One of the key activities we do during our Compete Growth Leader workshops is to play a bit of a game. As the group gains insight into both the core strengths and opportunities embedded in the Four Key Capacities of Growth Leadership, we begin to apply them to real-world situations. As the work progresses in […]
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 common refrain during aviation training: aviate, navigate, communicate. Flight instructors drill this mantra into pilots because it gives an instant prioritization of the things they should be working on at a given moment during flight. The enemy of safety is pilot overload and distraction, and this mantra provides a quick way to get […]
I was working with a senior leader on a recent call who was debating about whether they should set up dedicated innovation labs and was looking for insights on how they might be structured. This is a very common question when people look carefully at the implementation needs for their strategies. At the outset, it […]
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’m a huge fan of the Marvel Universe driven movies and TV series that have emerged from the dusty archives to modern updated looks and characters. One of the reasons for their immense popularity is that the storytelling is fiction that is so relatable to real life. Yes, there are superpowers and out-of-this-world special […]
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 […]
“In business, there are two ways to make money. You can bundle, or you can unbundle.” –Jim Barksdale, Former CEO, Netscape For shrewd readers of the business cycle arc, there are opportunities coming forward that deserve some serious consideration. The drivers of these opportunities are there in plain site, yet many firms I talk to […]
