The US SEC has charged Goldman Sachs with civil fraud in the origination of a particular set of mortgage-related securities.  The SEC’s action and the surrounding debate raise some important ethical and policy questions for the leaders of a premier bank, particularly in the face of challenging markets. From what I understand of the transaction [...]

CDO · community · financial services · Goldman · investment banking · leadership · moral bankruptcy · Paulson · SEC · service · subprime

On Thursday I listened to Bob Johansen from the Institute for the Future. He and his colleagues describe the world today using the acronym VUCA: Volatile Uncertain Complex Ambiguous Who could disagree? The forecasters at IFTF predict that the VUCA world is here to stay; it  will only get worse in the future. The good [...]

agility · clarity · future · leadership · understanding · vision

This week’s Economist runs an extensive special report on innovation in emerging markets.  The report documents at length what has been a growing theme:  emerging markets, especially India and China, are becoming centres of commercial and technical excellence in their own right.   Their deep skills and insights reflect not just lower costs of production, [...]

business · creativity · innovation · leadership

Thanks to Arie Goldshlager (@ariegoldshlager on Twitter) who pointed me to Dev Patnaik’s book called Wire to Care.  Dev is founder and principal of Jump Associates, consulting on innovative practices to leading businesses.  He also teaches design concepts to students of both design and business at Stanford. I’ve ordered the book. While I’m waiting for [...]

business · community · culture · customers · empathy · heart · innovation · profit · service · value

I’ve been enjoying the writing of Umair Haque.  He runs Havas Media Lab, founded the advisory firm Bubblegeneration, and is regularly featured on Harvard Business Review blogs.   According to his Bubblegen blog, Haque’s  focus this year is on “reconceiving capitalism.” His HBR post yesterday is called “The Case for Being Disruptively Good.”   He [...]

business · culture · evidence · innovation · love · profit · service · sustainability · value

Will complex business models cause leading companies to literally explode? Technology philosopher Clay Shirky raised this question on his blog 1 April.   His post is called  ”The Collapse of Complex Business Models.”    http://www.shirky.com/weblog/2010/04/the-collapse-of-complex-business-models/ Shirky suggests that complexity can become so entrenched that organisations eventually collapse catastrophically.   He quotes historian and anthropologist Joseph [...]

change · community · complexity · creativity · innovation · leadership · love · service

In the Financial Times of 31 March, Stefan Stern reviewed a new book:  The India Way: How India’s Top Business Leaders are Revolutionizing Management.  The authors are Peter Cappelli, Harbir Singh, Jitendra Singh and Michael Useem,  all professors at Wharton. According to the review, a distinctive style of leadership is emerging in India.   To quote [...]

engagement · India · innovation · leadership · mission · motivation · purpose

Today, Time magazine publishes an article by Stephen Fry in which the writer, actor, and comedian visits Apple’s headquarters, has his first experience of an iPad, and has a conversation with Steve Jobs.   http://www.time.com/time/business/article/0,8599,1976935-1,00.html I get the sense from this that Apple is genuinely working to create a great experience for its customers, and, [...]

creativity · design · service