Minds at Work: Managing for Success in the Knowledge Economy

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POLICIES AND WORKSPACES

In the previous industrial economy of managing hands, work was all about what you did. If you could do it faster and cheaper legally (but not necessarily ethically), it was business as usual. If you closed the lid on your moral compass when it no longer seemed useful, that was OK. You could have the illusion that you were invisible and focus solely on doing the “next thing right.”¹

There are too many notorious examples of companies that have failed to do what is right: The BP Deepwater Horizon explosion. GM’s faulty ignition switches. Takata airbag ruptures. Volkswagen emissions fraud. Simplicity crib deaths. Samsung phone fires. Wells Fargo customer deception. This partial list is itself a sad indictment of the focus ...