Category: Quotes

  • Livsfarlig ledning

    “Oberoende av siffrorna så mår företag kanske inte så bra av att göra sig av med sin själ” —Bengt Carlsson & Sophie Nachemson-Ekwall, Livsfarlig ledning, sid 101. Här är nio lärdomar som kan dras av historien om kraschen: Låt inte verkligheten jaga kartan Förvärv blev fördärv Det går inte att ändra för mycket för snabbt…

  • Managing without soul

    Henry Mintzberg writes about the epidemic of managing without soul … “Managing without soul has become an epidemic in society: managers who specialize in killing cultures, at the expense of human engagement.” “I’ve been in the business of studying organizations for so long that I can often walk into a place and sense soul, or…

  • Pre-conditions for self-organization

    The following is a quote from The Power of Spirit: How Organizations Transform by Harrison Owen (p. 42). “The essential preconditions for self-organization, according to [Stuart] Kauffman, are the following: A nutrient-rich, relatively protected environment A high level of diversity and potential complexity in terms of the elements present A drive for improvement Sparse pre-existing…

  • Self-organization is the real operating system

    Here are quotes of Daniel Mezick from an email to the World wide Open Space Technology email list March 20, 2015. (My emphasis in bold.) Harrison you once said recently: “The real operating system is self-organization, Daniel. Everything else is an app. Open Space included!” I’ve just recently integrated this idea more fully into my…

  • Emergence is simply what life does

    Here are quotes of Harrison Owen on the World wide Open Space Technology email list March 7, 2015. (My highlights in bold.) “Emergence is simply what life does – it just pops up randomly and never follows a plan, or certainly not any plan we might have made. The shift from ‘self organization’ to ’emergence’…

  • The egalitarian Vikings

    What you may not know is that the Vikings were surprisingly egalitarian. When settling in Iceland, they founded one of the world’s early democracies. The entire community was invited to the debating hall to thrash out the hot topics of the day, followed by a vote, with each person’s opinion carrying equal weight. Legend has…

  • Self-management

    Here’s a description of self-management and self-organization by Frederic Laloux in Reinventing Organizations (pp. 137—138): “But even though we are only now starting to get our heads around it, self-management is not a startling new invention by any means. It is the way life has operated in the world for billions of years, bringing forth…

  • A 2500-year-old perspective on rules

    When the greatness of the Tao is present, action arises from one’s own heart. When the greatness of the Tao is absent, action comes from the rules of “kindness and justice.” If you need rules to be kind and just, if you act virtuous, this is a sure sign that virtue is absent. Thus we…

  • A 2500-year-old perspective on leadership

    With the greatest leader above them, people barely know one exists. Next comes one whom they love and praise. Next comes one whom they fear. Next comes one whom they despise and defy. When a leader trusts no one, no one trusts him. The great leader speaks little. He never speaks carelessly. He works without…

  • Med holländska ögon på svensk företagskultur

    I SvD 2014-11-03 jämför Callette Terhaerdt kulturskillnaderna mellan holländska och svenska företag. Det finns två stora skillnader. Holländska företag tar beslut snabbare och är mer hierarkiska än de svenska. “Holländare är öppnare, direktare, snabbare och intensivare än svenskar. Här [i Sverige] är folk mer tillbakadragna och allt tar längre tid men beslut kan å andra…