This website covers knowledge management, personal effectiveness, theory of constraints, amongst other topics. Opinions expressed here are strictly those of the owner, Jack Vinson, and those of the commenters.

War and business rely on intellect

It turns out neither war nor business can be run on technology alone. Today's Chicago Tribune Perspective section has an article, Military voices say blame isn't all on civilians (registration likely required), with exerpts from two retired officers on Iraq. This quote stood out for me:

Scales: "War is a thinking man's game. A military too used to solving war-fighting problems just with technology alone should begin to realize that war must also be fought with the intellect. We need to think about outthinking rather than outequipping the enemy. We need to be able to understand the non-military advantage, to read intentions, to build trust, to convert opinions, to manage perceptions--all tasks that demand an exceptional ability to understand people, their culture and their motivation."

Throwing technology at your problem isn't going to correct it. One of my clients is in the process of hoping that their wonderful new technology will solve a number of business-consistency problems as a side effect. The only way this will work is if the business problem is addressed head-on.

A happy engine is a fast engine

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