The state of customer service across most of the economy is dreadful. A recent delightful experience at Patagonia proves that it doesn’t have to be that way. The sad world of customer service As I… Read more »
Growth
If your organization operates as a multi-layer bureaucracy, it’s headed for extinction
Image credit: https://elearningindustry.com/reasons-why-talent-development-is-important Happy New Year! Ram Charan and I co-authored an article just out in this month’s Harvard Business Review about how technology is creating the conditions for what we call the “permissionless” corporation…. Read more »
Simultaneous discovery – or the sincerest form of flattery? Board Committee research
Two topics here – how to get Boards focused on science and technology for the long term, and how good ideas can get … um … discovered? Image Source The difference a special Board committee… Read more »
The skills we aren’t taught, and how you can expand your leadership through leveraging them
Our leadership models are changing – from command and control to questioning and discovery. You can learn to develop these skills and improve your capability as a leader. How do you sustain your competitive advantage… Read more »
When The Mothership Doesn’t Want It
You would think that after funding and supporting people to develop innovative new ideas, that the parent corporation would want to take advantage of launching them. Nope. Markets are full of concepts that didn’t fit… Read more »
Taking a discovery driven approach to internal projects
The first step of discovery driven planning lies in specifying what success looks like. For for-profit projects, this usually takes the form of a level of growth or enhanced profitability. But there are many kinds… Read more »
When Business Cases Teach the Wrong Lessons
Jeffrey Pfeffer, in his great book “The 7 Rules of Power” declares that “success excuses (almost) everything.” Success also determines which stories about the origins of that success get told and which headlines are buried. … Read more »
Think everybody has a positive view of creativity? Think again!
Of course, we believe that creativity is a universally great thing – thinking otherwise is like dismissing hope or truth! In his conversational, approachable book, New York Times Pulitzer Prize winning author Matt Richtel takes… Read more »
Three Kinds of Competition to Have on Your Radar
In traditional strategic thinking, beating the competition, by finding an attractive position in an attractive industry, is the name of the game. An updated perspective suggests you need to be paying attention to at least… Read more »
How LEGO used Agile Principles to Accelerate Innovation
Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zCXMx7RcZ5I Agile methods – in which work is done in parallel by cross-functionally staffed teams – has been the subject of a lot of hype. How refreshing, then, to discover examples of firms… Read more »
Flywheels vs. Relationships – Why your business architecture matters to your initial marketing plan
In developing an initial marketing plan, it is crucial not to be confused about what kind of business architecture you are building in order to establish your initial metrics for success. Geoffrey Moore has a great… Read more »
7 Ways to Take Smart Career Risks: Lessons from Sharon Price John, CEO of Build-A-Bear Workshop
Fear is one of the great barriers to career advancement. Sharon Price John’s fabulous career is full of lessons on how to get past those fears and get out of your own way. Being afraid… Read more »