Excellence has been a hallmark of my career. I am trained as a process improvement SME, have operations experience, and my doctoral dissertation was on performance excellence at the industry level. But as life and responsibility have expanded, excellence alone is no longer my primary goal. It feels heretical to […]
Category: Strategy
Many high performers move through a familiar progression: from being reactive, to enhanced structure, to optimization. Early in our careers, life and work can feel reactive. You’re responding to what’s in front of you and doing your best with what you have. Then as you grow and mature, you often […]
Organizations love listing strengths: strong people, good culture, great service, solid reputation. Taking a strategic perspective results in a more difficult question: are those actual advantages, or are they the same things that everyone else also has? This is exactly what the VRIO framework, developed by Jay Barney, helps clarify. […]
One of the key lessons for me in life is that there are seasons when you want to take the next step, but it feels surprisingly unclear. A relationship changes. A career direction no longer fits. You’re not in a crisis per se, but you’re not moving forward either. You […]
In business, we understand that making emotional decisions isn’t good sense. That’s why organizations rely on structure. Meeting cadences, agendas, decision frameworks, and defined processes, for example. These mechanisms are not about control, they exist to protect the quality of decisions when pressure is high. Life, however, doesn’t operate the […]
In strategic management, few tools are as enduring and as clarifying as the Value Chain. At its core, the value chain helps leaders distinguish between what creates value and what supports it. While every function in a business matters, not every function plays the same role. The Value Chain Teaches […]
Have you ever felt like you’re doing a lot, but not really getting anywhere? Your calendar is packed, your tasks are checked off, but deep down, something still feels off. It’s not just a time management issue, it’s a direction issue. What if you had one sentence that could re-center […]
Have you ever felt like you’re working hard—but not sure if you’re working toward something that truly matters? This can leave you feeling…a bit fried. Whether you’re running a business or managing your own life, the shift from simply doing to strategically designing is where transformation begins. Strategic planning is […]
Strategic planning in business isn’t just about setting goals—it’s about fueling intrinsic motivation, the driving force behind true, sustainable growth. The most successful business leaders don’t simply follow a roadmap; they own their strategy, adapt to change, and embrace learning as a privilege rather than a task. Think of Jeff […]
In both business and personal life, three fundamental forces shape our direction: 1. Strategy – The long-term vision and goals we set. Where are we headed? What do we want to achieve? When we fail to think strategically, we become reactive rather than intentional. We drift instead of directing our […]
Publically traded companies are assessed by a myriad of financial and operational ratios by shareholders. Business owners and executives measure success by KPIs: growth, sales, marketing engagement, social stats, etc. Even at the individual level, we can perceive ourselves positively or negatively based on how others respond to us. When […]
The end of the year often provides opportunities to reflect and causes us to think about the journey ahead. While my consultancy primarily focuses on business strategy, I’m always delighted someone reaches out to discuss crafting personal strategies. These are usually individuals who are in the midst of change and […]
In the world of business, strategy is not just a plan; it’s a dynamic process that requires both depth and breadth of understanding. Whether you’re running a small shop or a multinational corporation, the keys of strategy remain the same: executives need fundamental business acumen coupled with a panoramic view […]
Developing the right strategy is an iterative and experimental process. While seeking to prove a strategic hypothesis, you often discover unexpected and fruitful ideas that can help you perfect your strategy. On the surface, it might look like the most successful strategies are carefully planned. In truth, some industry leaders […]
Businesses, especially large ones, rely heavily on plans, processes and routines. These can quickly become unproductive models of rigid organizational management though, fixated on metrics that are not tightly coupled with innovation. External events often force departure from the routine. When this happens, the processes that are in place can […]
Businesses, especially large ones, rely heavily on plans, processes and routines. These can quickly become unproductive models of rigid organizational management though, fixated on metrics that are not tightly coupled with innovation. Employees must be empowered to learn, adjust, and be willing to take bold action that can lead to change.
Short term strategic shifts cannot be avoided. Often times though, an organization defines a strategy and then sticks with it, without understanding how to make strategic adjustments along the way. Some reasons for strategy shifts include responding to external changes or adapting to internal business pressure or new capabilities. Strategic […]
Frustration is the feeling of being upset or annoyed at the inability to change or achieve something. Frustration with the status quo results when you actually do want things to change (you have your own buy-in), but for a myriad of reasons, the situation cannot or does not change.
In addition to understanding the details of your business operations, it is imperative that you also make time to understand what is happening in the market and economy around you. It is often very easy to get caught up in the latest customer issue, or repair, or production requirements that […]
Setting personal goals can often seem more difficult and evasive than setting professional goals. In a work context, you may be financially incentivized or receive oversight by a manager to ensure that you achieve the goals that you outline for yourself. In some cases, goals may even be created for […]
In any organization or venture, there are resources, capabilities and activities of the firm that drive value. These “secret sauce” ingredients help make up the unique combination elements that make the organization competitive. Whether these resources provide your organization with a long-term advantage is the primary question in assessing their […]
Your Value Chain are those activities that your firm engages in as you transform inputs into outputs. There are two types of activities as part of your value chain, primary activities and support activities. Primary activities are those that are associated with generating revenue for your firm and often include […]
Your stakeholders are those people who have an interest in the performance or survival of your organization and who might influence or be influenced by your business outcomes. In the context of business analysis, organizations focus a great deal on current customers, and many businesses anchor activities to serve current […]
There is a special skill that is required to be a true visionary. Your head has to be a bit in the clouds to dream of options beyond today’s possibilities, but you also must position yourself to ensure that those ideas are executable. There are many examples of people who […]
For many people, the idea of spending time on updating the organization’s vision sounds like a waste of time. It can be perceived as a “check the box” type of activity. Once it is complete, it may not be reviewed. Executives, leaders and business employees often place a much higher […]