by Miriam Garvi
For some time now there has been much talk about a knowledge economy where the intellectual and creative capabilities of human beings are a key resource.
When people are our main resource, then communication really becomes our main problem. So much time and energy is wasted on miscommunication and pseudo-conflicts simply because of a basic misconception that other people tend to think the same way I do and that their minds work like mine. And so it is tempting to breed a culture where everybody takes care of their own business just for the sake of avoiding all the non-constructive friction.
Leaving an era of industrialism behind has far-reaching implications for our ways-of-thinking, notably in terms of leadership and management. It challenges us to find effective ways of interacting so as to bring out the gold in the people around us.
It is time to bring an individual perspective to our ways of leadership and management. Only by viewing human beings not as aggregates but as individuals can we start thinking progressively about how to put in place organic structures that will allow people to flourish.