Henry Mintzberg: It’s time to rebalance our sectors and society and Six Sigma ‘killed’ innovation in 3M

Two friends of mine publish the J&E Alert, a fantastic newsletter highlighting thought provoking thinking on leadership, management and business. Below we share two snippets of their recent newsletter.

You can subscribe directly by sending an email to the editors (Mireille Jansma & Jurgen Egges)

Article - Henry Mintzberg: It's time to rebalance our sectors and society (Guardian Sustainable Business Blog, April 2013)

From the post: "That we face serious problems – poverty amid plenty, the degradation of our physical, social, and economic environments, terrorism by fanatic cells and rogue states, and so on – is clear. But how our established institutions – governments and businesses – deal with them, even when responsive and responsible, is not. We need another way."

Video (3 min) & article - Six Sigma 'killed' innovation in 3M (Ryan Huang, ZDNet, 14 March 2013)

Firms must define innovation and how it fits into the company's objectives. They should then provide the right support and avoid rigid processes hindering the creative process, says Geoff Nicholson, former 3M exec behind the Post-It note.