History Redux

Photo by Mark Baker

While cleaning out some old files over the holidays, I was instantly transported back in time—more than 20 years, in fact. In April 1993, I attended a CSC Exchange conference called “Achieving Market Leadership Through Reengineering” in Cambridge, Mass. This invitation-only event featured over 100 sessions over four days organized in five tracks:

• Reengineering Critical Processes
• Managing Large-Scale Change
• Rethinking the I/S Function
• Capitalizing on Technologies
• Considering the Outsourcing Alternative

I had no idea at the time how big reengineering would become, how significant the content would prove to be, and how the speakers would make a lasting impact on the business world. Funny, considering the slides looked they were created on barely more than a typewriter, a far cry from the multi-media extravaganzas that you see at most events today.

One session that has stuck with me all these years was by Peter Drucker called “Institutionalizing Change within the Organization.” I was so taken with him that I even got his autograph on my copy of his book “Post Capitalist Society.”

The thesis from his plenary session holds true today. From the conference agenda: “We talk a great deal about ‘overcoming resistance to change’; Peter Drucker argues that this is the wrong perspective. Instead, organization must become organized for change, must be managed to welcome change, and must be structured to lead change.” Well said.