Tag Archives: Strategy

Focus On What Won’t Change

focys on what won't change

The most common strategy all innovators use to create new industries is to take advantage of an emerging trend or technology. It’s becoming harder to pull that off because we’re living in the “next big thing” economy, one where every new product and service is a gimmick looking for a market.

Still, a good 99% of the conversations about the future are about what’s changing, what that means and what to do about it. I’m guilty of it myself. And while it’s important to discuss these matters, the flip side of that is even more important: what won’t change.

Design As Strategy: How Design Can Improve Your Business Outcomes

design as strategy

Design thinking. is it a methodology, mindset, trend, the new must in business acumen, or all of the above?

Regardless of your interpretation, it has been around for quite a while. The bottom-line is most leaders still don’t understand how exactly it helps improve or drive new business outcomes. If you will like to have some help understanding this, check with Bob Bratt.

Why?

Different: Escaping Mediocrity

be different

There comes a point in time when all business compete for the same thing: sameness.

It shouldn’t be this way, because competing to be the best at what everyone else does leads to mediocrity. On today’s episode we discuss how to escape mediocrity; not mindlessly pursue it.

Future Proof: 4 Ways To Explore What’s Possible

The Big Bang podcastTo imagine a future is easy, to imagine one that matters is another story.

The world is changing fast. I see it everyday in the articles and stories that get shared on my self-curated Twitter feed, as well as the conversations I have with people trying to change the world. For example, articles on how a future without cows is near, another on how our future food intake will include bugs, and another on how a self-driving car was pulled over.

These are just articles related to the future of food and transportation, dig deeper and you’ll get a picture into how various industries are changing and how others are being created in front of us.

Why is this important?

What every organization can learn from the CIA’s Red Cell to avoid stagnation

red team how to succeed by thinking like the enemyHow can your organization avoid stagnation and future proof itself?

In his book, Red Team: How to Succeed by Thinking Like the Enemy, Micah Zenko tells the story of the CIA’s Red Cell group, devoted to “alternative analysis,” which includes techniques like “what ifs,” Team A/Team B exercises, and premortem analysis, all of which are used to identify holes in a plan, model an adversary to understand their weaknesses, or consider all of the conceivable ways a plan can fail beforehand.

The attitude needed to be a better forecaster…and innovator

SuperforecastingPeople who are good at forecasting, including innovators, are good at changing their minds; an uncommon attitude. Changing ones mind contradicts the conventional wisdom of relying on experts for right answers. Truthfully, experts have no place in predicting future events because when it comes to discovering and predicting the unknowns, experts are overrated.

How so?

Strategy that sticks

making strategy simpleHow do you talk about your business’s strategy so that your employees get it?

Any strategic planning session eventually needs to deliver a robust strategy, one that anyone can understand and execute. The truth is this rarely happens, as most strategic plans end up in a binder somewhere, and confuse more than enlighten people.

What business leaders want to avoid at all costs is confusion, which leads to inaction. So, how do we solve this challenge?