Re-inventing Management for the 21st Century.

Management 1.0 was invented by people long dead or long retired, but with rapid change happening at an exponential pace, the organizations are facing a fundamentally 'different and new reality'.  They face the world, where knowledge is fast becoming a commodity, and it is extremely difficult to have a sustainable differentiator.

The 'command and control' model of the industrial age is being challenged. A new management model more open, collaborative, flexible and adaptable to human beings is required. The 'Pyramid-Structure' of management is already giving way to 'amorphous' structure in this 'new knowledge world'.

Here in this short 15 minutes video of Prof Gary Hamel, celebrated management thinker and one of my favorite management 'gurus', makes a highly strong and passionate case for 'tearing down the old management structures and re-inventing the management practices relevant to the new-new world'.


The current system of Management invented a century ago to maximize standardization, specialization, hierarchy, and control, etc., is struggling to find its relevance. Gary talks about the invention of Management 1.0? In his words:

While that earlier model delivered an immense contribution to global prosperity, the values driving our most powerful institutions are fundamentally at odds with those of this age—zero-sum thinking, profit-obsession, power, conformance, control, hierarchy, and obedience don’t stand a chance against community, interdependence, freedom, flexibility, transparency, meritocracy, and self-determination

Prof Hamel also talks about HCL CEO Vineet Nayar, and his hugely successful 'Employee first and Customer Second' philosophy. I had shared some of these thoughts in my earlier posts on Open Innovation and Future of Management.

Time to Re-THINK!!

(This video is an excerpt from the University of Phoenix Distinguished Guest Video Lecture Series)