Page 25 - Chapter One

Preface

In business management, there is a problem. There is also an historic
opportunity. The problem is that our conventional hierarchical approach,
with a senior management operating “command and control”, is no longer
a credible option for a rapidly changing, unpredictable, global business
environment. The opportunity comes from the wealth of evidence and
thinking behind an enlightened alternative. In this book I shall describe
what I call The Management Shift, which focuses on people, their
collaboration and sense of purpose.

My research and consulting experience over the years enables me to
demonstrate that companies that embrace this new approach go through
a transformation and create more value, innovation, employee engagement
and achieve sustainable success. Many leading management thinkers have
recognized the need for such a shift, and I cite the work of others as well
as presenting my own work. The implications are immense, because they
imply not just new practices, but radically different mindsets, managerial
behaviors and approaches to organizational governance and development.
My intention with this book is to bring all dimensions together: the why,
the what and the how, as many books focus on the first two, but leave
the practical manager with little insight into how to run things differently
from the next working day. My ambition is that what you will read in
this book will have a profound impact on your organization’s ability to
innovate, engage employees and adapt to a rapidly changing world.
In Chapter 1, I describe the why dimension: detailing the reasons behind an
organization’s need to adopt new management practices to survive, thrive

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