Note from Art: While I am referencing a well-known leadership and management author here, the Fresh Voices come from the rich and thought-provoking comments and commenters to the author’s post.  

If you are fascinated as I am about the evolution of management and its role, form and function in our current and near future world, I strongly encourage you to check out Gary Hamel’s blog post (Help Reinvent Management for the 21st Century).

This is a case where the post prompts a flood of great thoughts and ideas from some sharp people from around the globe.  

As background, Dr. Hamel is producing a conference on May 29 and 30 in California, that will bring together 35 luminaries from business and academia to focus on reinventing management for the new century.  

The four questions that Dr. Hamel and the brain-trust will attempt to answer include:

“1. What are the deep-seated impediments, or “design flaws,” that limit the capacity of organizations to adapt (to change without trauma); to innovate (to mobilize the imagination of everyone, every day); and to engage (to create environments that inspire extraordinary contributions).

2. Given these systemic impediments, and the new demands that will confront organizations in the years ahead, what should be the agenda for 21st century management innovators? That is, what are the “moonshot challenges” that must be addressed if we are to create organizations that are truly fit for the future?

3. Can we imagine, even in outline form, some potential solutions to these challenges, and if so, what sorts of experiments might be useful in helping us to test these ideas in real world settings?

4. More generally, what could be done to help accelerate the evolution of management in the years to come, that is, what is it that limits the pace of management innovation and how might these limits by overcome?”

While I’m certain that the event will generate some fascinating ideas, Dr. Hamel acknowledges what you are probably thinking about now: the solutions will not emerge and change our lives as an outcome of this conference.  In his own words: “A few dozen braniacs are no substitute for a crowd of inspired and unconventional thinkers.”  

He’s right of course, but the questions above are heady and invigorating topics for any collection of motivated management professionals. 

A few of my favorite comments to his post include:

-The Professor who makes  his case rather belligerently that all of our management problems would be solved if only we would adopt military style leadership.  He is kind enough to include a link to a list of books that support his philosophy.

-The Open Teams approach to breaking down the traditional “monolithic hierarchy.”

-The many comments (almost essays) that attack traditional, ingrained approaches to leadership and management and offer glimpses into how these approaches must change.

-Several comments that support a Silicon-Valley approach to management and innovation and at least one that indicates the positive influence that will flow from the movement of the Millennials into the workplace.

-A fascinating and lengthy post from a doctoral student in India that challenges us to look hard at 4 invisible but evolutionary urges driving the evolution of human society.   

and many others.  

The Bottom-Line for Now:

If the future of management is of interest to you, reading the comments is certain to start your wheels turning.  Feel free to join their discussion or start your own thread here.  I plan on tackling Dr.Hamel’s questions in both locations.