A key focus for many businesses is progressing towards goals. In many companies, however, a significant barrier to reaching objectives is that standard performance metrics often do not clearly point the way forward. Confusion about what performance metrics mean, differences in organizational roles and gaps between metrics and day-to-day tasks all combine to make metrics […]
The Covid-19 pandemic has done tremendous damage to the driving force of the global economy: consumption. As it will likely take a significant amount of time for consumption levels to recover, it will be necessary to complement traditional economic stimulus methods with other approaches to generate enough economic activity to protect the large amount of […]
One way to think of business is as a series of problems and a great deal of business activity involves looking for solutions to those problems. From the perspective of Zen Buddhism, however, the light of understanding is found not in the narrow corner of answers but rather in the open spaces of questions. This […]
When is the right time for a company to search for capital? Many companies only look for capital when they are facing major financial challenges, a search that often does not end in success. To increase the chances of obtaining funding on attractive terms, a better strategy is to view capital raising as a continuous […]
Despite the innate attractiveness and benefits of simplicity, stripping way excess can be a very difficult goal in practice. This article explores the power of simplicity and considers why many things tend to become more rather than less complex over time. This tendency has important ramifications for nearly everything in our lives, including our ability […]
Solving problems in many cases requires a significant change of perspective. Drawing inspiration from the x, y and z axes of the Cartesian coordinate system, which provide an infinite number of ways of conceptualizing points in space, this article discusses three problem solving perspectives that can be useful in reconceptualizing challenges and identifying solutions: vertical […]
Given the reactive nature of the human mind and the power of our emotions, many people when confronted with an event have a strong tendency to leap into action. While immediate responses are sometimes necessary to take advantage of opportunities and defend against threats, there are often many strategic and practical benefits to waiting before […]
The attraction of symmetry has long had a powerful impact on what we see and what we wish to see in the world and in the heavens, affecting everything from the sciences to mathematics to the arts. Despite its allure, attempts to impose symmetry on inherently asymmetrical realities can severely distort truth and create significant […]
Risks are often thought of as largely compartmentalized, independent threats to business strategies and initiatives. While this viewpoint makes risks easier to categorize in the abstract, out on the streets of reality risks are often highly dependent, with the materialization of one risk setting in motion other seemingly unrelated risks. Risk interdependence leads not only […]