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