Strategic thinking for leadership teams.
25 years helping leadership teams build and execute strategy. Monthly writing on execution, capability, and the discipline that closes the gap between the strategic plan and what actually happens in the field.
11 Lessons from 15 Years in Business: What I Wish I'd Known Sooner
What 15 years of building a business actually teaches you — including the parts no framework prepares you for.
Systems Over Goals: How Management Systems Are the Backbone of Strategy Execution
Why the 12 management systems underneath your strategy matter more than the goals sitting on top of them.
When Waiting Becomes the Riskiest Move: A New Framework for Leading Through Uncertainty
The practical framework for creating momentum when the future isn't clear enough to plan around.
The Strategic Compound Interest That Multiplies Your Business Results
How daily strategic discipline compounds into results that look impossible from the outside.
Is it Time to Pivot?
Maybe, maybe not. Is it time to consider a pivot? Absolutely. Markets shift — sometimes gradually, sometimes dramatically. Seismic changes in economic conditions, customer demand, and sentiment create both pressure and opportunity. Some effects may be...
Focus is Everything: Download the Project Prioritization Tool
Complexity is cost, and too many initiatives drain the organization's resources and hinder its agility. The winners will have the courage and conviction to be decisive and galvanize people into collective action on the "Focus Few" initiatives that support the core...
Reclaim Control Through Small Change
What do Mother Teresa, James Clear, and Darren Hardy have in common? They've celebrated the power of small actions to have a profound impact on our lives. Mother Teresa said, "Be faithful in small things because it is in them that your strength lies." One of our basic...
How to Leverage the Power of Negative Thinking
If you're like me, you might be battling a lot of negative thoughts. Do you feel like you shouldn't be? It's understandable. The neverending messaging of the "power of positive thinking" makes it seem like if we are feeling negative, we are doing it wrong. But are we?...
How the Stoics Thrive In Adversity
If there’s one thing the Stoics like Seneca, Marcus Aurelius, and Epictetus knew how to do, it’s navigating adversity. So I thought it’d be a great time to bust out my copy of “The Obstacle Is the Way: The Timeless Art of Turning Trials into...
How to Do Strategic Planning During a Crisis
Idea in Brief With so many uncertainties, planning may seem like an impossible task now. It's easy to feel blocked to any possibilities and get stuck in overwhelm. That's precisely why we need strategic planning more than ever to determine how we can 1) survive, 2)...