Hilbert Problems: Fundamental Performance Questions for Business
| posted by Dave LivingstonIn the early part of the last century David Hilbert proposed a set of unsolved questions that shaped the research agenda for math ever since. And the state of the real world as well since many of the areas he suggested had immense practial applications. An e-friend (Tim Walker of Hoover's) suggested a similar approach to business which got me thinking and riffing. One of my primary interest, concerns and worries is the question of improving business performance. As anybody who's noticed that the Auto Industry is 4% of GDP and employs approx. 13 million people the issue might be of concern to you as well. Here's my pass at it: Business Hilbert Problems: Fundamental Factors of Performance in case you're interested. Instead of Hilbert's 23 though I got down to five.
1) Organosclerosis - all organizations that are
successful reach a point where they are insulated from external
pressures, internal agendi become the dominant decision-making criteria
and self-interested political decisions replace a focus on value. What kind of management system is required to correct these historical and innate tendencies - other than Darwinian sortation ?
2) Integration
- no single factor determines the success of an enterprise. It needs to
integrate the strategy and business model with the operational
execution capabilities and establish a management system that holds the
responsible parties accountable against realistic operating plans. How do we migrate from our decades-old set of isolated and conflicted functional silos to a more synergistic enterprise ?
3) Execution
- most companies are competent or better on a few core disciplines but
often neglect developing the full suite of functional capabilities to
where they should really be. A growingly classic example is MSFT who's
core discipline is Software Development but after the Code Red fiasco
delivered an emasculated Longhorn to market based more on market power
and coercion than enhancing customer value. How do we
ensure, ala Billy Beane's A's, that we get as good a "player" in each
position for the "game" we want to play at an affordable and
value-effective price ?
4) Innovation -
execution is all well and good but once you detox history and transform
current capabilities, like a shark, you need to figure out how to swim
into the SEE of the future.(Sailing Into the Storm: From Execution to Innovation) What's
the best way to go about designing and implementing continuous
innovation as a fundamental core competency of the enterprise ?
5) Leadership and Humanity
-at the end of the day business is a team sport. And as Red Auerback
taught us and the new Celtic have demonstrated you need great players
with superb skills who play for the jersey they're wearing. Which
requires Leadership which communicates, management systems that measure
and reward real contribution and provides an environment that respects,
in all senses, the individual as an adult (Aholes, Shirkers and Performance: a Draft People Principles Policy ). What HR, Communication and Leadership development approaches are best suited to the enterprise we're envisioning here ?
The full post has a bunch of excerpts and links in each of the major areas that make up an enterprise that struck me as valuable. This particular post, btw, was the capstone of a series exploring various facets and previous posts. The complete series, on which there's a wealth of industry, company, economic and related tools and analysis is:
Data, Dilemmas, Dashboards and Decisions
Dashboards for the Real World: Economy, Markets, Industry, Company
Key Postings IV: Business Analysis Foundations
Key Postings V: Industry Analysis - Enterprise, Industry Ecology, Evolution
Key Postings Vb (Technomediatainment): Maturities, Barriers and Disruptions
Key Postings VI: Company Level Business Analysis
Hope you get something out of it.
