Leading Blog

MARCH 18, 2011

Technology enables velocity—the speed of getting products to market, the speed of delivery, the speed of analytics, and the list goes on. The thing you want to be these days is a “fast follower.” Speed is our friend in almost every case.

Chief Information Officer 280

Chief Information Officer CIO ROI Technology 280

Harvard Business Review

MARCH 4, 2014

Are managers particularly concerned about the impacts of climate change on their businesses? Part of the disconnect stems from what’s said by company leaders versus what a broad selection of managers think. If we believe the results of a recent MIT Sloan and BCG survey , the answer is no. But it may not be that dire.

Supply Chain 8

Supply Chain Company Short-term Fast Follower 8

Harvard Business Review

MARCH 15, 2016

Most workdays aren’t terribly productive. The idea is to fast-forward a project, so you can see what the end result might look like and how the market will react. It’s also a popular construct in agile project management. How to Boost Your Team’s Productivity. Sprints encourage fast follow-up.

Consensus 8

Consensus Hotels Project Fast Follower 8

Harvard Business Review

NOVEMBER 14, 2012

GE's Jack Welch was inordinately fond of emphasizing that his biggest leadership regret was that he didn't move fast enough to make fundamental changes. By stark contrast, IBM's Lou Gerstner practiced a cultivated deliberateness in his successful turnaround: Slow and steady won his leadership race. That's a mug's game.

Consensus 8

Consensus Welch Retail CEO 8

Harvard Business Review

JANUARY 26, 2011

had any product, service or process innovation between 2006 and 2008. China's brilliant "Fast Follower" innovation policy is generating the biggest transfer of technology in history. We need a much more skilled business leadership than we have currently, capable of creating as well as managing.

Policies 15

Policies Innovation Fast Follower Long-term 15

Harvard Business Review

NOVEMBER 22, 2010

The article shows how the Dutch firm AkzoNobel is growing in China, particularly through products that help customers reduce environmental footprint in the shipping and building sectors. Each major government ministry in China was pitching green products and services at the tradeshow. Thats what Chinas Hi-Tech Fair is doing.

NGO 14

NGO Chemicals Guidelines Telecommunications 14

Harvard Business Review

JANUARY 23, 2014

A few years ago Dave Ulrich, a management thought leader from the University of Michigan, made a comment I found both insightful and profound: “ Every leader needs to have a model of organization design.” An effective organization design model guides a manager in answering five fundamental questions in a thoughtful and well-integrated way.

Ulrich 8

Ulrich Cost Efficiency Consultative 8