New Executive Management Seminar University Of Phonics Intended Audience: The University of Phonics is offering a new Executive Training Seminar on Advanced Management Physics. The course is intended for anyone with aspirations of Director level and above. Curriculum: The Course provides an intellectual fusion of modern management science with the latest in particle physics. Using themes from astrophysics and fractal mathematics, the course will address the following key concepts: BI-DIRECTIONAL CAUSATION--Within a large organization, political equilibrium must be maintained in a delicate balance of complex metrics and incentive systems. Individuals who are politically adept can do no wrong, but they don't have the required skills to actually produce anything. Consequently, the people who actually do all the work must get none of the credit or the privileges that accrue to leadership. NEGATIVE FRICTION--The more often a project plan is changed or called into question, the shorter its schedule will become and the more efficient the underlying processes will be. Each time the project is replanned, the schedule can be expected to shorten without sacrifices in product features, quality, or team morale. Budgetary requirements may also be reduced. VECTOR ADDITION--As the ultimate pragmatic, Management Science has defined a non-Euclidian space where there is only one axis; in fact, the axis is non-polarized, and every new activity represents "forward movement." Management vector addition involves only the magnitude of the vector, not the orientation. Consequently, two equal and opposite management decisions in rapid succession add up to twice the progress of a single, well-planned activity. This form of vector mathematics is much easier than the academic "long-form," and is much less limiting. This mathematical reduction favors quick, incremental decision-making and reduces the amount of information the organization needs to (or is able to) remember. EVENT HORIZON--Events that are more than a few weeks in the past or future from the current instant exist only in another universe. Due to the extreme compression of time and space at the event horizon, commitments are nullified, causes are dissociated from effects, and the originators of proposals can no longer be identified. GRAVIMETRIC PHENOMENOLOGY--The spatial and time distortions caused by the extreme gravity of neutron stars is comparable to the intense concentration of brain-power in executive offices. Under the special conditions that exist in high- pressure VP meetings, events and conclusions can occur that would be considered impossible in the normal time-space continuum. DECISION FRACTALS--Using Mendelbrodt techniques, a series of complex non-linear equations has been developed to simulate executive decision patterns. The models ignore all input data yet produce realistic N-dimensional series that can be projected onto decision trees. Equations have been developed for the Wharton set, the BCG matrix, the HBS old-neural network, and the L'Ecole des Forts Frappes pseudorandom series. ONTOLOGICAL MUTATION--This is the executive's ability to change the logical identity of an object or process by simply talking about it under the right conditions. Aristotle's ancient and limiting view that "A is A" has Been superseded by modern princples of energy effecting matter. Case studies show how VPs can cause the suspension of logical identity and the reversal of natural phenomena simply by talking about them for long enough. ADAPTIVE GENETICS--Following the work of Soviet geneticists, new management science principles have been developed around the concept that things and people can be made to change their inherent nature. Through disciplined application of management fiat and coercion, any natural tendency can be reversed and put to good use. PROXIMATE ATTRACTOR RELATIVITY--The complexity of a process or the time required to complete a sequence of activities varies depending on (1) your organizational distance from it, and (B) the political attractiveness of it. For example, if the process is uninteresting, it can be completed much faster and cheaper in someone else's department than it can be in your own, even if you have the capability to do it and they do not. Conversely, if the process has high visibility and is in someone else's department, it can be completed much faster and more effectively under you. Length of completion varies directly with the attractiveness/unattractiveness of the process, and in log proportion to the distance on the organizational chart. Format: Lectures; reading, writing, rhythmetic; group workshops; cocktail encounter groups at international resort areas. Readings: * The Thinking of Positive Power * The Tao of Jones * How to Make People and Influence Friends * Looking Out for #0