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About the MIX

What is the MIX?

An open innovation project...

The Management Innovation eXchange (MIX) is an open innovation project aimed at reinventing management for the 21st century. The premise: while "modern" management is one of humankind's most important inventions, it is now a mature technology that must be reinvented for a new age.

The spur for a revolution in management...

Current management practices emphasize control, discipline and efficiency above all else — and that's a problem. To thrive in the 21st century, organizations must be adaptable, innovative, inspiring and socially accountable. That will require a genuine revolution in management principles and practices.

An online clearinghouse and a virtual laboratory...

The MIX helps to accelerate the pace of management innovation by energizing and organizing the conversation around the most critical challenges facing managers today — and by providing a practical platform where they can document,share and develop their leading-edge ideas and practices.

A stage for management innovators everywhere...

The MIX is designed for all those who are frustrated by the limits of our legacy management practices. It's for all the inspired thinkers and radical doers who believe we can — and must — find alternatives to the bureaucratic and disempowering management practices that still rule most organizations.

Because you aim high...

There may be some folks who are content to work on trivial problems, but you're not one of them. You're excited by the chance to bring your experience and imagination to an important, global-scale project.

Because you're looking for an edge...

You're constantly hunting for provocative ideas and inspiring models to boost your organization's performance, and your own. On the MIX you'll find game-changing (and battle-tested) ideas, kindred spirits, and a wealth of resources to help you and your team reach new highs.

Because you have a great idea...

Every radical new management practice starts out as a courageous "What if?" On the MIX, world-renowned experts and like-minded practitioners will give you the tough-minded, valuable feedback you need to turn your "far out" idea into a real-world management breakthrough.

Because you want your innovation to spread...

Progressive management practices deserve to be emulated. That's why the MIX makes it easy for management innovators to share their breakthroughs with the world — to enlist passionate peers and to get credit for their pioneering innovation.

Because it's not easy being a renegade...

Trailblazing is hard and lonely work. On the MIX, you'll discover a community of management rebels who know what it takes to fight the status quo and win — and who are eager to share their hard-won wisdom with others.

Because you want to be part of the solution...

Tackling the urgent challenge of reinventing management for the 21st century is everybody's business. You don't have to be a guru or a CEO — or even a "manager" by title — to be an effective management innovator. In fact, if you rely on other people to get things done, you have a stake in the future of management. MIXers aren't solely interested in their own or their organization's success — their highest ambition is to change the game for everybody.

The MIX is an open innovation platform that gives every management innovator the chance to share a little and learn a lot. But you have to jump in. Here's how:

Identify a barrier...

Have you run into a roadblock that's frustrating management innovation in your organization? Identify the practical barriers to reinventing management and enlist the help of other MIXers in discovering a way forward.

Invent a hack...

Do you have a bold idea for tackling a critical management challenge? Propose your radical fix and let the MIX community help you flesh it out.

Share a story...

Has your organization (or one you know) challenged the management status quo? Write up a short case study and post it on the MIX.

Help others

Is there something on the MIX you can make better? If so, offer a comment, suggest a build, or ask a penetrating question. Innovation is a social process. Your contributions matter.

The MIX Manifesto

Why not?

What law decrees that our organizations have to be bureaucratic, inertial and politicized, or that life within them has to be disempowering, dispiriting and often downright boring? No law we know of. So why not build organizations that are as resilient, inventive, inspiring and socially responsible, as the people who work within them? Why not, indeed. This is the mission of the MIX.

Management: a mature technology

There's a lot that's broken about the way most organizations are managed—but make no mistake, management is one of humanity's most important inventions. As a “social technology,” management encompasses the methods and tools we use to organize resources to productive ends. In this sense, management is the technology of human accomplishment… Read More

Principles of the MIX

Everyone Wins When Everyone Shares

The MIX represents a pioneering attempt to use the open innovation model to help accelerate the evolution of a critical social technology — management. Rather than struggling in isolation to reinvent the processes and practices of management, MIX members can leverage the expertise and insights of a global community of like-minded innovators. The success of the MIX hinges on the willingness of its members to share their ideas and experiences, which depends in turn on a belief that more can be gained by sharing than by hoarding. Truth is, there's a lot more management innovation going on in the world at large than in any particular organization. Thus the MIX gives every progressive management innovator the chance to share a little and learn a lot.

Every Innovator Deserves a Hearing

The MIX is a meritocracy of ideas. Any individual, regardless of title, tenure or training, is eligible to contribute content. Submissions are judged by peers, in a process which ensures good ideas get maximum exposure—wherever they come from. On the MIX, what matters is the quality of your ideas, not your credentials.

Accomplished Innovators Deserve Acclaim

Members who consistently contribute highly-rated content will see their reputations and visibility grow within the MIX community. There's no “tenure,” though. Reputational capital depreciates over time, if not “topped-up” by fresh contributions. This ensures that the latest and greatest innovators always occupy center stage within the MIX.

The Most Important Problem is the One You Care Most About

The MIX has been designed around a number of Management Moonshots”—bold objectives for reinventing management in the 21st century. However, this problem architecture hasn't been locked in place. Over time, the MIX will give users the opportunity to nominate new moonshots, and to group or partition existing challenges. The goal: a dynamic roster of grand challenges that reflects the priorities of the MIX community.

It's Good to be Humble

We expect MIX members to be open and honest in sharing their stories of management innovation. False starts, dead-ends, and outright failure are part of any innovation process, and are almost always instructive for those seeking to learn from a pioneering effort. Given that, users shouldn't use the mix as a PR platform. Warts-and-all accounts will always be more welcome, and more highly-rated than self-congratulatory stories of individual and corporate brilliance.

