The ease and speed with which an organization can tank is staggering. Equally astounding is the eventual realization of how important cultural triggers work to make it happen. A recent NYT article sets the stage for Sam Zell’s acquisition of The Tribune Company: [Read more...]
Drucker, women and the dugout
September 9, 2010 By Leave a Comment
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or those of you who missed it, the Economist picked up on a phenomenon in Japan worthy of notice. One of the hottest books of the year (it is said) titled What if the Female Manager of a High-School Baseball Team read Drucker’s ‘Management’ has been jumping off the shelves. (Over one million sold…)
The unlikely catalyst for this cultish enthusiasm is a fictional teenager called Minami. Like many high-school girls in Japan, she becomes the gofer for the baseball team’s male coach. Unlike many of her compatriots, she is the kind of girl, as the book says, who leaps before she looks. Horrified by the team’s lack of ambition, she sets it the goal of reaching the high-school championships. She stumbles upon Drucker’s 1973 book, and it helps her turn the rabble into a team.
A voice at the table
July 27, 2010 By 4 Comments
I’m sure that anthropologists have watched people in organizations hold meetings. Academic meetings are a variation that I’m more familiar with. I am not an anthropologist but find it interesting to pretend I am, and perhaps see things through the eyes of a different discipline.
