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The 80 minute MBA

Just returned from a trip to London: business and pleasure that is.  This Stan had a plan which was to run a two day workshop on the topic of business/IT alignment.  Business/IT alignment is still a hot topic for CIOs and more importantly for CEOs.  The sad thing is that the matter seems to be exclusively reserved for IT people.  Business/IT alignment is not an IT thing, it is part of a sound enterprise governance eco-system.  Technology is a board room imperative but I'm afraid many executives remain blissfully ignorant. Hence I was running the show for birds of a feather that - as Darwin would put it - flock together. And we had fun as well - the group dynamics were there and also some right-brain-training exercises: In this perspective I introduced role-playing games, brainstorm sessions and elevator pitches. The weekend was reserved for city-tripping and a museum day.  Tip for London visitors, the Science Museum is a definite must for space explorers, computer nerds, families and curious monkeys. This is research but with a big "R". Went to see the differential engine by Babbage, saw the first Apple ever produced (it's just a wooden box with a tiny screen), tabulating machines and other technological game-changers.

And nowadays, it's all about changing the game right?  Enterprises have to bend the curve in order to survive.  It is not about predicting the future in this case but about common sense and seeing what is going on out there.  Technology is ubiquitous and will penetrate our lives even more.  Augmented reality is one example of this blending.  Being digital is part of our identity: both on the corporate and personal sides.  Linking this to taking up an executive MBA should equal a couple of courses on the following topics: Technology, sustainability, social responsibility, community building are key words that I will want to see in my course.  The book I bought in the train station actually inspired me to write this post  and at the same time reassures me on the topic of analytical thinking.  After a... well tough three days and of course when the going gets tough... Nope, not looking forward to the exam I have to hand in next week.  I am absolutely not convinced about the added value of analytics and the fact that the 80 minute book spends nothing more than 3 pages on the damned subject, gives me hope. The terms statistical significance, "what are the odds that ", P value and other correlated terminology have only one effect on me: number will be numbers.

Ground rule # N +1 : If today's and tomorrow's leaders will not include variables such as technology, demographics, globalization and the like in their scenario planning... well, then they are as dead as the dodo.  The dodo is a typical case of being unresponsive in times of serious change. I see the Fords, GMs & company as preys for a new generation of game changers: they come up with sustainable solutions for a brave new world.  Innovationalism as my dearest colleague would put it. That also means that you put in some more right-brain thinking in the business context. Bring in Creativity, Sociology, Communications into the Equation.  And that's what this 80 Minute MBA is trying to tell you... and what statistics cannot tell you.  Because the Internet, a greener world, fair trade or equality can never be converted into figures.  Even Monkeys can tell you that.

IT still matters

In today's business climate of rapid change, technology can make or break deals. (IT) Technology as a business driver is on the MBA agenda - but scheduled for winter 2011. Does this mean that you have to wait to get into technology? Nope, as some may know, I'm part time working/part time studying boy and technology is one of my key domains of expertise. In this light, I am invited to run a workshop on aligning business and IT strategies Fall of this year.

For those who are not in the matter, business/IT alignment has been consistently topping the charts of CIOs reunited. Aligning business and IT strategies means that you understand how to create value with IT, enable business initiatives, reduce costs and improve operational excellence. Effectively managing IT means that you can improve corporate performance by leveraging your IT investments. But we don't stop there, we'll look at leadership, building collaborative teams, revamping corporate processes and introducing a new kind of corporate culture. A wholatta of stuff but then again we have two days to understand how to tailor technology strategies and make them fit like a glove.


Curious to find out more about the program? Just click here or follow the next curve on Twitter - Otherwise, let's catch up in London,  I know some good tailors around.

Information Asymmetry - it's about you and me

In retrospect, what really triggered me in the modules on Performance management was the concept of information asymmetry. In economics and contract theory, information asymmetry deals with the study of decisions in transactions where one party has more or better information than the other.
This creates an imbalance of power in transactions which can sometimes cause the transactions to go awry. Most commonly, information asymmetries are studied in the context of principal-agent problems.
In 2001, the Nobel Prize in Economics was awarded to George Akerlof, Michael Spence, and Joseph E. Stiglitz "for their analyses of markets with asymmetric information.

This made me wonder how Enterprise 2.0 could improve corporate performance in the long run. Building a Strategy-focused organization with strategy maps & BSCs was one of the topics of our last course so I started on my paper (actually it is an exam) to find out how information asymmetry reduces throughput in the organizations.  This is the starting point for my thesis that Enterprise 2.0 can drastically improve corporate performance - through the dynamic of social software - because it centers on knowledge as the most sustainable component in value creation.

For those interested in the matter, you can download my paper here - for free - with thanks to... social software of course.
Happy reading

PS to DC Comics - Hope you managed to introduce some right-brain thinking in your paper - when the product is stuck, the creative keep going (LOL)

Enterprise 2.0: reducing information asymmetry in 21st century organizations.