This week a colleague phoned, and after a moment of reconnection, shared a traumatic moment on an internal growth project. Long story short, there was a direct public challenge to their growth leadership in carrying out a key task. When I listened carefully to what the challenge was and its context, I recognized it to […]
I’ve worked as a practitioner, and currently as an advisor, in a very specific niche where I guide those leaders who are accountable for driving the growth of their firms. This might be the CEO of a smaller firm, or perhaps a member of the executive staff or a team for a large firm charged […]
One of the privileges of working with dozens of enterprises on their business growth around the world is seeing the intrinsic skills of what I have come to call their key “Growth Leaders.” By Growth Leader, I mean someone who regardless of the external factors of the business, is fantastic at finding the underlying emergent […]
I’ve been working with the senior team of a large public firm on developing vibrancy in their growth and renewal programs. One of the executives is ready to take the key role in leading a large scale new initiative with enterprise level impact, and asked me for some coaching on how the task changes from […]
The theme of the 2016 SCPD conference was innovating at the speed of teams. Futurist Cecily Sommers keynoted and closed the session, providing great continuity to the other thought leaders and panelists. (You’ll find the full agenda here and here) I came away from the conference energized to help firms take on value creation with […]
I was having coffee with senior co-leads of a large growth effort, and the question they had for me was, “how do we know if we’ve assembled the right team?” When you get a question like that, you know the answer is yes, they have a problem. I asked them some questions, and it led […]
I have been working with a couple of clients who have re-organized from a founder owner structure into an ESOP structure. ESOP (Employee Stock Ownership Plans) have been around since the late 1950’s, but have recently taken on a much bigger role, as many founders of private firms are moving towards retirement and wish to […]
It happens every year: March Madness. Every year during this college basketball tournament, many of us enjoy watching the brackets, mascots and last-minute nail biting contests that lead the season’s best and most polished to the Final Four – and ultimately the championship. Just like in college basketball, there is no more fundamental key to […]
I was sitting with the team in a bar after a great workshop. You know the feeling: 100’s of Post-It notes, lots of flip charts, the frameworks click and you know you’ve identified the right project. The topic then turned to taking the next steps. Specifically, establishing the team and execution. I always wince when […]
I had a chance to speak with a growth leader at a mid-sized firm last week who was working on a cross business unit breakthrough program. He asked a great question: how do I know when a firm has chosen the wrong project? Here are five of the key indicators that you are on […]
