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How to Seize Opportunity in a World of Disruption

Skip Prichard

and is an expert on risk, strategy, and finance. It is a new, more advanced way of studying environments, making decisions, building cultures, and operating on a day-to-day basis. For example, they many fail to detect or assess profound changes in operating landscapes, like Bear Stearns or Blockbuster did. Northern Command.

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Your Strategic Plans Probably Aren’t Strategic, or Even Plans

Harvard Business Review

At the start of my public seminars on strategic planning I ask attendees, who rank from board members and CEOs to middle management, to write down an example of a strategy on a sheet of paper. ” Taking a stakeholder approach to strategic planning induces managers to raise their thinking to the organization level.

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How to Innovate When You're Not the Big Boss

Harvard Business Review

In most companies there's more than a kernel of truth to these managers' complaints. At the middle management level you typically don't have the clout or resources required to make sweeping changes. "They won't let me take risks." They don't tolerate mistakes or failure.". Nonetheless, the dilemma remains.

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To Lead a Digital Transformation, CEOs Must Prioritize

Harvard Business Review

Three ways to manage the digital transition are: Define where change is needed most: Digital technology affects every company differently, but it tends to create or destroy value in four critical areas of the organization: customer engagement, digital products and services, operational performance, and preparing for disruptive new business models.

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Making Matrix Organizations Actually Work

Harvard Business Review

For example, the French global energy player ENGIE recently tilted its primary dimension from product (such as power, services, and infrastructure) toward region in order to better serve its clients in the territories in which it operates. The executives in charge of the various groups sit together naturally in the top management team.

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Where There’s No Margin for Toxic Leadership

Harvard Business Review

The CEO thought he needed to step out of the chief sales role to focus on operations and finances. That requires mentoring and developing middle managers as well as building a network of external candidates in critical functional areas. It’s a different story. Consider the case of a $30 million manufacturer.

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Build Your Team Like an Executive

Harvard Business Review

These differences in philosophy and approach frequently differentiate those who advance to and succeed at the executive level — and those who stay in the ranks of middle management. When you ask leaders how they build a strong management team, the answers are revealing.