In a Sacramento Bee story entitled Changing economy brings end to retailer’s 27-year-old toy story, Rita McGrath was quoted as to the closing of a long-time toy store. “The spending slowdown is particularly hard for… Read more »
Thought Sparks
Thought Sparks, the brainchild of Rita McGrath, are insightful actions, strategic ideas, actionable suggestions and innovative approaches that help organizations and leaders master the future with less fear and more confidence. New episodes of the Thought Sparks Podcast are released every other Tuesday at 11am Eastern. Prior to 2025, episodes of the Thought Sparks Podcast were known as Fireside Chats.
The curse of past success: Fast Strategy Diagnostic
Doz and Kosonen have a most interesting diagnostic tool posted on their website strategic agility, which is linked to their book Fast Strategy. If you are concerned that your organization may have enjoyed too much… Read more »
Discovery Driven Planning: The case for collective decisions
Doz and Kosonen’s new book Fast Strategy presents their research into how companies can dramatically alter their core businesses in response to dynamic strategic environments. I’m just reading through it, and one of their comments… Read more »
Rita McGrath quoted in UK article “Scholars raise concerns over business school ‘theory fetish’ ”
Rita McGrath’s Academy of Management article was quoted in the Times Higher Education UK article about the relevancy of Business Schools: “Humiliating though it may be, there is a reason that stories about mice who… Read more »
Rita McGrath quoted in UK article “Scholars raise concerns over business school ‘theory fetish’ ”
Rita McGrath’s Academy of Management article was quoted in the Times Higher Education UK article about the relevancy of Business Schools: “Humiliating though it may be, there is a reason that stories about mice who… Read more »
Discovery Driven Planning makes the intuitions of entrepreneurs explicit
Browsing through this month’s edition of Inc. magazine, I came across a column by Norm Brodsky on the advice he gave to a young entrepreneur. The guy’s business concept was interesting. He imports dirt from… Read more »
Discovery Driven Planning: Identifying Key Metrics
The skeleton of a discovery driven plan has to do with the key metrics that you use to make assumptions, and which drive the relationships among the elements featured in your plan. It is often… Read more »
Discovery Driven Planning: Getting started and a dog-walking example
To develop a discovery driven plan, you’ll proceed through five interlinked steps. These are: Start with a compelling outcome – meaning, know what would make the investment worthwhile Benchmark your ideas against market demand and… Read more »
Discovery Driven Planning: Getting started and a dog-walking example
To develop a discovery driven plan, you’ll proceed through five interlinked steps. These are: Start with a compelling outcome – meaning, know what would make the investment worthwhile Benchmark your ideas against market demand and… Read more »
Discovery Driven Planning: Different from conventional planning
Discovery Driven Planning was developed because years of research showed that companies using conventional planning methods to invest in new opportunities were systematically failing. When we researched the reasons, we found that conventional planning leads… Read more »
The case against case studies
In a terrific article which just came out in the February 4, 2008 edition of Business Week, author Geoff Gloeckler describes how Columbia Business School is getting away from conventional case studies, instead using ‘decision… Read more »
Business School Rankings: Hungry for Lists?
Anyone who enjoys watching the various business schools get sliced and diced by reviewers will get a kick out of the Financial Times report on business school rankings. Absolutely no shortage of lists in their… Read more »