Podcast
Strategy Archives - Mind Tools
Hosted by Unknown Author · EN
Essential skills for an excellent career
10episodes
Episodes
Newest firstAll episodes
The Centennial Mindset: My Expert Interview With Alex Hill
Oct 26, 2023Tap to summarizeFor five years at the end of the last century, my grandfather delighted in being the oldest living All Black. The All Blacks are New Zealand’s national rugby union team, often regarded as the most successful sports team in history. As it happened, my grandpa only played one match for them before injury put paid to his rugby career. That was in 1921, but he wore this affiliation like a badge of honor right up until his death at the age of 99. The All Blacks were revered a hundred years ago, and they still are. This makes them a perfect case study for Professor Alex Hill, co-founder and director of the Centre for High Performance, a collaboration between Kingston University London, Duke University, London Business School, and the University of Oxford. Building Centennial Organizations For more than a decade, he’s researched organizations that have outperformed their peers for over 100 years. In addition to the New Zealand All Blacks, he’s studied NASA, Eton College and the Royal Shakespeare Company, among other household names. Hill has identified 12 habits they share, looking at how they analyze success and failure, recruit great talent, and create new products and ideas. He lays these out in his new book, “Centennials,” and offers advice for others who aspire to such longevity today. In this clip from our Expert Interview, Hill reflects on how corporate behavior can embed itself from generation to generation. (You can stream the audio clip below or read a transcript here.) The How and Why of Centennial Organizations Hill acknowledges that not all organizations are in it for the long haul. Some don’t want to last 100 years, so for them, a focus on short-term returns is appropriate. “A lot of management thinking comes from business, and actually those principles and ideas are great if you want to burn bright, but then disappear,” he says. “But if you don’t want to do that and you want to build something that’s going to last, then you have to think in a very different way.” And this is a worthy goal, he believes, as “centennial” organizations deliver benefits for communities and society as a whole, as well as for themselves. “They help us solve bigger, more complex questions, things like climate change or poverty or health or education, where actually you’re building a collective knowledge in an institution that is growing over time. An...
Transcribe →Whose Job Is Strategy?
Oct 9, 2023Tap to summarizeHow would you answer the question, "whose job is strategy?" Do you arrive at a straightforward answer, or is it tricky to come to a clear view? I confess, I have been pondering this for some time and have come to the conclusion that assigning the responsibility of strategy is more complex than I first thought. I started by considering what strategic leadership involves. What Is Strategic Leadership? A strategic leader is an individual within an organization who possesses the vision, foresight, and capability to guide the organization toward its long-term goals. This type of leader not only focuses on the day-to-day operations, but also on the larger picture and future direction of the organization. They're responsible for shaping and implementing strategies that help the organization to adapt to change and to excel in a dynamic and competitive business environment. If that wasn't enough, strategic leaders need a clear vision of where they want the organization to be in the future. They must anticipate market trends, technological advancements, and other relevant changes, enabling them to prepare the organization for the future. Effective strategic thinkers conduct thorough risk assessments, and then focus on long-term planning and are able to set realistic and achievable goals that align with the organization's mission and vision. However, these plans can’t be set in stone: strategic leaders are open to change and can adjust strategies and plans to respond to evolving circumstances, whether within the organization or in the external environment. Considering all that’s involved with being a strategic leader, it is clear that they play a crucial role in setting direction, inspiring teams, and ensuring the organization remains relevant and competitive in a rapidly changing business environment. </fi...
