The Discomfort of Strategy
“If you are not genuinely pained by the risk involved in your strategic choices, it’s not much of a strategy.” Reed Hastings, CEO of Netflix Think you have a tough group of competitors to deal with? Take a look at this list and see if you’d like to trade: Walmart, Amazon, Blockbuster and Apple. Any takers? So how does one…
Strategic Thinking and Sales: Always Be Strategic
“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…
Chief Learning Officer Magazine and Strategic Thinking
For the December issue of Chief Learning Officer magazine, I had the privilege of writing an article entitled “Triple-A Thinking,” which provided an overview of the three disciplines of strategic thinking: Acumen, Allocation and Action. I use the word “discipline” as it relates to strategic thinking because as Michael Porter of Harvard Business School once wrote, “Strategic thinking rarely occurs…
