EMZINE PROFILER WORKSHOP REPORT

Emzine Identifies UK PM

Introduced in the book, A New Leadership Ethos, the Emzine theory again correctly predicted the election outcomes in this case the elections in the UK.

Note: Emzine correctly predicted the outcome of the 2008 US elections first.

In the Appendix of A New Leadership Ethos, the Emzine theory predicted that the Tories would provide a transformer-type leader and they did so in the shape of Prime Minister, David Cameron.

David Cameron not only led the Conservatives back into a broader political spectrum (away from the right and somewhat closer to the center).

Through the appointment of Nick Clegg and his coalition with the Lib Dems, he shows to be the transformer-type leader that Britain needs in this stage of its development.

In his acceptance speech, just before entering Downing street 10 for the first time as Prime Minister, PM Cameron encourages the people of the United Kingdom...

"Do not focus on your entitlements but on your responsibilities... Do not ask what the country owes you but what you can give to the country..."

His speech reminds of the acceptance speech of another transformer-type leader: J F Kennedy!

"Do not ask what the country can do for you but what you can do for the country..."

I believe Obama, another transformer-type leader uttered something similar in his speech.

Visit http://www.marcvandererve.org to glance through A NEW LEADERSHIP ETHOS and to find more about the Emzine theory.

Emzine Theory Predicts GM Leadership Change

Eight months ago, I reported in this blog that, according to the Emzine Theory (and now also according to the iPhone App, Emzine Profiler), Fritz Henderson might not be the ideal candidate to replace Rick Wagoner as interim CEO of General Motors.

Today, Bloomberg.com reports that Henderson resigned: "after eight months on the job, directors concluded he hadn’t done enough to fix GM’s finances and culture..."

According to the Emzine Theory, a true transformer-type leader is what GM needs in its current stage of organizational development. A transformer-type leader is a leader that re-invents an organization by changing it literally from the inside out!

Today, the analysis has come true as much as other predictions inspired by the Emzine Theory, such as the break-up of ABN AMRO, the election of Barack Obama, the regime change in Toyota.

Other predictions made using the Emzine Theory are the break-up of GM, the possible break-up of General Electric, the break-up of North Korea, the election results in the UK, etc.

To learn about these predictions and the Emzine Theory, download a free eCopy of the book, A NEW LEADERSHIP ETHOS - The Ability to Predict, by clicking here.

WHAT I REPORTED EIGHT MONTHS AGO

Today, a protégé of Rick Wagoner, Fritz Henderson, takes over the reigns as interim CEO of General Motors after Wagoner was asked to resign by Obama's team.

After a confronter-type leader, GM needs a transformer-type leader. The question is not whether Henderson will fulfill the role of transformer (he has no option) but whether he has the right qualifications and character to be a transformer. In other words, is he the best man for the leadership job at GM?

Transformer-type leaders seek to re-invent and transform an organization from the previous state of organizational emergence (confrontation stage). Because transformations generally unfold from the inside out, they are generally concerned with internal potential. Transformers search for meaning, bring innovators together, and ensure the funding of promising new ideas. In search of a new organizational cycle, the role of a transformer-type leader is to spot and promote a new concept, a concept that serves as platform for (a new cycle of) growth. This might involve a business idea, a product, a technology, a process, a theory, or a way of life.

In view of the transformation that the automobile industry is going through, the need might not just be for more attractive cars and a more efficient organization but for a novel fuel-saving technology that gives GM a new lease on life and a firm lead over its competitors.

What are the chances that Henderson will outperform as transformer-type leader?

Here are some Pros and Cons.

PROS
- Approved new models that led to profitability of Latin America
- Helped revive Isuzu Motors
- Oversaw big boost of China sales

CONS
- Protégé of a confronter-type leader (Is Fritz a confronter too?)
- Once a certified accountant with PWC (A true renewal type?)
- Once CFO of GM (Wagoner was once GM's CFO!)

