In this article, Robyn Bolton explains why problems with innovation is often a leadership communication problem. Do you sometimes feel like you’re living in an alternate reality? If so, you’re not alone.  Most innovators feel that way at some point. After all, you see things that others don’t. Question things that seem inevitable and true. Make connections where others only see differences. Do things that seem impossible. It’s easy to believe that you’re the crazy one, the Mad Hatter and…

In this article published in Forbes, Sindhu Kutty explains why it is so important to learn how to give and receive feedback graciously.  In Star Trek: The Next Generation, the first time Captain Picard meets his first officer, Will Riker, he asks him to do something moderately challenging: dock the battleship section without using any of the available automation. In the next scene, Picard confronts Riker about challenging a former captain. Riker explains his rationale and the scene ends with…

Rahul Bhargava shares the story of David Reynolds and how it relates to the study of intrapersonal intelligence. It is important to determine a person’s intelligence at the early stage of life. In doing so, they can receive proper guidance to achieve success in their respective fields. To enhance the intelligence we possess, intrapersonal intelligence plays a very crucial role. A person should follow a set of guidelines in his life to increasing productivity, concentration, and a positive outlook towards…

Paul Sims shares an article and template that reveals how to write the perfect follow-up email. When you’re in the job search, you’re going to start meeting influential people in person for job interviews, informational interviews, and networking. You need to impress these people and stand out in order to keep moving along in the hiring process, get referrals, and go into the interview with momentum. If you don’t impress these people, then you wasted both your time and their…

Barry Horwitz explains how to improve team communication, relationship, and productivity. Have you heard about the “Two Pizza Rule?” It was introduced by Jeff Bezos in the early days of Amazon. The idea: every internal team should be small enough that it can be fed with just two pizzas. Beyond that, Bezos believed, the group would start to become less effective. Pizza aside, there is research to back this up. The “Ringelmann Effect” suggests that the larger the group, the…

Jacob Lehman shares an article on efficiency versus memorability and why context is vitally important in communicating ideas quickly. In fast-paced, demanding work environments, there’s a lot of pressure to communicate concisely (and even quickly). While I certainly wouldn’t argue for wasting time or monopolizing the time of our colleagues (or customers), I believe that the additional time that it takes to communicate memorably is often more than compensated for by the benefits we gain in not needing to repeat…

In this article, Jared Simmons shares useful advice that can help you deal with difficult conversations at work. At some point in your career, you’ll be faced with the need to have a tough conversation with a colleague, boss, or team member. There are countless guides on how to master these conversations, what to do and what not to do. Here are some things I try to keep in mind as I prepare to have a tough conversation, or suddenly…

Jayanth Krishnan shares an article that explains how a tool their company developed connects departments and promotes growth. We have developed a tool that provides a common language of growth between strategy, finance, marketing, product and design teams. The tool draws upon CLV concept from marketing science, Jobs To Be Done thinking and broadly Management Science ideas. We are calling this tool CLV 2.0. This article provides the motivation (why) CLV2.0 is going to be useful for our clients and…

Jesse Jacoby takes us back to the basic, but widely overlooked and underestimated, points of communication that help build trust, ensure clear communication and win respect. We live in an age where communication is rampant. When exchanging information with a colleague, you may choose to email, text, instant message, tweet, and the list goes on. With all these choices readily available, one may argue that communicating is faster and easier than ever before. However, our messages are also becoming more…

Kaihan Krippendorff provides a reminder on the power of stories and why the narratives about your organization can shape patterns of thinking and daily behaviors within the workforce that ultimately shape the culture and business transformation.  A World Beyond Cash… Former Mastercard CEO Ajay Banga’s vision of a “world beyond cash” has resonated across a decade. The concept expanded globally in its call for customers, employees, and executives to imagine a cashless society fueled by digital payments. Banga’s leadership at…

We’ve all succumbed to the temptation of venting on social media, but in this post, Patrice Gorin’s question “who are you really talking to” may put the breaks on future online rants.  I once came across a great insight by Aristotle:  “Anybody can become angry, that is easy; but to be angry with the right person, and to the right degree, and at the right time, and for the right purpose, and in the right way, that is not within…

Kaihan Krippendorff shares an article that identifies how to use language to stimulate innovation. Last week, the Outthinker Strategy Network (OSN) hosted our first in-person roundtable of the year at Cornell Tech on Roosevelt Island in New York City. The island, located in the East River between Manhattan and Queens, once a site of abandoned prison buildings and mental institutions, has been transformed into a hub of innovation. Opened in 2017, the Cornell Tech campus and its Tata Innovation Center…

Dan Markovitz shares an always relevant warning in business management and the one easy way to squander time, money, and credibility. Just in case 2020 wasn’t challenging enough for you, here’s a brilliant example of how to waste time, money, and credibility in 2021. The HR department at a company approached me recently about teaching employees process mapping. This company recognizes the utility of process mapping in continuous improvement and decided that a class would be a good place to…

James Stranko offers an inside view of Silicon Valley and how siloed the area is from the rest of the world.  Silicon Valley is Failing At Geography Every time I arrive in California, my facial muscles relax. It’s like magic. Without having to leave the country, I feel far from the problems in the rest of the U.S., and even farther from the world’s problems. Dare I say I’m jealous that this special land concentrates so many good things in…

Alistair Hodgett shares an evergreen post and sage advice on how to respond to media requests. Never saying “no comment” is one of the fundamentals of media relations. But the imperative to respond to media requests can weaken your long-term position, regardless of how well you handle the individual interviews or requests for information. The process of developing your communications and public affairs strategy should confirm where, for some organisations and companies, it is essential to not engage on certain…

