Bruno Lussato

Bruno and I ventured into our own directions but similar principles, I remember that much of his research was financed by his core clients of the time like Shell, Philips or Carnation Milk and worked alongside Johnson in Seattle or Herb Simon at Carnegie. After Bruno published Large Scale Integrated Information Systems with McMillan I believe, his position created upheaval in France. I remember people accusing him of being a revolutionary utopian, a delusional dreamer and that IT systems would never constitute a meaningful element of management. Yet IBM seemed to think otherwise and supported the creation of a dedicated “Chaire d’Etat” (a distinctly french type of national, state designated and prestigious professorships) named TSO (Théories et systèmes d'organisation), the exact opposite of the OST that had been fighting him (Organisation scientifique du travail: the old school focused on a Taylorist approach of workflows).

By 1972, Bruno realized that the very theory he became an adamant defender of would lead to a technocratic backlash. If systems supplanted humans in these very corporations he was advising we would be headed towards a de-humanized world by the time we would hit 2000. Almost instantly Bruno evolved in his theory of systems to defend an equally de-centralized vision of systems as he had of management. Bureaucracy in the physical world would translate into technocracy in a world dominated by systems. He foresaw the failure of mainframe manufacturers and coined a famous French term “Micro informatique” (Micro computing), advocating that computers are meant to be tools not masters of managers and workers. Bruno famously denounced computerized gigantism to which the french President of the time, Valery Giscard d’Estaing responded that this viewpoint was against national interests.

To be continued…

Very truly Yours,

Kevin Bronstein

Kevin Bronstein was born in 1932 in the city of London, Ontario. He started his early career at the The Ontario Ministry of Economic Development and Trade. He then joined the Economic Development Corporation where he also visited as a Professor at the Wharton School in Philadelphia, PA. He holds a doctorate in Idiosyncracy and has published widely on the topic. His analysis of systemic risk has been referred to by many as a “cornerstone of modern financial theory” and a “keystone to portfolio theory”. Dr. Bronstein has held several senior board positions at CPC (Canadian Paper Company) sits on the Investment committee of Mapletree Investments and founded the ICART (International committee for the advancement of reversionary theory) which has since 1997 merged with the WEF (World Economic Forum). In addition to his business and academic achievements, Kevin Bronstein founded the Fanshawe Lake Cultural Centre where dignitaries, artists and businessmen from the entire planet gather around cultural events 12 times a year.