By Mark Rhodes on June 3, 2016
LinkedIn founder and triple billionaire Reid Hoffman has two endearing mannerisms that reveal the way he sees–and reasons with–the strategic environment. First, he peppers his statements with the word so. Almost a verbal tic that would grate on a speaking coach like the overuse of the dreaded uh … but he uses it more like therefore. That […]
By Carter McNamara on January 16, 2016
The Consultants Development Institute is offering a complete, online series to teach how to facilitate strategic planning for any type of organization. The series Facilitating Strategic Planning includes a pro bono Audit Track with unlimited enrollment. In that Audit Track, you get free access to all of the courses, tools, assignments and discussion forums with […]
By Mark Rhodes on December 22, 2015
To engage in strategic thought, you must think and reflect on the big picture—on the diverse players and forces in your competitive environment. Anticipate the future. Use your right brain for intuition and wisdom, your left for planning. As Isaac Newton said “truth is the offspring of silence and meditation.” Here are 50 tips and tools for […]
By Mark Rhodes on November 5, 2015
When you are faced with the most important and strategic decision of your life, where can you go for wisdom? Can you find insight in a book of history? Facing a world in crisis, John F. Kennedy did just that. Generally, we learn skills by trying something, failing, and trying again until we get it […]
By Michael Wilkinson on November 21, 2013
As a leader in your organization, part of your role during strategic planning is to help establish goals that provide a foundation for the rest of the plan. It is important that you ensure the foundation is solid. Here are 4 responsibilities your role requires in ensuring the goals established are strategically developed and aligned with the plan.
By Michael Wilkinson on April 17, 2013
Developing strategy takes time and resources. It requires the time and commitment of some of the most highly paid and highly experienced people in your organization. So if your team is not willing to invest the necessary time, I recommend that you don’t do it. Poor planning is often worse than not planning at all.
So why do you need a strategy? Why take time for planning? There are many reasons. But Leadership Strategies’ Drivers Model focuses on five in particular.
By Michael Wilkinson on February 19, 2013
The Drivers Model is the tool I have been using for over two decades to provide a robust yet simple method for taking an organization through strategic planning, project planning, program planning and numerous other planning activities. The Drivers Model is fully scalable and applies to Fortune 500 companies, non-profit organizations and government agencies, as well as an entire enterprise, a business unit, a field office, an individual department, or a work team.
Let’s start with the four key strategy questions the Drivers Model answers.
By Mark Rhodes on December 8, 2011
THE BRAIN is wider than the sky, For, put them side by side, The one the other will include With ease, and you beside. Emily Dickinson’s greatest accomplishment, I think, is that she taught us to wonder. In Part One of her series called Life, the poet has us thinking about the vastness of our […]
By Mark Rhodes on October 21, 2011
Good Strategy Bad Strategy This fresh approach to strategic thinking begins with tales of battles at sea in the days of Napoleon and continues to explain what kinds of strategies have made the difference for modern companies like Apple, Wal-Mart, Cisco, Starbucks and Wells Fargo. Author Richard Rumelt shows that many recent high profile failures […]
By Mark Rhodes on February 20, 2011
If you are interested in the theories of business strategy covered in the blog post below, you may want to read Henry Mintzberg’s excellent book, Strategy Safari: A Guided Tour through the Wilds of Strategic Management. For example, Mintzberg and his co-authors provide a more lucent (and compact!) description of Michael Porter’s Five Forces Model […]
Carter McNamara of Authenticity Consulting, LLC, provides organizational development, consultant training and Action Learning services, and is developer of the Free Management Library. [Read more ...]