David A. Fields shares an irresistible post on communication and how to develop the language your consulting firm uses to improve both relationships and results. You can enhance your consulting firm’s performance and results by reexamining the language you use to understand and communicate your clients’ challenges. A cursory internet search surfaces a plethora of fascinating articles describing how language affects perception. Perhaps the most compelling and commonly cited example is attributed to Jules Davidoff. It suggests that Westerners, who…

Sherif El-Henaoui explains why judgment inhibits growth. … they will never know. When they try, they will always learn. I watch people dislike Airbnb, Tripadvisor, Uber, Twitter, alibaba, etc.. No problem disliking something in life except when one doesn’t have any clue about it… In recent times I have been facing people, who discredit things they don’t understand even worse they don’t want to understand. If one never has taken an Uber ride, never bought or sold through Ebay, never…

Tineke Keesmaat explains why talking is often better than sending an email when it comes to communicating and leading your team.  Research shows that over 90% of leaders still rely on emails to engage with teams. While email is useful, if you want to be an inspiring leader you need to actually talk with your teams. Here are some ideas to get you started. Orchestrate meaningful in-person sessions. Passion and pace can’t be created in an email. A formula we’ve…

Anubhav Raina shares a convincing post on the power of influencing others. Being able to influence someone on a key issue is the single greatest superpower you can have. From convincing a client or boss to try out your idea, to being able to guide your family into seeing things your way. Humans are influencing each other ALL the time, and similar tHow it started I still remember the moment. I was 23 and had just found out what my…

Jesse Jacoby explains how to define and communicate your concept of corporate culture.  Ask 100 managers how they define organizational culture, and you’ll probably get as many different definitions as possible. Even scholars cannot agree; and that means that your definition is as appropriate as anyone else’s. This makes the challenge, however, of creating the culture that you want particularly difficult, because it is almost impossible to hit a target that is ambiguous. How can you describe something abstract in…

Guillermo Herbozo shares a few key tips to ensure a positive outcome when conversing with a customer.  Most conversations, whether you’re in sales, customer service, retention or any other customer facing position, start with a greeting. Then they move along until close and follow up. Now, how often do you review the customer conversation practices in your organization to see how they can be improved? This post is an invitation to do precisely that. Its focus will be reviewing best…

David A. Fields explains how your consulting firm could benefit from his experiment with outreach. There are people you’ve not talked with in years, and it’s a shame. They’re good people, you enjoyed your relationship with them, plus, reconnecting could help generate business for your consulting firm. But if you’ve been out of touch for so long, is it really possible to renew the relationship? And if so, how, and is more than one bar of To’ak Art Series Blend…

Barry Horwitz shares a few tips on how to improve communication between the front line and top executives when the organization is large, the problems are complex, and the stakeholders are diverse. In her book, “Seeing Around Corners,” Rita McGrath notes that insights at the “edges” of an organization — close to the customers but far from the executive suite — can take a long time to reach the top of the food chain, if they get there at all….

  While many struggle with switching the focus between work and home, Barry Horwitz has published a post that is the result of a family gathering inspiring how to avoid strategic planning mistakes.  Many years ago, my mother initiated what has since become an annual family tradition. When my father was about to reach his 70th birthday (he’s closing in on 90 now!), she decided we should gather siblings and families, and all spend a weekend together to celebrate. But…

  Are you failing to attract the talent you want at your company? Paul Millerd takes some time to analyze what does and doesn’t work on a company career page with examples taken from a review of 100 sites. Why Stripe has the only good career page on the internet (okay maybe Costco too) January 30th, 2021: Greetings from Taipei. It’s day 9 of our quarantine here in Taiwan. We were lucky enough to stay in Angie’s parents apartment so…

  Robbie Baxter shares valuable advice on how to build and manage a network in a comfortable and authentic way. A few years ago, my sister asked me to co lead a workshop to help a group of her fellow psychologists build their professional network. Here’s how she opened the event: “I know most of us really don’t like networking, and I’m glad you’re here anyway. For most of us networking is worse than a sharp stick in the eye”…

  Amanda Setili asks us to think about how interaction with clients has changed and what expectations will be in the years ahead. Imagine that it’s three years in the future, in 2024. Largely gone are the days of flying somewhere to meet with a customer for an hour or two. Customer expectations have changed dramatically; they want substance more than just a few hours together. Instead of a social call, customers in 2024 want substantive gatherings of talent. For…

  Belinda Li shares an article that explores the meaning of ‘social’ in social enterprise. When I tell people our consulting firm has a passion for helping social enterprises, I’m sometimes met with the question, ‘what do you mean by social enterprise?’ Or I might get a knowing look, yet the response is, ‘oh, so you do social media!’ or ‘oh, so it’s about social networking!’ Hmm… I suppose that’s not totally unexpected. After all, not many people know about…

  Azim Nagree explains which methods of communication work best during a pandemic and why.  When companies ask me how to accelerate sales or improve retention, I tell them a story. I needed to purchase a sign for my wife’s French pastry shop. I spoke with the front desk clerk who said that it would be around $90. A few days later, I got the final quote from the sales person – $265. And with that, I was out. The…

  If you have ever wondered why your messaging is misconstrued or find that you lapse into cliches at meetings, help is at hand. Bernie Heine identifies what not to say, why not, and what to say instead.  Two Must-Do Guidelines and Five Clichés to Avoid. Strategic Review or any meeting Your strategic review is a rare opportunity to take an objective overview perspective on your business. It is a time for questioning assumptions and a space in which to…