2024

From Hierarchies to Haier-archies: The Return of Internal Ecology Management as a Form of Agility and Decentralization
by Ekin Ilseven

At the World Management Agility Forum that took place in Lisbon in September, a panel of founders and managers of successful decentralized companies shared their insights. Lars BrĂŒning described how chemical giant Bayer is undergoing full-scale restructuring, defying the organizational charts that are at best matrix-shaped: he visualizes each department as a cycle that self-manages itself, setting its own goals, strategies, and plans. The focus is on consumer experience. [
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2024

Analyzing Two Different Views of ‘Next Management’
by Steve Denning, Heidi Musser, Hugo Lourenco

This article compares two different views as to how management might evolve. One view, hereafter called ‘Next management,’ is described in our article. “How To Transition To The ‘Next Management’”[1]

The other view—hereafter called ‘humanistic management”–is presented in “Restoring Humanity to Management (and wisdom to intelligence)” by David Hurst.[2][
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2024

A New Age of Generativity
by Joseph Pistrui and Dimo Dimov

“That’s one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.” — Neil Armstrong, Astronaut

With these iconic words in 1969, Neil Armstrong marked a moment of human achievement that transcended its immediate context. His words symbolized not only a monumental accomplishment but also the broader potential for human progress.
That same year, Peter Drucker foresaw a different leap for mankind: the rise of the knowledge worker. This prompted different thinking about resources. Unlike physical resources, knowledge is renewable and can be expanded in novel ways. Thus, managing and empowering knowledge workers presented new challenges for modern management, where innovation and continuous learning became essential in the knowledge economy.[
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2024

Restoring Humanity to Management (and wisdom to intelligence)
by David K. Hurst

Anglo-American management theory has often been portrayed as a chaotic battleground, where scientists and humanists clash, embodying ‘hard’ versus ‘soft’ management styles. It’s time to understand that this conflict is not a flaw but a defining feature—a critical tension that reflects the human condition. Our paradoxical nature is the essence of our humanity, and it is through the practical integration of seemingly irreconcilable opposites that we weave the very fabric of our existence.[
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2024

Public Perception of AI: Bridging the Gender Chasm
by Jayshree Seth

With artificial intelligence (AI) poised to reshape work and the global workforce, a troubling pattern has emerged: a significant gender gap in the adoption and usage of AI. This disparity not only reflects existing inequalities but also threatens to exacerbate them, potentially impacting the future of knowledge work in ways that could set back progress on gender equality for generations. Addressing this imbalance is not just a matter of fairness—it’s an economic imperative that will determine the competitiveness of nations, the public perception of emerging technologies and the inclusivity of our technological future.[
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2024

The Future Will Be Temporary; Leadership Too
by Bill Fischer

They call him “the Boss,” and, not so long ago, rock and roll legend Bruce Springsteen contemplated his career and reminisced that:
“We have the only job in the world where the people you went to high school [with] 
 you’re still with those people
..You live your life with them. You see them grow up. 
.. You see them get older. You see their hair go gray. And you’re in the room when they die, you know?”[1][
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2024

The Future of Knowledge Work: What Drucker can teach us
By Karen Linkletter

As we consider the concept of knowledge work today, we are faced with several challenges. How do we motivate increasingly independent workers to be part of an organization or a team? How do we measure and evaluate knowledge worker productivity? How do knowledge workers face the ever-changing landscape of AI and associated technologies? Although he has been gone for almost 20 years, Peter Drucker identified the shift towards knowledge work, and left us some very sound advice for navigating the rough waters we now confront.[
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