Woolworths and the normalisation of deviance
Twenty years ago, Dianne Vaughan coined the term ‘normalisation of deviance to explain the Space Shuttle Challenger disaster. It describes how seemingly small choices, made in the context of daily decisions repeated over time, “can camouflage a cumulative directionality that too often is discernible only in hindsight”.
Business behaving badly... we're no worse than the others
Business leaders often lament the lack of political leadership and community support. It’s only going to get harder. WA Premier Colin Barnett, at LNG 18 – the premier global conference of the LNG industry – offered some advice to the industry: you guys have to do more of the heavy lifting.
The cost of presumptions - international case studies
At their most dangerous presumptions are assumptions that are accepted as a ‘social fact’. This makes them more dangerous than assumptions. Assumptions should be explicitly identified and can be tested. But we remain blind to our own presumptions.
Purpose is at the heart of strategy... but it's complicated!
Why does your organisation exist? Because if you can’t articulate your purpose, then I’m not sure how you determine your strategy. That might seem a simple question, and yet if you asked your executive team, I wonder how many different answers you would get?
Twiggy's folly
Twiggy is a larger-than-life figure in Australian business and has done much that should be admired. But his latest call for governments – any government will do – to ‘do something’ sits right there alongside his call for Australia’s iron ore majors to form a cartel.