In our first blog, we talked about the unmanaged state which describes how many organizations today are stuck in a cycle of “muddling through,” led by outdated management models and well-meaning but overwhelmed leaders. We made the case for better management, not more control but more clarity and capability.
Now let’s zoom in on what better management actually looks like.[…]
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Much of leadership today feels like guessing in the dark. We dress it up with overused buzzwords, dashboards, and KPIs—but behind the curtain, many organizations are still “muddling through” using management techniques developed in the industrial 20th century. Decisions are reactive rather than proactive. Strategies are stuck in the past. And leaders? Too often, executives become overwhelmed by firefighting instead of shaping the future. More often than not, they chase the next big thing—currently AI—instead of simply managing better.
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In recent years, Chinese tech companies have emerged as global leaders in industries ranging from electric vehicles and AI to e-commerce and smart appliances. Companies such as Alibaba, BYD, Huawei, Tencent, Haier, and DeepSeek are outpacing Western competitors not just through technology but also thanks to innovative management models rooted in China’s unique cultural and economic ecosystem. This article explores the mindset and management approaches that have propelled Chinese firms to the forefront of global innovation.[…]
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Management practices should not be judged against rigid standards but guided through thoughtful reflection. Having recently explored this concept in my November 2024 article “The Next Management: Leading with the Long View,” [link], I want to share how this framework is evolving as a reflective tool rather than a prescriptive model—and how the Drucker Forum community is collectively advancing this work.[…]
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ChatGPT has passed an MBA exam at the Wharton School. People were stunned. But what should be stunning about that is that it once again showed how little leadership education focuses on developing the human ability to reflect, question and be empathetic. How little human intelligence is valued and required in management education has been thoroughly researched as has their consequences on the world of work and its productivity[1]. If we reduce our management training to a multiple-choice logic, we don’t need AI for us to become dominated by machines. And we will not be able to ask the right questions, solve the right problems and become more productive.[…]
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The story of productivity in industrialized countries started as a story of huge successes and then turned into one of equally huge disappointments. Up until the 2000s work productivity still grew with an annual mean of 2,5%. Since then it began to stall around 1,1%. Why?[…]
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The Renaissance as antiquity reborn
The Renaissance, marking a rebirth of antiquity after a “dark” Middle Ages and before our current modern era, is considered a golden age in culture, economics, and science. The Renaissance shows how flourishing and rebirth of old strengths are possible even after long periods of decline.
Germany, as a country of the economic miracle and as a leading industrial nation, like Europe as a whole, could use a rebirth of former strength. However, this shouldn’t be through simply returning to past success models, but through a new paradigm of success. We see digitalization, especially through AI, as a unique opportunity. […]
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Cultural anthropology is one of the least recognised – and most derided – academic disciplines today. No wonder: if non-academics know what the word means, they tend to view it as the academic version of Indiana Jones, namely a department where intrepid academics travel to weird places, to understand what it means to be human, by studying “exotic’ cultures. It does not seem to have much value in the modern business world, markets or C-suite.[…]
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