Irving Wladawsky-Berger

Governance, Triangulation and Compromise

One of the most important qualities in good business leaders is organizational and social skills, that is, the ability to rally a diverse set of people to attack and solve the complex problems that all institutions face.  Wikipedia emphasizes this point in its definition of leadership  “ . . . as the process of social influence in which one person can enlist the aid and support of others in the accomplishment of a common task . . .” 

 Social leadership qualities are particularly important in today’s increasingly distributed organizations, where many, if not most of the people that leaders have to bring together do not work for them.  For example, a matrix organization led by a small team is often the most practical way to launch a new company-wide venture, especially one based on a disruptive innovation that doesn’t yet have a natural home within the existing organization.

Moreover, as enterprises increasingly rely on business partners for many functions once done in-house, one of the major organizational challenges is how best to manage the evolving virtual enterprise in such a distributed model.  Good business leaders thus have to be effective at managing their distributed operations across a network of interconnected companies - a veritable business ecosystem.  They must be able to have good working relationships with the people in these companies - some of whom might be competitors as well as partners - and be able to collaborate and compromise with them as appropriate.

Innovation in an Age of Austerity

On December 7 I participated in an Innovation Summit sponsored by the UK Innovation Research Centre (UK-IRC) at the University of Cambridge.  The UK-IRC is “a collaborative initiative for cutting-edge research and knowledge exchange activities on how innovation can make businesses more competitive, improve public services delivery and help the UK meet the social, environmental and economic challenges it faces.”  It is a joint venture between the Imperial College Business School and the Centre for Business Research in Cambridge.

The topic for this year’s annual Summit was Re-thinking the Impact of Innovation.  Its objective was to assess the economic impact of innovation activities by examining the experiences and best practices in the public and private sector.  Alan Hughes, director of the UK-IRC and professor of enterprise studies in Cambridge’s Judge Business School, gave an introductory address whose title said it all - Re-thinking Impact: Public and Private R&D in an Age of Austerity. 

Given the current economic conditions in the UK, the US and a number of other countries, there is increased pressure to develop effective methods to measure the impact of research and innovation investments on the economy.  He raised a number of critical questions.  How do you best measure such an impact - at an individual project; at a larger group like a lab, department or university; or at the national level?  Will such economic measurements lead to an over-emphasis on some disciplines at the expense of others?  Would it lead to greater pressure to meet short term goals rather than long term objectives?  And, how do you best predict the future impact of disruptive, new ideas?  Four different panels then proceeded to address these challenging questions through the day.

The US Constitution: A Pantheon of (Sometimes Conflicting) Values

I recently saw a reference to a speech given at Harvard’s commencement in May of this year by David Souter.  Justice Souter served in the US Supreme Court from 1990 until he stepped down in June of 2009.  He was appointed by President George H. W. Bush and was expected to be a conservative-leaning justice, but over time he moved toward the center and was part of the more moderate-liberal wing of the court.

The Harvard commencement address is truly a lesson on why our short and relatively simple US Constitution, drafted more than 200 years ago, continues to be such a powerful document when properly interpreted and applied in our very different and continuously changing society.  I will quote extensively from his speech because I could not possibly come up with words as powerful and eloquent as his, but I urge you to read it here.

In simple language, Justice Souter explains why originalism, textualism and similar legal principles based on using the Constitution only to establish the fair reading or original meaning of its authors without imposing any additional interpretations just plainly do not work.  He directly addresses the “criticism that the court is making up the law, that the court is announcing constitutional rules that cannot be found in the Constitution, and that the court is engaging in activism to extend civil liberties.”

Smarter Cities Santiago

On November 23 I participated in IBM’s Smarter Cities Forum in Santiago, Chile.  The event brought together over 100 government, business and academic leaders from all parts of Chile, as well as many others from North America and Europe.  The Forum was hosted by IBM’s Chairman and CEO Sam Palmisano.

Why Santiago?  In his opening remarks, Sam answered this question: 

“Santiago is representative of the new urban future, both its opportunities and its challenges, that faces our planet.  In the early part of the twentieth century, Santiago had 500,000 inhabitants.  Today it has more than 5 million - or more than one-third of the nation’s total population.  This population growth has also translated into making Santiago the financial and commercial center of the country.  The metropolitan region generates 45 percent of GDP and nearly 50 percent of total household income in Chile.”

This is my third visit to the city in the last four years.  I can personally attest that Santiago is a great city, a medium sized truly global city, and  one of Latin America’s most modern metropolitan areas.  It has an extensive public transportation and highway system, an impressive high-rise architecture, great hotels and restaurants, excellent universities and a large skills base.

Along with the rest of Chile, the city enjoys a dynamic market-oriented economy, a democratic government, a positive investment environment and a high level of global trade.  It is not difficult to understand why Sam would pick Santiago as the first city in Latin America in which to personally host a Smarter Cities event.