Knowledge Survey
Up to retirement my reading would be described as serendipitous. What I have attempted to do is bring my scope under control by fitting it to the model I have developed and extending my reading in a more organised was as a result. The main areas I have been exploring are; Economics, Human Behaviour and Evolution bringing in other topics as needed such as history, management, political philosophy, strategy and power. I make no claims to have conducted anything like a methodical literature survey.
If I look back on this it seems I am trying to use everything I have ever learned, checking it is (still, was ever) true and looking at the counter evidence. Always refreshing my knowledge and adding to it based on the scope I have set.
- My first degree is in History and Politics – the history included Modern Europe, War & Society and the Industrial Revolution, whist the politics included Strategic Theory, Revolutions, Foreign Policy and Political Philosophy.
- My second degree, an MBA, provided a mass of insightful material in the subjects I covered; Strategic Management, Financial Control, Employee Relations, Business Environment, Training and Development, Management Information Systems, Marketing, Organisation Behavior, and Change Management.
- My professional skill set was IT related systems analysis, project and portfolio management. Along the way I became a Chartered Management Consultant (CMC) in the Institute of Management Consultancy (MIMC) – now part of British Institute of Management.
The Bibliography contains what I have taken from the books, and sources that I have used in the main argument, but I have not listed all the very many Business and IT Systems books I have used
Systems Thinking
I have summarised systems thinking in a separate appendix. I wanted to apply systems thinking and analysis so far as I could because it’s a core skill from my professional life, I ended up using a lot from strategic planning see Appendices - Systems; an overview, additional sources are listed at the end of that article