As 2023 takes off, Xavier Lederer asks you to consider what you should stop doing this year. Each time the New Year rolls around and I sit down to do my annual resolutions, I reflect back to a lesson taught me by a remarkable teacher,” shares best-selling author and researcher Jim Collins. Are you busy or are you disciplined? He continues: “One day, she pointed to my ferocious work pace and said, “I notice, Jim, that you are a rather…

In this article, Caroline Taich explains how to avoid a critical mistake when setting up your strategic planning process. Much of my work involves strategic planning. Over the years I have observed that there are different kinds of strategic plans, and different views on what constitutes an excellent plan. This can lead to trouble when it comes with a mismatch of expectations within one team. I wonder, why is there so much difference? There is probably a long list of…

Johannes Hoech shares an article that identifies areas to watch and steps to take to control revenue losses and improve growth. Would you fly in a passenger airplane with multiple, disconnected pilots? One controlling the engines, one for heading, one in charge of fuel, etc. Seems absurd to think that a plane could actually fly this way. But isn’t that analogous how we often set up and run our revenue organizations? We have a pilot for marketing, one for sales,…

Geoff Wilson shares an evergreen article and a sharp reminder on the problem of rolling out an uninspiring strategic plan and what you can do about it.  The possibilities are endless.  Some might say that the sole purpose is to “enhance shareholder value.”  I’d argue that this old trope is no longer the gold standard.  Some adhere to the stakeholder model…which might be closer.  Regardless of the “concept,” a given business strategy has to appeal to a lot of people….

This article from Barry Horwitz explains why in-house resources should not be used to facilitate a business planning retreat.  After more than two years working remotely, hybrid, or cautiously in-person, some organizations are beginning to think about scheduling an offsite or “retreat.” And while many of these tend to take place in the fall, planning for them begins now, during the summer. These off-campus gatherings often bring together senior staff with the purpose of thinking strategically and developing ideas and…

Rahul Bhargava shares an article on the benefits of scenario planning to mitigate risk and combat uncertainties. Scenario Planning has almost become a prerequisite for companies to combat any or all future uncertainties— or more conveniently; a risk mitigating device to be precise which is by and large used by organisations to avoid perilous situations as a result of sloppy underpinnings. With a correct analysis of basic trends and uncertainties your business can ascend impediments and steer clear on the…

  Amanda Setili shares a few practices designed to help you excel at both long-term and short-term thinking.  Every one of us knows well the constant tug-of-war between long and short-term thinking. You want to lose weight, but you also deeply desire that double chocolate cake. You want to put a new roof on your house, but you also have your heart set on a restorative summer vacation. Long-term big thinking is the foundation of all major accomplishments. From the…

Umbrex is pleased to welcome Odd Utgård with The Real Consultancy.  Odd  spent two years with McKinsey in Oslo following his graduation from the London School of Economics. After McKinsey, he spent several years working with high tech startups and spin-offs from research institutes and universities, before founding the leading Norwegian tech incubator and seed fund – StartupLab. Odd’s key expertise is in growth and strategy, with a keen eye for business improvement opportunities and analytics. He lives in Oslo,…

  This article from Karthik Rajagopalan’s company blog introduces a type of machine learning that may provide solutions for some traditional optimization problems such as inventory optimization and supply chain optimization. The field of artificial intelligence is slowly beginning to permeate our lives. Computers and other machines are being endowed with intelligence through a process called machine learning. One particular type of machine learning that is of interest to us here in Paramis Digital is Reinforcement Learning (RL), which has…