5. A Special Breed of People

Steiber (2014).

Linden and Teece (2014), p. 87.

Steiber (2014), p. 56.

Schmidt and Rosenberg (2014), p. 96.

Ibid. pp. 96–97.

Linden and Teece (2014), p. 89.

Steiber (2014), p. 59.

Ibid.

Schmidt and Rosenberg (2014), pp. 16–20.

Drucker (1959).

Schmidt and Rosenberg (2014), p. 17.

Ibid, p. 16.

Bahrami (1992), p. 34.

Schmidt and Rosenberg (2014), p. 17.

Albergotti (2014).

Ibid.

IBM Institute for Business Value (2015).

Burns and Miller (2014).

Taleb (2010).

Burns and Miller (2014), pp. 2–3.

Burns and Miller argue that in order to build adaptability in your organization, you need to: (1) Hire, educate and promote to grow critical thinkers in your organization with the requisite relational skills, providing them with time to reflect upon experiences, developing cognitive skills (intuition and critical and creative thinking) and self awareness to be able to recognize when past experiences are counterproductive for changed circumstances, as well as self-regulation and relational skills; (2) Encourage humility, unlearning, and abandonment, to be able to have the integrity and courage to admit that a great idea didn’t work, cut losses, and move on; (3) Conduct training and exercises in adaptability where the complexity and difficulty progress so participants reach a failure point in dealing with uncertainty and impossible situations; (4) Improve your organization’s Observe-Orient-Decide-Act loop to react faster and more effectively than competitors in an iterative learning process; (5) Empower lover level managers’ ability to adapt by telling them what to do but not how (referring to Lord Nelson and General Patton); (6) Reward initiative and prudent risk taking, including promoting risk-takers and showing no tolerance for passivity; (7) Institute “radical openness” to promote challenging superiors, which (with reference to the hedge fund Bridgewater) “does not just allow but requires employees to question anything and anyone, with total disregard to personal feelings or hierarchy, to probe for weaknesses and get at the truth”; (8) Demand accountability for results without punishing failures for thoughtful experimentation that through an iterative learning process of trial and error is essential in adapting; and (9) Change the culture, or your organization will revert to conservative standard operating procedures and business as usual. (Burns and Miller 2014), pp. 7–19.

According to our own knowledge both Toyota and IKEA, two different companies from two different sectors, hire young people who are then shaped and formed in the company culture.

Schmidt and Rosenberg (2014), p. 100.

Praeger (2007).

Alänge et al. (1998).

Kahneman (2011).

Van den Bossche et al. (2006).

Ibid.

Ibid.

Steiber (2014).

Ibid.

Schmidt and Rosenberg (2014), p. 99.

Ibid, p. 96.

Ibid, p. 98.

Steiber (2014).

Schmidt and Rosenberg (2014), p. 98.

Steiber (2014), p. 58.

Ibid.

Linden and Teece (2014).

Schmidt and Rosenberg (2014), pp. 118–119.

Hoffman et al. (2014).

Ibid, pp. 12–14.

Page and Brin (2004) https://​investor.​google.​com/​corporate/​2004/​ipo-founders-letter.​html.

Blodget (2009).

Alsever (2013).

Ibid.

Steiber (2014).

Ibid.

Interview at Google Inc. in 2012.

Steiber (2014), p. 73.

Ibid.

Hoffman et al. (2014), p. 13.

Ibid, pp. 28–40.

Ibid. pp. 23–25.

An employee who “breaks the employment alliance” by leaving a tour early faces a “major hit to his credibility and reputation,” and will also “forgo future benefits, such as distinguished alumni status … and favorable references.” And if the company unilaterally “lays off the employee in the middle of a tour,” it faces similar negative consequences, as “an employer … who makes a habit of breaking alliances is warning both current and prospective employees that it isn’t trustworthy.” (Hoffman et al. 2014), pp. 86–87.

Steiber (2014).

Alänge and Steiber (2009).

Steiber (2014).

Hoffman et al. (2014).

Ibid.

Ibid.

Ibid.