One of the things that is interesting me at the moment and which I’m including in my book is reflected in a fabulous book by General Stanley McChrystal called Team of Teams: New Rules of Engagement For a Complex World which deals with organisational design and management in a complex (as opposed to complicated) world.
Continue reading “Transitioning from complicated to complex is a challenge for accountants moving into advisory”Why Strategy is Important and the Depreciating Intellectual Capital of Leaders
Steve Ballmer, the ex-CEO of Microsoft, is one of the wealthiest people in the world. While doing some research on Microsoft’s strategic positioning over time I came across the following questions: how much is Ballmer worth? Answer: $81.252 Billion. And how did he make his money? Answer: he owns 333 million shares in Microsoft.
That’s the wrong answer!
Continue reading “Why Strategy is Important and the Depreciating Intellectual Capital of Leaders”On Motivation
A frequently asked question by people in management positions is “how do you motivate employees?”
The first thing to understand is that the word “motivation” is a compilation of two words: motive + action = [a person’s] motive for action. When defined in this way it could be said that the “action” piece may be positive, neutral, or negative. The second point is that the direction of action will be driven by the interaction of two more factors: the aspirations and attitude of the person and the environment in which s/he is working.
Continue reading “On Motivation”They say the tool used to measure an object does not change the object: But maybe it does.
They say the tool used to measure an object does not change the object. In some situations and for some types of measurement devices that’s not true. Here are 2 examples.
Continue reading “They say the tool used to measure an object does not change the object: But maybe it does.”Nature May Hold the Key to Business Success
There was a time when I was young, opinionated and stupid that I thought people who invested their time, energy, intellect, and taxpayers’ money studying ants, termites, fungi, and fossils were nuts. I’m now starting to understand that we can learn a lot from animals and organisms that have occupied our planet very successfully with practically no change in their basic nature for hundreds of millions of years. Here’s why.
Continue reading “Nature May Hold the Key to Business Success”Thoughts on Advisory. Nothing has changed in 23 years.
Exactly 23 years ago I presented a program in Reno Nevada at the Peppermill Casino to 593 people who were members of the Results Accountant’s Network in North America. This was followed with the same program in Sydney and Stratford-upon-Avon in the UK. In total 1,176 people attended. It was called Results Revisited and it drew together every idea we had shared with past delegates to the Accountants’ Boot Camp on how to add business development advisory services to their service arsenal.
Continue reading “Thoughts on Advisory. Nothing has changed in 23 years.”40+ insights from 40 years in the trenches
Prioritizing procedure over purpose portends a high probability of piss-weak performance and should not be permitted to prevail.
Most SMEs need, but don’t want, advisory services. This is a strong positive for your business development progress.
A successful transition to advisory is a dual transformation with a third bonus.
Too often people get to leadership positions because they are good producers which inevitably causes innovation and opportunity discovery to stall.
Continue reading “40+ insights from 40 years in the trenches”Some Thoughts on Income and Wealth Inequalities
In a recently published book (sept 2020), When More is Not Better: Overcoming America’s Obsession with Economic Efficiency, Roger Martin argues that a short term focus on maximizing shareholder returns contributes is the cause of economic inequality and instability. A second, more comprehensive, work on the causes, extent, and consequences of wealth and income inequality is Thomas Piketty’s book, Capital in the Twenty-First Century. Inequality is contributing to geopolitical instability that we’re seeing around the world. There is good cause for concern.
Continue reading “Some Thoughts on Income and Wealth Inequalities”Be Careful not to give the Right Answer to the Wrong Question
When you’re working with clients as an adviser they’ll often ask you what seems to be a simple question like “what do you think my marketing budget should be?
Continue reading “Be Careful not to give the Right Answer to the Wrong Question”There’s a Difference Between Winning and Beating Your Rivals
The basic purpose for developing and implementing a competitive strategy is to achieve superior economic performance in creating and delivering value to your selected customers. The most common way to monitor financial performance is by means of the return on invested capital but, in saying that, other non-financial outcomes are important as well.
Continue reading “There’s a Difference Between Winning and Beating Your Rivals”