Overcoming 2020: Three ways to get your business strategy back on track December is typically the time where we look ahead and create a plan for the coming year. As the holidays close in, it’s the perfect opportunity to assess what has worked over the course of the last 12 months and what created the [...]
Can Politics Make You a Better Business Leader? Politics is a messy business, filled with larger-than-life personalities who can be deeply flawed but still offer grandiose visions for how they can best lead. While the vision of political leadership is a lofty one, focused on serving the greater good, the day-to-day reality of the political [...]
The Evolution of Strategy ~ A 2020 Reboot Four years ago, Caroline from the StrategyBlocks team published a short blog discussing the Evolution of Strategy. Over the past 1541 days that blog has been read on average every 6 hours, everywhere from Afghanistan to Zimbabwe, and that frequency just keeps accelerating. While we can perhaps [...]
How to Stay Relevant in Retail Amid Ongoing Change The world of retail is no stranger to adaptation. Consumer trends shift like the wind, and retailers of all stripes are hyperfocused on meeting the current needs of their customers, no matter how they might change. That can mean everything from shifting in-store product to adjusting [...]
Finding Strategic Vision in Turbulent Times A recent article in The Change Leader discussed how to navigate a strategic course during chaotic circumstances. Focused on the higher education market, it highlighted the significant toll recent market changes have taken on colleges and universities and offered thoughts on how institutions can survive during times of upheaval. [...]
An Integrated Framework for Strategic Execution I do enjoy a great diagram, especially a visual framework or a methodology. I have seen many well constructed diagrammatic frameworks covering various aspects of business strategy including planning, execution, delivery, values, outcomes etc…. But they can be a bit dull and, on occasion, overly academic! I am always [...]
The Interdependency of the Strategic Plan and the Financial Plan Back in 2017, a PWC study revealed that 82% of CEOs were concerned about uncertain economic times. This despite an economic climate marked by rapid growth that outpaced even the most bullish predictions. Fast forward to 2020, where we find ourselves in the middle of [...]
The Art of Strategy Recently I have been working with a new customer to model their business strategy, and I am delighted with how it has turned out. Why is this such an effective strategic model? It has two important things; balance and symmetry. Benefits of Balance Firstly, there is an excellent parent to child [...]
Strategic Vision Holds the Key to Not Just Survive, But Thrive, in a Post-COVID World John F. Kennedy once said, “Leadership and learning are indispensable to each other." The current global pandemic has brought this concept to life in new ways, as every company is scrambling to recalibrate and learn how to effectively run their [...]
Navigating the Long Road through College Accreditation Becoming accredited as a university or college in the United States is not easy. Accreditation is a legal process of validation, requiring colleges, universities and other higher learning institutions to be evaluated by a set of standards rigorously set by peer review boards, accrediting organizations and higher education [...]
