Ian Kendrick

E / iank@themanagementcrowd.com

Ian’s 30 years of corporate experience showed him that almost all management theories and practices are unsuited to dealing with the complexity of modern business life.

He has sought out the best thinking from the worlds of academia and business, not looking for the new or faddy, but focusing on that which is proven to work. This core of knowledge, combined with Ian’s exceptional ability to engage with an audience and help them rapidly get to grips with new ideas, will change your view of the world,and how best to work with it. Ian has uncovered the ways in which we cope with complexity by directing our attention towards that which we want or expect to see. He works with business leaders to help them recognise this self-misdirection, and to understand the competitive advantage that is possible through the effective management of complexity. He believes that in order to lead properly, first you have to be able to see properly, and self-misdirection prevents us from doing that. Traditional management techniques and models can only be truly effective if the team using them share an understanding of the world and are clear about their tasks and priorities. Ian’s ideas have helped managers to strip away their self misdirection and to use tools that can help them manage and exploit the complexity in their businesses.

This approach is most valuable when applied to strategic thinking, and has had great success with issues of organisational viability, effective organisation design, and the dynamics and management of innovation.

Ian is a highly skilled presenter and facilitator. As well as his work with companies, he lectures at business schools at masters level on many topics, including strategy, innovation, viability, leadership, storytelling and building shared vision and mental models. A key strength is his ability to adapt his style to the needs of the group: he can present in depth to a group either small or large, facilitate dialogue or consult as appropriate.