Robyn Bolton explains the nuances of Jobs to be Done. Before we go any further, I need to be clear that I absolutely, totally, and completely believe in Jobs to be Done.  In fact, more than once, I have uttered the words, “Jobs to be Done is a hill I will die on.” Which means that I died a little inside when a client recently said to me, “Jobs to be Done is amazing.  ‘Jobs to be Done’ sucks.” He’s…

  Jayanth Krishnan provides an article that explains how the revised metrics of CLV2.0, inspired by jobs theory, reveals the limitations of customer lifetime value (CLV) metrics and provides better customer insight, consequently lowering your acquisition cost and creating demand.   Abstract:  CLV is a sound quantitative metric provided the data fed to it has a sound basis in customer’s fundamental approach to making choices. CLV2.0 is a revised metric inspired by Jobs theory, that addresses CLV’s limitations in addition…

  Access this resource from Gaelle Lamotte’s company on how to improve your ability to execute strategies by integrating development and planning, driving focus and alignment. How often do you win with your strategy? Strategy development is useful for defining ambitions and long term goals. A good strategy is only as good as the capability to implement it and how well it delivers the desired outcome. Various research concludes: Organisations on average realise only 50-63% of the financial performance promised…

  Duane Capuano shares a white paper on the blocks that stop the implementation of strategies and provides a framework for moving a strategy from thought to action. Countless association executive teams dedicate significant time and resources to strategic planning. But too often, great ideas and plans stay trapped in the notebook and are quickly moved to the backburner – reduced in priority by more pressing day-to-day management and operational demands. The need for implementation of forward-looking strategic plans is…

  Caroline Taich can help you improve your strategic planning process by understanding what drives the differences in the team’s expectations.  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…

  Nora Ghaoui examines the limitations of artificial intelligence as it pertains to building a business strategy. If company strategies risk sounding the same when written by people, what happens when they get written by AI? In this post I examine an AI-generated strategy statement for what it says about the abilities of AI and creating strategies. Three years ago, I asked if large companies all had the same strategy. Perhaps their strategies all sounded the same because managers picked…

  From her company blog, Nora Ghaoui shares a two-part series that examines the strategy statements of large companies and explains why strategy writing often results in generic statements. By the time a large company has finished its strategic planning cycle, it ends up with strategy statements that could apply to any company. The same phrases show up every time.  Why is that?  Do great minds think alike, are people running out of ideas, or are market trends forcing them…

  Sean McCoy shares a blog post from his company website that presents a case for and against spending resources on ‘innovation’.  Innovation is hard. Most companies do not do it well. Long is the list of established market leaders that were The Disruptee instead of The Disrupter. But firms are not to blame. Most innovations fail period, regardless of who is doing the innovation. Innovation is a high-failure sport. Nevertheless, conventional wisdom holds that large businesses should be more…

  Luiz Zorzella takes a leap into the arbitrary world of luck to explain how unforeseen forces should be considered when shaping strategies.  8 months ago, I drafted an article explaining why you should do a sensitivity analysis of your strategy to luck. I was planning to publish it in March of this year, because of St Patrick’s. That draft started with “Now is the time to be bold.”. I pointed out that the largest Canadian banks were trading at…

  Aneta Key shares a short message that shines a light into the importance of leaders spending valuable time on scenario planning, and how following military training can guide business strategies.  It is important for leadership teams to regularly work through scenarios across time horizons.  Strategic decision-making is at the core of leadership and is what Aneta Key facilitates among clients. It is also one of the core areas explored in the GrowthKey leadership development programs. This question is a…

  Andrew Hone’s company blog explains why cost reduction programs often fail.  Although cost reduction programs can deliver a powerful mix of financial, strategic, and organisational benefits, the failure rates of these types of programs are very high. A recent survey of C-Suite executives, for example, found that while 90% of businesses had attempted to implement a cost reduction program, 75% failed to meet their targets, and 44% missed them by more than half. Drawing on some of the key…

  Luiz Zorzella shares key points that can help leaders evaluate and address their approach to change to ensure better outcomes.  Strategy & Value For the past 10 years, financial services firms have publicly acknowledged that they needed to change.  Chances are, your organization was one of those. Commoditization meant a systematic erosion of margins for banks; reduction in interest rates has been challenging both interest and non-interest income sources of banks and investment firms as well as the economics…

  Gaelle Lamotte was recently interviewed for the Telegraph’s Business Reporter on bridging the gap between business strategy and achieving the best results.  Strategies often fail because there is a lack of a robust, compelling strategic story that hangs off them, there’s a failure of coordination between units and functions, often misalignment, and at the end of the day, there’s a lack of leadership agreement around a common shared purpose, around a common agenda. So as a result, you’ll find…

  Geoff Wilson gets straight to the point with some tough love in this article by asking if you to make sure your strategy inspires.  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. Strategy, inasmuch…