Transcribe →What's the Point of Planning? The Benefits of a 5-Year Business Plan
Jun 16, 2023Tap to summarizeTo say we’re living in "interesting" times is putting it mildly. We're still feeling the effects of the global pandemic. Oil prices fluctuate wildly. War has returned to Europe. The climate is in crisis. Generative AI has arrived. And political, social and technological change is only going to get faster, more frantic – and harder to foresee. It’s the epitome of a "VUCA world": volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous. [1] It’s become very difficult to see any kind of clear view ahead. “May you live in interesting times” was always meant as a curse, after all. But there are also opportunities amid unpredictability – if you're ready to grab them. And, while many businesses are going by the wayside, many others are finding ways to survive and thrive. They keep a grip on their future – however fractured things get. And usually, it’s because they have a plan. Fail to Plan, Plan to Fail In turbulent times, mid-to-long-term planning lets you and your organization focus on the things you can control – and at least be aware of the things you can't. Get it right, and you'll keep a handle on who you are as a company, what you want to achieve, how you’re going to do that, by when, and with what effect. And you'll spot some of the difficulties and dangers ahead. Your plan isn't a rigid list of actions you can take to guarantee success, because that's just not possible now – and probably never was. Instead, it's a well-thought-out map for the way forward, with room for a little "course correction" along the way. And it lets you bring others on the journey with you. Even if the direction has been set by the C-suite, managers at all levels need to know how they fit in, to make sure the core work gets done. Only then can they inspire their teams to help turn aspirations into actions. Without a plan, you’re lost. Business Planning, the Family Way! I know the power of a good plan from personal experience. Eighteen years ago, my family life felt like its own little VUCA world. My wife and I both worked in radio, and our industry was changing fast: new technology, unexpected challengers, different ways of doing things. And in the radio station where we worked, large-scale change was looming. We had two young children then, and suddenly there were big decisions to make – about our jobs, where to live, how to share the childcare, what to do about schools… It felt overwhelming trying to consider everything: to know what would be best for everyone, and how to achieve it all. So we made a five-year plan – a fairly small-scale one, granted, but, in retrospect, it was actually a very business-minded approach. Because...
Transcribe →Avatars, AI and Authentication, with Tracey Follows
Feb 3, 2023Tap to summarizeSometimes it feels as if we're living in a science fiction or fantasy movie. We've become accustomed to digital assistants that recognize our voice to conjure up information on demand. And we're as comfortable to use fingerprint scanners to unlock our phones as to accept facial recognition technology to cross a border or to catch a criminal. The pace of technological change is fast and phenomenal. But how afraid should we be that it will run away with us, creating a world where our identities are swallowed up and reshaped for profit and control? This is a question for a futurist – someone like Tracey Follows (pictured above), the author of a new book titled "The Future of You: Can Your Identity Survive 21st-Century Technology?" When I spoke to her for the latest Mind Tools Expert Interview, she stressed the importance of engaging with the march of technological progress, rather than ignoring or resisting it. Each of us, she says, has to "operate as a digital persona" to function in today's world, whether we like it or not. Below is an audio clip from our conversation. You can download a transcript here. As Follows emphasizes, "if our identity is being digitized, then we want to be in control of it." Technology: Possible, Probable or Preferable? According to Follows, members of the "futuring community" can be divided into those who think you can predict the future, and those who think you can't, but you can do some useful preparation for what might come. She's the second kind. "Obviously, anything societal or cultural is a lot more difficult to predict, and so that's really more about preparing," she explains. "So you're preparing for different possible outcomes or different possible futures, as we would call them, not just the probable future." In her book, she brings together research and insight about several aspects of our identities in the 21st century, in chapters that indicate their focus. There's "Knowing You," about data collection; "Watching You," about digital surveillance; "Creating You," about our online personas; and "Connecting You," about communication. The others are "Replacing You," "Enhancing You," and "Destroying You." This builds a mostly dystopian vision of the future, where governments and companies can influence who you are and what you do. I asked Follows if people can opt out of this by simply not using technology. After all, not everyone has an online life. Her answer? It's ...