The Devil's in the Details

When it comes to management innovation, the “how” is every bit as critical as the “what.” That's why nuanced and finely textured contributions will usually be regarded as more valuable than wispy outlines. While embryonic ideas are welcome, particularly if they're radical, contributors should always endeavor to provide as much detail as possible. Within the MIX, the best way to ensure that your idea gets traction is to provide a solid foundation on which others can build.

Innovation is a Social Process

Without a few brilliant builds, promising ideas often remain pipe dreams. Innovation is almost always a social process—it takes a rich mix of opinions and views to turn a nascent idea into a full-fledged success. That's why the MIX has been designed as a collaborative platform. For it to function that way, innovators must be willing to give their ideas away so that others can build on them—and collaborators must be confident that they will be awarded some of the credit when their ahead-of-the-curve idea goes mainstream. Every effort will be made on the MIX to ensure that every valuable contribution is recognized, and every contribution fairly credited.

Contribution Guidelines

Everyone who cares about the future of management is invited to MIX it up. Below you'll find a few suggestions for maximizing the impact of your contributions to the MIX.

Be Contrarian

People come to the MIX because they know that the industrial-age management practices found in most organizations today are woefully inadequate to the challenges that lie ahead. They're looking for bold new ideas that will make their organizations more adaptable, innovative, engaging and socially responsible. So don't hold back. Challenge dogma. Upend conventional wisdom. Get radical.

Be Concise

Treat the attention of those who are going to read (and review) your posts as a precious commodity. Organize your ideas or story carefully. Include important details, but stay focused.

Be Concrete

Structure your contribution so it's easy for others to build on it or borrow from it. Be specific, pragmatic and complete. The more concrete you are, the better the chance that your idea will get traction within the MIX community.

Be Constructive

As with any sort of innovation, it's often hard to distinguish between ideas that are smart/crazy and ideas that are stupid/crazy—and sometimes you can't be sure until an idea has had some time to grow and mature. So give other MIXers the benefit of the doubt. Feel free to criticize, but take every opportunity to provide constructive advice.

Be Collaborative

While anyone can review the content on the MIX, the real rewards, both intellectual and reputational, are reserved for those who actually contribute to the community—by submitting original content, or by annotating and assessing content that has been submitted by others. Remember: Innovation doesn't happen in a vacuum—the best ideas usually come out of a collaborative effort. Invite others to help you advance your ideas, and then return the favor.

Be Colorful

The MIX isn't some sanitized corporate website, so don't be afraid to use blunt and evocative language. Be honest, be passionate, be funny.

Who is the MIX

The MIX is, first and foremost, yours. It is purpose-built as a platform and a laboratory for you to advance your ideas, experiments, and passions around management innovation. And it’s designed to evolve according to your contributions and feedback. In fact, the MIX is already the product of many minds — individuals from around the world with deep expertise and shared passion when it comes to reinventing management.

We’d like to thank a few who have generously shared of their time and thinking. First, we must acknowledge both the intellectual contribution and powerful motivation provided by the members of the Renegade Brigade. Second, we are deeply grateful for the ongoing support and invaluable insights offered up by Julian Birkinshaw, Jim Daly, Rik Kirkland, Andy Lark, Andrew Liekerman, Simon London, Tom Malone, Andrew McAfee, Lenny Mendonca, Vineet Nayar, Anna Peters, Eric Peterson, Leighton Read, Doug Solomon, Danny Stillion, Charles Trevail, Laura Tyson, Bill Taylor, and Steven Weber.

Meet the MIX Team

Gary Hamel - Innovation Architect

"Me in Three"

  • I love big, vibrant cities and the quiet outdoors—so I feel lucky to be able to split my time between London and the Santa Cruz mountains in California. Cities are a great source of inspiration, and the forest and ocean are ideal venues for contemplation. I need both—maybe you do, too.
  • I’m a golfer. I know that is SO uncool. And it gets worse. I know of no other “sport” where the ratio of adrenaline over time is lower, nor where the correlation between intent and outcome is so close to zero. The fact that I golf testifies, I fear, to some deep, masochistic streak in my personality.
  • Another admission: I get a kick out of being a contrarian—a fact that drives my friends and colleagues a little bit crazy. Turns out, people don’t always appreciate it when you take a crowbar to their unexamined beliefs—I know I don’t. Challenging conventional wisdom is dirty work, but someone has to do it.

View Gary Hamel's complete profile

Michele Zanini - Business Architect

"Me in Three"

  • I have a passion for discovering new and better ways of getting work done in organizations. I'm equally passionate about helping others make progress on this front.
  • My work has taken me from analyzing terrorist networks all the way to orchestrating transformations at Fortune 100 companies.
  • I'm from Italy and have lived in the U.S. for 15 years. I'm still firmly attached to the homeland for anything related to food, sports, and family.

View Michele Zanini's complete profile

Polly LaBarre - Content and Contribution Architect

"Me in Three"

  • I’m a storyteller dedicated to discovering the people from all walks of life who are creating the future based on the their original ideas and bold ideals.
  • I’m passionate about the great outdoors (climbing its heights, diving into its depths, and doing my part to make sure we all keep breathing in its fresh air), health and good food (sweaty yoga, digging in the dirt, experimenting in the kitchen), reading between the lines, and learning something new every day.
  • I always try to follow the advice Don Juan gave Carlos Castaneda: to do everything as if it were the only thing in the world that mattered, while all the time knowing that it doesn’t matter at all.

View Polly LaBarre's complete profile

David Sims - Editor

"Me in Three"

  • I like helping people clarify their message.
  • I try to work with organizations where I can explore interesting topics, like O'Reilly for technology and McKinsey for economics.
  • If I ran the world, we would all stop work at 3 and go out to play in the afternoon light.

View David Sims's complete profile
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