When Bob became CEO of Disney in 2005, he inherited a hostile takeover attempt, shareholder revolt, board conflict, and fizzling performance. Since then, he has overseen 202% shareholder return through 2013 (stock price raised from $23.81 to $79.23) and a market cap of $130 Billion. When accepting the award he said, “One of the real…

Innovation can look different at each company, depending on the type of innovation.      1. Continuous Adapters – adjusts product portfolio to reflect new trends/consumer preferences         (i.e. McDonald’s is not just “fast” and “convenient,” but now “healthy” and “natural”)      2. Ambidextrous Players – exploits existing strengths and explores new areas   …

Companies with communicated visions have higher revenue growth, higher productivity, and lower project costs (Source: University of Maryland). As Thomas Edison said, “Vision without execution is hallucination.” However, 95% of workers are unaware of their company’s strategic business objectives; thus, they do not know how they can help achieve success for their company (Source: Kaplan…

Our family went on our first Disney cruise recently, and the kids loved it. For me, I was impressed with the staff, which represented 64 countries. They worked seamlessly to provide a wonderful customer experience. A few years ago, I was at a global strategy and leadership conference in Miami that a company’s new CEO…

When I was part of managing a global program, our project plan had a large red block in August for the Europe deployment, because employees in Europe did not work that month. To mark off an entire month was unheard of in other parts of the world, yet expected there. Other examples of changing business…

Are we confusing leaders when we tell them to be both: Decisive and Collaborative? Confident and Humble? Strong and Empathetic? Analytical and Intuitive? Quick to Act and Thoughtful?  Firm and Flexible? In Jim Collins’ 2001 book, “Good to Great,” he described Level 5 Leadership as a paradoxical combination of two traits: 1) genuine personal humility…

As a man with young children, they do not like my “spikes” when I choose not to shave. I should be thankful that Gillette has invested $750 million in research for the Mach 3 razor, resulting in 50 patents. They followed this up with the Fusion razor, which has 70 patents.   Gillette’s market share…

Companies struggle with how to capture scale across borders, as they work through the additional complexity without sacrificing speed and agility. The multi-local approach provides different brands, products, services, price points, and supply chains per region to meet the needs of local customers. To effectively implement this approach, the company needs decentralized decision-making. This is…

Our planet’s population is hitting a plateau and shrinking in some areas, which will have broad impacts.  Countries currently enjoying strong growth could see that stop if labor supply does not keep up with demand.  These countries need to address these shortages through proactive tasks, such as:      a) Increase productivity through investment, innovation,…

Companies must conduct comprehensive business review (i.e., SWOT:  Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats) to address future business objectives. For this assessment to be effective, companies should:      1.  Collect competitive environment data, benchmarks and long term market trends      2. Engage a broad internal and external audience      3. Understand management’s beliefs and values  …