The Role of "Hedgehogs" and "Foxes" in Turbulent Times.

• Author: Zulean, Marian
• Position: Book review

The Role of "Hedgehogs" and "Foxes" in Turbulent Times

Gill Ringland, Oliver Sparrow and Patricia Lustig--Beyond Crisis: Achieving Renewal in a Turbulent World, John Wiley & Sons Publishing House, UK, 20I0

After the financial crush of 2007--2008, "crisis" became the buzzword not only in the media and political circles but also for economists operating in the global market. It triggered panic among politicians, bankers, rich and poor alike. A group of three authors, Gill Ringland, Oliver Sparrow and Patricia Lustig, having a cumulative I00 years of experience as senior managers or consultants in transnational corporations or government, put together their knowledge and expertise to offer a clear guide for managers of organizations, helping them to navigate through these uncertain times. The book "Beyond Crisis" describes an evolving "purposefully self-renewing organization" (PS-RO) that will be able to understand the future, adapt the best genres, renew itself and be successful.

The first part of the book provides a very simple and clear insight of the crisis, easy to be read by any non-specialist in finance or economics. It focuses on the new operating environment explaining the drivers of change and trends such as demographics, economic development, technology or systemic challenges. Three scenarios--the Low Road, My Road and the High Road are played back by the authors based on the assumption that next decade will be a turbulent one.

The second part of the book describes the PS-RO which is not a fictional creation, but an organization characterized by analytical Insight and a clear sense of Values, which relates its current activity to Options for the future and has an organizational Narrative that knits the organization together through the operations provided by Machinery (people and processes). All those five...