Just about every day, we experience unmanaged instances of failed leaders and organizations, some with small and negligeable effects, others with disastrous consequences.
While that might not surprise casual observers, it highlights the chicken and egg problem. Wrong leaders detour management which in return deteriorates over time, causes infected cultures and, eventually, leads to failures.
But where to start? We note that ‘unmanaged’ (Not managed: the cousin of mismanaged) is reality, not the norm, but also not an infrequent occurrence. 'Unmanaged' happens, and organizations muddle through regardless. We conclude, the adoption of good management is low and varies widely. It is stuck in the past and has lost its impact. Where the fix of wrong leaders is simple, boards need to act on their responsibility, the fix of management is hard work.
Good management positively correlates with higher profitability, growth, and productivity. It’s human, holistic, systemic, unique, emergent, diagnostic and interactive, and it can be a competitive advantage.
Over the last 25 years, Management Insights has systematically observed 4’000 managers and experts in 500 organizations with our Global Executive Survey to explore new ways to advance management. We have documented our findings and experience in various books and research publications: People-Centric Management (Michel, 2013) and Agile by Choice (Michel, 2021) offer the human attributes. The Performance Triangle (Michel 2013) establishes a holistic perspective. Better Management (Michel, 2022) creates competitive advantage. Management Design (Michel, 2021, 3rd Ed.) presents the management innovation process, Patterns of Mastery (Michel, Nold and Anzengruber, 2025 expected) offers typologies and the steps to mastery, and The Transition of Organizations (Michel and Nold, 2023) guides the emergent development, We have published our research finding in various journals and presented our case at many conferences.
But good management is not readily adopted because we assume it’s good, we know better and, therefore, underinvest.
Muddling through is no option. Getting out of ‘unmanaged’ requires the adoption of good management practices and their adaptation to meet the needs of people, the specifics of the organization and its context.
Diagnostic Mentoring (Michel, 2021) and Management Design (Michel, 2022, 3rd Ed.) provide the diagnostic and interactive methodologies, and with Organization Twins with the AI-based Management Toolkit the tools to get there fast. For organizations that take that route, management turns into a true competitive advantage.
