We’ve all been in that meeting. You know, the one where you’re planning the upcoming year and, inevitably, the operating team wants to take on programs with the highest chance of return — the low-hanging fruit. But as the senior leader in the room, your intuition is telling you to sponsor one of the projects […]
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 […]
This is the sixth and final post aimed at helping you map your external and internal environments. To recap, we have found that the external environment is understandable and runs on very long, predictable waves of discovery and implementation. By studying these change waves, you can time your investments to be in the Growth […]
In my ebook, the Growth Zone, I detail the four major strategic directions available to companies that are seeking growth. Quadrant 1: the Optimization Zone – This is where a company improves effectiveness and efficiency of its core offerings. In other words, the existing uses of your product by existing customers. Quadrant 2: the Growth Zone – […]
One of the great things about the technology business is that you invent your company’s assets by harnessing the global brain power of your enterprise. A few years back, Strategy+Business published their annual survey of the 1000 companies in the world that spent the most on R&D. What they found has important implications for innovators […]
Something amazing happens when large market forces and high-quality research come together in your product development process — a wave of innovation moves through your company, lifting up and carrying the ripest ideas all the way to market without losing their freshness and vitality. However, most companies are actually doing the opposite — they are […]
Like so many others in our field, I devoured the Isaacson biography of Steve Jobs the moment it hit the shelves. I was struck by just how far Jobs was from our current managerial ideal, being as he was notoriously difficult and exacting in his vision. Many thousands of hours of managerial training have been […]
