Leadership

Creativity: The New Leadership Imperative

Last week I wrote about how the IBM report, “Capitalizing on Complexity: Insights from the Global Chief Executive Study,” suggested that a majority of CEOs around the globe felt ill-prepared to deal with the increasing complexity in today’s business world. In response to this finding, IBM asked business leaders to prioritize the three most important…

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Time For a Project Premortem?

In most organizations, it’s common practice to conduct “postmortem” or lessons learned review sessions upon completion of major projects. If the project achieved its goal, management questions typically focus on what went right. “What did we do well? How can we sustain this success? What could we improve to make the outcome even better?” If…

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Making the Leap to Disruptive Innovation

Does your organization struggle to innovate on a consistent basis? If so, you may want to get your customers involved. Innovative companies have always intuitively understood the importance of customer feedback. But now there’s evidence that strongly suggests that direct customer involvement in the new product development process can make a real difference in your…

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Are Your Thought Bubbles Killing Your Strategic Plan?

Those who follow my blog or have heard me speak to business groups and conventions know that I constantly talk about the dangers of MSU, or making stuff up. Making stuff up occurs when we listen to the thought bubbles inside our heads that tell us the world must be a certain way; when we…

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Are You A Wand Waver?

Imagine if Hogwarts, the mythical school of magic and sorcery in the Harry Potter books, taught strategic planning. You could use enchanted mirrors to gaze into the future with unerring accuracy. You could conjure up potions for warding off evil competitors, recite charms for turning lousy products into perennial moneymakers, and chant incantations for rendering…

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The Five “Must-Have” Elements of a Strategic Plan

Strategic planning methodologies are like shoes – one size does not fit all. Some companies use a top-down, autocratic approach, where the plan gets created by a small group of senior managers and handed down to the rest of the organization. Some prefer a more democratic approach, with employees at all levels contributing their ideas…

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Your Own Personal Development Scorecard

Today’s business leaders understand the importance of growing their people. They know that with so many demands on everyone’s time, employees won’t acquire the knowledge and skills needed to move the company forward unless management makes people development a strategic priority. Accordingly, smart leaders take the time to set clear performance expectations with each person…

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The Secret Sauce For Successful Implementation

We are pleased to have a guest Blog by Miki Saxon, RampUp Solutions while Holly is off on vacation! How many times during your career have you attended training, or read a book, that offered tools and taught techniques that fired you up only to find yourself unable to implement them? A frustrating experience and…

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The Secret Sauce For Successful Implementation

We are pleased to have a guest blog by Miki Saxon, RampUp Solutions while Holly is off on vacation! How many times during your career have you attended training, or read a book, that offered tools and taught techniques that fired you up only to find yourself unable to implement them? A frustrating experience and…

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Trust: The New Business Imperative

Social media and trust are two concepts not often used in the same sentence. But in a linked-in world where applications and sites including YouTube, Facebook and Twitter are rapidly changing the way people communicate with each other, social media and trust will play increasingly important roles in determining how your company is perceived by…

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Are You Clear On Where You Are Going?

Creating Your Destination Statement: How to Get From Here to Where You Want to Go When Roger Bannister was attempting to become the first athlete to break the four-minute mile, all the “experts” told him it was impossible. Some even suggested he risked death by pushing his body beyond human limits. Of course, we now…

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How to Inform, Inspire and Engage Employees in Today’s World

Have you ever noticed that no matter how much some things change, others remain the same? The modern workplace has changed almost beyond recognition, yet, many companies still manage their employees as if we were in the 80’s. Twenty-five years ago, managers basically gave employees tasks to complete, providing only as much detail as needed…

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