All tagged Innovation

Biotechnology in Australia 2022

Biotechnology involves applying science and technology to living organisms, and parts, products and models, to alter living or non-living materials to produce knowledge and biotechnology products and services. The industry includes biotechnology research and development, licensing, product manufacturing and product wholesaling. Companies that focus on medical devices are not included in the industry.

How should we think about Complexity? Is it complicated?

Mark Easdown writes about complexity. In the mid 1980s, a school of thought emerged around “Complexity” and “Complex Adaptive Systems” with the formation of the Sante Fe Institute, formed in part by former members of Los Alamos National Laboratory. The institute drew from multi-disciplinary domains and insights of : economics, neural networks, physics, artificial intelligence, chaos theory, cybernetics, biology, ecology and archaeology. Theories on Complexity and Complex Adaptive systems sought to develop common frameworks and understandings of physical and social systems that was an alternate to more linear and reductionist modes of thinking.

The Problem Is …. How to Solve It?

Mark Easdown writes about problem solving… Good problem solving needs: cognitive diversity, valuing dissent to mitigate consensus “fails” & “group think”, a clear approach in stressful situations, switch thinking or adding some randomness to process, a healthy power relationship (no hubris or silencing of opposition, a need for participative management & subordinate assertiveness training), multiple approaches to problem solving …

Forecasting

Mark Easdown writes about forecasting. The prediction process starts with propositions, then verified, quantified and made actionable. A robust peer review occurs and 95% of predictions are modified along the way. Plummer routinely scrutinises predictions with actual events and these results are highlighted at conferences – championing the successes and sharing insights across those that were wrong. “Nobody here is hired because they’re psychic; there hired to generate insights that are useful – even if they turn out wrong. It’s useful to get you thinking”.

Resilience

Mark Easdown writes about resilience. Individual, Enterprise & Ecosystem Strategy & Planning & Ways of working. Let’s explore some scenarios across individual resilience, ethical resilience & the resilience dividend. At the individual level, the global pandemic, economic downturns, recessions and increase in uncertainty and anxiety highlight the need for resilience. As Diane L Coutu “How Resilience Works”, (HBR May 2002) observes, resilient people have certain defining characteristics…

Prospective Hindsight and the Pre-Mortem

Mark Easdown writes about Prospective Hindsight and the Pre-Mortem. Given the importance and value of improving the decision-making process, researchers, social scientists and psychologists set about leveraging the findings of prospective hindsight studies and try to identify a framework upfront to identify your decisions that might lead to poor outcomes and create a safe environment for dissent in views.

Practical Wisdom: Making sense of the eco-system

Mark Easdown writes about practical wisdom: making sense of the eco-system. Leadership should not wait for a crisis, for revenues and budgets to go off-track to engage the wider views. Pandemic of 2020, has been a great example of leadership teams who have been forced to stop, listen and reach out across their ecosystem (customers, employees, suppliers, relationships with banks and government) and to re-invent and re-imagine themselves.