Professor of Strategic and International Management at London Business School

Hackathon Public Profile

2 years 11 months ago
I really like this idea. I have seen a few companies dabbling in this area - a couple of IT Services companies tried out a scheme for allowing employees in (tedious) roles to spend 10-20% of their ti... More
2 years 11 months ago
I think this is a cool idea - in large part because you really don't need any permission to get started. I have also noticed over many years of running executive seminars on innovation that "fear of ... More
3 years 2 months ago
Hi Indy, yes, I completely agree. It is all too easy to "follow the pack" in hiring, or indeed in any other area, and that leads to conformity, lack of differentiation, me-too strategy and so on. O... More
3 years 2 months ago
Hi Stephen I love the idea of giving fresh recruits "hardship" postings where the challenge is enormous and potentially-life changing for them, whereas the risk for the company and the individual, ... More
3 years 2 months ago
Hi Edna, I think this is a terrific idea. I am reminded of Henry Stewart, CEO of Happy Ltd in London which is an IT training company. He refuses to look at CVs when hiring - he just asks candidate... More
3 years 3 months ago
The first insights into changes in your business environment come from the people on the “front line” – salespeople, developers working with third parties, purchasing managers. But their voice �... More
3 years 3 months ago
We get things done in big firms through management processes –budgeting and planning, performance management, succession planning. These processes create simplicity and order, but they also become e... More
3 years 3 months ago
Last week, as part of a course on “strategic agility”, I taught a case study on the decline of Nokia to my MBA students. I asked them: Why did Nokia fall from industry leadership to also-ran statu... More
4 years 9 months ago
A quick response to Alistair's comments, as well as earlier ones from Faly, Alberto and others.  By positioning this blog against the "American" management ideology, I attracted quite a lot ... More
5 years 9 months ago
Elad, thanks for your comments.  I think you are correct to say that most of us are working with unhelpfully-broad definitions of management (and leadership, for that matter).  But I need to... More
5 years 9 months ago
5 years 12 months ago
Here are some quick responses to the questions posed by readers: Peter Forth: yes, its interesting to ask whether this story would be such a "big deal" for the Gen Yers in the workplace, who have g... More
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julian-birkinshaw's picture

The first insights into changes in your business environment come from the people on the “front line” – salespeople, developers working with third parties, purchasing managers. But their voice –if it is raised at all—typically gets drowned out among all the others clamouring for top executive attention.  The solutions here...

julian-birkinshaw's picture

We get things done in big firms through management processes –budgeting and planning, performance management, succession planning. These processes create simplicity and order, but they also become entrenched and self-reinforcing. One example: I was asked to put on a webinar for a big publishing company a couple of years ago,...

julian-birkinshaw's picture

Last week, as part of a course on “strategic agility”, I taught a case study on the decline of Nokia to my MBA students. I asked them: Why did Nokia fall from industry leadership to also-ran status in the space of less than five years?