In a classic "Harvard Business Review" article, Abraham Zaleznik contrasted two very different styles of authority. Managers, he argued, take a formal approach and seek order and control. Leaders, on the other hand, are more emotionally driven and seek to drive change. Put another way, managers work through hierarchies, while leaders shape networks. Every organization needs both. Managers provide…
When I started this blog in 2009, everything was mired in chaos. We were in the depths of the Great Recession, and it wasn t clear whether we d recover. In Ukraine, where I was living at the time, the financial crisis hit even harder. GDP plunged by 15% and you could see the currency losing value [ ] The post Happy 17th Birthday, Digital Tonto! first appeared on Digital Tonto . Related posts:…
Economists have long been baffled by productivity growth, which rises and falls without any discernible rhyme or reason. The problem is that progress never follows a linear path. As I wrote in "Mapping Innovation," innovation is never a single event, but a process of discovery, engineering and transformation, and those three things hardly ever happen in the same place or with the same people.…
Silicon Valley pundits have become obsessed with the concept of high agency, popularized by Eric Weinstein, who described it this way: "When you're told that something is impossible, is that the end of the conversation, or does that start a second dialogue in your mind about how to get around whoever just told you that you can't do something?" Yet long before Silicon Valley began touting “high…
Sometimes the hardest thing is merely to make yourself understood. Things that change the world, or even a small part of it, always arrive out of context for the simple reason that the world hasn’t changed yet. That’s why great leaders need to be great communicators, because an idea that doesn’t gain traction is an idea that fails. That’s easier said than done. As the award-winning author and…
Every leader creates a shared identity, whether they are conscious of it or not. Often, they invoke a common enemy, such as a rival group, or a common threat, such as inefficiency, waste, or complacency. Other times they create an ethos around a particular methodology or philosophy, such as Six Sigma, stack ranking and the war for talent. Yet enemies are rarely truly vanquished and, at some point,…
In his book "Who Says Elephants Can’t Dance," Lou Gerstner wrote, “Culture isn’t just one aspect of the game, it is the game. In the end, an organization is nothing more than the collective capacity of its people to create value… What does the culture reward and punish – individual achievement or team play, risk taking or consensus building?” Every organization, whether consciously or not,…
The human superpower is collaboration with other humans. We’re not particularly fast or strong, we can’t fly, and don’t have sharp claws or teeth. Yet, in "Tribal," cultural psychologist Michael Morris explains how we are driven to emulate our peers, copy what’s successful ,and build on the work of those who came before us. The problem is that as we build ideas on top of ideas, the forces of…
When the Covid pandemic hit in 2020, Dr. Anthony Fauci became a household name. Signaling institutional authority, he stood behind a podium, wore a white coat, and talked passionately about the “science” of the disease and its spread. He asked people to change their behaviors, wear masks and distance themselves from their neighbors. Many did not trust him or feel any connection. He felt distant,…
The truth is that change is not a hero's journey. Just because you have a vision you believe in and are willing to fight for it doesn’t mean it will ever get any traction. That’s simply not how transformation works. You can’t simply will an idea into becoming a reality. The universe cannot be overpowered, you need to attract its forces to you. The true story of change is that of a strategic…