Transcribe →Embedding Racial Equity in Your Business Strategy
Jan 4, 2023Tap to summarizeThis blog is guest written by Margaret H. Greenberg and Gina Greenlee, executive coaches, organizational development consultants, and the coauthors of "The Business of Race." If you think racism is a U.S.-only issue, think again. If you believe solving racism is best left to governments, think again. If you're under the impression racial equity is just a new twist on racial equality, think again. And if you think racial equity is just another training program to roll out, then, yes – think again. Every society has centers of influence, such as education, religion, healthcare, and government. The workplace is another of these centers. From the industrial revolution to the digital revolution, the workplace has been where we experience change in the making. Business leaders around the globe are now leading another transformation: creating a workplace that reflects the multicultural world in which we live. Business Leads Change For several decades, the global communications firm, Edelman, has conducted an annual trust and credibility study. They call it The Edelman Trust Barometer. Last year's results (of 38,000 respondents from 28 countries) found that "business," once again, is the most trusted source. Sixty-one percent of respondents said they trust business, ahead of NGOs at 59 percent, government at 52 percent, and media at 50 percent. This puts business leaders in the best position to advance racial equity in the workplace, and in turn, society. What Is Racial Equity? Through our own exploration, we define equity as a measure of diversity and inclusion, which together make DEI (or EDI). Neither finite nor absolute, "E" measures how and to what extent "D" and "I" are embedded into an organization’s business strategy and every business policy and practice. An organization's "E" perpetually monitors and, as necessary, recalibrates "D" and "I" to stay ahead of potential relapse and continually advance toward an antiracist workplace. When something is a little tricky to understand, sometimes it's helpful to describe what isn't. Racial equity is not a Black Lives Matter statement on your company's website; it's not an addendum to your company's values statement; it's not checking a box for Human Resources that confirms you sponsored or attended a workshop on unconscious bias; it's not writing a check to your favorite non-profit organization. It takes more than that to embed equity in your organization. Equity Versus Equality We are often asked, "So what's the difference between equity and equality?" We believe that the <a href="https://www.aecf.org/" ta...
Transcribe →"Become an Observer Every Day!" Lorraine Marchand on Innovation
Nov 24, 2022Tap to summarizeWhat would it be like growing up with an inventor as a parent? It sounds like a lot of fun. And it was, for Lorraine Marchand. It was also an education that set her on the path to business success. During our Mind Tools Expert Interview, the U.S. professor, founder and strategist shared with me stories of how her father instilled a problem-solving attitude in her and her brother. This came to fruition when, with his guidance, the youngsters invented a tidying tool for local diners that was quickly adopted and mass produced. Marchand told me that that experience – at the tender age of 13 – taught her two things. First, that children are boundlessly creative, and as adults, we can all "tap back" into that spirit. And second, that every successful innovation has to solve a problem that’s a genuine pain point for the customer. Be Curious to Innovate In this clip from our conversation, she offers advice on how to home in on the problems that can lead to great innovations. According to Marchand, it’s all about employing your curiosity, developing observation skills, and asking great questions. Marchand’s innovation process starts with identifying the "right" problem to solve. Sometimes, a problem may look like it’s caused by one thing when, in fact, something quite different is behind it. Other times, we may think there’s no problem at all. We can get used to long wait times and faulty tech. Innovation Begins at Home My interviewee said, "The best problems to solve are the ones that you have personal involvement with." A case in point that I’ve noticed in my own life is the variety of ways that publicly funded doctors’ offices try to meet the huge demand for their services here in the U.K. Some practices offer patients appointments on a "first come, first served" basis. As each slot fills, availability tightens to the point where patients end up being offered dates that are weeks ahead. But they want action now. Rachel Salaman, Mind Tools Expert Interview podcast host Other offices run a daily appointment book. Call from 8am and hope to grab one of that day’s slots – along with dozens of other patient...
