Driving Change

"Multinationals grow their business faster and make more money than companies that stay home."

"The clash today between business interests as narrowly interpreted and the demands of society has intensified. The successful 21st century enterprise will have to resolve the conflict in a way that satisfies both corporate and society's interests."

"In the hierarchy of new customer demands, the most sophisticated perhaps is the demand that companies furnish solutions rather than just sell products or services."

"The fundamental shift we see today is from leadership by command to leadership by vision and example."

"What corporations are offering in place of security is something called 'employability' which allegedly puts each person in charge of his own career."

"The old teamwork meant coming aboard, not rocking the boat, playing along. The team player today is expected to rock the boat, in a constructive and civil way, of course, and to speak up for change."

"When computers start to transform an industry, when the shape of that transformation is unpredictable, when betting on the wrong system or technology can be devastating, then business leaders have reason to agonize about information technology."

"To innovate successfully, you need four things: First, the entrepreneurial or inventive spirit; second, the willingness to commit resources to innovation; third, the methods to do it, and, fourth, the right type of organization to do it."

"If a company wants to be agile, decisions need to be made faster and that means distributing power to push decisions as close to the market as possible."

"Most of the new management concepts have been reinforced if not originated by the drive to improve quality: cross-discipline teams, pushing power downward, working faster, better training, a new role for leaders."

"For all the talk about globalization, most multinationals are still basically 'flag planters', colonial outposts of essentially domestic companies."

"Trust is the basic ingredient of any of these networking or cooperative arrangements. You need a good contract outlining the deal, but without the trust the contract will mean nothing."

"As long as you don't look too closely at what others are doing, you can imagine that you know best. But a systematic study of other organizations can soon wipe the smug look off your face."