“So, what do you think this looks like in sales for this year?” It seems like such an innocent question, and in the moment it may be. Once answered, however, it can be the nail in the coffin of a perfectly good growth initiative. I call it the singularity paradox. The language of established business […]
It’s strategy season…that all-important time in the business year when the first portions of an annual plan are taking shape. Plans are also being established for those offsite sessions so new vision targets can be set. The process of setting a near-term target that is in your field of view greatly improves your chances of […]
I’m constantly reminded that people don’t resist change as much as they resist uncertainty. When I first began to lead larger workshops, I quickly learned that I needed to give very clear directions for group activities. How did I know when they were unclear? Just when I expected the group to begin, they would all […]
It’s one of the most exhilarating and rewarding things we do in pilot recurrency training. The instructor puts the plane into an “unusual attitude” while you are looking at the floor to induce a bit of mild vertigo. The instructor then takes the controls and purposely flies a disorienting maneuver and says, “Ok, you’ve got […]
Have you ever spent a lot of time, money and resources on things that appear to be effective in improving your firm’s competitiveness – only to find that your market position has not budged? One of the privileges of the work I do is having the ability to speak with C-level leaders in complex firms. […]
“Walk with me for a minute.” At a session recently, a senior leader asked me to go on a sidebar walk through a windowed view far above the city. “So if I get what you are saying, there are two ways to fall off the path. One is to use the operations side of the […]
“How did my growth team miss something so big in their forecast?” This question came up recently in a conversation with a senior growth leader. She was surprised that the team missed it and very, very unhappy that they would now need to go back to the management board for more resources. Like a well-placed […]
When I walked into the conference room I could sense the tension immediately. One of the groups in the room had developed new and powerful insights and had gotten those insights to the point where they needed real backing to move toward a new service product. The second group was as dug in as […]
Growth projects suffer from being underled and over managed precisely because it takes us to an uncomfortable place for strong operational leaders. I was speaking to a group of senior leaders during a recent workshop on the topic of the STRIDE journey that every significant growth project follows during its execution. As we’ve discussed previously, […]
Let’s set the scene for an all-too common exchange: It’s 6 pm on a Friday. The second shift is already half complete and you’re trying to get home for your kid’s birthday party. Your Architect: “You simply cannot ship with that firmware load. It’s missing a key feature that we will need to do (obscure […]
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