Orchestration Is New Command and Control

In the tangible economy, mechanization and mass production drove huge productivity gains as manufactured goods replaced those made by hand. These efficiencies came through strict discipline. Managers could describe to their employees in great detail the smartest way to accomplish their work: “Take Part A, attach these two screws then join Part A to Part B.”  Through time and motion studies, the fastest and most efficient way to do things could be identified. To achieve these results, employees had to adhere to strict guidelines. In such an organization, decision-making was an activity that resided with management. Like military commanders, the word of managers was the guide for corporate action. This was a classic command and control model.

But in today’s world, your company is really a series of networks. These networks include both internal and external players. Knowledge is dispersed throughout the network—it is not concentrated in the managerial class. And the organization needs that knowledge to succeed. This means that a traditional hierarchical approach where knowledge and power flow from the top down will not get you the results you need. To describe this model, we borrow the image of orchestration from Peter Drucker. Read more

CFO Magazine published my comments on reputation

In the September issue of CFO a comment by Intangible Capital author, Mary Adams:

Prevention Is the Best Approach

It’s important to understand how damaging reputational crises can be (“What’s a Reputation Worth?” May). But the real story is how to prevent them.

Seventy percent of the value of the average company is intangible. This is because processes, knowledge, and networks (all considered intangible by accountants) are the core drivers of competitive success — and reputation.

Managing reputation starts with managing these intangibles. That’s why we say reputation is the new bottom line.

Mary Adams
Founder and Principal
I-Capital Advisors
Winchester, Massachusetts

 

Intangible Capital Reading List on Twitter for 2010-09-01

• Intangible capital will change every industry: Knowledge intensive agriculture – the case of Brazil http://bit.ly/bfhzRd /cc @feedly #
• New issue of Management 2.0 – IC digest for August http://conta.cc/b7KQqa via #constantcontact #

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