Everywhere you look things are becoming more complex. The ability to pick out the true centre of an issue has never been needed more than it is today. Based on our research, client work and weekly experience with our students, we continue to be impressed with the utility of modeling issues on a 2 x 2 grid to create and test core tensions in tough and ambiguous situations. Paradoxically, by limiting the field of inquiry to a couple of primary competing forces, we are able to foster shared meaning and to generate useful insights. We will be profiling topical issues here on a regular basis, and welcome comments and creative contributions from others.
“Every business faces the opposing forces of the pull for more growth against the pull for more profitability; the demand to show profit today against the need to invest in the company’s future; and the call for optimizing the whole against the tendency of individual parts to maximize their own performance. The three performance tensions [...]
There’s plenty of reason for genuine concern over internet privacy. Not one of the servers that contains your personal data is completely impregnable if it is connected to the Internet (though certainly some–like your bank’s–are safer than garden variety web sites).
It’s not surprising then that Facebook has come in for tremendous criticism for its [...]
CEOs occasionally say things they wish they could take back. Eric Schmidt of Google must have felt that way after causing a firestorm in early December when his comments about privacy came to light. When asked by reporter Maria Bartiromo of CNBC if users should be trusting Google with increasing amounts of personal data he [...]
In our client workshops we focus on helping teams identify their biggest challenges, and redefine tough dilemmas in ways that reveal underlying opportunities. And, often we’ll ask the individuals in a group to discuss their personal dilemmas. While there are dangers in delving into personal issues in a business setting, sharing issues that may be [...]
More than a decade after open source software began acquiring market traction, it still poses difficult questions and dilemmas for IT firms. Initially, it was scoffed at by the software industry, and companies like Sun tried to discredit Linux as unsafe and incomplete, hoping to deter further adoption and defection from their own proprietary offerings.