The Federal government allocates $4.6 Trillion in resources. 38% is on regulation. Thus, companies complying with regulations expend considerable time and resources. This is time and resources that they are not investing in growth (Source: ChiefExecutive.net). Counter this with a conversation I had with a GE executive who talked about “cycle compression” – how fast…
In 2007, Ford CEO Alan Mulally was dealing with a huge corporate mess. However, all the scorecards were “green.” There was obviously an issue with transparency, and Mulally did not have truth tellers around him. Peter Drucker said, “The most common source of mistakes in management decisions is the emphasis on finding the right answer…
Some interesting talk on money… After WWII, the United States represented almost half of the world’s GDP. More recently, the US was at 22%. There are more payday lender locations in the US than there are Starbucks and McDonald’s locations combined (Source: TheWire.com). Just 2% of app developers pull in more than half of all…
I recently heard a financial services CEO speak. He mentioned three interesting leadership decisions that we can all learn from: “We’re currently at a point whereby the amount of capital that we have is probably in a much, much more healthy place than it’s ever been…So the issue is, what do we do with our…
The Texas Military Department defines three environments to operate in: Internal, External, and Future. John Nash, highlighted in the 2001 film A Beautiful Mind, had a game theory focused on “dominant strategy.” This says that you must consider the industry landscape and your competitors’ behaviors. This Nash equilibrium says that your best guess of a…
Most companies have a mission that is something like this: Maximize shareholder wealth by exceeding customer expectations for (insert product/service) and providing opportunities for our employees to lead fulfilling lives while respecting the environment and the communities in which we operate. While an important foundation, this mission statement is often shared on corporate websites and…
Why is it that most executives cannot articulate the objective, scope and advantage of their business in a simple statement? If you don’t know where you are going, any road will get you there. Your strategy should include a simple, clear, and succinct strategy statement that everyone can internalize, and then use as a guiding…
I visited one of the top venture capitalists in Silicon Valley (Hollywood of Geeks). It doesn’t hurt their “surplus of talent” to have Stanford University nearby. Here are a few highlights of our conversation… Purpose of a VC is to accelerate the time to market for portfolio companies. They typically invest in people and culture…
Strategy without implementation is fruitless. Yet, in a world of uncertainty, no strategy survives contact with reality. Thus, leaders need to be agile and make adjustments on the fly. While most companies spend 95% of their strategic planning time on setting the strategy, goals and metrics, only 5% is left to focus on employee mindset,…
America used to see the loss of manufacturing jobs caused by outsourcing to low-wage countries, as that was the case the last four decades (decrease of 7 million). Yet, since 2000, 85% of the job loss is to automation (Source: Ball State University). For example, an automobile welder costs $25/hour for a worker, and $8/hour…
