I’ve done several diagnostic projects this year, and each time we are well into it, someone always asks about the essential items and nice to haves. Frequently this question comes up when the team has hit a rough spot and they are trying to recover. In other words, is there a short list that will […]
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 […]
Something absolutely unique happens during the execution of a growth program: on the one hand, it’s exhilarating in its novelty and the new ground being tilled. You are out talking to new clients, industry gatekeepers and thought leaders. Because of this, projects are usually led by those who enjoy stepping up to the challenge and […]
I was in a room full of mid-senior leaders recently, helping them do the work of building transformation projects for their firms. We use a playbook I’ve developed called Right Project, Right Team, Right Plan, which allows them to go from having a solid idea to a scalable plan. With a plan in place, then […]
This month, I had a chance to attend the Water Summit in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The purpose of the conference is to draw out the leaders from government, industry and academia to build a foundation of dialogue around an issue that is hard to find actionable agreement on: the availability of abundant, clean water for the […]
I was facilitating a group of senior leaders in a workshop environment recently and the dialogue turned to accounting. A strange twist in an innovation session? Not really, as we were talking about how the accounting systems we have in place today are based on the Taylor factory model. It was a model that made […]
I was leading a workshop last month, and we reached the point where we were working on the participants’ projects. We were working in the STRIDE framework and sharing how to build a high-integrity project that makes the risk-taking transparent to both the team and management. This is always a big moment in the workshop, […]
We were running a workshop and the teams had gotten their projects up on the walls using flip charts. As I walked around, I saw solid work, but it was short of inspiring – a critical quality in this age of distraction and competition if a project is going to find its way to full […]
Imagine this scenario: a small plane takes off in a gorgeous mountain area at a lower altitude with the intention of doing some sightseeing and begins to explore the upslope scenery. While taking in the beauty and enjoying the day, some subtle things are happening that reduce their safety minute by minute. First, the higher […]
The view was amazing. The conference room was on the top floor overlooking the corporate campus – you could see for miles. It was here that I, along with two subject matter experts, were set to meet with the global P&L owner of the largest and most mature business in their multi-billion dollar portfolio. As […]
