A Standard above and beyond

Standard Bank is driving towards a distinctive strategy for growth. As part of this strategy it has invested in one of the leading learning centres in the world. Eddie Obeng had the chance to work with a large group of cross-course/ cross functional managers from Standard bank to explore "How to deliver more with less resource?" A copy of the presentation can be found here

Yammer it out!

Pentacle has been experimenting with what has been billed 'the twitter for business.' Yammer is an attempt to bring facebook-style networking to organisations. Unfortunately at this stage the model yammer uses for an 'organisation' is a 17th century hierarchy! It is impossible to represent your business relationships as a project or process based organisation let alone a virtual organisation. That said, the product is simple and addictive enough to use. To learn more about the 21st OrganoWeb and how you can increase (quadruple) your productivity or (knock 75% off your costs) by organising as if the world around you was changing and getting more complex rather than as if you employ obedient, non-creative, clones click here... To read a global case study of successful implementation click here... More cases here...

Stone me! What about virtual?

Susan Ross represented Pentacle at the launch of The Stone Club. Face-to-face and 'touchspace' it may be but Carol Stone has managed to connect her 30,000 friends to begin a journey of networking at an amazing scale.

If you're good at spotting people you'll see Susan here at the start...

Winds of Change Blow Through City For The First Time

In collaboration with our partners Duke Corporate Education, Pentacle's Eddie Obeng has been working with key members of the Finance Function of HSBC in a Finance Academy course in Chicago. The Academy sponsored by Ian Mackay and led by Peter Mansell has been working to develop leaders in one of the worlds strongest banks to take on the challenges of our New World.


Having rashly sworn not to go to the USA whilst the the USA maintained Guantanamo Bay as a detention centre, this trip was the First that Professor Eddie Obeng has made to the US for a very long time. Let's hope that the concepts, tools and ideas he shared don't just blow through but stick in the city!

Switching Over without Switching Off

The BBC is very serious about making sure that when the digital switchover happens none of the most vulnerable people in the country are 'left behind' without services. The level of professionalism the organisation has put in place is being supported by Pentacle which is working with the managment team on this very significant programme.

Snow Falls Whilst the Construction Industry Rises

Pentacle has been working with Duke Corporate Education on a programme with Enterprise Ireland designed to help the key leaders of the construction industry explore and develop concrete ways of re-inventing themselves and their businesses for the challenges of the downturn. The Leadership 4 Growth programme is a new incarnation of a programme previously run by Stanford Graduate School of Business

Eddie Obeng introduced the CEO's to a number of foundation New World concepts and frameworks including the RedAntMan TM FutureMapping TM and FutureFamiliar TM on the day of the heaviest fall of snow in the UK for eighteen years. If nothing else the piles of snow will make the day memorable for the participants.

When it comes to Gaming, Insight is better than Foresight or Hindsight

One of the world's leading leisure groups, Rank, has begun to stretch its capability to deliver services and brands developed and driven from customer insights. Pentacle introduced the Mecca, Grosvenor and Rank Interactive teams to several of its most effective models and frameworks. Starting from the overarching and popular R.A.B.B.I.T. TM model managers were taught how to slow-down and observe through FiveEyesTM, how to check the relevance of insights by jumping the five BunnyHopsTM to using the P.O.I.N.T. TM framework for capturing and storing insights....

Sixty Six Tigers Loose in Hospital Wards!

No, not really. But sixty six marketing, sales and supply chain executives supporting Tygacil let their brains run riot in a session titled What's the BIG idea? in Montreux. The session led by Professor Eddie Obeng was aimed at one of the worlds most effective and relevant antibiotics Tygacil. Tygacil with its tetracycline-based molecular structure has the ability to really get under the skin of bacteria and stay there, This makes it very effective across a broad spectrum. For troublesome bugs like MRSA, and for a selection of patients who need an early result, it becomes the first, second and final line of defence being effective where other antibiotics have been rendered less useful due to the bug's ability to shrug them off.

