We like to think that our projects, habits, and teams are organised and orderly and move in ways that are under our control. We set off with a clear purpose, a defined goal, and a reasonable plan to get us there. And then … real life happens. People learn new things, contexts shift, and the tidy line of attack becomes more of a gentle curve....
Read MoreThere’s a pattern I've seen regularly in organisations; you may have seen it too. Something serious happens, perhaps a missed deadline, a customer complaint, or a system failure, and everyone dives into it with real urgency. Meetings are called. Charts appear. People engage. And we have one of those 'we can’t let this happen again'
Read MoreA situation that we have probably all experienced is when a problem lands on our desk and the immediate instinct is to fix it. Quickly. There’s a kind of felt need to act, to decide, to move. As someone once joked: “We’re paid to do, not to think” - and this is embedded in many or our workplace
Read MoreI taught skiing on weekends for almost 40 years and one of the most powerful skills I developed was what is called ‘Detection and Correction”. It’s the skill of identifying the symptom and then determining the root cause. Inexperienced instructors can spot the symptom—but rarely identify the root cause. A student may be skiing without flexing...
Read MoreWe’ve all done it, arrived at the supermarket checkout, desperate to get out as fast as possible, only to be faced with the need to make a decision about which line to join. And, you have to decide quickly; hesitate too long and someone else jumps in, changing the whole dynamic. I don’t know about you, but almost without fail, I pick the wrong...
Read More“Never attribute to malice that which can be adequately explained by neglect, ignorance, or incompetence.” — Hanlon’s Razor
Read MoreFor as long as I’ve owned a house, I’ve had a ladder. They’re one of those things you don’t really think about - until you need one. Mine was the sort that could be used as a step-ladder or converted to a longer ladder, and in my little suburban house, it did everything I
Read MoreBusinesses survive and thrive for all sorts of reasons. Many of which are outside of our control. But many of them aren’t. There are strikingly few barriers to starting a business and consequently all sorts of dumb ideas, poorly executed, are attempted. As a result, only 10% of startups actually get into the
Read MoreThinking and acting strategically isn’t just about deciding where you want to go. By definition, strategy is an ongoing process of working to achieving your goal, reaching your destination, and navigating a series of waypoints along the way. Consider it as a journey into the future, and like any journey, there are bits of it that are under your...
Read MoreMany years ago, I was employee #14 at Bell Mobility in Canada, serving as Vice President responsible for securing dominant market share in Quebec and Eastern Ontario. At the time, we sold cellular subscriptions through phone retailers, whose sales reps could earn up to $1,000 per phone. While our competitors doubled down on this retail gold...
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