Thought Frontiers Articles

Finding Our Whole | The Shift from us AND Environment to us AS Environment

“The major problems in the world are the result of the difference between how nature works, and the way people think” – Gregory Bateson The shift away from mechanistic thinking and old power paradigms into whole living-systems thinking has brought with…

Nikki Brown & Dr. Marianne de Pierres

Culture, Innovation, Insights, Leadership, Learning and Development, Strategy, Teams

Four Practices for Building Regenerative Organisational Cultures

Our thinking is shifting. No longer are we focused solely on sustainability as our long-term goal. Instead, we are seeking more regenerative futures. Regenerative thinking is about creating the conditions conducive to life. It asks us: what makes life flourish…

Dr. Natasha Budd & Marcus de Courtenay

Culture, Innovation, Insights, Leadership, Learning and Development, Strategy, Teams

Service Leadership Reimagined

“In the case of servant-leadership, a leader’s motivation derives from a core, egalitarian belief that they are no better than those whom they lead.” Carol Smith “Leadership is an influencing process.” Ken Blanchard When the notion of Servant Leadership was conceived…

Gretel Bakker & Dr. Marianne de Pierres

Culture, Innovation, Insights, Leadership, Learning and Development, Strategy, Teams

Transformational Leadership: Then and Now

When we picture great leaders, familiar names often come to mind: Nelson Mandela, Gandhi or Hillary Clinton. Something about them embodies our common ideas about leadership. They possess charisma, an inspiring vision, and integrity of character. They emanate a sort…

Nikki Brown & Marcus de Courtenay

Culture, Innovation, Insights, Leadership, Learning and Development, Storytelling, Strategy, Teams

Creative Leadership: Leading With and For Creativity

As technology continues its automation of programmatic work, the premium on creativity in the workplace only grows. Creativity allows us to imagine, play with, and build previously unknown futures. It is the fuel behind innovation, offering up the raw material…

Marcus de Courtenay

Culture, Innovation, Insights, Leadership, Learning and Development, Teams

Creative Courtyards | Making Space For Creativity

It’s been said that creative thought is at the core of human progress. In this context, it can be seen as the reason we enjoy our contemporary way of living and technological advancements. And yet creative thought is still regarded…

Dr. Marianne de Pierres

Culture, Innovation, Leadership, Learning and Development, Strategy, Teams

Digital Connections | Knowledge Transfer in Hybrid Environments

The Deloitte study Global Human Capital Trends found organisations believe “knowledge management” to be one of the top three issues influencing their success. And yet, despite how crucial it is for operational continuity and growth, large aspects of knowledge management…

Laura Clemesha & Marcus de Courtenay

Culture, Innovation, Insights, Leadership, Learning and Development, Strategy, Teams

Sharing Knowledge – The Power Of The Collective

“More than ever before, knowledge sharing is being led by people, culture and context.” Jody Turner, Future Trends. According to a study conducted of Fortune 500 companies in the early 2000s, the estimated annual cost of knowledge loss is around…

Nikki Brown & Dr. Marianne de Pierres

Culture, Innovation, Insights, Leadership, Learning and Development, Teams

Scaling Excellence | Adaptive Systems for Knowledge Transfer

When most people think about scaling a business, they think about acquiring more of a certain tangible resource: talent, capital, partners or supply chain arrangements. While these can all form part of a successful growth operation, there is one crucial…

Nikki Brown & Marcus de Courtenay

Culture, Innovation, Insights, Leadership, Learning and Development, Strategy, Teams

Improv for Agile Mindsets

As leaders are increasingly required to facilitate more collaborative, agile workspaces, so too must our skill bases and the focus of our professional development shift. More and more we need to hone our ability to listen, communicate, and learn to…

Gretel Bakker & Marcus de Courtenay

Culture, Innovation, Insights, Leadership, Learning and Development, Teams

What is Strategy?

Mike Tyson once famously said: “everyone has a plan until they get punched in the mouth.” And it can certainly feel that way when we are ‘doing’ strategy. It’s messy, big and volatile. But regardless of these challenges, strategy has…

Dr. Chris Rowell

Culture, Innovation, Insights, Leadership, Learning and Development, Strategy, Teams

The Ties that Bind Us: External Social Capital and Innovation

Few partnerships could be considered more profitable than that of “Wintel”. Microsoft and Intel dominated the PC-era and led the market in a range of metrics, managing to achieve a continuing level of innovation which delivered better PC performance for…

Marcus de Courtenay & Dr. Chris Rowell

Culture, Innovation, Insights, Leadership, Learning and Development, Strategy, Teams