Philosopher CEOs

"Business groupthink has its roots in good ideas that get mangled somewhere along the way from genesis to commonly accepted knowledge. Like fish, they are best consumed fresh and otherwise discarded after the shelf life has expired. Here's a fresh one:

"Should Your Next CEO Be a Philosopher?" certainly underscores the honest pragmatism of these times. Far from the "hired killer" view of CEO that one famous venture investor personally told me was the ultimate CEO of the 90's in Andy Grove of Intel in the 90's. Instead, it gets to the roots of what makes for "current greats" in the changing culture of the moment. Check out what Gideon Tolkowsky has to say about:

Technology is being subsumed into eveything, including consumer goods/servics markets.
Decisions to embrace/reject a technology is affected by abstractions embedded in life philosophy.
Managing corporate culture includes the art of "belief management" of these concerns.

He gives great examples in robotics and space, getting right the impact of Burt Rutan's approach to popularizing space."

back | William Jolitz 04/21/2012