Planning for a Plan
The annual operating plan is a necessary evil that many executives participate in only through various levels of coercion. Like a flu shot, it’s supposed to be good for you but you’re never really...
View ArticleA Master of Surprise!
Truly outstanding businesses seek to consistently delight their clients. They do this by exceeding expectations. Of course to exceed expectations you first have to set them. So the art of delighting...
View ArticleQuick! It’s Now “First to File” in the US!
Did you know that March 16th marks a major milestone for patent reform in the USA? On that date, the USA patent system will transition from “first to invent” to “first to file” (the way it’s done in...
View ArticleFire!
I woke up at 4 am to the smell of smoke. Then came the pounding on the front door. I stumbled downstairs and pulled back some curtains to see horrible flames bursting from the windows of our...
View ArticleThe Toughest Decisions
You’d imagine that the toughest decisions would be about difficult topics. For example, deciding to proceed with an organizational downsizing is bound to be heart wrenching. However, as painful as it...
View ArticleThe Paranoid Survive But The Optimistic Thrive
Andy Grove, the former President and CEO of Intel, in his classic book on leadership, warns managers to watch out for Strategic Inflection Points that change the competitive landscape of their...
View ArticleWorking With Frameworks
We’ve all got problems of some sort. Business problems. Career problems. Personal problems. It seems that we spend our lives bumping from one problem to another. Yet how often do we really think...
View ArticleToo Nice
“We’ve got a lot of good folks on our team”, said the senior executive. “But there are a few people who’ve been around for awhile and just aren’t making the grade.” I asked the obvious question. “Why...
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Feeling Like You’re Doing Good
There are things you can do that make a difference to your business and things that don’t. Worse still, there are things that feel like they make a difference but don’t. When you have a big problem...
View ArticleIncreasing Pay Satisfaction Without More Compensation Spending
Many managers have had to deal with an employee complaint about pay. Compensation can be a contentious issue, so managers frequently turn to HR to figure out how to give a salary increase to a valued...
View ArticleDealing With The Basics
Since Groupon famously turned down a $6B bid from Google, a lot has happened in the ‘daily deals’ space. Groupon’s growth surpassed nearly every Internet start-up in history. Their impressive...
View ArticleDriving Your BHAG
Recently at a get-together with a few friends the conversation veered onto the topic of society’s goals and accomplishments. One of my friends shared a debate he’d just had with his father about the...
View ArticleSupply Chain Evolution
Recently, I was speaking to some public sector managers on the evolution of the supply chain in the private sector. Coincidently, my speech occurred just as Royal Bank of Canada made front-page news...
View ArticleA Good Environment For An Innovation Badass
Ever Googled “How to be a Badass”? I did while doing some research on models for innovation in big quasi-public sector organizations. One entry that caught my eye was Justine Musk’s blog “18 Not So...
View ArticleThe Compassionate Organization
Parents teach children to be compassionate. Religions extol the virtues of compassion. But I’m not aware of the subject being taught in any business school. That’s a shame (in more ways than one)...
View ArticleTradeshows With a Twist
There we were, two marketing warhorses swapping stories over scotch one evening. The conversation swung to tradeshows. My colleague had just returned from a series of shows across North America and,...
View ArticleThe Explorer And The Swamp Drainer
This is a business fable about two colleagues who tried to achieve something great but never made it. They showed flashes of brilliance and often enjoyed working together, but they drove each other...
View ArticleAdvice That Made A Difference
“Look to your right, and look to your left. The people beside you are going to be involved in your career for the rest of your professional life.” This advice was something Terry Matthews once said at...
View ArticleHow To Become A Thought Leader
In Marketing, “thought leadership” is the use of expert content created by subject matter experts to engage prospective clients in a way that clearly demonstrates your value. Promoting expertise is a...
View ArticleBrand Valuation
“How do I place a financial value on my brand?” the CEO asked. I was like a deer caught in the glare of headlights. What kind of question was that? It was like asking “What’s the value of my financial...
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