It’s very common in mid-sized firms and larger: when a big review is coming up, particularly with the analyst community or a larger customer, there is a need to have a few slides that position the firm as a leader. The R&D team is tapped for “some content” and many times a project is dusted […]
Which is more challenging: the internal organizational resistance or market resistance? A portion of my work is spent with cohorts of upwardly mobile, mid-senior leaders who are developing their growth programs as part of their commitment to professional development. One of them asked me this question during a recent coaching session, and as usual, it […]
It’s that moment. It’s among the hardest things that growth leaders need to do. After discovering and validating a new product or service (which seems like the hard part), they need to bring the people on board that can help scale and integrate the offering. This is the point when many strong and well-built new […]
It’s that moment. It’s when you are given that target for next year, and suddenly you feel a tenseness in your upper back. It’s the “stretch goal,” and if you were doing athletics it might be fun, but in the context of your P&L leadership, this is a goal that if you miss it, the […]
If it wasn’t real, it could have been off a movie set. I walked and walked…past the administrative and waiting area and inside the office. I had never seen anything quite like this: enormous inlaid desk, conference table, glass cases full of expensive travel artifacts and carpet so thick you had to be careful not […]
I was giving a talk recently and the topic of cycle time reduction came up. It’s a historical fact that after Six Sigma, Motorola took on a very aggressive corporate program to reduce product development cycle time. We used a methodology that set a targeted reduction over a six-year time interval. To set the bar […]
My CFO client was lamenting the pace of progress on their innovation programs during a recent 1:1 session. I had an inkling that I knew what might be going on, so I asked her to show me the portfolio of project work they were funding for the current year. And there it was. Some background: […]
No kidding – This is the information I wish someone would have shared with me early in my leadership career. It would have saved me a massive amount of time, effort and resources both personally and professionally. If you’re leading a growth program that has significant new-to-your-company elements, I know the exact path you are […]
Just last week I had a chance to meet a senior leader from a manufacturing firm for an introductory discussion. As we began talking, I could tell she was coming from a day of hard tactical work, and we’d need to elevate our viewpoint to get to the insight she was looking for. The topic […]
A firm launches a new in-vehicle data service based on supplying relevant information to the passenger’s preferences. Traffic signal coordination is driven by an intelligent algorithm that takes into account time of day, ambient atmospheric pollution and congestion. A smart home system allows your content to follow you out of your house and into your […]
