There's a movement afoot that's changing how we think about our organizations. It's been building for some time now and has reached the mainstream in many ways but it's still hard to get a handle on exactly what it is. It's not taught in any schools, you can't get a degree in it, yet it's a complete alternative to the standard MBA programs that's supposed to be the epitome of business and management knowledge. It revolves around terms such as innovation, collaboration, creativity and transformation. We don't always know exactly what these terms mean but there is a growing acceptance that they are good, possibly even necessary, things.

People who represent some part of this body of knowledge are often not aware that they're part of a larger movement. Their part is pretty cool and they're committed to it but there's a danger of it coming across as just another gimmick when seen in isolation. But if you familiarize yourself with this body of knowledge you notice the same patterns of thought and practice popping up. It's like the old fable of the blind men and the elephant. They all describe the elephant differently depending on the piece they've got hold of, not realizing that there are other parts and they're all connected to this larger thing. In this case, that larger thing is the body of knowledge and practice that has been collected under the unMBA.

The conceptual basis of the unMBA is fundamentally different from that of the traditional MBA. This is why, while outposts of traditional management thinking such as the Harvard Business Review and big consulting firms have taken notice of and adopted the language of this new way of seeing the world, they can't really do it justice. It doesn't run on their operating system.

All of the ideas and methodologies you will encounter in the unMBA have a track record and an established community of practice. They are open about their sources so it's easy to see the linkages between them. While they may be an original creation, they are well documented so that you're not completely reliant on the originator and can put the idea into practice on your own as you see fit. What you won't find are proprietary systems designed to create a dependency on the purveyor, who would have you believe that they invented innovation, collaboration and creativity.

We have created a space where this body of knowledge, this new and better way of doing things, can more easily be found and explored by those who might benefit from it, which is pretty much everyone except evil dictators. Please check back regularly for new courses!