Insights

Weak performance is often treated as a strategy problem, a leadership problem, or an execution problem. In reality, it is often a tension problem. Organisations face decisive dilemmas, speed versus quality, autonomy versus coherence, innovation versus discipline, and either hold them well or they do not. When they do by asking "how can we improve one, through the other", virtuous learning loops form, accelerating performance. When they do not, vicious cycles emerge, control i

Most companies have a purpose statement. Far fewer have a purpose that truly works. As Peter Drucker warned, insufficient thought given to purpose is one of the main causes of business frustration. In this article, I give people dealing with purpose projects a clear outline to first align with management alignment on what it is, what it does, and the five characteristics of a strong purpose.

A year of executive dialogue, from refresh to commitment Many organizations feel busy, ambitious, and strategically active, yet strangely short on direction. That tension is not accidental. Studies have shown that three in four employees expect their leaders to paint a compelling picture of the future, while only a tiny fraction of leadership time is actually spent on visioning. As James M. Kouzes and Barry Posner observed in Harvard Business Review , the gap between expectat

For more than fifty years, the Würth Group has delivered double-digit growth  selling screws, fasteners, and related installation materials. The secret is deciphered Wachsen wie Würth (Grow like Würth) by Bernd Venohr, I finally got the chance to read and apply it. Its performance is not luck. It is the result of a highly disciplined management system  built over decades, one that treats organizational tensions not as problems but as sources of energy. Instead of choosing be

Kodak. Nokia. Digital Equipment Corp. Giants in their industries. Leaders in innovation. And yet—each of them faltered in the face of...

This whitepaper unveils a dynamic, bottom-up strategy development approach that engages employees and stakeholders and uses AI.

There is a fundamental disconnect between the abundant chatter about disruption and the actual ability to achieve it. As a result, many FMCG companies appear to be stuck and are bound to miss the train yet, I claim, unnecessarily so. A brighter future lies ahead for those who take the trouble to embrace and apply the magic code that was deciphered twenty years ago.   In my earlier post on the Global Consumer Goods Forum I referred to a sentiment of partying at the Titanic .

As Peter Drucker once said, “The purpose of business is to create and keep a customer”. Embracing new technologies and business models seem nowadays a must-do to achieve significant sustainable top-line growth or even stay in the game. The majority of our fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) clients are however concerned about slow growth. Right now, most incremental growth is coming from new, disruptive business models. Small, asset-light, regional competitors are getting the l