Lessons from Garry Hammel (Book Extract)

I recently read a book titled ‘Future of Management’ by Garry Hammel. Quite a great book. He has summarized his analysis and observation of some of the characteristics that have helped entities to survive for long periods of time. I felt that these concepts are worth sharing. This means that his article is essentially interesting ideas from his book.
I was quite fascinated by his analysis of the five things that have survived for long periods and the key attributes that have contributed to this longevity.

1. Life
Life on earth has sustained for centuries. Life does not do any strategy planning. The monkeys never developed a long term strategy for turning to man. Then what helped them sustain and evolve?
Experimentation and Adaptation; the mutations are experiments and the life forms continuously adapted and sustained those mutations that survived demands of the ever changing habitat.

2. Religious Faith
As scientific revelations proved many religious explanations wrong, it was expected that the religion would die. It has not. It has sustained with same vigor.
It was on account of the sense of purpose that faith gave. Not the ‘when’ and ‘how’ of natural phenomenon. But an answer to ‘for what purpose’. We often observe what this powerful attribute can motivate human beings to achieve.

3. Democracy
Amartya Sen observed that there is no history of a serious famine in a working democracy. Winston Churchil’s take was Democracy is the worst form of government there is, except every other that's been tried.
The democracy offered opportunities for various lobby groups to push their agenda and this acted as a check and balance in the evolutionary process. It gives the participants the right to choose.

4. Cities
The cities like Athens, New York, London, Tokyo have sustained for centuries in spite of cultural and scientific upheavals.
Was it just geographical advantage? What helped them to sustain is the diversity of people the city attracted which made these cities crucibles for innovation. Institutions where such diversity is limited, you see them perishing.

5. Markets
Wherever there is a functioning market, innovation flourishes as the markets give opportunity for innovations that are relevant to sustain.
Markets can’t generate new business models or new products, but they can create powerful incentives for individuals to think up new things.


What is the message from this for us? Encourage and nurture theses attributes in our organizations for us to succeed and sustain. You may want to know more on how to do this. The book gives you excellent insights. Read on..