Pick-Up-Sticks is a game many of us played as kids. If you recall, a bundle of sticks roughly six inches long are held in a loose bunch and released on a table top, falling in random disarray. Each player then takes a turn removing a stick from the pile, with the goal of not moving or disturbing the remaining ones. Unfortunately, in many organizations, the use of strategy tools is eerily similar to Pick-up-Sticks. A series of random, unrelated… READ MORE

With a flurry of activity each day, we hope to accomplish the tasks that will enable us to reach our goals. Ideally, that flurry of activity is preceded and then interspersed with strategic thinking. Thinking strategically means carving out time to consider the current context, or situation we’re in, identifying insights that will lead to new value for customers and then executing on those initiatives to deliver value. However, a recent… READ MORE

As more large public companies such as Borders and Blockbuster file for bankruptcy, it’s apparent that Chinese general and philosopher Sun Tzu’s words nearly 3,000 years ago still haven’t sunk in: If you know your enemies and know yourself, you will not be imperiled in a hundred battles. According to research by Paul Carroll and Chunka Mui, the number one cause of bankruptcy is bad strategy. Inherent in bad strategy is ignorance of your… READ MORE

Borders filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection this week (“Borders Begins a New Chapter…11″). The reasons ranged from price battles with internet retailers like Amazon.com to carrying too much debt. But the real problem was a lack of strategy. Like so many other companies that experience early success and then falter, Borders failed to evolve their strategy over time based on the changing competitive landscape and customer value… READ MORE

Are you outperforming your competition? If an avalanche of excuses is the first thing that comes to mind, then the answer is most likely no. When it comes to market share, revenue, profits, new sales, or other key metrics, at some point your level of competitiveness must be honestly assessed. A Wall Street Journal article reported cellphone maker Nokia’s quarterly profit dropped 21% from a year earlier. Chief Executive Stephen Elop… READ MORE

“We’re adding a little something to this month’s sales contest. As you all know, first prize is a Cadillac Eldorado. Anybody want to see second prize? Second prize is a set of steak knives. Third prize is you’re fired.” Alec Baldwin in the film Glengarry Glen Ross David Mamet’s Pulitzer Prize-winning play Glengarry Glen Ross is a raw account of the sales profession as Mamet experienced it in the late 1960′s. While much has changed in the… READ MORE

Real-time data is becoming more common in a variety of areas, which has the potential to significantly impact the way we do business. This past week, I had the opportunity to chat with Matt Egan, writer for FoxBusiness.com, on a story he wrote entitled, “NFL Tackles Real-Time Sales Data.” The article describes a new technology just implemented by the New York Jets of the National Football League. The software application provides the team with… READ MORE

British artist Damien Hirst has his fans and his critics. What can’t be argued is his ability to differentiate himself and his work through a well-conceived strategy that has jolted the business world of art. While his art works such as “The Physical Impossibility of Death in the Mind of Someone Living,” featuring a shark in a tank of formaldehyde, have caused great debate on what is or is not art, he has transformed a century-old business… READ MORE

Feel like you’re trapped in a cage with your competitors? Too close for comfort? Clawing at each other day in and day out? Inevitable? Hardly. But you’re not alone. In 1934, Moscow University professor G. F. Gause published the results of a landmark study. He placed small animals in a bottle with an ample amount of food. If the animals were of the same genus and a different species, they were able to live together peaceably. However, if the… READ MORE

“There was a signature to a Bill Belichick team: Whatever the opposition did in the first half, his team tended to take away in the second half.” David Halberstam on the three-time Super Bowl Champion Head Coach of the New England Patriots football team Good coaches in any sport come into a game with a solid plan to win. Great coaches are the ones who can assess the action in real-time to determine the adjustments necessary to be… READ MORE