How to Improve without Change

I once cured my lifelong phobia of spiders by moving to Australia. When I stepped off the plane in Sydney, my phobia was instantly transformed into a rational fear! I improved my condition without having to change anything about myself. As absurd as that sounds, you would be surprised how often people ask me how […]

When to Leave your CEO Job

An ex-pat CEO of the Japanese subsidiary of a global European company intimated to me that he intends to leave his job. He was already actively interviewing. He had had some significant successes a few years back but felt the global company’s bureaucracy stymied his ability to succeed.

No Country for Old Men

A CEO client recently told me he had been fired through no fault of his own. His performance and business results had been consistently outstanding. Nonetheless, a regional executive vice president who met with him in Japan, ostensibly to discuss the future, told him he would be sacked. When asked why, the vice president explained […]

[:en]The Secret to Persuasive Strategy[:ja]説得力のある戦略とは[:]

[:en]All senior level executives and managers are asked to develop and present a strategy, whether global strategy, regional strategy, or simply strategy for a team or department they oversee. Many managers create long slide presentations with lots of data to justify why their strategy is right. However, the most persuasive managers talk about all the […]

[:en]3 Pillars of Change Traction[:ja]変革を牽引する3つの柱[:]

3 Pillars of Change Traction

[:en]If you want traction for change among individuals in your organization, it is only when there are clear standards of performance or behavior, accountability to meet them, and support to help people succeed that a change can take hold. In my experience, a deficit in any one of these three will alter the way any […]

[:en]Automate HR, Proliferate Mediocrity[:ja]人事の自動化は凡庸の始まり[:]

Automate HR, Proliferate Mediocrity

[:en]Machine learning algorithms are no smarter than the humans they learn from, and in most cases not nearly as smart. I am no luddite. I am aware of the power of big data when used with good analytics and artificial intelligence in automating functions like logistics, supply chain management, manufacturing and market intelligence. However, business […]

Strategy on Your Own Terms

Man holding strategy arrow

The best military strategists always choose the terrain on which they will do battle, rather than allowing the enemy to choose for them. So, in business, why would you possibly allow others to define the topography of your business environment instead of choosing the topography yourself? Yet, that is often precisely what business people do.

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