Comments on: The Human Difference by Richard Straub https://www.druckerforum.org/blog/the-human-difference-by-richard-straub/ Tue, 21 Apr 2015 13:48:02 +0000 hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.0.3 By: Joel Casse https://www.druckerforum.org/blog/the-human-difference-by-richard-straub/#comment-50481 Tue, 21 Apr 2015 13:48:02 +0000 http://www.druckerforum.org/blog/?p=802#comment-50481 Leaders will soon recognise the tide is turning when employees will select their leaders not the other way around! The leaders who lead in this society will excel at engaging, orchestrating, removing barriers for others to succeed.

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By: Alessandro Daliana https://www.druckerforum.org/blog/the-human-difference-by-richard-straub/#comment-50430 Fri, 17 Apr 2015 15:07:43 +0000 http://www.druckerforum.org/blog/?p=802#comment-50430 I certainly have to agree with these thoughts but also have to argue that the change you are looking for is actually underway. At least, in my small part of the world it is.

For years, I have complained about the technocratic approach many people have to business or even government and sought to place the individual at the center of the equation. Unfortunately, not being Don Quixote, there was little I could do from inside the company walls. So I struck out on my own into what I thought was unknown territory only to discover that it has been occupied for centuries by our various and numerous belief systems.

Without sounding like a complete crazy person, I’d like to posit that all belief systems are simply road maps to self-realization. Likewise, I would like to posit that the European experience of uncertainty reduction was based on property but that in the last century or so the rest of the world has caught up with the West’s most basic uncertainties without having property-based systems. Consequently, we are at the start of a new era in which the individual can chose to no longer be an industrial-era cog in the wheel but to be just themselves. However, this choice is not an easy one because the economics are difficult.

Yes, an individual might be able to provide their community with enough value that they make a living wage and maybe even something more. But many will not. This is where information technology and property laws can help.

Already, we see that the line between capital, productive assets, and private property, non-productive assets, is blurred. Your example of AirBnB is just such a case, private property being used for commercial purposes when it isn’t supposed to be creating all sorts of legislative challenges. Many other examples of the collaborative consumption economy support this blurry line view. Consequently, there is an opportunity – if not a need – to extend the legislative concepts afforded productive assets to non-productive ones. In doing so, every action undertaken by an individual on the Internet would be their productive asset, capital, and allow them to derive a revenue from being who they are. This simple change in legislation would oblige those mega-corporations who now benefit from a winner take all advantage to compensate their sources of data instead of using them for free affording a redistribution of the benefits created by the community.

So as you can see, it is possible to achieve the vision you argue for while still remaining faithful to the property-based system we have created but making it work for everyone.

The work I do with business leaders only allows me to take the first step, self-realization for the benefit of their community. The second step requires legislative changes and technology solutions. However, the first step is fascinating in and of itself. After all, how can lead others if you can’t lead yourself.

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By: Dan Pontefract https://www.druckerforum.org/blog/the-human-difference-by-richard-straub/#comment-50238 Wed, 01 Apr 2015 03:53:29 +0000 http://www.druckerforum.org/blog/?p=802#comment-50238 Quite simply, senior leadership has one role going forward which is to reinsert the word ‘human’ into ‘humanity’ … to ensure our organizations make a return to being humane, for the betterment of all stakeholders, thus society as a whole.

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By: John Montgomery https://www.druckerforum.org/blog/the-human-difference-by-richard-straub/#comment-50235 Tue, 31 Mar 2015 21:00:10 +0000 http://www.druckerforum.org/blog/?p=802#comment-50235 Nice article. Since managers are society’s major leadership group and command the resources of society through corporations, it’s time for society to create a wiser corporation. 26 US states, including Delaware, have adopted a new corporate form, the benefit corporation, which requires the corporation to act with a social and environmental conscience that transcends and includes the usual profit oriented one. The Delaware version of this form, for example, requires corporations to operate in a “responsible and sustainable manner”. We can support the development of wiser leadership by placing leaders in corporations that are wisely designed for commerce in the interdependent world of the 21st century.

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By: garry hearn https://www.druckerforum.org/blog/the-human-difference-by-richard-straub/#comment-50231 Tue, 31 Mar 2015 18:47:30 +0000 http://www.druckerforum.org/blog/?p=802#comment-50231 Thanks Richard, I suppose if you are an optimist, like me, you will continue to hope that society will recognise that it is people that exploit the full potential of any inanimate object (even AI). Therefore the enlightened will recognise the need to view people as the most important facet in the ‘revolution’, therefore look after it. The unelightened will briefly shine then fade and disappear. Here’s hoping! Garry

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By: Jon Husband https://www.druckerforum.org/blog/the-human-difference-by-richard-straub/#comment-50227 Tue, 31 Mar 2015 12:51:55 +0000 http://www.druckerforum.org/blog/?p=802#comment-50227 What will it take for traditional hierarchical structures and management mindsets to adapt to the interconnected conditions of continuous rapid information flows.

Perhaps they can evolve by becoming more intelligent .. more human, more aware, more empathic and differently decisive .. by acknowledging and using the new conditions that are inexorably swallowing and penetrating us.

Yes to Steve Denning’s better analysis .. combined with and accompanied by a better more holistic understanding that the ultimate purpose of organized human activities is about the betterment of human society and the human condition, not JUST making (more) money for shareholders / owners at th expense of everyone else.

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By: Steve Denning https://www.druckerforum.org/blog/the-human-difference-by-richard-straub/#comment-50212 Mon, 30 Mar 2015 17:52:03 +0000 http://www.druckerforum.org/blog/?p=802#comment-50212 Hi Richard,

Nice article. I agree that “a new synthesis of the prevalent technocratic logic in politics, economics and management with a deep understanding of the human condition” could be helpful.

But do we need to wait for that? Could better use of existing analytic tools go a long way to escaping the traps that you allude to? See for instance: http://www.forbes.com/sites/stevedenning/2014/05/26/clayton-christensen-do-we-need-a-revolution-in-management/.

In effect, do we need, not less analysis, but better analysis?

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By: christian Prosl https://www.druckerforum.org/blog/the-human-difference-by-richard-straub/#comment-50161 Fri, 27 Mar 2015 09:26:52 +0000 http://www.druckerforum.org/blog/?p=802#comment-50161 Excellent article. The basic question is: will the future be tool- (machines, Computers, algorithms, etc) driven or man-driven including his anylytical capacities, but also his empathy, decency and philosophy. After all, we are social beings with responsibilities towards each other and towards Society.

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