2×2 Thinking in Action: Fujitsu tackles level 2 dilemmas

Chapter Five of The Power of the 2 x 2 Matrix, Jossey-Bass, 2004

link to fujitsu article

“For the past few years we have been developing a dilemmas-based approach to strategic problem solving which we call 2 x 2 Thinking. The method recognizes that dilemmas are inherent in business and uses creative tension as fuel to drive innovative solutions and break the logjams that impede strategic decision-making…”

Moving Beyond the Dilemmas of Contingent Work

from the book, Contingent Workforce Strategies Sourcebook: A Guide for Program Managers

“We are in danger of becoming victims of our success, and most business leaders don’t realize it. What success, you ask? Contingent workforce strategies have transformed the North American workplace over the past two decades, leading to great improvements in company performance and often to new freedom and flexibility for workers. Contingent work is a major part of the solution to a challenge the economy faced in the ‘80s: how to get big, slow firms to become more agile, flexible and responsive. Today, we face new….”

Leaders Manage Dilemmas

Excerpt from Strategy & Leadership

Strategy & Leadership: Leaders Manage Dilemmas

“When Lou Gerstner took the reins at IBM in 1993, the business was in tatters and on its way to registering a record loss of $8.1 billion. Eight years later, the company had returned to its position as the industry gorilla, setting the pace in both hardware and services, and achieving a handsome profit of $7.7 billion. What happened to turn things around? In the years leading up to 1991, IBM had become…”

The leader’s dilemma agenda

Excerpt from Strategy & Leadership

“A critical task of leadership is recognizing, acknowledging and interpreting the enterprise’s core dilemmas in a timely and useful fashion. When leaders do this well, they bring meaning, coherence and alignment to organizational efforts. When they don’t, they open the door to the kind of confusion, aimlessness and self-doubt that eventually derails an organization and renders it ineffective. The best leaders are remembered for how they articulated a crucial issue that contained trade-offs and risk and then blazed a new path for their group or organization. Think of some the great leaders of history: Moses (faith, rebellion and freedom versus slavery and security)…”