My Latest Ideas and Insights

Making Decisions like the Soviet Union

Making Decisions like the Soviet Union

Welcome, comrade! Even though the Soviet Union collapsed more than 30 years ago, its legacy can still be seen today. I’m not talking about the modern Russian state but how some organizations make decisions. As you’re well aware, the central planners of the Soviet Union believed they could make all the decisions for the economy. …

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Sometimes You Just Need to Talk It Out

Sometimes You Just Need to Talk It Out

One of my favorite exercises from workshops is helping others write out their decision-making process. For many people, they have never consciously thought about how they make decisions and the steps involved. By asking them a series of questions, I can map out their decision process into clear steps. Once we have that, we can …

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Don't Let Strategy Get Stuck on Mission Statements

Don’t Let Strategy Get Stuck on Mission Statements

When I help organizations formulate strategy, we start by looking at their mission statement. For most organizations, they don’t have to make any changes. After all, mission statements are broad by design and don’t usually capture specifics. For the remaining few organizations who need tweaks to their mission statement, I put specific guardrails to avoid …

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