When Mozart’s Don Giovanni premiered in Prague in 1787, it was viewed as “modern” music. When Don Giovanni played in Toledo, Ohio in 2013, it was considered “classical”. “Modern” is a moving target. As an anthropologist I am trained to observe evolving patterns of word use, abuse and non-use. Most disciplines [e.g., art, literature, theatre, politics, marketing, and finance] extensively and intensively make use of the word “modern”. For the past twelve weeks I have examined how the concept of “modern” as applied to contemporary leaders is evolving.

At a variety of industry gatherings and from several University platforms I have put students and executives through a variety of exercises designed to tease out modern conceptions of how modern executives should be behaving.... Read more

In the old days, many a keynote speaker at major technology industry conferences [e.g., Comdex] would use as a laugh-line the comment that the technology industry was one of only two professions who referred to their customers as “users”. The other industry of course being drug pushers. The phrase “user” implied a one-sided relationship with customers who were perceived as being ignorant, powerless and semi or totally addicted to the digital substances being distributed.... Read more

By: Thornton May
Futurist, Senior Advisor with GP, Executive Director & Dean - IT Leadership Academy

My research leads me to believe that one of the six ideas executives need to keep Top of Mind is DEMOGRAPHICS.

Futurists LOVE Demographics [the particular features of a population, for example people's age or race] and Demography [the study of populations]. Demographic baselining is where one starts understanding humans at work. The demographic conversation in most organizations today revolves around “what are we going to do with the Millennials?”
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By Thornton May
Futurist, Senior Advisor with GP, Executive Director & Dean - IT Leadership Academy

I seek to revise how we think about government IT and the IT professionals who work in the government. I believe the effective practice of government depends on the innovative practice of IT.

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By Thornton May
Futurist, Senior Advisor with GP, Executive Director & Dean - IT Leadership Academy

I would like to borrow the now embedded in our cultural memory line “It’s the economy, stupid!”, modify it a bit and exhort leaders to rediscover the essence of what leadership is all about – PEOPLE.

At first glance this might seem quite banal. You might say, “Thornton, of course leadership is all about people.” But if you parse expenditures associated with the ~ $ 4 billion dollars humans spend annually on IT into three buckets – Technology, Process and People – you would find that People is not – repeat IS NOT where the lion’s share of the money goes.
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By Thornton May
Futurist, Senior Advisor with GP, Executive Director & Dean - IT Leadership Academy

There is a physical environment. There is a virtual or online environment. Surrounding these two now colliding worlds is a moral or ethical environment. This environment is constructed from the ideas which inform the choices we make. In the pre-modern age the focus of attention was on the physical environment. In the information age we have obsessed about the virtual environment. Moving forward, leaders are going to have to think hard about the ethical environment.... Read more

By Thornton May
Futurist, Senior Advisor with GP, Executive Director & Dean - IT Leadership Academy

Transformation is an unnatural act. Extinction is not. Organizations do not, a la the caterpiller, cocoon and butterfly emerge effortlessly “transformed.” Transformation is an act of will, vision and courage.

Transformation Lesson #1: IT Leaders Don’t Have a Choice
Whether we like it or not, IT executives do not have a choice regarding transformation. The IT organization – what it does, the competencies they marshall/master, the technologies they cause to be deployed and the metrics by which they are measured are transforming. The IT world is changing rapidly.... Read more

By Thornton May
Futurist, Senior Advisor with GP, Executive Director & Dean - IT Leadership Academy

A series of exercises I recently conducted with C-level executives at several universities and conferences validates what readers of this blog already know – we are living in a transformative time. What may surprise some is that we humans have been living in a “Transformative Time” for the past 600 years. What is surprising to this futurist is that even with 600 years of transforming under our belts, most executives feel like this is their first transformation. Many are uncertain about how to lead through the uncertainty of transformation. Another data point surfaced from extensive executive interviews is that in many modern organizations the concepts of “leadership” and “management” has been conflated. “Leadership” and “management” ARE NOT synonyms. “Management” is all about getting “there”. “Leadership” is all about figuring out where there is. The point of this blog is that we humans have been deciding upon new “theres” for hundreds of years. Isn’t it time that our species started transferring lessons learned in past transformations to the current circumstance? With that in mind I thought I would take a perfunctory stab at identifying some past transformations and enumerating some lessons learned.... Read more

By Thornton May
Futurist, Senior Advisor with GP, Executive Director & Dean - IT Leadership Academy

As an empirical futurist I encounter a whole lot of people. These people tell me about their work, their hopes, dreams and concerns. As I summarize my interview notes I conclude that in many modern enterprises today the concepts of “leadership” & “management” have been conflated. In popular usage “leadership” & “management” have become synonyms. They are not synonyms. “Management” is getting “there”. “Leadership” is deciding where “there” is. Perhaps the first and most important act of a leader is to understand when to lead and when to manage.... Read more

By Carl Gustin

GP Senior Advisor - Energy Services Group

Part of leadership is the ability to self-assess and the humility necessary to achieve goals by changing behavior. Highly successful people do experience failure. Those who learn from it are most likely to achieve success again, often at even higher levels of performance. In the last few days I've read and heard two examples worth noting.

In last week's Boston Globe, Boston developer Don Chiofaro says “My whole training in life is looking at game films.... You look at what you did and see what worked, and what didn’t work. Obviously I would have different plays.” Chiofaro has changed. He still wants to develop his Harbor Garage project, but his approach today is very different than it was a few years ago when the BRA blocked him. It remains to see what the outcome will be but Don Chiofaro has a vision and he seems to be getting support. He watched yesterday's "game films" and it's a whole new game today.... Read more