It may be surprising that it has taken us until our fourth installment to talk about who is actually doing the work. However, experience shows us that without good leadership, structure and a clear mandate, it won’t matter how good the team members are – the project will not reap the return you’re looking for. […]
If you’re like me, the year has flown by. Yet, there were moments in 2014 where engagement, clarity and challenge created a punctuated moment that is worth reflecting on. For this post, I want to share 12 of the most recent posts that, based on feedback I’ve received, triggered those events for you, my regular […]
This is the time of year when senior leaders in organizations of all sizes lock in their annual plans and go home with visions of sugarplums dancing in their heads. Unfortunately, by the middle of January (in most cases), it’s painfully clear that the warmth of the plan has turned out more like the opening scene […]
A recent study puts the innovation success rate in more than half of large enterprises at 25 percent. Today, I’d like to share one of the major ways to ensure your organization does much better than that. This is the third in a five-post series on how to build a cross-functional team that delivers. If […]
This is the second in a five-post series on how to build a cross-functional team that delivers. If you missed the first post in this series, you can find it here. If you have done your homework using the process we’ve discussed in previous newsletters, you are now ready to put your plans into place. […]
This is the first in a five post series on how to build a cross-functional team that delivers. If you have done your homework using the process we’ve discussed in previous newsletters, you are now ready to put your plans into place. The first step in this process is selecting your leader. An effective growth […]
Every growth leader is sooner or later faced with the challenge of turning a minority opinion into the majority viewpoint. Typically, the innovator will have had time to develop the innovation in a very small group environment, where it has become clear that it is an idea worthy of commitment from the larger enterprise. The enterprise […]
I was having a great conversation with a well-connected senior executive coach who works with Fortune 50 firms on the West Coast, and the conversation turned to the faltering innovation that quickly follows when the senior team leaders cannot agree. There is nothing that freezes a team like senior leaders at odds over strategy and […]
Our family loves water parks, and one of our favorites is in the Wisconsin Dells at a place called Noah’s Ark. They have a 10-story high waterslide there called The Point Of No Return, and after you’ve ridden it a time or two, you know exactly why. The ride starts with a 40-meter vertical drop, […]
Please take a minute to watch this amazing video. It’s a very moving story about how a poor community of 2,500 people living on a landfill in Paraguay spotted an opportunity to create instruments from trash. Aside from being an incredibly inspiring story, there are some powerful lessons here about innovation and the ability to […]
