As a boy in Montréal, I delivered newspapers door-to-door (neither rain, nor snow, nor gloom of night, etc…) It was seen as an essential service to keep the population informed and actively participating in our democracy. Getting real ’news’ is a bit harder now but no less essential – particularly for business leaders. To be effective, we need...
Read MoreA few days ago, a hummingbird found its way into my garage and was flying around trying to get out. The strange thing is that both garage doors were fully open, as was the side window, and there was plenty of daylight coming in. And yet the bird was 'trapped' in my garage. For hours, it flew around in circles constantly tapping against the...
Read More'What gets measured gets managed' is one of the most quoted phrases in management and leadership, and for good reason. Measurement matters, because organisations need visibility, leaders need feedback, and teams need clarity about what matters and whether progress is being made. Without some form of measurement, organisations tend to use a mix...
Read MoreA surprisingly large proportion of what we do each day does not directly add value to the final product or outcome; estimations of the exact percentage varies depending on the type of work. Some of this activity is actually necessary as it provides structure, control, and reliability and includes things like maintaining records, confirming...
Read MoreI was in a strategy session recently with a management team trying to build a forecast. Good business. Smart people. Plenty of data. And completely stuck - not “this is tricky” stuck, but “we’ve been talking in circles for an hour” stuck. They were trying to answer a simple question: What does next year’s revenue look
Read MoreIt is easy to assume that if people know what to do, they will do it. In most organisations, people are capable, experienced, and generally trying to do a good job. They understand processes, agree with goals, and can often describe what 'good' looks like. Yet the behaviour does not always follow: things drift, standards slip, and good...
Read MoreWe spend a lot of time looking for better answers. But every once in a while, you come across something more useful than a better answer. A better question. And in my experience, there’s one that stands above the rest - and we use this question in almost every client engagement: “What would need to be
Read MoreOne of the things we humans do remarkably well is simplify the world around us. Reality is complex, nuanced, and constantly shifting. But in order to function day-to-day, we compress that complexity into something more manageable. One of the primary ways we do this is through
Read MoreMost of us have had the experience of walking into a room and noticing something that everyone else seems oblivious to; a persistent noise, a smell, a tension in the air. Mention it, and the response will often be along the lines of: “Oh yeah, I'd stopped noticing that till you just reminded
Read MoreWho knows what GDP stands for? Gross Domestic Product. The number politicians point to when they want to prove things are going well. Up? We’re winning. Down? We’re in trouble. It’s the same with the stock market. Market up? Champagne. Market down? Panic. GDP measures the total monetary value of goods and services produced. It tells us how much...
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