Now that you know the value of growth leaders and how to spot the good ones, what do you do to keep them engaged? Entire books have been written on this topic, but let me touch on three key areas from my experience. 1) Ask them to go into new places and learn new things […]
The global financial crisis of 2008 shifted the business world in a fundamental way. Today, it’s no longer sufficient to have a stream of products or a portfolio of solutions; to be effective and vibrant in this new world, you need a portfolio of business models. Business model engineering is done by a new breed […]
Finding someone with just the right combination of qualities to lead a growth project for your organization can be tough. To make matters worse, they can be hiding right under your nose in the most unlikely of places. The search for under-the-radar growth leaders is not unlike the story of the Detroit-based musician Rodriguez — […]
This is the sixth and final post aimed at helping you map your external and internal environments. To recap, we have found that the external environment is understandable and runs on very long, predictable waves of discovery and implementation. By studying these change waves, you can time your investments to be in the Growth […]
Note: This is the fifth of a 6-part series, How to Harness the Power of Change Waves to Accelerate Growth. In this post, I continue my focus on understanding what your organization can do internally to capitalize on external change cycles. It is essential to know your organization’s exact position in its internal change cycle. […]
In my ebook, the Growth Zone, I detail the four major strategic directions available to companies that are seeking growth. Quadrant 1: the Optimization Zone – This is where a company improves effectiveness and efficiency of its core offerings. In other words, the existing uses of your product by existing customers. Quadrant 2: the Growth Zone – […]
One of the great things about the technology business is that you invent your company’s assets by harnessing the global brain power of your enterprise. A few years back, Strategy+Business published their annual survey of the 1000 companies in the world that spent the most on R&D. What they found has important implications for innovators […]
Something amazing happens when large market forces and high-quality research come together in your product development process — a wave of innovation moves through your company, lifting up and carrying the ripest ideas all the way to market without losing their freshness and vitality. However, most companies are actually doing the opposite — they are […]
I believe that continuous innovation is the key to a vital firm. Yet in looking for areas to innovate, many business leaders steer clear of markets adjacent to large companies, worried that the big guys will crowd them out. In times of economic pressure, however, these markets can create very fertile ground for new growth […]
