I have worked with well over 100 enterprises and several thousand executives and senior managers, often focused on initiatives that have the potential to fundamentally change their enterprises. Somewhat simplistically, these initiatives depended on three ingredients – technology, people, and organizations. Frequently these executives and managers commented that technology was the easy part. People and […]
How does change differ within various aspects of society? Are differing changes somehow related? C.P. Snow has argued that there is a chasm between the arts and humanities, and science and technology (Snow, 1965). However, all of these endeavors are inevitably influenced by the times in which they are pursued. Consider the late 18th and […]
I am pleased to report that this week John Wiley released “The Economics of Human Systems Integration: Valuation of Investments in People’s Training and Education, Safety and Health, and Work Productivity.” I edited this book with contributions from many economists, systems engineers, and behavioral and social scientists. The overarching question that motivated this book was, […]
Malcolm Gladwell popularized the notion of a “tipping point,” the point at which something is displaced from a state of equilibrium and evolves, either quickly or slowly, to a new and different state of equilibrium. For example, my telephone bill used to be something like $20 per month; now it is several hundred. The capabilities […]
I have been reading a lot of history lately, mostly U.S. history from 1620 to 1914, trying to understand the nature of changes that occurred in that period. The dominant businesses are interesting – cod fish in the Grand Banks, whales in Nantucket and New Bedford, ships for fishing and commerce (including slaves), textiles in […]
