Leadership
In business, you must watch out for the turns
Leaders make a variety of turns each day that can either boost or sink a business, which means they must turn with care and skill, writes Steve McKee.
Strategy
Leadership
Why your strategy isn’t like a cheeseburger
Simply describing company strategy as a "cheeseburger" without providing clarity will leave your employees wondering if they're the sauce or the bun, writes Art Petty.
Leadership
4 steps to minimize uncertainty in the business journey
When embarking on a new business journey, the unknown can knock you off the path unless you take time now to prepare.
Sponsored
Antronix: Last-mile alternatives solve operator challenges
Antronix CEO Neil Tang discusses how to build out fiber capacity without re-architecting.
Sponsored
Everyone deserves access to a smoke-free future
Grégoire Verdeaux, SVP of External Affairs at Philip Morris International, explains how innovation can be leveraged to tackle the world's most difficult challenges..
Inspiration
4 ways SmartBrief is thinking about disruption
Innovation and disruption. What are they and is there a silver lining?
Leadership
How intersections can help you find business direction
Strategically identifying the intersections your business sits at can help leaders find the right direction and actions to pursue.
Leadership
The value of self-initiated disruption
Companies can remain on the cutting edge of innovation by using these four steps to create self-initiated disruption.
Leadership
The new model for leadership — Old school diplomacy
Leaders can leverage the skills of great diplomats to boost strategy, collaboration and respect.
Leadership
How to make customer-centric decisions
Customers should drive every aspect of a business, from market opportunities to goals and strategies. Learn how to be customer-centric.
Leadership
Are rewards ever appropriate?
Motivational expert Susan Fowler is adamant that rewards are never appropriate -- but she does have three important caveats.
Leadership
Evaluate your thinking with one critical question
Asking "How is this different?" can change everything. Larry Robertson explains how.
Leadership
Preventing strategy scope creep
Ask yourself several key questions before embarking on a new strategy or activity to ensure you won't counter costly scope creep.
Leadership
Effective leaders accelerate their team’s ideas-to-actions flow
Companies succeed when ideas are turned into actions, and great leaders help create ideas-to-actions machines. Learn more.
Leadership
Why the 7S model could help your organization align
The 7S model can help organizations stay aligned from senior executives on down. Learn more about how the revised 7S model works in practice.
Leadership
Businesses that tighten up get hurt
Companies age, just like people, and they'll tighten up unless they have the right planning, the right exercises and the right precautions.
Leadership
Which competitive strategy? Get clear about how you want to play
What's your competitive strategy? The details may differ, but you're likely to fall into one of 4 categories.
Leadership
CEOs make or break the value of advisory boards
Advisory boards only succeed when they have a clear role, commitment and relevance. Learn more about starting and sustaining advisory boards.
Leadership
The change leader’s view: Why sustaining relevance matters
Sustaining relevance is a perpetual task for brands, and it's never guaranteed. Here's what you can learn from Plymouth's rise and fall.
Leadership
The power of a singular strategic objective
What's your singular strategic objective? Aim for that instead of getting lost in a pile of strategics, tactics and objectives.
Leadership
Defining problems vs. delivering strategy
Arguing over problems doesn't mean you're solving them. Here are three pivots to help move a business from defining problems to strategic management.
Leadership
A new take on planned obsolescence
Planned obsolescence has a deserved bad reputation, but it's also a strategic mindset every company needs if it's to stand the test of time.
Leadership
How leaders can teach their teams to become more creative
Leaders know that creativity and idea generation drive success, yet many are unsure how to unlock innovation in their teams. Learn more about the strategy behind creativity and idea generation.
Strategy
How to thrive in uncertainty: Separate crisis from predicament
Crisis and predicament have different meanings -- and huge consequences for your business depending on which you embrace.
Strategy
AI vs. humans, part 1
AI and the metaverse won’t make humanity better; they will augment and intensify what we all already are, for good and for ill. Here's what that means for leaders and companies.
Strategy
The dangers of strategy myopia
Leaders need to define their strategy, regularly revisit it and avoid the perils of win/lose thinking.
Strategy
“Day one” of succession planning
Founders and CEOs alike need to plan their succession -- and they likely need more time than they're alloting. Learn from a business owner who's done succession.
Strategy
Don’t stop thinking about tomorrow (with strategy)
Strategic planning is increasingly complex and fluid. Here are 5 tips for smarter strategic planning at your annual event and on an ongoing basis.
Strategy
The beauty of contrast
Contrast is how we discover new ideas and move forward. Embrace the contrast between you and other people in your work and life.
Strategy
When defining strategy, choose the right tools for the job
Strategy isn't easy, and there's a confusing morass of advice. Here are 3 tools for figuring out your strategy, based on the experts who have thought deeply about.
Sponsored
PMI’s vision for a smoke-free future (without cigarettes)
PMI works to disrupt an industry from the inside
Strategy
Stop the brainstorms: Here’s the right way to foster change-making conversations
Brainstorming is often too formal and restrictive. Learn a better process for surfacing ideas and taking action from Patti Johnson, who outlines 4 ways to set the stage for innovation.
Strategy
How to do CSR right and build stakeholder trust
How can an effective corporate social responsibility program build trust?
Strategy
Leadership is a bumpy journey, but that’s the job
Leadership can be a series of starts and stops, but that's how it is. Great leaders understand that and focus on "ensuring all your key players arrive."
Strategy
3 Rs to fight inflation
In good or turbulent times, looking at ways you can retain, refocus or retool is a smart strategy for any business.
Strategy
Organizational relevance: Why is it so difficult?
Even top-flight companies struggle to stay relevant in the long run. What can leaders do about this? Here's a quick three-part formula for thinking about long-term organizational relevance.
Strategy
How CEOs and HR can overcome the “pandemic sabbatical effect”
The rushed shift to working from home during the pandemic has left many companies neglectful of skill sets -- and HR and C-suite leaders alike must be ready to retrain, reskill and upskill their employees after the pandemic ends.
Strategy
What business leaders need to understand about your AI strategy
Artificial intelligence is not a one-size-fits-all strategy, and so executives need to understand what their company needs and how to communicate their AI strategy.
Strategy
3 ways COVID-19’s uncertainty will impact business in the future
The president and CEO of Ricoh Americas explains how the company has weathered COVID-19 and what the pandemic means for business transformation.
Strategy
Business lessons from repeating as Diablo II reset champion
Speedruns require teams to work together toward a common goal, often under less-than-ideal circumstances. Read on to learn why businesses should pay attention to the lessons learned.
Strategy
Let’s make a deal: Lessons learned from M&A amid adversity
The pandemic was a field test for how resilient companies really are. Here's what a CEO learned from conducting M&A during the pandemic, as well as being acquired.