Every decision that we make has “unspoken assumptions” that shape the final outcome. These assumptions range from personal desires e.g. I want to look good in front of my colleagues, to professional desires e.g. I want the organization to achieve 10% growth this year. For example, you may greenlight certain projects inside your company because …
I recently drove by the location of the last Sears in Vancouver. I remember going into the store as a kid, being amazed at everything it had on shelves. I never shopped there as an adult, instead choosing modern alternatives such as Amazon or Walmart. Much can be said about the poor strategy Sears adopted …
Fedex is in the process of negotiating a new union contract. At the same time, Fedex is trying to deal with fundamental changes to their business. The increase in demand from the pandemic is waning and they now have a glut of pilots, around 700 from a total of 5,800. The future of Fedex will …
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. …
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 …
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 …