Transcribe →"Don't Call Me Senior!" Susan Wilner Golden on Age, Work and Product Design
Sep 29, 2022Tap to summarizeOld age... Imagine an 80-year-old man. Is he sitting in an assisted-living facility, dozing off in front of the TV, legs covered with a blanket? Is he playing soccer with his grandchildren? Or is he chairing a board meeting at a Fortune 500 company? It's remarkable that, these days, each of these visions is as likely as the others, because people are living for longer and in very different ways. Some of us decline over decades. Others stay fit until the end. Personal financial insecurity may dictate that people remain in (or return to) the workplace later in life, or it could be a creative passion that keeps them involved. Either way, they're consumers too, equating to a potential $22 trillion market worldwide. The nuances – and opportunities – of this diverse picture aren't lost on Susan Wilner Golden, a former venture capitalist who now leads a program on the business implications of longevity at Stanford Business School. She recently brought some of her ideas together in a new book, "Stage (Not Age)." In this clip from my Expert Interview podcast with Susan, she explains what's behind that title. Breaking Age Stereotypes Shakespeare wrote of "the seven ages of man." Wilner Golden believes it's more like 18 stages. Some of them, like caregiving and formal education, may come around a few times in one life. And everyone will experience their stages differently. "The key is to stop thinking of all older adults as just one type of person," she says. "It's much more important to think about what stage of life they're in. Are they in their repurposed stage, a new renaissance stage?" Yet the idea that all older people are alike remains stubbornly prevalent in the business world. "You can look at a lot of advertising and marketing toward older adults. It often portrays people as one type of person, which is frail. Somebody's holding their hand. And that maybe is needed, but that's not true for everybody," she points out. Opportunities of Age The "old person" stereotypes may be outdated, but older people still have specific needs, as they move from one stage to another. This is where the business opportunities lie. <img decoding="async" src="/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/RachelSalaman-square-small.jpg" alt="Portrait of Expert Interview host Rachel Salaman" class="wp-ima...
Transcribe →What Would Michael Porter Say – Be the Best or Be Unique?
May 12, 2022Tap to summarizeThere's a saying that goes, "Being the best is great; I'm number one. But being unique is better; I'm the only one." I was reminded of this recently during a parents' evening at my children's school. Both of them – I'm pleased to say – are bright, happy kids. But a discussion about other kids who compete with each other to be "the best" brought that quote to mind. What exactly did "being the best" mean, I wondered. It sounds noble enough, but did I want my children to join in? And thinking of that old quote, why might "being unique" trump "being the best?" I thought about it some more and remembered what my dad used to say when I was a kid. "Just try your hardest," he would tell me. "I don't mind if you're not the best; just try hard and be yourself." Nobody's word carried more weight than my father's did back then. And if being myself was more important to him than being the best, then I was ready to listen. Racing to the Bottom Is Not Unique I realized that the tussle at school to become numero uno was probably destructive and self-defeating. OK, so whoever emerged on top might have their podium moment, but at what cost? How many playground friendships might unravel? How many tender souls might end up nursing battered egos? Instead of being, as at first it appeared to be, a competition to reach the top, these schoolyard shenanigans were actually a race to the bottom. Kids were competing by matching each other's moves – copying notes, drawings, language, and even looks. Any time someone arrived with a new hairstyle, the latest sneakers, or a fancy pencil case, their classmates would imitate them to gain an advantage. This most innocent of environments was becoming a dog-eat-dog world. Kids were competing to be the best by being the same. Michael Porter in Pictures All this was fresh in my mind when I read the excellent "What Is Strategy? An Illustrated Guide to Michael Porter," by Joan Magretta and Emile Holmewood. It's a graphic novel – essentially, a short book in which text, illustrations, speech bubbles, and commentary panels interplay in a kind of storyboard format. And at first glance it does seems like an awkward marriage of business and children's publishing. The book's theme and cartoon animals seem unlikely bedfellows. But it's actually a fantastically accessible introduction to the fundamentals of strategy. Read on, and you'll pick up takeaways from the mind of world-renowned strategist, <a rel="noreferrer noopener" href="...
