Eddie Obeng

Professor Eddie Obeng BSc. MBA. PhD.
Born	1959
Nationality	British
Education	Cass Business School University College London Cranleigh School, Surrey, England
Occupation	Educator and Author
Employer	Henley Business School Ashridge Business School Royal Dutch Shell
Organization	Pentacle (The Virtual Business School)
Board member of	Design Council
Website
www.pentaclethevbs.com

Professor Edward (Eddie) David Asihene Obeng is a British educator, author and motivational speaker. He is a Professor at the School of Entrepreneurship and Innovation, Henley Business School; founder and Learning Director of Pentacle (The Virtual Business School) and a Council Member at the UK Design Council.

He is notable for developing and championing the concept of 'New World Management' as a response to the rapidly accelerating pace of change. In 1994 he established Pentacle (The Virtual Business School) in order to teach this philosophy and ensure that there was a "continuous link between learning and implementation". He has been described variously as "a leading revolutionary" and "an agent provocateur" by the Financial Times, and by Abbey National as their "secret weapon".

Professor Obeng's teaching focuses on how to survive and thrive in complex, fast-changing environments. His research and application of the new ways of working have been widely published in books and articles.

New world management concept

Obeng's concept of the New World can be summarised as, "We have moved as a world, from an age when we could learn faster than our local environments change to one where the local environment of individuals, organisations and governments changes faster than we can learn." He argues that as a result of this shift, most of the concepts, best practices and assumptions that we commonly used to plan, manage, lead, organise and govern are obsolete and damaging to the lives of individuals, society and organisations.

Early life & family

Born in Ghana, Obeng was educated as a boarder at Cranleigh School, at University College London and at the Cass Business School . His business career started as an engineer at Royal Dutch Shell before he became the youngest Executive Director of a European Business School when he moved to Ashridge Business School in 1987. He established Pentacle (The Virtual Business School) in 1994. He is married and lives in Beaconsfield, Buckinghamshire, UK. He also holds a Private Pilots Licence (helicopter).

Career

• Senior Scientist with Royal Dutch Shell 1983-85
• Energy Efficiency Design Engineer at Linnhoff March (now KBC) 1985-87
• Assistant Director of Studies Ashridge Business School 1987-1990
• Executive Director Ashridge Business School 1990-94
• Learning Director Pentacle The Virtual Business School 1994 - 2012
• Board Member UK Design Council 2008 - 2011

He won the Sir Monty Finniston Award for lifetime achievement by The Association of Project Managers for his contributions to the study and practice of Project Management in 2011

Teaching

He has taught at The National School of Government UK, CEDEP [1], de Baak [2], University of Cape Town, The Swedish Hanken School of Economics and Business Administration, The Finnish Institute of Management LIFIM, Durham University Business School, London Business School, INSEAD, University of Warwick, University of Sheffield, Leeds Metropolitan University, Ashridge Business School,and is a member of the Duke Corporate Education Global Network.

Publications

He is author of the following books:

• All Change! The Project Leader's Secret Handbook (1995) Financial Times Pearson Publishing
• Putting Strategy to Work (1996) Financial Times Pearson Publishing
• Making Re-Engineering Happen (with Stuart Crainer), (1994) Financial Times Pearson Publishing
• New Rules for the New World (1997) Wiley Publishing
• Soundbytes (1999) London Business Press
• Never Re-organise Again (2001) London Business Press
• Perfect Projects (2002) London Business Press
• Money Making Machine (2002) London Business Press
• The Complete Leader (with Christophe Gillet) (2008) London Business Press)

He has also made significant contributions to: The Financial Times Handbook of Management, The Gower Handbook of Training and Development and has a regular column in Project Management Today.

External links

• Pentacle The Virtual Business School
• Design Council UK
• Henley Business School UK.
• Full ‘Academic’ CV

Articles

• Innovation in Public Services
• Thinking Managers - CEO
• Profitability: bankable strategies
• Business Surgeons Must Focus On Recovery
• http://www.amaze.co.uk/NewsDetails.asp?id=27.10.2006
• http://www.allbusiness.com/world/3079109-1.html
• Businesses net the benefits of networking
• Going Virtual
• http://www.publicsectorreview.com/news/localgovernment/?pid=4312&lsid=4554&edname=23741.htm&ped=23741
• Public Sector IT – We’re All Doomed
• Abstract
• It's time for some New World thinking
• Executives are ill-prepared for recession