Blog

See our experts’ latest contributions on consulting, execution, growth, simplification and other key topics in today’s industry-leading blog posts.

08.27.14  Ron Ashkenas

Rethinking the Meaning of Labor Day

Accept and embrace it: summer is almost over. After all, Labor Day is next week and doesn’t that mean it’s time to get back to work, stop going to the pool, and start planning winter vacation?

Categories: Operational Excellence, Forbes
Comments: 0

08.08.14  Ron Ashkenas , Logan Chandler

Four Ways To Develop A Better Strategic Plan

No great strategy was born without careful thought. That’s why the process of planning a strategy itself is an important vehicle for setting priorities, making investment decisions, and laying out growth plans.

Categories: Strategy Execution, Forbes
Comments: 0

07.31.14  Ron Ashkenas

Why Managers and HR Don’t Get Along

Human Resources (HR) people have four roles: administrative expert, employee advocate, strategic business partner, and change agent. In some cases, an HR person specializes in just one of these roles, but others may switch back and forth between the roles, and when…

Categories: Operational Excellence, Harvard Business Review, Executive Alignment and Coaching
Comments: 0

07.24.14  Ron Ashkenas

Dealing With Denial Is A Team Sport

Great leaders tell it like it is. In other words, they focus on reality, no matter how painful or unpleasant it might be, and then figure out what to do about it.

Categories: Operational Excellence, Forbes
Comments: 0

07.01.14  Ron Ashkenas

Why Consultants Should Be Accountable For Results, Not Recommendations

When I recently asked a group of MBA students to define what it meant to them to be a consultant, they quickly rattled off phrases such as “trusted advisor,” “problem-solver,” “objective third party,” and “subject matter expert.”

Categories: Strategy Execution, Forbes
Comments: 0

06.25.14  Ron Ashkenas

Good Managers Look Beyond Their “Usual Suspects”

In the movie Casablanca, there’s a famous scene where Captain Renault, the head of the French police, avoids investigating the murder of a Nazi officer by telling his people to “round up the usual suspects.”

Categories: Operational Excellence, Harvard Business Review
Comments: 0

06.23.14  Ron Ashkenas

Watch Out, Boomers, Here Comes the Millennial Workforce

I recently heard a stunning statistic: For the next 18 years, 10,000 people per day will turn 65 years old, and (presumably) retire shortly thereafter.

Categories: Operational Excellence, Forbes, Executive Alignment and Coaching
Comments: 0

06.12.14  Ron Ashkenas

Where You Sit At Work Determines What You See

Most projects or processes require collaborative work with people who come from other parts of the organization – different functions, levels, locations, or business units – and who see the world differently.

Categories: Strategy Execution, Operational Excellence, Forbes
Comments: 0

06.06.14  Jonathan Stearn

Skip the “Best Practices”: How Several Hospitals Used Disciplined Experimentation to Make Complex Initiatives Successful

As a consultant, I have the privilege of working with leading organizations in a variety of industries around the world. Despite the wide diversity in geography, size, and industry of our client base, I can confirm that there is one thing that every single organiza…

Categories: Strategy Execution, Innovation, Rapid Results
Comments: 0

06.04.14  Ron Ashkenas

When an Inability to Make Decisions Is Actually Fear of Conflict

Does your organization take forever to make a decision? Do your or your team fail to follow through on the decisions? My colleague, Ron Ashkenas, calls this "decision spin".

Categories: Strategy Execution, Operational Excellence, Harvard Business Review
Comments: 0
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