My work on upward mobility has led me to unexpected places. One of the unexpected places has been an exploration of unconscious bias. I am a research consumer on related topics and I’ve learned that we humans have lots of unconscious biases. I also learned what is meant by systems thinking and institutionalized biases such…
Upward mobility is an issue throughout the world, and the U.S. is no exception. In earlier blogs and newsletters, I reported on Raj Chetty’s work. A defining feature of the “American Dream” is upward income: the idea that children have a higher standard of living than their parents. Chetty’s work shows that children’s prospects of earning…
Several people have contacted me recently in regards to implementing a strategy. So, here is my view of the important principles for effective strategy implementation. Principles guide behavior and they serve to alert others what is important in the organization. What are the principles you advocate? I summarize my ideas in four phrases: Dreams +…
Over the last few months, I’ve been outlining my approach to strategic thinking. One way to summarize this approach is to list a set of questions you can ask of your organization about internal analyses, external analyses, gaining focus, and quality implementation- the four criteria for an effective strategy. I’ve added a fifth area, questions…
Competition occurs at the business-unit level and it is essential that a firm uses the tools of competitive strategy in order to create a competitive advantage for its business units. Many firms have more than one business unit and compete in multiple industries. That being said, a multi-business firm must have a corporate strategy that…
Dozens of schools of thought claim to have the most widely applicable and useful framework for strategy development and implementation. The purpose of the table below is to show how an organization can choose the most appropriate fine-tuning school of thought in order to make for a compelling argument to proceed in one direction versus…
A main benefit of strategic thinking is that it creates a strategic mindset that is cognizant of several principles: All organizational members contribute to strategic thinking and have a means to contribute to what to do and what not to do. Organizational leaders do their best strategy work by finding ways to involve as many…
I’ve organized this material to take account of inevitable uncertainties, proven principles, and the connection between strategy content (what is or should be the strategy of the organization) and strategy process (how to determine the strategy and how to best implement it). Strategy content and strategy process are treated with equal importance as two sides…
Most effective strategies begin with a compelling diagnostic analysis of the organization’s challenges. This diagnosis involves both internal and external analyses that lead to a judgement about the meaning of the facts. This judgment is just that– your best ideas of what you learned about your organization, its challenges, and potential avenues to create value….
This is an extended case example of strategic thinking. This example comes from a military victory in the 1800s. The Battle of Trafalgar is an excellent illustration of strategy principles applied to organizations. As you read this case example, think about how Lord Nelson did external analysis, analyzed his own organization and capabilities, set a…