Transcribe →How Instincts Rule Our Choices: My Expert Interview With Matthew Willcox
Aug 26, 2021Tap to summarizeI've just ordered 48 rolls of toilet paper from a brand I've had my eye on for a while. It has strong sustainability credentials and highly rated products. But until now, I hadn't got further than browsing the website. Today, I finally clicked the "buy" button. And, thanks to my podcast interview with author and marketing consultant Matthew Willcox, I've got a pretty good idea why. In his book, "The Business of Choice: How Human Instinct Influences Everyone's Decisions," he digs deep into "behavioral insights." In other words, how unconscious instincts can sometimes nudge us to choose one thing over another. How Does Human Instinct Sway Choice? Willcox works in marketing, where this knowledge can help organizations sell products and services. But he believes that understanding how our instincts dictate our choices can be useful to anyone. In this clip from my Expert Interview podcast, Matthew Willcox explains the importance of understanding how human instinct can sway the decisions that we make. Looking at my toilet paper purchase through a behavioral science lens, I can see a few instincts at play. For a start, there's what Willcox calls "Social Proof." This is when we're encouraged to do something because other people are doing it. One example Willcox references is how the U.K. government persuaded more people to pay a hard-to-collect tax by sending them a letter stating that similar folks had paid it on time. I bought my toilet paper with a £5 discount voucher sent to me by a friend. She also got £5 off her next purchase. Not only did this give us a sense of togetherness in our choice of brand, it also had a little financial perk. Positioning the Consumer as Expert Getting a bargain made me feel positive about my purchase, and this speaks to a fundamental human instinct – our desire to feel good. There are lots of ways for marketers to achieve this, according to Matthew Willcox. From the age-old tactic of offering discounts, to using quizzes and surveys, which makes consumers feel more like experts. For me, the toilet paper brand's sustainability credentials made the most difference. The product is 100 percent recycled, and 50 percent of the profits go toward building toilets in communities where they're needed. This boosted the "feel-good" factor of my purchase. It also wrapped in another behavioral insight: we're hardwired to compare. "If you put us in front of one washing machine and you ask us to assess its capabilities, we do...
Transcribe →When You Can't See the Real Problem: My Expert Interview With Kristen Cox
May 27, 2021Tap to summarizeWhen Kristen Cox was at college she was losing her sight. The professionals trying to help her focused on how she could make the most of her remaining vision. Their solution to her problem, as they understood it, involved her hauling a cart around campus, piled high with large-print books. That approach didn't work. "It would take me an hour just to read one page in a book with a magnifying glass, with eye fatigue," she recalls, in my Expert Interview podcast. "Actually, at one point, I started thinking I was stupid, like, 'What's wrong with me? I can't keep up in class'." Then Cox had a revelation – she could get the information she wanted in other ways. She didn't have to see it... she could feel it or hear it instead. The problem wasn't her lack of vision. It was people's attitude toward it. Mindset made all the difference. "When that changed for me, it really opened up my life," she says. Are You "Decorating the Fish" Instead of Fixing the Problem? This insight has impacted her distinguished career as a top public official, and it's one of the many useful lessons in her book, "Stop Decorating The Fish: Which Solutions to Ignore and Which Problems Really Matter," co-written with the entrepreneur and economist, Yishai Ashlag. In this clip from our Expert Interview podcast, Kristen Cox explains what "Decorating the Fish" really means. What Are the Seductive Seven Solutions? Like the townsfolk in the book, and Cox's helpers in college, many of us assume our problems are caused by a lack of something. We might think we need more technology, for example, more data, a new strategy, or more training and communication. Perhaps a reorganization would do the trick, or do we just need to blame someone for the problem? Or maybe we should throw more money at it, to make it go away. Cox calls these perceived solutions the "Seductive Seven," because they can be dangerously distracting. Haunted by Phantom Problems It reminds me of a job I had at a start-up, years ago. The company failed after a few years, but not before ripping through many of the Seductive Seven. The company produced multimedia cross-cultural training tools, designed for people living and working abroad. When the initial venture capital ran out, it needed to generate revenue, but no one was buying the product. The owners upgraded the computers and software, to streamline and accelerate workflow. That didn't boost sales. So they developed a new strategy, which involved switching the...
Transcribe →