Since business strategy was conceived in the 1960s, it has been rather stuck in a process-driven and analytically-based groove. The accepted process has been very much about valuing data, applying various analytical tools, trying to predict the future, and then drafting up multi-year plans (with a typical hope, of course, Read more
The recent pandemic has caused many people all over the world to reflect on their lives, their wellbeing, what their purpose in life is and what they want from their jobs. At the same time, employers have not only widely stepped up to provide much more support to their employees Read more
Human brains are quite inefficient cognitive machines. All of us regularly fail to see things accurately around us, we make poor assumptions, we misremember facts, we give in to cognitive biases, and we often make decisions based on emotional whims, rather than thinking rationally. In short, as individuals, we get Read more
Away-days are a common part of the overall strategy process adopted by many organisations’ leaders nowadays. One key aspect of an away-day is deciding who should facilitate the meeting. Below are a dozen reasons for choosing a professional, external strategy facilitator, rather than using an internal staff member or Board Read more
Do you consider yourself to be a strong, independent thinker ? Are you proud you can formulate your own thoughts and make decisions on your own ? Certainly, the idea of thinking for oneself is often seen as a valuable personal quality for success in life and career. Especially in Read more
In today’s world, most challenges and problems need the work of a team, rather than just an individual working alone. The key ingredient is the ‘collective intelligence’ of the group as a whole, which can usually deal much better with complex or unfamiliar problems. And a major factor driving such Read more
Most leaders today are aware how ‘cognitive biases’ (e.g. ignoring some new evidence because it contradicts an existing belief you hold) can distort organisational decision-making. The difficulty is that biases are mostly unconscious things and so it can be very difficult to suppress them or prevent their influence. However, as Read more
Strategic leadership is a key responsibility for any board of directors, but in charities and other non-profits it can often be quite a weakness, unfortunately. A key issue is that at very many charities trustees often have limited knowledge of governance and strategy and typically they (who are usually unpaid Read more
In today’s fast-changing world where there is often pressure to get results faster, it is tempting for leaders to focus their thinking on the short-term and define goals and projects that will deliver results quickly. Indeed, the move in recent years towards ‘agile’ business thinking and ‘agile’ working can encourage Read more
Traditional strategic planning is dying. In today’s dynamic world fewer and fewer organisations are practising the traditional process of ‘forecast ahead, prepare 3-year plan, then implement’. This rigid, ‘top-down’ approach is in complete contrast to the approach used today by many large and international companies, particularly leading tech companies (e.g. Read more