Author Archive | Scott Propp

5 Reasons to Avoid Defensive Innovation Strategies

We see it in other places all the time: a football team has a great game plan, dominates through the middle of the third quarter, then moves to a “defensive” plan, where their focus shifts to protecting the ball and running down the clock. The predictable outcome is that the opponent stops the run, receives […]

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Tech Leaders: Is This Blindspot Holding You Back?

There is a magic inflection point in the development of leaders whose functional background is built on professional competence.  It’s that moment when they tip from moving from directive to collaborative leadership. What makes it magic?  There are several reasons: it opens up the spectrum of possible solutions, allows significant talent development and provides scale […]

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Undertrain in This Important Area at Your Own Peril

A consistent observation of firms and organizations is a tendency to invest heavily in organizational-level capabilities and resources.  Programs around functional leadership development, operational efficiency and process consistency have senior leader sponsors, standing budgets and metrics written into compensation plans. There is always one nagging question: are those investments connected to performance? Like an athlete […]

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Is Your Strategic Approach the Right One for Right Now?

I live in the portion of the country where winter carnivals are a thing, and one of the always interesting things to catch is the creation of the ice sculptures.  A sculptor, skilled with power tools, chisels and hand saws goes to work and amazing forms emerge. As a “most senior executive,” can you do […]

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It’s Time to Step Above the Tyranny of the Urgent

Rolling up our sleeves only goes so far. There has been an inflection point in the discussion where leaders realize that they simply cannot do it all.  Virtual work has pushed us into a corner in two ways: first collaborative work is less efficient. Secondly, more time in the home office has led to more […]

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Connecting the Dots: What We Rediscovered in 2020

Perspective is essential to choosing well. As we put the wraps on 2020, I wanted to offer some insights into some essential truths we’ve rediscovered. My friend and colleague Neely Taminga challenged the TedX community in Minneapolis to think differently about economics this fall.  Her challenge was to move our mindset from an “economy of […]

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How to Avoid Having a Lost Strategy Cycle in 2021

I’ve had a series of calls with key leaders in the last few weeks as they prepare for 2021. The consensus is it’s setting up to be a hybrid year: we’ll still be in COVID limbo, with client firms that are full digital in remote work, manufacturers that have live operations and remote R&D, and […]

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