It’s a familiar part of life’s journey that I’m currently experiencing up close and personally: I’m helping a close relative downsize their home as they prepare for the next stage of life. The good news, is that this person is really excited about the change – and the focus that their smaller and more specific […]
I recall it like it was yesterday: walking through a massive, class 10 clean room we had built for the extraordinary demands of cellular componentry. I had the privilege of being there when it was commissioned, and in what seemed like 15 minutes, when it was no longer relevant. That time was measured in years […]
Having been on both coasts, as well as Canada, to meet with multiple clients has confirmed something I’ve been hearing for awhile: demand is up and businesses are seeing a resurgence in their top lines. With the structures they’re using to fulfill business demands close to capacity, as well as an ongoing talent shortage, it’s […]
When answering the question in the title, the answer that comes to mind first is to hire more people. But as we’ll dive into below, there’s a lot more to it than that. Some of my recent travels have provided me the opportunity to spend time with more than a dozen CEO’s of growing mid-sized […]
I’ve had a chance to speak for and facilitate several private sessions for groups of senior executives. The goal of these sessions is to help them develop the structure needed to efficiently develop and execute growth work. At the beginning of each session, I ask a series of questions designed to gather insight about the […]
I received more insights from readers this week on the article I wrote about the sponsorship of growth projects in complicated organizations. Many of them pointed to the fact that, even with sponsors, their cross-functional teams face challenges moving from the lab to the marketplace – especially at one consistent point in the value chain. […]
I’ve had three conversations recently with Growth Leaders at firms in unrelated industries, all with the same set of circumstances: each project had a solid approach, had done their market and product homework and had good early feedback. The projected ROI’s were above each of the firm’s benchmarks. Yet when they put these programs […]
It’s a very, very common dialogue in the work I do as a strategic advisor. The discussion usually starts with a firm citing all the new tools they have purchased and implemented into their firm to “solve the innovation problem.” It’s clear that the firm has invested and worked hard to build in some […]
It’s a siren song that many corporate innovators succumb to – competing with the venture-backed VC startups for the newest and edgiest applications. On the surface, it feels safe: we have our core business, and will be adding some fresh “capability” in this new area and “testing” a new business model. It will also give […]
I’ve been having a great season of connecting with many clients and colleagues and it’s given me a great opportunity to think deeply about how to work with you and your teams so that you can take your results to the next level. A really important dialogue thread that has come up several ways is […]
