It only takes a cursory search of many of the leading management strategy journals and periodicals to figure out that this notion of ‘innovation’ is on the mind of many senior and influential leaders within the business world and has been for quite a while now. We are finding however that with a presumed lack of … Continue reading The Danger of an Ideation-only Innovation Strategy
I suffer from this. I am guilty of often investing too much time to make something “perfect”. I remember the president of a company that had acquired mine years back who was known to often say, “don’t let perfect be the enemy of good”. I used to think, “yes, but our clients pay us substantial sums to be … Continue reading Perfectly Imperfect
Have you ever worked in a company that seemed to change of the sake of change? Maybe they are continually and overly influenced by the latest article in Harvard Business Review such that every month brings with it a new strategy, vision or focus? I find that all too often the goal is to simply create change in … Continue reading Harnessing Change
I don't mean to be abstract, but I wonder sometimes if lack of engagement with (or even awareness of) Corporate Strategy has something to do with our delivery and positioning, and much less with the message itself. Vitruvius' three principles of firmitatis utilitatis venustatis, from his semenal work De Architectura, roughly translates as durability (it should be robust), utility … Continue reading Why can’t Strategy be Inspiring?
If there is one thing missing from so many otherwise great organizations I’ve worked with, it is strategy execution. Many managers understand that a strategy is essential for success over the long-run, but surprisingly few are capable of mapping that to operational terms meaningful to the rest of the organization.Robert Kaplan (co-creator of the Balanced Scorecard) suggests that … Continue reading It’s all about Strategy Execution