It’s common for football teams to focus on the fourth quarter. Players can be seen holding up four fingers as a way of signaling that “it’s time to double down, focus and finish strong.” For businesses, the fourth quarter is especially critical for two reasons....
When considering the future of the enterprise, Senior Leadership Teams can benefit from a different way of framing their discussions. One way to approach this is to use the acronym COIN; Concerns, Obstacles, Issues and Noise. Let’s take them one at a time. Concerns...
Some years ago, a friend and colleague offered a valuable insight into how he viewed an area of interest to him. His family was in the book publishing and manufacturing business. After college and an early career in sales, he joined the family business,...
Owners and senior executives are regularly presented with a variety of opportunities and options. Most often, these are met with evaluation in real time as they attempt to assess and react to choices. While some may lead to positive results, there is a...
One of the major obstacles to organizational planning is the idea that it is complex, complicated and confusing. It doesn’t need to be any of those things. In fact, as with most endeavors, the simpler the process is, the easier it is to...
In working with clients on their strategic plans, I am often told that they had been thinking about planning for some time but were putting it off for any number of reasons. The most common seems to be the feeling that the planning process can be overwhelming and...