Recent Posts:
The Quality of Life Conundrum
July 14, 2011 When talking up Compression Thinking at the Lean Enterprise Research Center in Cardiff, Wales, one set of questions there differed from discussions in the United States: what is implied by “quality of life?” Compression Thinking hinges together two...
Structuring Compression Thinking
June 30, 2011 Some of the advisory group for the Compression Institute met last weekend. A mission statement has not been hammered out and wordsmith hardened, but it’s something like, “forming learning action groups to make Compression Thinking a common practice.” The...
Of Jellyfish and Cooling Water
June 30, 2011 In Scotland the Torness nuclear generating units have been shut down until at least July 5 to clean out jellyfish clogging the intake filters for cooling water. In France, as in the summer of 2009, unofficial channels report that nuke generators are...
“Seeing” World Food Scarcity
June 10, 2011 How we view global food supplies parallels how we see many issues of Compression. How do you see global food problems? Using what evidence? How does that skew the further information you seek? This loop is sometimes called a ladder of inference. For...
Compression Thinking Groups
June 10, 2011 Compression Thinking involves more than techniques. It shifts the values, and the valuation system, used to guide all kinds of working organizations, not just commercial ones. Bending our ideas of the criteria that represent success is apt to be...
Learning Systems for Learning Organizations
David Veech, May 26, 2011 The Compression Institute is recommending that organizations take aggressive steps to become vigorous learning organizations. We make this recommendation because we lack perfect information. We can’t perfectly predict the future. Therefore...
Out of Our Reductionism
May 27, 2011 “Reductionism,” just now edging into management literature, is too new to have begun degrading, like “linear thinking” for example. That buzzword meant to explain something using a simple model, and linear is simple. However, overtaken by buzzword decay,...
Behavioral Progress Traps
May 13, 2011 The concept of a progress trap embellishes the idea of unintended consequences. A 2004 book by Ronald Wright attracted attention to the phrase “progress trap,” so that today a Google search yields a variety of examples. All demonstrate human inability to...
Questions from CEOs
May 13, 2011 The Compression Institute is dedicated to making ideas related to Compression viable in real organizations, including commercial ones. So it will address issues as seen by CEOs. To see some typical CEO questions and comment on then go to the Institute...
1. Is Compression Real?
Do Compression and Compression Thinking add insight into the confusion, chaos, complexity, and uncertainty of the 21st century? Can I see evidence of Compression affecting my organization?
2. Link to a Global Goal?
Does the arbitrary Operational Global Objective provide a basis to develop working targets for my organization? If so, how?
3. The New Normal?
Are these challenges and issues (of Compression) the “New Normal” for my business? For my industry?
4. How is My Company Affected?
If this is the New Normal, how does it affect my markets, my current business model, and my competitiveness?
5. Risks?
What are the risks if I try to implement Compression Thinking principles and practices in my organization? a. Can my company survive if I don’t take action? b. How can it survive if I do take action?
6. My Leadership?
How will my leadership practices have to change if my company is to transform using Compression Thinking?
7. How and Where to Start?
Where to start? Which Compression challenges should my organization address immediately? How can I identify them in as many ways as possible?
8. Scope of Leadership?
How can I guide, encourage, and facilitate pursuit of my new vision by others inside and outside my organization?
9. Organizational Change
How can I identify the key leaders in my organization that will support a transformation to Compression Thinking? Can I identify those who won’t?
10. Organizing Vigorous Learning
How can I develop Vigorous Learning (teams) within my organization? What guidance will they need? What resources? How long will this take?
11. Measurement of Performance
How will Vigorous Learning (team) performance be measured? How will organizational performance measurement change?