The Emergence of "Life Apps"

iTunes, the biggest mobile App store so far, has more than 100,000 Apps on offer. In this multitude, only a few Apps stand out.

The majority of Apps are so-called “Game Apps”, endless variations of proven game themes. The remainder typically involves “Gadget Apps”, Apps that help you plan your travels, locate star systems, improve your personal finances and link to a network.

In November 2009, with the launch of Emzine Profiler (an iPhone App), a wholly new class of Apps emerged: “Life Apps”. Life Apps are designed to keep their users on course by providing an insight into the state of the evolving environment in which these users function.

Whereas statistics show that only a very few Game Apps and Gadget Apps are regularly used once they have been downloaded, Life Apps function as persistent and dynamic framework of reference throughout the user’s professional or personal life.

To fulfill such a role, Life Apps must be based on sound research. They remind of “expert systems” in that their assessment functionality often involves research that has been reduced to a compact set of rules that is used to enlighten the user.

Emzine Profiler, for example, is designed to improve the functioning and leadership of business and government professionals. It allows its users to identify and evaluate their innate role relative to (the state of) an organization or constituency. In other words, it includes functionality to assess organizations too.

The first Life App offers a compass-like device that depicts the user’s effect on an evolving organizational environment. The device might be used either to seek an organizational environment that benefits most from a user’s profile or to seek a profile that best serves an organizational environment.

Hence, the first Life App is not just instrumental as career coach. Both in the selection of the ultimate job environment and the ultimate candidate, it enlightens its users.

As Life App, Emzine Profiler also hinges on a (wholly new) theory, the so-called “Emzine theory”. This theory explains the development of organizations at the different levels of society and nature involving the selection of least-energy-consuming patterns of conduct.

The Emzine theory enables the user of the first Life App to identify both the current and future state of an organization including its problems, solutions and leadership. As such, the use of this Life App ranges from due-diligence to “future-diligence” questions.

Feedback received from early users suggests that Life Apps represent a class of Apps that should be taken seriously. An Australian consultant refers to such Apps as being “rich in interpretation” despite a “simple interface”.

Contrary to the price of the publications behind such Apps (in the above example, the book: A New Leadership Ethos – The Ability to Predict), the pricing of the first in the class of Life Apps (US$ 4.99) indicates that Life Apps are not just meant as tools for the elite.

Learn more about the first “Life App”, here: http://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewSoftware?id=333211418&mt=8

Meeting Desmond Tutu

November 19 2009 was just one of those rare days, attending a 7:00 (am) Business Breakfast in the prestigious "Mount Nelson" in Cape Town, hoping to broaden my perspective away from my writing and listening to voices other than my own.

"The Arch", as Desmond Tutu is affectionately referred to, was the speaker that day, the man who invented the term: "Rainbow Nation".

As most of the attendees, I had followed the whereabouts of Desmond Tutu as he evolved from freedom fighter and Archbishop to chairman of the Truth & Reconciliation Commission and, finally, global leader on moral issues.

At the age of 78, Desmond Tutu showed again his remarkable energy, his sharp mind, his exquisite and subtle choice of words, his humor and, above all, his substantial ability to make society aware about its own strengths and weaknesses.

He showed what leadership is all about: "making societies and organizations acutely aware of their own emergence so they can improve on it".

What I did not know in advance was that "The Arch" would contribute to a turning point in my perspective of my own role in society.

As freedom activist, Tutu's focus was on liberating a people from a morbid perspective while relying on his serene sense of morality.

It was a true honor to give this formidable leader a copy of my book, A New Leadership Ethos, a book that proposes a new liberating perspective.

Now, my time as activist has come, liberating people from an unproven, morbid perspective while relying on the serene science of existence and morality that I unexpectedly unveiled.

I am most indebted, Arch!

iPhone App Takes On Jim Collins

An unassuming 5-US-Dollar iPhone App takes on Jim Collins, a leading author on corporate excellence, and wins hands down.…

Endorsement followed soon after the launch of Emzine Profiler, an iPhone App designed to improve the role and functioning of business and government professionals.

