Time, Talent, Energy

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An Organization’s Productive Power—and How to Unleash It

The common wisdom these days is that the business world is moving at lightning speed. That’s certainly true in some respects. Technologies of all sorts evolve rapidly. Brash upstarts disrupt long-established businesses. The litany of examples is familiar.

But when you spend time inside the steel-and-glass offices of most large corporations, an entirely different phenomenon strikes you. Forget lightning, internet time, and all the other metaphors of speed. Here, things move slowly. Meetings drag on. Emails pile up unanswered. Delays are endemic, decisions postponed. To be sure, people seem impossibly busy. They stare intently at their computer screens and tap purposefully on their keyboards. ...