On a warm spring night, it’s hard to deny the appeal of an artfully crafted ice cream sundae. Whether it’s a banana split or peppermint chip drizzled with hot fudge and peanuts, it’s a mouthwatering sight to behold. And when it’s first made, all of the ingredients can be seen clearly in their places. But wait twenty minutes before eating it and it becomes a gooey conglomeration, difficult to distinguish the ice creams from the… READ MORE

Recent research by Egon Zehnder and McKinsey and Co. showed that the ability to come up with insights was the most important trait for executives in top-performing companies. Where do you record your insights or learnings about your business? How often do you record these insights? In my work helping managers develop their strategic thinking skills, a great deal of focus is put on practical tools and techniques for generating new insights on… READ MORE

Prosecutor: “Your honor, ladies and gentlemen of the jury. Today we’ll prove that the defendant did knowingly and willfully kill his business strategy in what can only be described as a complete and utter disregard for human intelligence. On the morning of June 7th, 2010, where exactly was your business sense?” Defendant: “Hmmm…we had just finished another meeting where I skillfully avoided any accountability for two floundering… READ MORE

One of the top issues on senior executive’s agendas is the quest to inject a bolus dose of innovation into their businesses in order to meet continually demanding growth objectives. Innovation can have the positive results of differentiation, productivity and neutralizing a competitor’s advantage. Unfortunately, research has shown that the most common result of innovation efforts is waste. As innovation involves risk, there will inherently be… READ MORE

The topic of innovation can send people in a lot of different directions. Perhaps the simplest definition of innovation is “something that provides new value to customers.” When we think about innovation as providing new value, it opens up a world of opportunities to us. And customers can be both external and internal. So innovation can enable us to provide new value both within the organization and to our external customers. When you… READ MORE