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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Program this Friday: Intangibles and Security

Tax payers expect police, national guard, and military to provide “real” security. Government expects the private sector to provide the lion’s share of security investment. Is there a business case that can help the private sector rationalize the investment and bridge the expectation gap?

Join us Friday, 3 September, at 12h00 EDT for the Mission Intangible Monthly Briefing. Sean Lyon, principal, R.I.S.C. International (Ireland), corporate defense pioneer and the architect of the emerging cross-functional discipline of corporate defense management (CDM) in conversation with Robert Liscouski, member of the Board, Implant Sciences (NASDAQ:IMSC) and former Assistant Secretary, US Department of Homeland Security will explore the business case.

Registration, as always, is complimentary. Slides and an exemplary downloadable program are posted on the EVENTS tab (Link to our Summer 2010 News page, our new RepuStars composite indices, and other content below). Mary Adams, I-Capital Advisors, moderates.

If you are a senior executive, a board member, or have a financial interest in any publicly traded security, you (or a colleague Send to a Friend) won’t want to miss this event. Learn more.

Intangible Capital Reading List on Twitter for 2010-08-31

• Emerging job: development and management of intellectual / intangible capital (tools, templates, processes) http://bit.ly/aL6f2D #
• U.S. missing the boat: RT @Baoman: 9 & 23 Oct 2010 The Management & Reporting of IC - Hong Kong http://is.gd/eGCUB (no English version?) #
• Past 10 years, over-invested in housing, underinvested in intangible capital: Why We Struggle http://bit.ly/d1sNmf /cc @feedly #

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Networks: A Question of Control

As with so many other aspects of knowledge assets, there are both bottom-up and top-down aspects to networks. There are many who study networks that see them as analogous to self-organizing, living systems that occur in nature. If you believe this, then you believe that organizations can organize themselves. There is a lot of truth to this and it makes sense to dig in, using the approaches we outline above to understand how a network is working organically so that interventions are effective. But it is unrealistic to believe that businesses will become completely self-organizing in our lifetimes, if ever. Read more

Intangible Capital Reading List on Twitter for 2010-08-29

• Defining what gets measured controls the conversation–interesting lesson for the IC community from ag sustainability http://bit.ly/ajpwBz #
• This is why the IRS knows so much about intangibles: Taxation of royalties between associated companies http://bit.ly/aWUOPJ #

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Intangible Capital Reading List on Twitter for 2010-08-28

• Dropping my son at college in NC .Looking down the shelves in book store. Exciting diversity of perspectives. #

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Putting Networks to Use…in and for the organization

In all the discussions in recent weeks here on the growth of networks and organizations, it is hard to say which came first—the human or the technological connection. The shift to a knowledge economy has made it more and more attractive to connect and automate using IT and networking technologies. The rise of new forms of networking such as social media is actually fueling the trend. Probably some of the most interesting trends are the situations where the concept of networking is changing the whole vision of the business. If you begin to see your organization as a network, then the world literally opens up to you. Read more

Intangible Capital Reading List on Twitter for 2010-08-26

• Just added a new discussion on ic knowledge center - great new study of IC and IT performance (see survey too) http://ning.it/as7j2R #

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