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Managing Vertizontally
Vertiwhat??????
Many years ago I met a man who liked to explain his concept of organization with the word "vertizontal", a modern blend of flat and steep, but then especially steep: He simply meant that he was the boss and that he determined what needed to happen in his outfit. At the time I thought this was a bad concept and I still think so. But the term vertizontal as such stayed with me and I had to think of it when recently I met - in a short time - managers who either got stuck in horizontal aspects - the endless developing of strategic concepts or remaining stuck in operational ado - or were managing in a very vertical manner: "Everything has to change here and preferably today and it's up to you to do it". It was clear: there was no healthy mix of strategic thinking and making new ideas operational.
What good is a strategic concept that looks many years ahead if - on you presenting this beautiful strategy report - you find out at the same time that your bank account is empty? Why do you forever do everything yourself instead of managing the work away from you and leave it to other people? Why at the slightest setback you introduce a new product in a market that you don't know? Or why does everything have to change here? Is there nothing that is right?
Over the top? Of course, I overdid it a little bit. But I have also described three concrete real-life situations, made anonymous, but very real and very topical.
I will be happy to tell you about these situations from real life: to learn from and to give new life to the term "managing vertizontally" as a healthy mixture of reflection, decision making, implementing and securing. Click the links and you will find the right landing page.
The technical matrix organization
Jan Boeren
a healthy mixture of strategic thinking, operational functioning and pragmatic implementation management
transferring new ideas to well oiled new routines
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Diez iez Vietnam
This book is about the story of life of prof. Adrie van Gelderen. I met him on one of my PUM missions where he was a local representative of PUM. Adrie told me he had a manuscript of his story of life and asked me my opinion about publishing it. I promised to read it and give my comments. And indeed I did: I told him that his book would not be a profitable cash cow, however, publishing your own literary thoughts will give tremendous satisfaction, it's fun to do and it's not expensive at all.
Now Adrie was seriously ill at that time and unfortunately he passed away before we could take his book into production. So we, being Adrie's friends, decided to publish the book posthumously and donate all the refunds to his 'affiliate-foundation'.
'Diez iez Vietnam!' is written in English. A copy can be ordered by clicking the link.