I've been reading and thinking a lot lately about what is described as a "culture of innovation".  While I would like to think that such an animal exists, the more skeptical side of me doubts it.  I think a culture of innovation is kind of like a unicorn:  it would be cool if it existed, and some people claim to have seen one, but when you get up close it's just a normal animal that happens to be missing a horn.  In other words, we see what we want or hope to see. Every business has a culture.  Let's start with base principles and agree on that.  Another bas ..read more

 Many of us who work in the consulting and strategy space often talk about the difficulties in understanding and more importantly, changing a corporate culture.  Typically, we are talking about moving a culture from its current set of values that has sustained the business, to a culture that helps the company compete in a new reality that may be different or more competitive or operate in a slightly adjacent market.  That is, we want the culture to adapt to market needs and changes that everyone can see but inertia keeps the company from making.  Often, this cultural change ..read more

 I had quite a day yesterday, meeting with a potential partner at Starbucks, getting my iPhone repaired at the Apple store and a number of other activities.  Along the way I encountered a couple of very successful companies:  Starbucks, where I met a potential partner, Apple, where I went to get some repairs done on my iPhone and Chik-Fil-A, which was down the hall from the Apple store. Compared to other nearby competitors, these three outlets were exceptionally busy and seemed to be doing very well.  While they appear to be very different in their product offerings, in man ..read more

 In my last two blogs, I made the argument that given how fast change is happening, your strategy must incorporate and address external change and the ability to change internally.  Otherwise, you are creating strategy that ignores exceptionally powerful forces that are creating change and shifting the competitive markets in real time.  In the more recent blog, I wrote about what I consider the most difficult thing to change in an organization - its culture.  People can change, business models and financial models can be changed with some difficulty.  Products and serv ..read more

 I wrote a piece last week introducing the idea that change is strategic, and that strategy should consider change competency as a core competency.  Change is happening so quickly and from so many different directions and dimensions that companies cannot create strategy without also preparing for and being ready to change. Companies cannot build static strategies that stretch over 3 or 5 years.  Strategy should be continually developed and re-evaluated, rather than developed once and put on a shelf.  If change is so prevalent and competitors are constantly entering and leav ..read more

 I was reviewing the website of a strategy consulting firm recently, and their focus on strategy and team alignment felt like the same old, same old.  I read further to discover that they focus on passion and mission (hello Simon Sinek).  But what struck me about their work is that they also focus on culture and change management.  These latter two concepts were the things that got my attention. In a time when everyone is focused on analytics, on artificial intelligence, on strategy and on mission, focusing on change and culture is almost counterintuitive, but it's probably ..read more

 As with many other distinctions between large companies and startups, established products and new ideas, there are distinctions between types of failure.  For most corporations, failure is abhorrent, because failure signals a breakdown in an existing product, risk, an inability or unwillingness to follow an established process.  Failure is a loss of revenue, an added cost, a lack of judgement. A bias against "failure" We're taught from an early age that failing at anything demonstrates weakness and unreliability.  Failure to show up, failure to get the right answers, fail ..read more

 One of my favorite musicians is (was) Warren Zevon, who had a great sense of humor and was also a good musician.  You may be familiar with his song "Werewolves of London" but perhaps one of my favorite songs of his is "Lawyers, Guns and Money".  In the song, he describes what it will take to get out of a particular jam, and notes that neither lawyers, guns or money will get him out of his predicament. While the song is humorous, it made me think about the reverse question.  Why are some songwriters or musicians so successful, while others, equally talented, aren't successf ..read more

 As the concept of digital transformation takes root, you may frequently hear comparisons between data and oil.  After all, both are abundant commodities that can create value.  This comparison was strong enough to lead Wired magazine to define data as the new oil in a magazine article some years ago. On the surface, this comparison seems to make some sense.  Both data and oil are commodities, and exist to some degree in large volumes.  Both have the ability to create incredible wealth when harnessed appropriately.  Both can be used for good purposes or misused.&n ..read more

 For years now, we've heard of the importance of becoming a "data driven" organization.  Being data-driven, we are told, means making decisions not based on gut instinct or what managers believe is true, but based on evidence, on hard data.  This, it would seem, should be simple.  After all, businesses have had robust IT systems and teams for years.  The advent of ERP in the 1990s and beyond created sweeping systems that automated many sectors of the business.  Even smaller companies that did not need the larger ERP systems like SAP could find solutions in Salesfo ..read more