho I’ve never done one, it’s rumored that every MBA teaches that you must have a strategic plan. So, what does that look like if we don’t know where we’re going? Let’s investigate

For decades, there’s been nothing more reliable in a crisis than a delivery pizza—working late at the office, ordered at 2AM at college or you’ve given up all hope of feeding yourself at home. It’s almost as reliable and universal as your doctor, your dentist or your therapist. And. Yet. Recently. I noticed—my kids don’t think “delivery” equals “pizza”. What’s changed?

Most of us prefer to learn through observing rather than experience—wouldn’t you rather observe a car crash than be in it? We learn from seeing others’ mistakes. Making big, strategic decisions can be dauting because you don’t know what will happen. And there often isn’t a chance to observe it from a distance. Where do our experts currently see things going, well—or, going pear-shaped—that we can all learn from.

Rumor has it that you’ve been seeing some interesting organization design going on. Do tell. I wouldn’t know how to identify an organization design problem separately from other problems.

Whether you’ve spent the last two years working from home or you’ve been a frontline worker, this has been a time of huge change in the workplace. There’s an enormous amount of disjointedness. Recently a Silicon Valley company re-instituted a program designed to address some of this workplace disconnect—and it has been decidedly a mixed success.

Sadly, and again so quickly, we’re back at yet another Elon Musk-created debate. In his fascinating own twist on dynamic leadership, Musk issued a tantrum described as a policy—"return to the office as-of Monday, or consider yourself fired”.

And again we ask—is there anything to learn from this? Are there generalizable insights from this? Is it an effective new school of leadership that everyone should embrace? Will workers comply? Or does it tell us more about how little Musk understands about teenagers?

Some of the best innovation in society or culture comes from enthusiastic people willing to take a risk. Those risk takers bring with them new perspectives and the momentum to try new things. As the adage goes however, well-meant can often be the opposite of well-done. What’s the equilibrium point between radical innovation and unintended consequences? And where does Brad Pitt play into this? Let’s listen and find out.

Unlike the milk or yoghurt in your fridge, IT systems don’t really come with a sell-by date. We putter along—either with our computers, at home, perhaps until disaster strikes. Or we see something shiny and new. How about your IT infrastructure at work? All those platforms that make the backbone of your business? Should they have a proverbial sell-by date? Can you get along with old tech?

Big things are afoot in the universe—climate change, war, a fundamental change in our work model. Too much to care about while trying to run an organization. And then.  Elon Musk bought Twitter. Do I have to care? Shouldn’t I save my energy for those things that actually matter. Did we need this?