Economic Life After The Corporation.
Corporations are a relatively recent invention. Entrepreneurs brought them into existence to manage the scale and scope of the industrial era. They may not be relevant or needed in the next economic era.
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The Value Creators Podcast Episode #27. Mark McGrath on Entrepreneurship Versus Managerialism
Adaptive entrepreneurship refers to a dynamic approach to business leadership and business practice that embraces continuous learning, rapid adaptation, and the creation of novel ideas. Mark McGrath and Hunter Hastings discuss the critical aspects of adaptiveness in dynamic environments. They explore the aftermath of failure to adapt to nonlinear external change. The conversation emphasizes the importance of the shift from traditional management to adaptive leadership, as defined by a fusion of entrepreneurial economics and John Boyd’s unique approach to “the whirl of reorientation”, and focusing on the importance of influencing and inspiring collaboration, as contrasted with managerial control.
Mark McGrath highlights the role of appreciation leadership, recognizing the worth of ideas, and fostering human interaction. He advocates for continuous reinvention and the active creation of mismatches to outpace competitors. Entrepreneurs need to embrace adaptive systems, prioritize human-centric leadership, and leverage novel ideas for sustained success in ever-changing business landscapes.
The Value Creators Podcast Episode #26. 11 New Mental Models for Business
Mental models are defined as fundamental assumptions that shape the way individuals perceive and interact with the world. When our mental models are wrong, we can’t see the world as it really is. New mental models introduce a new and better understanding. This episode of the Value Creators podcast introduces eleven fundamental mental models, ranging from understanding value as a subjective creation within the minds of customers, to the strategic accumulation of knowledge within a firm, to the pivotal role of empathy and the transformative nature of marketing as behavior. Each mental model contributes to a new holistic paradigm designed to guide entrepreneurs in creating sustained value.
Mental models contribute to the necessary shift in business mindsets towards a dynamic approach that emphasizes the continuous flow of experimentation and the ongoing refinement of knowledge through error correction.
Customers don’t have problems to solve. They have imagined futures that are better than today.
The energy for value creation and innovation originates with the customer. By being open to new value propositions, customers bring them into being. The customer imagines a future that’s better than today. Entrepreneurship brings that future into reality.
The Value Creators Podcast Episode #25. Jacqueline Porter on The Power of Visual Design
Visual design is an important element in value creation, especially in telling a brand’s or a business’s story in a way that engages with customers and communicates shared values. Visual designers are multi-talented artists and storytellers with an acute understanding of customers and their emotional responses to visual cues. Our guest this week is Jacqueline Porter, an accomplished professional in her field and a very successful business owner in her own right.
We explored the business of design and creativity from the challenges within design education, and the drawbacks of rigid design frameworks and the value of subjective, creative approaches. A notable reference to a transitional figure in design Steve Jobs shows how simplicity and creativity – rules and no-rules – can work together.
The conversation moves to the realm of implementation in branding, exploring the delicate and shifting balance between fixed and flexible elements. Jacqueline advocates for constant evolution, telling a story with a dynamic interplay between exploration and exploitation for sustained success. Consistency is achieved with creativity, empathy, and adaptability.
There’s no place for management any more. What will replace it?
What in the past has been thought of as “management” has no place in the modern digital (and increasingly AI powered) enterprise. We need a new mental model.