Kallokain

LESS!: Essays on Business Transformation is now available on Amazon Kindle . The  hardcover version of LESS!  is available from Lulu and quite expensive ($46.53). The  Kindle  and  ePub  versions are just $6.89. We do not use DRM protection, so when you buy the book, it is yours. You can put it on any device you want, and on as many devices you want. Please keep the copies in your family though. I am very proud of LESS!. I am particularly proud of the fact that I did not write most of it. LESS! is a collaborative work, and working with the other authors has been a privilege I cannot adequately describe. One of my best adventures ever. LESS! is about building better places to work: Have you ever had a great idea crushed by the words, " we can't do that, because it's not in the budget "? Then you really need to read up on Beyond Budgeting. Bjarte Bogsnes, VP of Performance Management at Statoil and Dr. Peter Bunce, Director of the Beyond Budgeti...

When cities grow larger, productivity per person increases. When companies grow larger, productivity per person decreases. Cities can last thousands of years and survive plagues and nuclear blasts. Large companies have an average lifespan of fifteen years, and the lifespan is dropping. It is blindingly obvious, except almost nobody noticed until a couple of years ago: Companies have short lifespans. Cities live thousands of years; Cities can survive plagues and nuclear bombs. Companies croak when there is a slight downturn in the economy.; People want to live in large cities, but they want to work in small companies. Why? What is the difference, and does it matter? If we understand why cities are so resilient, can we use that knowledge to build better companies? Companies that are more resilient and better places to work? It turns out we can. Physicist Geoffrey West has studied cities and found a very simple mathematical relationship between city size and productivity: Wh...

 Julia Norinder, CEO of Preera, and the main speaker talked very passionately on the need for sustainable leadership. I've just been to a seminar on sustainable leadership. The seminar was arranged by  The Hunger Project  (The Swedish web site is  here ) and hosted by Ernst & Young. I am glad I went: Two good speakers, a great workshop, and an interesting panel discussion. The Hunger Project is a global organization fighting poverty by investing in human potential. In practice, The Hunger Project helps people in developing companies by means such as micro-loans and education. Sara Wettergren, CEO of the Hunger Project Sara Wettergren, CEO of the Hunger Project was the first speaker. She talked about the Hunger Project and how the organization works to eradicate poverty in the world. When Sara talked about how the organization has to change the mindsets of the people they want to help from "I am alone, there is nothing I can do" to "I am ...

When we discuss corruption, and we do, at least in the media, the focus is nearly always on some spectacularly greedy, dishonest, and stupid act. I believe it is a good thing that this kind of corruption is exposed, but there is another, more subtle kind that worries me. First, let's define the word "corruption": In philosophical, theological, or moral discussions, corruption is spiritual or moral impurity or deviation from an ideal. – Corruption, Wikipedia article  For example, in a contest, we are expected to abide by the rules of that contest. If the judge in a football match judges in favor of the team he likes the most, because he likes it, then the judge is corrupt. On the other hand, in a popularity contest, voting for the person you like the most is not corrupt. It is the expected behavior. We have always had a problem with very complex contests, like political elections. Most people do not like to grapple with complex issues, so they substitute somethi...

I am working on a new book, the working title is  Perspectives . The purpose of the book is to show how the lofty ideas about management and leadership applies to everyday management decisions. I want to show how having more than one  perspective can have a great impact on every day decision making. The following essay is an early sketch that may become a chapter in the book. I will publish more preview chapters in the newsletter supporting LESS! , the book I co-wrote with eleven other management experts not too long ago. By the way, the ePub version of LESS! is free, if you promise to write and publish an honest review. Here is the preview chapter for Perspectives : To buy or not to buy a book? Imagine you are running an IT department employing fifteen people. Anna, a young software developer asks you if the company will pay for a book she wants to read. The book is about XML Forms. You have no idea what XML Forms are. The book costs $17. Should you let her b...