Preface

To my colleagues in medieval history, I once again must beg forgiveness for making sweeping generalities on the nature of medieval society to bring modern management messages to light. This book does not in any way pretend to be a scholarly work on medieval history; it merely borrows the metaphorical richness of the Middle Ages to weave a tapestry of concepts that lend themselves to contemporary business strategies, showing continuity between the practices of managers or people in the position of managers in the Middle Ages and today. The comparison of instances found in the past which exhibit similarities to events in today’s society is intended to demonstrate the cyclical nature of business and social behaviour regarding technology. The historical references are intended to be a baseline for discussion on the nature and structure of work, business practices, society, commerce, government, taxation, geopolitical limits and the self-imposed boundaries that today’s society has placed on the current process of globalization.

To my associates in business, I wish to express my most sincere thanks for allowing me the latitude in constructing the business lessons learned during the past 20 years, loosely applying them across ten centuries of history. The intent is to stimulate the readers’ thinking and promote the radical redesign of business processes by engaging technology in the true spirit of reengineering. The business case studies used in this book are organizations trying to make massive changes in their business cultures, influence the markets they serve, cater to the attitudes of society and alter the very nature of work itself. In many cases, the true names of the organizations have been omitted to protect information that was shared in confidence or that may reveal data which would be detrimental to their competitive advantage.

Joseph A. DiVanna