In Henry IV Part 1, Owen Glendover, the leader of the Welsh rebels joins the insurrection against King Henry. Glendower, a man steeped in the traditional lore of Wales, claims to command great magic. Therefore, mysterious and superstitious, he sometimes acts in response to prophecies and omens. In the play, Glendover boasts to Hotspur, “I […]
Ten Ways to Tie a Strong Strategy to an Equally Strong Succession Plan Read More »
On August 2, 2016 the Rio Olympics gave us a gift—the perfect metaphor for the intersection of absurdity and danger—a kayaker capsized after hitting a rogue sofa in Guanabara Bay. Apparently, although highly skilled and highly trained, this particular kayaker had no knowledge or training for what he should do should he encounter submerged furniture
The Importance of Couching Your Strategy Read More »
Sanjiv Anand, Chairman, Cedar Management Consulting International Who owns the formulation of a company’s strategy and who owns the execution? These may seem like simple questions, but I can assure you confusion exists on these topics. To a large extent, the lack of clarity in answering these questions also contributes to the failure in designing a strategy
Picking Owners of Strategic Objectives — Four Executives Don’t Run a Company Read More »
Ask most people what business they’re in and they’ll likely tell you what they do for a living. Some will define themselves by the product they produce or the services they provide, others will default to their job title or their role as a way of defining their business. The problem with these definitions is
Do You Know the Business You’re Really In? Read More »
Dr Yahya Shakweh A recent Harvard survey, of nearly 700 executives across a variety of industries concluded that very few top companies, less than 18%, can be rated very effective at either strategy or execution. Only 8% are very effective at both, while 63% were rated neutral or worse on at least one aspect. According to this survey,
7 Winning Habits of Strategy & Execution Mastery Read More »
John Dowling A vision without value is a pipe dream. Let’s examine some real life success stories as examples of what value has meant to these successful visionary ideas. Starbucks Opening a coffee shop in the United States and then franchising it 30 years ago seemed like a vision conceived by looking out of your
Does your vision add value? Read More »
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 »
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 »
I love the presidential primary season. Most Americans say they hate it, but I love it for Donald Trump, Ted Cruz, Mike Huckabee, and even Bernie Sanders and his 90% tax proposal. The Donald is used to saying whatever he wants, whenever he wants to say it. So in his speech to announce his “candidacy”
Why I Love the Presidential Primary Season: So Many Lessons to be Learned Read More »
Often by mid-year New Year’s resolution and strategic targets have long been abandoned. To prevent this, adjustments to the strategy should happen continually and consistently, but there’s no better time to check your course than now. To determine if your well-laid plans have gone asunder, ask yourself these essential questions: 1. To what extent is
Essential Mid-Course Corrections Read More »
