The Inspiration for My Writing — This is the fourth post requested by the Medium folks of one hundred of their regular authors designed to enable the Medium readers to get to know us better: 1. The Backstory on My Writing 2. The Books that Inspired My Work 3. The Process by Which I Write 4…

Never Violate the Hansel & Gretel Rule — There is truly an impressive amount of wisdom in the Brothers Grimm fairy tales. Think too about their stunning productivity in creating a string of iconic characters from Cinderella to Rapunzel to Sleeping Beauty to Snow White. But the subject for today is the business wisdom of another of their…

The Process by Which I Write — As I explained in my first post in this series, the Medium folks reached out to one hundred of their regular authors to write the following four posts that would enable the Medium readers to get to know us better: 1. The Backstory on My Writing 2. The Books that…

What to do When it Doesn’t Get Done — I had a really interesting conversation with a client last week on the frustration of colleagues not getting things done. It is a tricky problem for every company — feels downright Sisyphean. So, I decided to write my 27thYear II Playing to Win/Practitioner Insights (PTW/PI) on Getting It Done: What…

The Books that Inspired My Work — As I explained in last week’s post, the Medium folks reached out to one hundred of their regular authors to write posts on the following four topics to enable the Medium readers to get to know us better. …

Harnessing Productive Selection Bias — Corporate purpose is a very hot topic these days, with corporations being called upon to do more to benefit the world against the backdrop of increasing concerns over climate change, social justice, and economic inequality. I get lots of questions about how I think about corporate purpose in relation to…

The Backstory on My Writing — Last fall, the good folks at Medium reached out to a number of their regular authors to participate in a special project that was designed to promote their books through the Medium platform. As part of the program, they asked us to write the following four posts that would introduce…

The Value of One — I received a thoughtful request to tackle a topic in a Playing to Win Practitioner Insights piece from a longtime and now-retired CEO client, who often sends me commentary on the series. In a nutshell, his frustration was that against the backdrop of worklife/homelife stresses in wake of COVID, remote…

The Hidden Logical Barrier to Innovation — I was recently involved in a conversation that I have had so many times that I have stopped trying to count. It featured a CEO expressing chagrin to his leadership team about innovation. Despite the company setting innovation as a key goal, and investing plenty in it, and watching projects…