Execution – The act of performing; of doing something successfully; using knowledge as distinguished from merely possessing it;

Bureaucracy (1) – An administrative system in which the need or inclination to follow rigid or complex procedures impedes effective action: innovative ideas that get bogged down in red tape and bureaucracy.

Bureaucracy (2) – Management or administration marked by hierarchical authority among numerous offices and by fixed procedures

Bureaucracy in itself is not a bad thing. Policies and procedures in the corporate world are in most cases designed to provide employee direction for the execution of the companies objectives. However, bureaucracy does become a problem when one’s personal ambitions get in the way of achieving greatness for the company. Greatness in terms of increasing creative outputs, efficiencies, employee productivity, ROI, and company profits.

Hierarchal structures will never disappear from the corporation; these structures are critical to the direction of the company. What I am suggesting is that hierarchal structures be more fluid and dynamic – that collaboration about the companies future direction is not just among executives. Collaboration by its very definition is working together specifically in a joint intellectual effort.

Where is the value to holding meetings, when meetings leave out the subject matter experts. In our new world of globalization, connectivity is of the highest importance. Employees want to feel as though they have direct input into the direction of their company, a company that is as much theirs as it is the top-level executives.

My eyes have been opened to new-age thinkers (executives) who are compelled to engage all of their employees. These new age thinkers have experience as their greatest asset. They engage their employees in an ultra simplistic way: they treat their employees as equals; Equal in terms of the impact he/she can have on the companies success, and equal in terms of their place/fit in this complex world of ours.

Having a superiority complex is trés old-school. Those who are stuck in the aformentioned rut have a false sense of job security primarily attributed through their personal belief that they are better than everyone else.

So what? Engage, Engage, and engage some more. Have open meetings, invite those that are interested in what you have to say. You will build your value which you create for your company much faster by being open to ideas from employees, partners and customers from all levels within the company. You will earn respect of not only your peers, but the respect of your subordinates. You will build an environment of creativity and innovation, and environment where the norm encourages pushing the boundaries and limits of process, technology, and behaviours (which are currently
preventing the company from truly achieving world greatness and profits)

Let me now talk about innovation and execution.

I recently read an article in MIT’s Magazine of Innovation. The article was entitled “The Rules of Innovation”. I was quite taken back by its content. The articles compares the success and failures of McAfee and Associates and Tribal Voice. Both pushed into new business model frontiers, both achieved great success, and yet their end results were radically different. McAfee has a current market capitalization of about $2 billion US. Tribal Voice collapsed in 2000 when AOL blocked the companies POW WOW traffic.

POW WOW allowed computer users to instantaneously communicate with other users of similar interest. Tribal Voice was one of the first companies to distribute a multprotocol instant messaging platform. The current company which is implementing this vision is http://www.ceruleanstudios.com/
through their IM software Trillian.

Here is an excerpt from the article “The first attempt to commercialize an invention almost never succeeds. There are two reasons for this:
First, the innovator is often early; the really important market for invention does not exist.
Second, the innovator doesn’t know how to make money from the invention; the business model that will support the invention is imperfectly understood.”

My continuing ongoing career efforts will revolve around perfecting the business model around internet connectivity. Good day and merci.