Theseis

  Every company is initiated by its founder with a dream, a dream that is substantiated by an idea. This idea is in turn based on the answers to questions like “what am I here to do?”, “why will I be better than others?”, “how will I do things better?”. In order for a company to be born, the answers to those questions need to be able to point out to production of value that would overcome the costs. And if this perceived value overcomes the perceived costs then commitment stats to be build. It only when this commitment becomes so strong that it would overcome the perceived risks that the company is born. But is this enough for a company to produce wealth? The answer is no!   Value can be produced out of an idea. But what kind of value this idea is going to produce depends. The production of value is not equivalent to the production of wealth. The production of wealth is simply a function of the production of sustainable value. The production of non-sustainable value is equ...

Everything in the universe exists to serve something else. Nothing exists to serve only itself. And it is precisely this purpose, of serving someone or something else that gives meaning to existence! On the other hand, everything interacts with everything else, influences and is influenced by them.   As with all things in the universe, the same is true of organizations. Organizations exist to serve a purpose. And this purpose is nothing more than to serve someone else. Right? Wrong! The purpose must be to serve someone else without harming anyone. And because there are so many interactions, this task is inherently difficult. But everything starts and ends in society and therefore, sooner or later and somehow, good or evil will return…   During the process of building their mission and therefore their purpose, organizations no longer have to answer the question for whom and why they should exist. In parallel, they must answer how even if no other party is benefited from...

  CEOs should know… They should be fully aware of the problems that their organizations are facing at any particular point in time. After all, this is what they are being paid for! And they should not only be aware of all those problems. They should also be able to figure out which of them are causes, which are symptoms and which are only manifestations. They should be able to sort and to prioritize them. And they should be able to figure out solutions for them. They should ultimately need to be able to mobilize the resources they have at their disposal and to guide their organization towards their resolution. Right? Wrong!   Despite the fact that CEOs are expected to know all the problems that their organizations are facing, they actually do not. Quite interestingly, they are only aware of a tiny fraction of them! And there are good reasons for this!   CEOs are standing at the highest hierarchical level. No doubt, they enjoy a really good view from there. But tha...

  One of the most important processes that the management of an organization is responsible for performing is that of strategy. This process is of great importance, as it is the only structured way to transform organizations. Quite often, however, organizations fail to run it properly and as a result transform themselves effectively.   It is hard to imagine how a strategy that has been devised by experienced managers or consultants might not be of the highest quality. After all, millions of pages have been written o ν strategy and this particular subject is quite intensively taught in all business schools around the world. However, even the most qualitative strategies fail. And why this is happening deserves some attention.   The proper design and the relevant formulation of the strategic narrative are extremely important. Strategic planning should start from the future to the present and take into account both the opportunities and the threats in the environment...

There is a change and it is accelerating! And organizations cannot do otherwise but adapt to or even better lead it. For, if they do not do it themselves, their competitors will. And then things will definitely become tougher. At least that's how almost all business management textbooks teach. But that no longer seems to be enough…   The speed with which change occurs as well as its magnitude, has made the need to develop the ability of organizations to manage and at the same time to integrate it into their own DNA, more necessary than ever. Quite simply, organizations need to constantly transform and adapt if they want to survive and thrive. But if the speed and magnitude of change has made the constant transformation of organizations more than necessary, the change that a crisis like that of a pandemic can bring about requires much more than that. And this is because, quite simply, change, in addition to being fast and big, has now become traumatic.   Organizations a...

Clearly there are people that see an opportunity in every problem, as there are also people that see a problem in every opportunity! And that happens at exactly the same time… The very same event is simultaneously seen as an opportunity and as a problem by different people! And that becomes even more obvious during times of crises. There are numerous examples of organizations that have failed dramatically as there are also examples of other organizations that have flourished in such times, even in the same market, even in the same industry! If this is the case then how that may happen and what to do about it are questions that deserve some thought.   There is change and change brings about problems. Those problems stem out of the fact that old ways sooner or later simply become irrelevant. They simply do not work anymore and new ones need to be devised. And that can be done only by acknowledging that problems need to be managed. For when there is change, standing still is not a...

Humans are the only beings that live in the past, in the present and in the future simultaneously. They live in the past with memories. Memories to a large extend define not only the way they think but also the way they feel and ultimately the way they behave and act. This can go quite far. People sometimes live in a bubble that is defined by the paradigms of the past, a bubble that cannot be easily escaped. And this only happens because the past firmly answers the “how” questions of life. Simply, something that has happened has happened. No doubt about that. Facts are facts. And facts are objective. However, the mistake that people usually make is that the meaning attached to them, is just not. It is purely subjective!   People also live in the future. They live in the future with dreams. Dreams also define the way people think, feel, behave and act. But there is a clear distinction between memories and dreams. Dreams answer only the “why” questions.   Dreams can be r...