Earlier in the week, I did a webcast to an audience of HR folks about "the death--and reinvention--of management.
One of the nice things about online events (as compared to live events) is that you can do electronic polls while the event is under way and get exact instant feedback on what people are thinking.
In this webcast, I did four polls during the event.
The first asked whether participants had had experience in HR where they felt strong and powerful and effective and achieved true satisfaction. Poll result: 100% said that they had.
Then I described the world of traditional management--hierarchical bureaucracy, manipulating customers and treating employees like things, top-down talking down to people and giving top priority to efficiency and saving money. Poll result: around three-quarters said that they worked in a firm like that.
I went to describe the new world of reinvented management or "Capitalism 3.0" where the overiding focus is, like at Apple or Amazon, on delighting clients, working in self-organizing team, dynamic linking, values and adult-to-adult conversations. Poll result: 100% said that they wanted to work in an organization like that.
I then discussed what was involved in making it happen and invited the participants that helped implement this effort revolutionizing of the world of work. Were they ready? Poll result: around three-quarters said that they were ready to help lead the revolution.
It's not scientific of course, but I was pleasantly surprised by this straw in the wind: the high number on the final poll encourages me to think that the revolution in the world of work can happen sooner rather than later.
How to reinvent management
If you would like to learn more about the history of dying age of Capitalism 2.0 and the future of management (Capitalism 3.0), you can read my synthesis of recent books on the subject, The Death—And Reinvention—of Management. Or you can read the books themselves, such as The Power of Pull by John Hagel, John Seely Brown and Lang Davison, or Reorganize for Resilience by Ranjay Gulati, or The New Capitalist Manifesto by Umair Haque, or Leadership in a Wiki World by Rod Collins, or my own book, The Leader's Guide to Radical Management: Reinventing the Workplace for the 21st Century.
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