Mind the Gap

The most significant single determinant of successful management, democracy and policing is the consent of those being managed. This thought struck me this morning as I reflected on some of the news items I picked up over the weekend:

• There is a trend toward venture capital buying out public companies because the regulations and oversight of public companies are too "burdensome."

• London First is lobbying the Government to ask the Prime Minister to encourage everybody to go back to their offices to keep the businesses that support those offices afloat. 

• The Olympics in Japan is being pushed through despite the overwhelming objection of the people who live there.

I think that noise we can hear in the background that sounds like a choir of grinding teeth is the sound of bureaucracies bumping into emerging realities. 

The changes we are feeling represent a crucial period, similar to ones we have experienced before when cars took over from horses, planes took over from trains, mobile took over …