We were running a workshop and the teams had gotten their projects up on the walls using flip charts. As I walked around, I saw solid work, but it was short of inspiring – a critical quality in this age of distraction and competition if a project is going to find its way to full […]
I had just gotten the word. We had hand chosen a dozen subject matter experts to put together an early stage probe into a promising new market. We had been making solid strategic progress with some very big names, but we had also just been through an organizational change tucked under another acquisition that had […]
Imagine this scenario: a small plane takes off in a gorgeous mountain area at a lower altitude with the intention of doing some sightseeing and begins to explore the upslope scenery. While taking in the beauty and enjoying the day, some subtle things are happening that reduce their safety minute by minute. First, the higher […]
The view was amazing. The conference room was on the top floor overlooking the corporate campus – you could see for miles. It was here that I, along with two subject matter experts, were set to meet with the global P&L owner of the largest and most mature business in their multi-billion dollar portfolio. As […]
Mary and I walked out of our General Manager’s office and went to have coffee. We had just left one of those meetings when you know that your work life will never be quite the same. We had been given a huge challenge, and the stakes were very high. We were to complete and […]
We had an amazing product change: it was truly lightning in a bottle. The group I was leading had discovered an unserved need through some deep customer problem solving that we had been called in to help with. We had enough discretionary time to get the basic work done and to do some limited […]
I remember unboxing it. One of my colleagues had ordered a benchtop milling machine for our engineering lab by convincing our team leader that it would help us avoid costly schedule delays by allowing us to make minor tweaks to prototype parts in the design work we were doing. I recall my thoughts toggling […]
I was early in my career serving as a design engineering manager for an industrial electronics firm. We were working on a new product release that called for a major change to a key component in the product. To accomplish this, we needed a globally compatible, high-wattage power supply that was lightweight (which meant we […]
The books have already been printed, the HBR article is in queue and the launch programs have been carefully orchestrated. Soon you’ll hear the authors on the most popular podcasts and see blurbs in both Inc. and Forbes Magazine. Then we’ll all be off and running. This river of new business tools and techniques takes […]
Many of you are enjoying a few slower, more laid back days in the office as the year wraps up. Like many of you, I too welcome these days and look forward to taking some time to regroup, process and develop a vision for the upcoming calendar year. It’s in this spirit that I’d like […]
