From the category archives:
Yesterday a reporter for the Chicago Tribune called to ask for my reaction to a job fair she will be attending soon. This recruiting event will target Latinos who have recently completed MBA’s. She wanted to know whether I thought these companies truly had a commitment to diversity or whether they were trying to make [...]
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Aardvarks are really good at one thing: eating bugs—sometimes 50,000 in one night! No other creature on the planet can match their appetites. Star performers in their own corner of the jungle, when they tuck a napkin under their aardvark chins, they produce impressive results, just like your hard-working employees can in their jobs. Too [...]
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The conflict about building a mosque near Ground Zero dominates the media. Those on both sides present compelling and passion-filled reasons that their point of view is the better one. I’d like to offer another perspective. This is a classic business case of conflicting priorities that we in strategy see all the time. For example, [...]
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Execution Assessment If your organization is like most successful ones, you have a clearly defined strategy. However, research tells us that often organizations fail in execution of the strategy—not in its formation. The reason? Decision makers simply don’t evaluate the implementation of the strategy or closely monitor it. The following is a tool that will [...]
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A blockbuster product, dazzling service, or cutting-edge technology can put you on the competitive map, but only solid execution of a well-developed strategy can keep you there. You have to be able to deliver on your plans—to execute your strategy. Too often companies fail to translate their brilliant strategy and operational decisions into action. In [...]
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Companies that try to be all things to all people confuse customers and endanger their brands. No better examples exist than those in retail. On February 28, 2005, Federated acquired May Department Stores for $11 Billion, creating the nation’s second largest department store chain with $30 Billion in annual sales and more than 1,000 stores. On July [...]
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As you think of your business, where is the intersection of your distinction, excellence, and profitability? One way to discover this is to consider the world with your organization versus without it. The difference defines your unique added value—your competitive advantage—what would be lost to the world if your organization disappeared. To discover this unique [...]
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“Step to the Rear,” from the 1967 Broadway production How Now, Dow Jones, announces that “here’s where we separate the notes from the noise, the men from the boys, the rose from the poison ivy.” In this rousing musical, the characters center their lives around the stock market and saving the US economy. Familiar themes [...]
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In a recent interview for the publication for Air Tran Airways I worked with the writer to identify mission statements that worked and those that did not. I addressed some of the flawed ones in an earlier blog, but today the author wanted to talk more about what makes a good mission statement. So, she [...]
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Your mission, should you decide to accept it, is to make sure your organization has an air-tight mission statement, one that everyone can recite, not one that adorns your foyer or mouse pads. It should answer four, and only four questions: Why do we exist? What is our business? Who are our customers? What do [...]
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