C..C..C…..

Classic de BonoMessage – first published 6th November 2000

Competence in business is essential – but is it enough? If your strategy for survival is that you continue to be more competent than your competitors, is that enough? What happens when your competitiors catch up and also become competent? You cannot really become ’super competent’. Competence is a condition you gradually approach. You can indeed continue to make small improvement – and so can your competitiors.

In the future three things are going to be needed in business. In the English language they all start with ‘C’. So we have the three ‘C’s. Read more

.. maintenance and problem solving ..

Classic Edward de Bono Message (first published May 21, 2001)

“You can analyse the past but you have to design the future”. The quote is from my book ‘New Thinking for the New Millenium’. ‘Design’ is such a very important word because it is the opposite of analysis. Technically, the opposite is ’synthesis’ but in practice synthesis is not the same as ‘design’. Design has a much stronger sense of purpose and value.

Most organisations run on the basis of maintenance and problem solving. This is understandable because continuity is so important and it is never possible to change a lot at a time in an established organisation. There is also the risk factor. Anything new is always a risk and if it goes wrong, or does not prove as beneficial as promised, then somebody is to blame.

The result is that most organisations rely on slow evolution, fashion and ‘me-too’ to make changes. This means operating way below potential.