9 hours agoMember-onlyThese 4 Simple Rules WIll Make You Exponentially More Effective And ProductiveShortly after I first arrived at college, my wrestling coach told my teammates and me that we would all be attending a freshman technique camp. It turned out to be something quite different than what I had expected. He didn’t teach us any advanced or esoteric method, but instead demonstrated…Excellence6 min readExcellence6 min read
Dec 2Member-onlyWe Need To Take A More Evidence-Based Approach For Transformation And ChangeIn The Knowing Doing Gap by Jeffrey Pfeffer and Bob Sutton, the two Stanford professors show, in painstaking detail, that most enterprises fail to act on what they know. They point out that many are set up to reinforce the status quo, because mastering conventional wisdom is key to advancement. …Transformation6 min readTransformation6 min read
Nov 25Member-onlyWhat Makes A Strategy “Good?”One of the most frustrating statements I come across is that “we had a good strategy, but just couldn’t execute it.” That’s nonsense. Obviously, if you couldn’t execute, there were some important factors that you didn’t take into account. You miscalculated in some significant way. …Strategy6 min readStrategy6 min read
Nov 18Member-onlyMake These 3 Cultural Shifts To Reignite Change In Your OrganizationOn a cold November day in 2013, frustrated by recent events in Ukraine, a journalist named Mustafa Nayyem posted to Facebook, “Okay guys, let’s get serious. Who’s ready to go to the Maidan today at midnight? ‘Likes’ will not be counted. Only comments under this post with the words ‘I’m…Tranformation6 min readTranformation6 min read
Nov 11Member-onlyIf You Want To Innovate, Learn To Say “No”Pundits tell us that the world is increasingly volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous. It’s the VUCA gospel. Under the banner of “innovate or die,” massive transformation projects are being kicked off constantly. Executives around the world scramble to reorganize and reinvent their organizations, only to reorganize and reinvent them again. …Innovation5 min readInnovation5 min read
Nov 4Member-onlyWhy VUCA Is (Mostly) A Myth“Imagine, if you will, a factory as clean, spacious and continuously operating as a hydroelectric plant. The production floor is barren of men,” Fortune magazine declared in its November 1946 issue. Soon the world entered a new world of mass production and mass retail. …Disruption6 min readDisruption6 min read
Oct 28Member-onlyIf You Care About Change, You Need To Learn To Leverage Shared Values. Here’s Why:When Lou Gerstner took over at IBM in 1993, the century-old tech giant was on its knees. Many thought it should be broken up into smaller, more focused companies. Others had different ideas. …Transformation6 min readTransformation6 min read
Oct 21Member-onlyIt’s Usually Better To Be Careful Than SmartNot too long ago, I had a post about the danger of trusting your feelings go viral on LinkedIn. The reason it was so popular wasn’t necessarily that everyone liked it, but because many wanted to voice their disapproval. …Leadership6 min readLeadership6 min read
Oct 14Member-onlyWe Need To Think Less Like Engineers And More Like GardenersIn February, 1919, the famous philosopher Bertrand Russell received a card from his former student, Ludwig Wittgenstein, who was at that time in an Italian prison camp. “I’ve written a book which will be published as soon as I get home,” he would say in subsequent correspondence. …Science6 min readScience6 min read
Oct 7Member-onlyWhy Business Leaders Need To Learn About Social And Political MovementsBusiness leaders have long been fascinated by the military. When Alfred Sloan created the modern corporation at General Motors, he based it on the army. In Wall Street, the antihero Gordon Gecko habitually quoted Sun Tzu. Retired generals like Stanley McChrystal earn huge fees advising CEOs and speaking to corporate…Transformation6 min readTransformation6 min read