Background and Foundation

We firmly believe that the mission statement of any organization of people is less than useless if it is not founded in proven facts. For example, the mission statements of the organizations that were based on the beliefs that earth is the center of the universe or the earth is flat had no hope of guiding those organizations toward success.

Our Mission Statement is founded firmly on a fundamental, but often ignored, business definition published by Peter Drucker in his landmark book, Management (1974): "Businesses are social groups that differ from other social groups in only one way. Businesses must have customers."

The foundation of our mission also indludes the research of Daniel Kahneman and Amos Tversky. They demonstrated that people do not behave more rationally in economic organizations than they do in other kinds of groups.

The Nobel Prize for Economics was awarded to Dr. Kahneman in 2002. Dr. Tversky had passed away by that time. Their work was quickly dubbed the Behavioral Economic Model, and credited with debunking the long-standing Rational Economic Model. The Rational Model had been the default for at least the past 236 years, since the publication of Adam Smith's book, The Wealth of Nations, in 1776.

Not surprisingly, both Drucker's definition of a business as a social group and Kahneman's Behavioral Economic Model have been largely ignored by people in strongly hierarchical business organizations. The reasons are made clear by many authors and economists: The purpose of a hierarchy is to preserve the heirarchy.

The writings of Drucker and Kahneman, and the decision by the 2002 Nobel Committee on Economics, are seen as threats by people in the upper layers of hierarchical organizations, at least those who are aware of those works. Adopting Drucker's and Kahneman's teachings would weaken the power and status gaps between the tops and the bottoms. They do not want to narrow those gaps by giving the middles and the bottoms more of either. And they have the authority to make it so, at least until their businesses fail.

So far the lovers of their hierarchical positions have behaved in much the same way as the hierachical leaders in the governments and churches of the time when Copernicus published his findings debunking the well-established geocentric model of the universe, the belief that the universe revolves around the earth. Copernicus' publication was banned, and he was placed under house arrest. About a century and a half later, Galileo supported and added to Copernicus' findings using his newly invented telescope. He was arrested and jailed in chains. It was not until the time of Sir Isaac Newton that the geocentric model was finally rejected by most hierarchical orgnizations, about 300 years after Copernicus' original findings.

Will we have to wait until 2274, 300 years after Drucker published his book stating that businesses are a social groups in which people behave in the same way as they do in other social groups? Maybe not. Kahneman and Tversky independently confirmed Drucker's findings about 20 years later, not the 150 years beween Copernicus and Galileo.

We are betting on a speedier acceptance of the Behavioral Ecomomic Model, we have already helped some leading companies to create new products, new customers, and new businesses by skillfully applying Drucker's business definition and Kahmeman's Behavioral Economic Model. We are committed to do more. It's the core of what we do, as you will see sprinkled throughout our Mission Statement.

DeltaNet Mission Statement

DeltaNet Management Consultants exists to help people in businesses to continually create new products, new customers, and new businesses. We advise, train, and coach clients to apply the fundamental findings of the researchers in such large and growing fields of study as human behavior and the mechanisms of the human brain.

Simultaneously, we help our clients to frame those relatively recent and dynamic learnings about human behavior and the mechanisms of the brain within the context of business fundamentals such as vision, mission, and strategy that have not changed significantly since the writings of Sun Tzu in The Art of War in the 4th century BC.

We pledge to persistently innovate and improve our consulting, training, and coaching services to help our clients to continue to develop the skills and processes they will need to get ahead and stay ahead of the ever-changing populations and behaviors of their customers and competitors.

We further pledge to gather and deliver the most applicable research findings on human behavior to help each client to take advantage of the specific situations that they are facing, at the time they are facing it. No two consultations, trainings, or coaching endeavors will be the same at any level above the well-researched, proven fundamental forces that subconsciously drive human behavior.