Richard Hodge

1 December 2020

38. Viable Hierarchy

Richard Hodge

1 December 2020

Sitting between two Generals, briefing the results of experimenting with priorities for $60B+ of investments.

I see his Deputy streaking ahead in the briefing paper.

He interrupts.

Richard Hodge

20 November 2020

37. Regenerative Management

Richard Hodge

20 November 2020

I was first fired at a timber mill in the 1970s. “Nothing personal,” said Rhys the mill manager, “Last on, first off here.” Loyal to the WW2 diggers. Great blokes.

“Don’t worry,” Dad said. “He’s done you a favour. You just don’t know it yet.”

Richard Hodge

13 November 2020

36. From Little Things Big Things Grow

Richard Hodge

13 November 2020

You hear ‘agile’. What do you think? New processes? Kanban, scrums, stand-up meetings? A big bank? Jargon?

I hear agile, I imagine a gymnast, a goalkeeper, or a boxer. A person, at once fluid in movement, ready in position, nimble afoot with reach, power and impact.

Richard Hodge

29 October 2020

34. Generate Trust

Richard Hodge

29 October 2020

I muse on experiences in another culture.

How I extend the hand of friendship in a traditional western style. He takes it. Another hand gentle on my shoulder, and his nose meets mine. Eyes stare into the black orbits of my soul. Mine, now stirred, meet his stare.

Richard Hodge

2 October 2020

31. Imagine It Different

Richard Hodge

2 October 2020

Imagine today is the past and an ecological future is our children’s reality.

Imagine them living and caring for the planet as much as we have lived and cared for our economy.

Richard Hodge

4 September 2020

26. Harvest Wisdom

Richard Hodge

4 September 2020

It’s been a week of mixed emotions.

Light and hope, as Victoria’s case numbers drop to double digits.

Admiration, for health care workers who make up a third of those.

Wonder, at where we’d be without their valor.

Richard Hodge

28 August 2020

25. Indivisible Relationships

Richard Hodge

28 August 2020

The issues of aged care, health, quarantine, population control and economics in Australia today are systemic issues.

The issues of governance, strategy, policy, execution, Human Resources and finance are systemic issues.

Richard Hodge

28 August 2020

24. This Century Thinking Webcast - Value The Mess

Richard Hodge

28 August 2020

Any idea of finding solutions for systemic issues is misleading. Systemic issues lose traceability between causes and effects – so, approaching them with a solution mindset is itself a problem.

What’s needed is an intervention mindset and approach. Dame Maggie Smith once put it, “there’s no beginning and no end, only points where you enter and leave the story.” [1]

Richard Hodge

28 August 2020

22. Safety Culture

Richard Hodge

28 August 2020

Intensive care specialist, Peter Roberts, told me “bad health policy is more dangerous to my patients than the flesh-eating bug.”

That notion struck accord for every organisation I’ve worked with.

Peter realised his qualifications were not enough to assure a culture of safety, that enables working to do no harm. So, he studied the systemic issues in health care exploring the inadequacies of dominant paradigms. [1]

Richard Hodge

4 August 2020

20. Radical Rethink (2)

Richard Hodge

4 August 2020

On progress and how we measure it. A second response to Angus Armour’s call for a radical rethink [1].

As Victoria enters stage-4 lockdown to contain COVID19, the cost of $2B per week is a hit to the state and national productivity. The blunt assessment: “staggering” economic downturn [2].

Richard Hodge

19 June 2020

17. Leaders Act Systemically

Richard Hodge

19 June 2020

Last week, racism led the news. This week, recession.

Our first recession in 29 years and there is now "no chance of avoiding a deep recession” [1]. I wonder whether negative economic growth for two successive quarters, or twelve, is the worst we expect to face?

Richard Hodge

14 May 2020

14. When leaders care systemically, they care about how they conceive and contribute value

Richard Hodge

14 May 2020

The value leaders count, counts.

When care is limited, leadership is a license to kill.

Fatal mistakes made by a doctor and a person dies; by engineers, hundreds die; by leaders or policy makers, thousands die.

Richard Hodge

7 May 2020

12. Leadership and Care

Richard Hodge

7 May 2020

Leadership and Care. On caring, Christian Madsbjerg (Sensemaking, 2017) writes:

“When you have a perspective – when you actually give a damn – you intuitively sense what’s important and what’s trivial. You can see what connects with what, and you know the data … that matter. Caring is the connective tissue that makes all things possible.

Richard Hodge

7 May 2020

11. On leaders and “big sticks"

Richard Hodge

7 May 2020

On leaders and “big sticks.” Raise a big stick and its shadow falls on everyone.

Our Prime Minister is marketing an app to help track the spread of COVID-19. For just a moment, he declined to rule out making the app mandatory. He now confirms it will NOT be mandatory.

Richard Hodge

7 May 2020

9. Viability precedes agility

Richard Hodge

7 May 2020

Viability precedes agility. Viability is the biological ability to survive and live successfully. As individuals we want that. As leaders we want to scale that into our complex, biological enterprises.

Right now, many are in survival mode.

Richard Hodge

7 May 2020

8. Agility precedes survival and sustainability

Richard Hodge

7 May 2020

Agility precedes survival and sustainability. It’s an emergent property not a set of practices. It’s enabled by all we think, say and do. Agility is seen by others in our ability to respond to change.

On the inside, leaders have a deep responsibility for the response-ability of their enterprise.

Richard Hodge

7 May 2020

6. On survival and leadership

Richard Hodge

7 May 2020

On survival and leadership. Western leaders are transfixed with growth – yet at what cost when profit trumps people and planet – yes?

Leaders say ‘not so’. We achieve high performance by focussing on our people.

Richard Hodge

7 May 2020

5. On values and leadership

Richard Hodge

7 May 2020

On values and leadership. I was asked for my thoughts on leadership based on fear and pressure vs. passion and love. And, it raised a deeper consideration.

‘Pressure leading to fear’ and ‘passion leading to love’ contrast how leaders exercise power. Leaders hold it over people or share it with people, or both.

Richard Hodge

7 May 2020

4. On value and values

Richard Hodge

7 May 2020

On value and values. We put one in a spreadsheet, others on a wall and live another set at home. So, what’s the chance we’ll ever put people and planet before profit?

This Century, let’s think about value as ONE concept in 3 parts:

Richard Hodge

7 May 2020

3. A few others are playing dice with the future

Richard Hodge

7 May 2020

Only 20 countries have committed to net-zero emissions by 2050. Many are discussing it. A few others are playing dice with the future [1]

With nations, it’s hard to see how the Paris Agreement will be achieved.