Unexpected Expectations: Leadership Lessons from BP

January 4, 2011
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On Christmas, the New York Times ran its most riveting story of the year. Deepwater Horizon’s Final Hours has all the drama of a Hollywood action movie as it recounts the final nine minutes on BP’s ill-fated rig.
In contrast to the coverage of efforts to stop the ecological damage from the BP oil spill where [...]

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The Internet’s New Normal: 4 Implications for 2011

December 24, 2010

A seismic tremor rippled through the Internet this week.  Did you feel it?   The recent FCC decision opened the door for tiered service levels for wireless Internet while preserving equality among wired customers.  Just as the recession permanently altered some of our assumptions about the economy, the FCC action signals a New Normal for the [...]

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Spreading Silicon Valley’s Economic Ecosystem

November 29, 2010

I have yet to meet anyone that to one degree or another isn’t angry at the large banks’ “head’s I win, tails you lose” behavior.  With that acknowledged, this piece reaches beyond the personal anger to explore the damage done to our global competitiveness.  Part of the  remedy is to actively spread the economic ecosystem [...]

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Apple Business Strategy 2011:
Milk the iCow for Growth & Cash

November 14, 2010

Be sure to see WorkingWider’s latest update on Apple:  Apple’s 2012 Business Strategy
If you’re an Apple fan, put aside any expectations for dramatic new product introductions next year.  My bet is in 2011, Apple hardware will see only incremental improvements and cost reductions.  You can also be sure that Apple marketing strategy will tout [...]

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Alignment Wins Global Competitions

November 7, 2010

Shortly after receiving the birth announcement of my fifth grandchild, Ms. Clover Newton, I watched Fareed Zakaria ask his studio audience if they thought their children would be better off than they were.  Not one hand went up.
Welcome to the world Ms. Clover.
As a nation, we are losing our competitive edge as we argue amongst [...]

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Lean Into the Future

October 30, 2010

In the word’s of Hollywood’s Jack Bauer from 24,
the events you are about to see happen in real-time
We live in the moment.  It’s the only reality we have.  We can be trapped by it as well.  When we are trapped, we hang on to the moment.  We repeat it.  It’s the exaggerated hell of Bill [...]

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Apple’s iPhone: An Attractive Platform Ages

October 21, 2010

Apple rocked the world with the iPhone introduction in January, 2007.  At the time, smartphone leaders Nokia, Blackberry and Palm were squeezing email and PC content on to tiny screens. Apple expanded the screen, added navigation gestures followed by thousands of apps that transformed the small device into an expansive experience.
If there’s any company that [...]

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Stop Change Management!
… and Start Designing Attractive Change

October 17, 2010

“Change management” scares me.  It’s like selling a poorly designed product or service.  Someone has to twist your arm to buy it.
We have to manage change when it’s not attractive.  Change management becomes code for convincing others to change. The less attractive the change, the more change management required.  It smacks of hierarchical thinking and [...]

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Apple’s Most Obvious Secret: Reducing Time-to-Value

October 11, 2010

Apple’s success comes from how effectively they’ve accelerated time-to-value; not time-to-market.
After less than eighty days on the market, Apple’s iPad sold three million units.  In contrast, Apple began tablet research before they began iPhone development.  That would imply the iPad’s time-to-market is well over four years.
Apple has consistently reduced their time-to-value.  It took the iPod [...]

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Netflix at a Crossroads:
Can They Beat Apple, Google, Comcast, Hulu and more?

October 6, 2010

What can you do when competitive boundaries change dramatically?  Let’s take a look at the challenges and choices facing Netflix as their market shifts from DVDs to digital distribution. In doing so, we’ll see how environmental boundary changes can quickly overpower the best business and organization models.
How Netflix Won
Netflix’s initial success can seem almost too [...]

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Leaders Drive Change by Setting, Crossing and Changing Boundaries

September 24, 2010

Procter & Gamble sources 50% of new product ideas from outside
Starbucks is in Safeway and down the street
GE Propulsion sells propulsion rather than jet engines
Netflix now distributes movies over the Web as well as CDs
Cummins makes power generators as well as diesel engines
Facebook’s opens API’s to developers such as Zynga

Each example reflects a change in [...]

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