The Insight Edge: An Introduction to the Theory and Practice of Evolutionary Management

Written by a team where the father is recognized as the world’s foremost evolutionary systems scientist and the son is one of the youngest members of the top management of a Fortune 500 transnational company, The Insight Edge, in the words of James Ogilvy, comes at a crucial time and speaks to the needs of the time. It is essential reading in an age where information is the new capital, and knowledge of the basic trends that shape our world is a vital part of the required information.

Managing postindustrial enterprises in today’s information-linked and globalized business environment is vastly different from managing businesses in the bygone industrial era. Being a good manager in today’s world means navigating in the turbulence of a global sea of rapid-fire interaction, and coping with myriad factors that are prone to change in a seemingly unpredictable fashion. Being a good manager also means living up to one’s responsibilities, not only to one’s company and stockholders, but also to one’s coworkers, partners, customers, and society at large--even nature.

Meeting the challenge that confronts today’s managers calls for a fresh knowledge base; one that includes, in addition to the necessary technical knowledge handed down in management schools and seminars, familiarity with the dynamics that generate the seemingly unpredictable--but by no means casual and unforeseeable--patterns of change in the contemporary business environment. This book offers such a knowledge base. It brings to leading managers, and to everyone concerned with the effective and responsible management of business companies, the essential minimum of up-to-date scientific knowledge: the readily acquired foundations of evolutionary literacy.

Ervin Laszlo, considered the foremost exponent of systems philosophy and general evolution theory, is President of the International Society for Systems Sciences, Founder-Director of the General Evolution Research Group, Editor of World Futures, Associate Editor of Behavioral Science, and President of the Club of Budapest. He is the author of 59 books and over 300 articles, and has taught at Northwestern, Indiana, Princeton and Yale Universities, and at the State University of New York. His distinctions include several academic degrees and international awards as well as honorary PhDs.

Christopher Laszlo, holder of two masters degrees from Columbia University and a doctorate from the University of Paris, is Vice President for Business Development for Central Europe at Lafarge S.A., a Fortune 500 transnational company. Previously, he was senior consultant with Braxton Associates, a management consulting firm.