Peter writes ...
This Guardian piece on Mike Forde of Bolton Wanderers is interesting for many reasons. Its central theme is innovation, brought into sharpest focus by the real-time information Sam Allardyce can conjure during a half-time team talk.
But there are many more interesting nuances too. If you want to understand what Beer meant by System 4, you could do well to start with thinking about Mike Forde's work. Also, though I would not claim that this is a skunk works, it does show how innovation relies on structural and cultural separateness.
So, if you don't play by the same rules as everyone else, is that a good or bad thing? In many ways, the early 21st Century is no time to conform! Think disruption, asymmetry, Blue Ocean, and Bolton Wanderers!
