Assessment of the situation to devise a game plan for things to come to fruition.
Anyone who’s sat through a strategic workshop at anytime during the past decade will be familiar with the SWOT analysis. Simply put, it stands for Strengths Weaknesses Opportunities and Threats and has informed not only planning days and leadership forums but also a large majority of the decisions that executive teams have made regarding the […]
Rethinking the S.W.O.T. Analysis Read More »
Ethics brings to mind dusty volumes of impenetrable text, heated arguments that go nowhere, and an overbearing concern with political correctness. But my thirty years as an ethics consultant has taught me something different. Ethics is really about releasing the forces of innovation in an organization. The reason for this is simple. To have ethics
Ethics Feeds Innovation Read More »
The self-help industry and the associated cult of positivity often leave us with an incomplete picture of the environment we find ourselves in. We end up seeing only opportunity without risk and end up relying on hope as a strategy. But just as crucially, this partial view of reality robs us of the positive potential
Why an Enemy is Good for Business Read More »
Peter Senge nailed it in his seminal book, The Fifth Discipline: The Art and Practice of the Learning Organization (1990), when he pointed out that the gravity of the status quo is overwhelmingly more powerful than the drive to change. We have seen leaders and teams get excited about and articulate a future state,
Spotlight on execution: What it really takes to get transformation done Read More »
By Craig W. Ross A common misconception is that consensus is needed among team members to drive high performance. The Rolling Stones were on to something when they sang, “you can’t always get what you want.” But I’ve found that focusing on team collaboration, rather than consensus, helps companies actually get what they need. What’s
Collaboration vs Consensus: You can’t always get what you want Read More »
Companies don’t grow by making a sale. They grow by attracting and retaining customers, which sometimes requires losing a battle to win the war. I was in Atlanta to support a family member who required significant surgery and had selected the doctors at Emory’s Winship Cancer Institute for the procedures. The Atlanta location made sense,
Why a Pyrrhic victory is a great way to lose a customer for life Read More »
By Craig W. Ross Leaders often find themselves in a “war for talent.” They are tasked with acquiring talent, developing their staff and retaining the talent they already have. But, when it comes to retaining and developing talent, perhaps it is important to assess where you have been spending most of your time. Take the
Are you working to retain the wrong talent? Read More »
In the new knowledge economy, the intangibles of connectivity, expertise and relationships can be just as valuable as tangible assets. In such an economy, forward looking CEOs should consider strategic partnerships, which create those intangible asssets, as a great tool for creating sustainable, competitive advantages. However, it has to be the right strategic
How to Successfully Select Strategic Partners Read More »
Congrats on your child’s recent graduation. You were probably fortunate enough to hear a great commencement speaker at a college graduation. Robert De Niro, Maya Rudolph, Jon Bon Jovi, the Obama’s, and Flo from the Progressive Insurance Commercials were all commencement speakers this graduation season. They probably told their young audiences that opportunities were limitless,
David Versus Goliath: 3 Things Parents and Graduates of 2015 Need to Know Read More »
Andy Duncan, Founder, Netslingers Most companies rejoice in gradual steady upward progress in revenues and after-tax profit. But what if an organization wants exponential growth instead? How is that achieved? One essential to realizing extraordinary growth comes from the belief or expectation that it CAN happen. Exceptional results are produced from visionaries who are blind
The 80/20 Principle Multiplied: The Law of the Vital Few Read More »
