The topic of psychological safety has taken the world by storm as we realize that in a VUCA (volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous) world, there is a huge premium on fast learning. With the recent… Read more »
Thought Sparks
Can Agile Make Wherever You Work a Better Place?
The Great Resignation continues to gather steam as people in their millions re-evaluate their relationship with work. But not everyone has the luxury or the bandwidth to quit, at least not right now. And there is no guarantee… Read more »
The latest for the Flops File – Zillow Offers
It takes a special combination of ingredients to land in my “flops” file. You have to lose your parent company at least $50 million. You probably started out with big ambitious goals, all-at-once funding, leaders… Read more »
10 Questions to Ask Before You Believe in a Business Model
Some business models are inherently more attractive than others, yet investors and other stakeholders often don’t ask the obvious questions. Here’s a checklist that makes sure you are not one of them. People like to make… Read more »
Can you hear me now? A “Seeing Around Corners” early warning materializes
When a sector has hostages, not customers, big problems go un-addressed, people are desperate for help and don’t get it, and a near-monopoly provider community fails to listen, the stage is set for a major… Read more »
Ecosystem Maturity and the Stepping-Stone Strategy
Introducing a new offering into an unripe ecosystem will doom your new venture. Instead, find a mini-ecosystem in which you can build a solution that works and use it as a steppingstone to reach your… Read more »
When HR really does get a seat at the table! Congratulations to Kathleen Hogan on being recognized as the HR Executive of the Year
It’s almost a meme among HR professionals – wanting a “seat at the table” while often being relegated to routine problem solving and dealing with the messier sides of humanity. But whoa, when its done… Read more »
Positioning: Beyond the Statement
Developing a positioning statement is often done as a fill-in-the-blank “Mad Libs” exercise. The power of insightful positioning, however, goes right to the heart of how you are creating value, and for whom. In marketing… Read more »
Thought Sparks Wrap Up – September 2021
Dear colleagues, Hey, everybody! We’re already through September?—?back to school, back to work, back to thinking about Q4! This monthly wrap-up of my weekly Thought Sparks news pieces will give you a short summary and… Read more »
The Principles of Learning from Prototypes: 5 Lessons
Prototypes are a great way to get customer feedback about elements of your proposed innovation before you have to invest a ton of resources in them. But there is a bit of science to how… Read more »
How a Growth Gap can Sneak Up On You
This article was co-developed with Alex van Putten, Partner at Cameron and Associates, and draws from our 2017 article “How to Set More Realistic Growth Targets.” It’s always easy to project rosy growth goals that… Read more »
Digital transformation, the discovery-driven way
Talking about digital transformation has a way of freaking people out. They then do the exact wrong thing, which is to throw money and effort at anyone who can promise that – Poof! – digital… Read more »