The team of tigers worked at breakneck speed, through three stages of the Pentacle R.A.B.B.I.T. model, Creating the Opportunity (through creativity techniques from the Pentacle Magic Box of Tricks including Back-to-Front, Calling in Other Professions, Excursion Thinking & Random Connections) Engaging Commitment (understanding resistance to change by publicly de-risking using Hopes&FearsTM, engagement through IDQB TM) to Making it Happen (GapLeapTM and StickyStepsTM)

So beware. If you're a bug and you think you're tough your hours are numbered, the Tyga's going to get you!

The New World is your Oyster...

For 2009, we have launched a project designed to help all our clients, customers, collaborators and (ex)course participants deal effectively with the combined challenges of the credit crunch, climate change and corporate competition and globalisation. The project called Oyster means that we will be trying really hard to make our New World approach and learning available to as many people as possible,

Among consultancies, business schools and coaching organisations we have the unique distinction that we have always focussed on complex change challenges. The NewWorld assumption has always been to take nothing for granted, to assume all 'respectable' and 'traditional' theories, concepts and methodologies are already obsolete or well past their sell by date.

To participate in Project Oyster you need to let us know what specific challenges you are wrestling with. We've begun the dialogue by releasing a nine minute video - World After Midnight and started a conversation called 'LetsTalk' You can join the conversation here

Pentacle also invites you to submit topics you'd like to hear for this year's Inspiration Monthlies. You can influence the topic selection by clicking here

Delivering a Healthy Scotland

The Beardmore Hotel in Clydebank was the site of the final Masterclass for the third cohort of NHS leaders on the Delivery through Leadership programme. The programme directed by Hazel Mackenzie uses masterclasses, coaches and action learning to transform senior NHS managers into leaders who make it happen. Professor Eddie Obeng ran the final masterclass on Delivering the Future. This very practical session covered many of the challenges of real leadership in the NHS

How do Germans Finnish in Namibia?

By launching business innovation. Jon Foster-Pedley has been invited to be a visiting Professor at the new Namibian Business Innovation Centre. The Namibian government has a particular interest in creativity and innovation and has assembled a multinational team to grapple with the issues and ensure it is well designed and executed. The initiative is being funded by Finnish and German Aid Funds. Jon's role will be to advise on creativity and innovation - so they should not have a shortage of R.A.B.B.I.T.s there then!

Welcome to World After Midnight

Pentacle has just released a short 9 minute video clip which will change your perception of the world around you. It will explain why no one saw the credit crunch coming, why we have such difficulty aligning to stop climate change and why you are having to work so hard... With thought provoking comments and humour take a second look at the world we really live in... View here There is also a supporting website at http://worldaftermidnight.com/

Inspiring Dragons to Lead to Results

The packed 250-seat arena at the University of Wales Newport was host to Lead On 2008. Over the course of the day Managers and Entrepreneurs from across Wales were challenged, inspired, provoked and allowed to network, in an event sponsored by the Wales Management Council and chaired by Christopher Ward CEO. Introduced by a member of the Welsh Assembly, Eddie Obeng delivered the first keynote on Leading to Results. Within minutes it was obvious to all present that he himself had been inspired by dragons. Over 45 minutes, he put the current financial crisis firmly in its place as a simple 'event' in a bigger pattern of change. He then went on to explain how to deliver results in our world which changes faster than we can learn. He used a short story about a money making machine shop to demonstrate how to set clear priorities in the health service and other public bodies. The session became more and more interactive as the dragons stirred and demonstrated their determination to learn to lead like never before. Eddie furiously drew and scribbled (his notes are here). Together with the Eddie, the participants went on to explore how they could lead through their behaviour, emotions, actions and thinking. No sleeping dragon was left to lie.

Mr Bean smashes the glass barriers to strategy at Pilkington

Pilkington Executives were treated to a challenging session on what 'Strategy' means in the current turbulent times. Starting by referring to Porter and other traditional strategists as 'old fellows', Christophe Gillet led a romp through ideas and modern practice. He pointed out that less than 5% of 1950's Fortune 500 are discrete entities today and then went on to explain what differentiates Old and New World strategy. He illustrated the need to focus on strategic events (irreversible and organisation wide) rather than strategy, by describing the antics of Mr Bean ending with an explanation of how all trade comes from what he termed a 'misunderstanding of value'.

Nero still fiddling