Category Archives: Useful Practices & Management Tools

One of the big learnings of the Covid-19 pandemic is that many optimized, efficient process are brittle. For example, supply chains As a reaction to the brittleness, I predict that we will increasingly see organizations charter strategic initiatives to design … Continue reading →

Leadership involves exposing people to new facets of reality and sometimes the facts are presented bluntly. Unsurprisingly, hearing the words “you’re wrong” provokes a defensive reaction. Speaking truth to power can be dangerous, and many people have experienced the truth … Continue reading →

There is strong evidence that conversation is ofttimes a turning point for strategy. Billy Beane’s conversation with Sandy Alderman pointed towards an unorthodox logic that evolved into the underpinnings of the Moneyball strategy. Lou Gerstner’s meeting with Dennie Welsh led … Continue reading →

The future is an essential navigational beacon of strategic thinking. The navigational beacon of insights is just as important. The IBM turnaround is an excellent example of what one insight can do. Gerstner [IBM’s CEO] declared that the services strategy … Continue reading →

As I mentioned in the first chapter, people often use the adjective strategic rhetorically to signify importance. An example is that many people use the adjective strategic to contrast with tactical. The best explanation is that the strategic level is analogous to the brain and the tactical level is analogous … Continue reading →

Organizational culture is relevant to both strategy and operations. Most agree that culture includes a set of shared values (about what is good and bad), beliefs (about the relationships of cause and effect), and assumptions (about the things that can … Continue reading →

It’s an inconvenient truth that many executives are lost, unable to grasp the essential concepts of strategy, crafting it, or conveying it to others.[i] In addition to orientation, maps help you frame and answer questions like these: ·       Where could I go? … Continue reading →

The Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) finds that business acumen trails only leadership and ethics as an essential executive quality. Unfortunately, it is a gauzy and subjective buzzword. I propose a simple evaluation for business acumen. Imagine that an … Continue reading →

I’ve been teaching the idea that the strategic initiative leader (the program manager) functions in the role the Chief Learning Officer (CLO). Here are three essences of the CLO role: Establishing an attitude and culture that is friendly to learning. … Continue reading →

This article will be of particular interest for those readers who want improve their strategic thinking. The advice for you is straightforward: Assume you don’t understand the situation that you’re in. The dangers of the K.I.S.S. Maxim. For most, this … Continue reading →