The App offers a two-step approach to identify and evaluate the profile of business and government professionals as well as the state of their organization or constituency.

A third step involves an analysis of the effect of these professionals on organizations.

In a way, Emzine Profiler builds on the findings by Jim Collins, a leading author on corporate excellence.

In two bestselling books, Collins first states that organizations can be “build to last” and that they can be managed from “good to great”.

Then, in a book published in 2009, nuanced by the findings of his research team, Collins explains “how the mighty may fall” and “why some organizations never give in”.

This “revelation” reminds of the findings by one of Collins’ predecessors, Rosabeth Kanter. In the early 1980s, Kanter identified the change-masters of her era to see some of her larger-than-life examples sadly fail and eventually disappear.

Involving the natural and social sciences, the theory behind Emzine Profiler explains why organizations can rarely be “build to last” but generally only be “grown to achieve”. Organizations have lifecycles that may differ in length yet traverse universal stages of growth, decline and, occasionally, renewal.

Anchored in chaos theory and thermodynamics, the so-called “Emzine theory” differs from Collin’s and Kanter’s epic reflections in that it goes straight to the behavioral guts of the miracle of organization to lay bare the determinants of success and demise.

Nonetheless, Emzine Profiler and the theory behind it respond to the hunch of Collins that corporate success depends on “key seats filled with the right people” by identifying and providing both the theoretical and practical means to accomplish this.

As such, Emzine Profiler goes beyond the findings of Collins and Kanter. Inspired by a new theory of organization, it renders diverse worlds of growth, decline and renewal each with its own problems, solutions and leadership needs.

Available in APP STORE. Click here to access store!

Culture: The Critical Element in M&A

Abstract from LinkedIn discussion on 12 November 2009

(With permission of the authors)

In a LinkedIn discussion, Gregg Stocker, an International Management Consultant, Author & Speaker, observes:

As we make our way to the other side of the economic downturn and confidence in the future increases, M&A activity will most likely return as a common fixture in the world of business. As this occurs, people involved in the process will make decisions like they always have, by evaluating deals in terms of market capitalization, cash flow, EBITDA, goodwill, etc. Unfortunately, many will ignore a critical element that can ultimately make or break the merger: culture.

Read more at http://corporatedeathspiral.blogspot.com

The topic that Gregg introduced resonated with my views to an extent that I responded:

Dear Gregg,

My research (see the two books below) indicates that "developmental elements" of organizational cultures distinctly change from one stage of organizational emergence to another. I identified at least four stages (each of which can be reduced to a distinct state of behavior-pattern-species development in the domain of chaos theory).

This explains why a positive due diligence (which is history-based) does not guarantee that a company will be successful in the future because it generally fails to identify the strategic ingredients, leadership and insight needed for the next stage of its emergence. Consequently, about 50% of the mergers, joint ventures and the like, do not live up to expectations or simply fail.

Another fundamental problem in M&A is that the perspectives of the financial benefits blind the views of the leadership. Fundamental differences in how two merging companies perceive problems and solutions may cause the acquiring company to reinforce solutions that do not make sense in the stage of development of the acquired company.

All of the above findings are incorporated in what I coined the "Emzine theory" (standing for "Existential Manifold Zine" or, phonetically "M-sein" theory).

To deal with this issue (and other issues), I derived from the Emzine theory an expert-system-like iPhone App, which helps in identifying the current and future state of organizational development and the type of leader that is required to ensure future success.

In other words, the App helps you do a "future diligence".

You'll learn more about this App and its application here: http://www.marcvandererve.org/images/PRESS_RELEASE_-_iPhone_App_for_Leaders.pdf

Download a free eCopy of the books that I referred to above here: http://www.marcvandererve.org/images/9780620377713_TXT.pdf http://www.emzine.org/ANLE-EMZINE-EDITION.pdf

All in all, having unveiled fundamental stages in how organizations and their cultures change when they develop, I fully share your observations!

NOTE: If you want to see how the discussion further evolved, click here!