The 4 Enabling Disciplines
DexterityDynamism
Discourse
Discovery
V olatile U ncertain C omplex A mbiguous – these four words which make up this acronym V.U.C.A. have become a dominant description of our times. First coined by the leadership theorists Warren Bennis and Burton Nanus in 1985 in their book “Leaders. The Strategies For Taking Charge”. The term was later adopted by The U.S. Army to describe the lack of clarity they experienced as the world shifted from the Soviet Union as their one unambiguous enemy to a post-Soviet world characterized by multiple threats. V.U.C.A. has become the acronym of choice to describe the turbulent times in which [...]
The International Leadership Association (ILA) hosted the FUTURE FORWARD Leadership Summit in Boulder, Colorado to explore the future of leadership. In 2024, the ILA marked its 25th anniversary as the largest global organization dedicated to leadership studies. I am proud to have been a member of this outstand organization since 2001 and it was a privilege to serve on the board for eight years. The FUTURE FORWARD Leadership Summit brought both scholars and practitioners from around the world together. These leadership professionals reflected on the evolution of leadership over the past 25 years and explore its trajectory for the next [...]
Entering unknown territory Currently we are all entering into unknown territory, attempting to master the continuous challenges we face today with the behaviors and processes which worked so well for us in the past. This endeavor reminds me of the competition between Roald Amundsen of Norway and Robert Scott of Great Britain to be the first person to reach the South Pole. Part of the reason that Amundsen was successful while Scott was not, was that Amundsen used dogs to help him traverse this hostile terrain. In contrast, Scott used ponies. They had been extraordinarily useful in past explorations, but [...]
Since the onset of the Corona virus, we have all experienced a rapid change in our daily lives and work. Both our sensibilities and priorities have shifted during our own current personal journeys. At the same time, we are all coping with the impact of the crisis in every aspect of our lives. The emotional nature of current blog postings, chats during webinars and zoom calls with friends and colleagues – just to name a few examples - reveal a deep need to collectively reflect upon how we are feeling in this moment and to identify ways to grapple with [...]
Encountering Holocracy I became aware of Holocracy in 2016 when I read an article in the German language newspaper Handelsblatt on the recent work of the distinguished Professor Gary Hamel who is known for introducing the concept of c ore competencies in the 1990s. This theory suggests that companies can build a sustainable competitive advantage by identifying and investing in the core processes that drive their business. In more recent years, Hamel's work has taken a very different direction. He is concerned with the future of management. He believes that in many ways hierarchical management is actually impeding the generation of value. Somewhere in the footnotes of [...]
I would like to reflect on food for thought which I received from a DGUV International Strategy Conference on Safety and Health at Work where I was serving to facilitate a portion of the event. A comparison with a survey from the Handelsblatt confirms that we are living in a world of a surprising and very disturbing paradox. From a global perspective, the state of human well-being has never been so good as it is now AND not since the 1930s have people’s views of the future been so bleak. The opening speaker of the conference was Matthias Horx of [...]
Inspiration from scholars in the field Ensemble Enabler is continually exploring new approaches to capture the wisdom of the crowd to support strategic initiatives, foster creativity and encourage innovation. Our experience has demonstrated that a key factor in this process is the intentional use of dialogue and conversation. A broad spectrum of scholars have explored the conceptual underpinnings which make Peer-to-Peer Networking an effective process. We would like to share a compact selection of authors who have informed our thinking on the value and impact of its use in organizations: Lifelong Learning through conversations Coaching Ourselves© is a process for [...]
Reeling from an unexpected end of what I thought was an on-going initiative, I found myself in bewilderment. Shortly thereafter I was fortunate enough to have not one, but numerous encounters which helped me to come to grips with my situation. I am not alone in my current dilemma. Out of my bewilderment emerged a wonderful realization: I am a Catalyst. According to the research, there are not too many of us – only about 5- 7 % in any social group. We are the people who strive to enable sustainable change. But I as I have learned firsthand, traditional [...]
The challenges of the digital revolution are compelling us to review our understanding of what comprises good leadership. In the not too distant past, one of middle managers’ main responsibilities was the transfer of information throughout the organization. Today much of that information is available at a click of a button. In the not too distant past, most of the information was to be found at the top of the organization. Today it is everywhere throughout the organization and it is quite likely that key strategic information does not necessarily reside in the C-Suite. As a matter of fact, in [...]
Our Historical Moment As the first few days of this crisis hit and people began quarantining in their homes in an effort to "flatten the curve" in 2020, I immediately felt that this was one of those events that changes the course of human history. I wrote to some of my professional colleagues in those momentous first days that I believed that future historians would write about a pre- and post-corona world. One colleague responded to me by saying that we had gone through several crises in our lifetime - 9/11 and the financial crash of 2008/2009 - and not [...]
