The cycle usually begins with the best of intentions. There is a need for a new product, with the team being asked to explore a new market or job to be done. Initially, there is a release of energy and new thinking, which is documented in flip charts, PowerPoints and (eventually) phase zero specs. […]
We were in the middle of a large-scale turnaround project. I had recently been selected to serve as operations director, and when we reviewed the full line P&L, it wasn’t pretty. Not only were we losing money, but the problems were numerous and multi-layered. They included things like legacy products that were losing money at […]
You lead a global P&L and are on the fast track for senior executive leadership. You are known for making hard trade-off decisions (you got through ‘08) and somehow find resources for new products, marketing spends, and distribution. When you are in your core space of your P&L, all is well. You are confident, have […]
The talent shortage that we all knew was in the offing has arrived, and with it, the need to quickly accelerate promising candidates in the leadership pipeline. With 10,000 baby boomers retiring each day, we know we need to equip the mid-senior talent we have in our firms as quickly as possible. This has led […]
I was working with a senior leader on a recent call who was debating about whether they should set up dedicated innovation labs and was looking for insights on how they might be structured. This is a very common question when people look carefully at the implementation needs for their strategies. At the outset, it […]
I’m a huge fan of the Marvel Universe driven movies and TV series that have emerged from the dusty archives to modern updated looks and characters. One of the reasons for their immense popularity is that the storytelling is fiction that is so relatable to real life. Yes, there are superpowers and out-of-this-world special […]
I’ve had opportunities recently to work with several larger clients and attend a number of conferences in my core spaces of manufacturing, energy and materials. As I listen to comments about talent, scale and process, it’s clear that there has been a shift. First, let’s just say that we are all really busy. The talent […]
It’s a constant cycle in sports. After the completion of the championship cycle, there is a draft. Rookie players are chosen, then free agents (experienced players) are bid on and a preliminary roster is set. It’s then that the war games begin. Each team tries to outguess each other’s strategy by looking at who has […]
We have an interesting case study playing out right now: Ford Motor Company has had three recent waves of leadership changes that give evidence to the demands of leading a large mature firm into what has become a classic set of trade offs between optimizing the current business model and creating the next. For those […]
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, […]
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