I watched boxing for the first time -- and look what I learned
Floyd appeared mostly defensive – often simply thrusting his left arm in the air as if he was merely practicing. Manny, on the other hand, appeared to show frequent aggression. I looked for the...
View ArticleWhere he once collected food stamps, Jan returned to sign a $19B deal
Jan Koum toiled at Yahoo for nearly ten years. His attempt to get a job at Facebook was turned down. Jan developed WhatsApp. The number of users quickly surged to hundreds of millions. This time...
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Design lessons: the world's biggest publication is not a magazine
Some of the "books" that taught me design lessons in the 80s were IKEA catalogs! Today IKEA catalogs come in 32 languages and 67 versions. At 217 million copies, the IKEA catalog is probably the...
View ArticleAnd the trend is: Thinkers and creators are becoming the source of business...
Human capital is growing more valuable every day, in every business. An increasing number of people are becoming thinkers and creators. Even a manufacturer like Stryker gets 70% of its value from...
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Drive up customer outcomes. Meet James Dodkins at the Club.
I caught up with James Dodkins and he was happy to answer a few questions. James is a consultant and thought-leader in customer experience and process improvement. His clients are well-known...
View ArticleWho said, if it isn’t impossible, there must be a way to do it?
In 1938, a London stockbroker canceled his skiing vacation to Switzerland. Instead, he organized a daring rescue of 669 kids — from Hitler. He then took care of them. A lot of Brits volunteered to...
View ArticleHow to stop IT from going under: McKinsey's suggestion versus mine
Business and IT executives continue to worry. Based on McKinsey's 2015 survey, their article "Why CIOs should be business-strategy partners" reports that executives’ current perceptions of IT...
View ArticleGoogle's great. The restructured Google should not give up what made it great.
Making money is not hard (you've seen a lot of ugly companies in the world make big money). Here's what's hard: making money by offering great products/services via a great workplace culture.Google is...
View ArticleCompanies that moved to BT are winning, research shows
Forrester Research has slightly redefined BT (business technology), but they continue to champion the move from IT to BT for one basic purpose: business success. A research they conducted shows that...
View ArticleHow design thinking gave my employer an early advantage
For a while, “design thinking” was business world’s most fashionable concept. Companies tried it, sent their employees for training, and so on. Then things changed. Now Google’s frequently used search...
View ArticleDoes treating employees well hurt the bottom line?
In many cultures (mostly non-Western), top management denies basic employee rights or even basic human rights because they believe this is how they can grow and make profits. WRONG.Companies on...
View ArticleStrategy: keeping focus while widening product range
Two examples ...1. Carlos Ghosn wants to move Nissan from good to great. His STRATEGY: “mobility for all.” By that he means, being present in every market in the world and in every segment in every...
View ArticleStrategy Map: the Marriott example
Talking about Marriott's much-admired employee-first culture, CEO Arne Sorenson says that this culture "drives loyalty of our folks, which drives better service, which drives customer preference. which...
View ArticleWe know very little about strategy translation
Today we may know what strategy means, but "we know a lot less about translating a strategy into results (HBR, March 2015)." Here, strategy translation means strategy execution. The latter comprises...
View ArticleWould Cleveland Clinic have gone from good to great without Kara's political...
CEO of the mighty Cleveland Clinic, Dr Toby Cosgrove is a pioneering surgeon who had operated on over 22,000 patients. He just finished delivering a speech to Harvard students.The students admired the...
View ArticleVolkswagen success: thanks to its strategy
At a time when Volkswagen is battling dozens of lawsuits, I'm talking about what made the company great. Bad timing perhaps, but why stop learning from the company's strength?Volkswagen owes its...
View ArticleRewarding for delivering results: lessons from Texas
Two examples ...1. Texas-based firm Ryan: "Over half the employees at this tax-prep firm have compensation linked to the results achieved for clients"2. Another Texas-based firm Hilcorp: "Outrageous...
View ArticleLeadership: your teammates your enemies?
Imagine you are interviewing a potential candidate to lead a department in your company and he says, "I consider some of the folks in that department my enemies." This is a most unlikely comment in a...
View ArticlePrice for compassion? Or price for absence of leadership?
Compassion is a beautiful rare thing. European countries allowed hundreds of thousands of migrants. The US leadership too is bringing migrants. In European media you may have watched how the host...
View ArticleWhy execution rarely delivers on strategy's promise
"Research indicates that relatively few firms execute their strategies effectively, and, on average, companies deliver just 50% to 60% of the financial performance that their strategies promise." -...
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