strategy

Are You Pausing to Just Look?

Have you seen those Magic Eye 3D books? I came across one recently, and they are amazing!  Each book contains two-dimensional pictures that look like nothing more than random patterns repeated over and over again across the page. But – and here’s where the magic occurs – when you focus the eyes in a certain…

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Prove Yourself Wrong to Get Your Plan Right

  One of our greatest strengths as adult humans is to the ability to “prove” ourselves right.  We do it in many different ways. First, we constantly look for evidence that supports what we believe to be true. At the same time, we actively block out data that contradicts our prevailing point of view, making…

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Are You Ready to Win in 2014?

Did you blink and 2013 zipped right by? Don’t worry, it happened to me too. Which means it’s now time to start getting ready to win in 2014! Here are the top five things you can do to prepare your organization to win in the year ahead. 1. Get clear on winning (your destination). Specifically,…

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Five Steps to More Engaged Employees

According to Gallup’s State of the American Workplace: 2010-2012 report, employee engagement levels remain stagnant in the U.S, with only 30% of American workers saying they feel “engaged, involved in, enthusiastic about, or committed to their workplace.” Which means that seven out of every 10 employees are just going through the motions. That’s no way…

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It’s Time to Engage with Employee Engagement

Time for me to get up on the soapbox again. I recently came across a survey conducted by SilkRoad, a “leading provider of cloud-based, social talent management solutions.” In other words, they do the human resources thing. Their survey polled nearly 800 HR professionals on a number of issues related to engaging and energizing employees…

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Are You a Strategy 10-Percenter?

I recently came across a disheartening statistic (from an IBM white paper on planning and implementation) that says only 10 percent of organizations manage to successfully implement their strategies on a consistent basis. My first reaction was, “That can’t be right; that’s too low!” But the more I thought about it, the more it matches…

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Strategic Agility: The Antidote to a Hostile Business Environment

Remember when government was a friend to small business – the leading source of new jobs in the U.S.? Me neither. And now it’s getting worse. The Job Creators Alliance — a non-profit organization whose mission is to educate the public and policymakers on what it takes to create jobs – recently surveyed 600 small…

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Don’t Just Get it Done, Get the Right Things Done!

Last week I wrote about four strategies for “getting it done” in organizations. In other words, following through and executing on the plan. But there’s one very important step that needs to happen first – making sure you’re executing on the right projects and initiatives. Otherwise, you may be getting things done that don’t support…

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Are You Focused on Winning in 2012?

A new year is all about possibilities, promise and potential, and sometimes a lot of other stuff gets in the way. Are you ready to win in 2012?

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Innovating Your Own Management: Are You Up to the Challenge?

Seems like everyone is talking about innovation these days. Most of the discussion centers on the need to add value to customers through innovative products and services. But according to Gary Hamel, a leading expert on business strategy, there’s more to innovation than just bringing new products to market. In a recent Harvard Business Review…

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Time to Test Your Strategy?

If you have an interest in strategy, I highly recommend subscribing to the “McKinsey Quarterly” e-newsletter. It doesn’t cost anything to sign up, and the well-researched articles keep you up to date on the latest in strategic planning trends and thought leadership. The research tends to be conducted with, and geared toward, larger company CEOs…

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Five Leadership Strategies That Can Make or Break Your Business in 2011

What’s in store for business leaders in 2011? As I gaze into my crystal ball, I see a year of promise and opportunity. And I see new challenges that require different ways of thinking and leading organizations. It’s not just that opportunities, threats, and changes in the marketplace happen faster and with less predictability than…

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