I’ve had three conversations in the last few weeks with the kind of people you wish you had on your team. These are individuals who have a good, solid track record of contribution and who are seen as leaders by their peers. In fact, you do have them on your team. They are bright, […]
What’s the net present value of each of these two opportunities? Scenario one: Your sales team alerted you first: one of your top ten clients was about to move to a new supplier that offered a dramatically better service. You pulled together the right group of subject matter experts and you got them in the […]
The SR71 (now retired) used to fly its missions 15 miles above the earth – an altitude that allows you to see the coast of California from Arizona. When we talk about organizations and how growth is built within them, sometimes it’s useful to pull way back and get that kind of perspective. By taking […]
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 […]
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 […]
We are all still in a bit of shock over the rapid decline in the market valuation of GE. As of this writing, the stock is hovering at 50 percent of its previous valuations, and a plan has begun to break the company into several pieces. Stock options are underwater and talented people are taking […]
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 […]
“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 […]
I was in a great session recently with mid-sized business owners, and as we were coming back from a break, one of the owners asked a very thoughtful question: “We have a good handle on operations, but we only do strategy sporadically and on demand. As our business gets more complex, how should I be […]
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 […]
