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In the world's harshest environments, the
life forms that survive are those with the ability to adapt.
In today's tough and unpredictable business climate, the
same scientific principle applies. If your organization
cannot adjust, it will struggle and eventually die -- overtaken
by faster, nimbler, and more competitive forces.
William E. Fulmer, a highly respected Senior
Fellow at the Harvard Business School, has done extensive
research and consulting in fast-changing organizations.
Dr. Fulmer has found that companies in all fields can learn
to cope with volatility and uncertainty by borrowing strategies
from two seemingly disparate sources: biological models,
especially those known as complex adaptive systems, and
companies in the technology sector, which operate in especially
chaotic environments.
Interpreting the work of such groundbreaking
scientists as Charles Darwin, Stuart Kauffmann, Murray Gell-Mann,
and John Holland, Dr. Fulmer illustrates that the business
world, like the world of biology, is a complex system. For
your company to succeed, he argues, it must become adaptive
in the biological sense. Thus, Shaping the Adaptive Organization
presents a framework that helps you explore:
Landscape. What is your business
environment? Is it rugged or flat? And how fit is your organization,
relative to others, to navigate it? Understanding the landscape,
and your company's changing role within it, is the first
step to thinking beyond the box and rethinking critical
strategies.
Learning. Companies that successfully
create an adaptive culture are those that not only encourage
individual learning but encourage sharing it. Further, by
considering some of the adaptive concepts introduced here,
a company can adjust its very structure in order to leverage
learning and respond faster to changing market conditions.
Leadership. Managing an adaptive
company requires nontraditional vision and skills. Paying
special attention to the distinct needs of startups versus
established companies, Dr. Fulmer shows executives how to
meet the challenges of complexity and create a resilient
organization.
Through examples from numerous innovators
-- including small entrepreneurial start-ups as well as
giants such as Cisco, Microsoft, and Intel -- you'll discover
how leading-edge companies are dealing with a rapidly changing
landscape. As a source of inspiration and a practical, hands-on
guide, Shaping the Adaptive Organization will convince
you that "the edge of chaos" is in fact the best
place for a company to be. Better yet, it will show you
how to keep your balance there.
William E. Fulmer is a Senior Fellow
and Senior Vice President of the Executive Development Center
of the Harvard Business School, where he also directs the
Service Management Initiative. Dr. Fulmer has served on
the faculties of George Mason University, The College of
William and Mary, the University of Virginia, and the University
of Alabama. The author of several books and monographs,
he has had articles published in the Harvard Business
Review, California Management Review, Business
Horizons, and other prestigious journals. In addition,
he teaches in executive development programs around the
world and has consulted to many corporations and public
agencies. Dr. Fulmer, who divides his time between Cambridge,
MA, and Stafford, VA, is a graduate of the University of
Pennsylvania (Ph.D. and MA degrees) and Florida State University
(MBA).
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