The field of strategy, as I’m fond of saying, had its intellectual roots in Industrial Economics. That way of thinking suggests two assumptions that I think are often a trap, when used in the wrong… Read more »
Archives for 2023
WFH? RTO? Remembering the Allen Curve and Why It Matters Now
A robust scientific finding from decades ago mapped the richness of information flows against how far apart people sat at work. Called the Allen Curve after MIT’s Thomas J. Allen, who discovered it, it shows… Read more »
On the agenda for 2024 – a better way to keep track of your innovation portfolio?
I was delighted to be part of a virtual event sponsored by the good people over at Innov8rs, in which a field of 10 experts shared their perspectives on the prospects for innovation in 2024,… Read more »
Behind the scenes at the Outthinker Chief Strategy Officer Summit
There is nothing like gathering with a group of peers from other organizations and sectors to facilitate making sense of the context in which crucial strategic decisions need to be made. I was pleased to… Read more »
It’s Halloween! Speaking about X teams and leadership ghosts with MIT’s Deborah Ancona
Our conventional wisdom about teams is that factors internal to the team mostly determine how well they will operate. My LinkedIn Live guest, Professor Deborah Ancona from MIT, begs to differ. No matter how great… Read more »
Personalized strategy – without the expensive fees! My experience of being impersonated by an AI bot. Rita McGrath
Among the unintended consequences of AI applications built with few guardrails is that conventional views of what is intellectual property are upended – I found out the hard way! Image source Well, that was a… Read more »
Want to help the environment? Here’s an affordable, easy, and devastatingly effective approach
When it comes to challenges like climate change, it can feel overwhelming. After all, how much of an impact can any individual have on such a massive problem? Imagine my delight at finding out… Read more »
Opportunities and Challenges of Driving Impact In Innovation – A Princeton Panel Discussion
A dazzling array of speakers opened a day of hearing from entrepreneurs, researchers, businesspeople, and others convened for Princeton’s Keller Center’s Innovation Forum. I was delighted to be part of a panel, each person discussing… Read more »
Remembering Brian Dovey and his book “The Idea is the Easy Part”
I was deeply saddened to learn of the sudden passing of Brian Dovey, a partner at Domain Associates and a family friend on August 27. Imagine my surprise at receiving a signed copy of his… Read more »
Using behavioral insights to better segment customers
This week, we’re launching a new guidebook series at Valize, designed to share core ideas about strategy today in a convenient online format for using with your team or on your own. The first one… Read more »
Creating value or extracting it? An existential question.
A board and governance level issue that doesn’t get nearly enough attention is whether firms are being run as value creators or value extractors. As economist William Lazonick points out, absent real pushback, it is… Read more »
The Rise, and Fall, of the Direct-to-Consumer Model
There was a brief period in the early 2010’s when a new business model – dubbed “direct to consumer” emerged and threatened to upend established incumbents. A decade or so in, the assumptions underlying the… Read more »