PTW/PI All-Stars Book Club – Chapter One
The PTW/PI Book Club launched its first chapter by spotlighting Michael Porter’s three seminal strategy contributions. The piece, drawn from a Harvard Business School “Celebrating Michael Porter” conference, argues Porter saved the strategy academy, bolstered the shift from planning to choice‑driven strategy, and provoked the integration of customers into strategic thinking. The author also critiques the academic dominance of the resource‑based view and notes the lingering resistance to merging strategy with marketing. Reader reactions highlight appreciation for the historical context and the relevance of Porter’s legacy to today’s practitioners.
Invite Input: The Habit that Turns Silence Into Solutions
The article introduces the "Invite Input" habit, a core element of the Synergystack™ Team Development System, to combat Fear of Speaking Up (FOSU) in organizations. It outlines five practical steps—signaling safety, making specific asks, asking early, building input infrastructure, and...
Even Great Ideas Don’t Sell Themselves. You Need Three Types of Power to Make Them Win.
The article argues that great ideas rarely succeed on merit alone and must be backed by strategic use of power. Stanford professor Jeffrey Pfeffer defines power as the ability to get things done in contested situations and outlines three forms—hard,...
Essentialism: Do Less Better
The episode dives into Greg McKeown’s *Essentialism*, arguing that in an age of GenAI the real scarcity is disciplined choice. It emphasizes living by design, applying the 80/20 principle, and making strategic trade‑offs—essentially deciding what not to do—to focus on high‑impact...
Ryan McCormack’s Operational Excellence Mixtape: February 20, 2026
Ryan McCormack’s February 2026 Operational Excellence Mixtape warns that change fatigue is eroding continuous‑improvement efforts. He urges leaders to anchor teams to core values, embed quality as the operating architecture, and use process confirmation to lock improvements into daily work, citing Toyota’s...
Recruiting Is Already Underway for the Next Olympic Games
Korn Ferry is partnering with the LA28 organizing committee to recruit roughly 5,000 employees for the 2028 Summer Olympics, targeting agile skillsets and strong soft‑skills. The firm is shaping an employee value proposition that brands the roles as a “job...
Organizational Readiness, Not Employee Resistance to Change, Is the Biggest Barrier to AI Success
New research from Qualtrics and Celonis shows that employee resistance is no longer the primary obstacle to AI adoption; instead, organizational readiness is. While 52% of workers regularly use AI and 89% of leaders view AI as a competitive opportunity,...
How the Right Communication Skills Help Leaders Restore Productivity and Resolve Team Conflict
The latest Let\'s Grow Leaders podcast episode shows how leaders can convert petty team conflicts into measurable productivity by mastering the right communication techniques. It introduces simple, empathy‑driven phrases and three diagnostic questions that help identify whether a teammate needs...
How to Choose the Right KPIs, Manage Change, and Understand Customer Value (Lean Coffee Talk Ep. 7)
In episode 7 of Lean Coffee Talk, hosts Mark Graban and Jamie Flinchbaugh discuss how to select meaningful KPIs, blend change management with Lean, and extract customer‑value lessons from a Starbucks cup stopper. They compare immersion versus percolation coffee brewing to...
The Multifamily Operations Tip of the Day: Why Change Management Is the Real Work
The Multifamily Collective’s daily tip highlights that most operational initiatives falter because employees don’t adopt new tools, not because the tools are flawed. Effective change management begins by clearly communicating the rationale behind each change and involving staff early in...
Change Agents: Internal Audit’s Role in Organizational Transformation
Internal audit has evolved from a compliance watchdog to a strategic partner driving organizational transformation. Auditors now embed in steering committees, use real‑time risk mapping, and apply AI‑powered tools to ensure changes align with long‑term goals. Modern audit platforms automate...
AI Darwinism Can Unleash New Potential of Energy Workforce – Enlit Magazine
Brian Solis, Head of Global Innovation at ServiceNow, urged energy executives at the Baker Hughes Annual Meeting to view artificial intelligence as a tool for workforce augmentation rather than mere automation. He introduced the concept of “AI Darwinism,” arguing that...
How to Drive Change Management During M&A Integration
Mergers and acquisitions are fundamentally change initiatives, yet many firms neglect dedicated change management. Appointing a specialized change manager transforms integration from ad‑hoc tasks into a value‑creation engine, especially after the deal closes. A proven methodology—interviews, surveys, reporting, action plans,...
When Excellent Technology Architecture Fails to Deliver Business Results
Large enterprises now standardize clean, cloud‑first technology architectures, yet many digital transformations still miss their business targets. The piece explains that the failure stems not from technical flaws but from architecture being sidelined during day‑to‑day decision making, where cost, risk...
Cyber Risk Management In Remote-First Environments
Executive-led cyber risk management has shifted from traditional IT‑centric frameworks to a leadership‑first model that aligns digital hygiene with corporate governance. In remote‑first environments, the loss of a centralized perimeter expands the attack surface, making every executive login a potential...
Leading Digital Innovation
MIT Center for Information Systems Research reports that digital innovation succeeds when organizations deploy three complementary leader types—initiative, shared‑resource, and portfolio leaders—rather than relying on a single heroic executive or centralized unit. The briefing explains how each role contributes to...
North Star Organizational Transformation
The article outlines a North Star‑driven digital transformation framework, beginning with a concise, inspirational mission statement that positions the company as customer‑first, data‑powered, and agile. It defines four strategic pillars—Customer Experience, Data & Insights, Agile Platforms, and People & Culture—and...
A Minute with Alan® — Character
Alan Weiss published a new installment of his "A Minute with Alan®" series titled "Character" on February 17, 2026. The brief entry emphasizes the role of personal character in consulting and leadership. Although the post contains minimal narrative, it is...
Five Essential Principles For Sustaining Growth Through Innovation
Lorraine H. Marchand’s new book *No Fear, No Failure* presents a practical framework—the 5 Cs (Customer First, Culture, Collaboration, Change, Chance)—to embed innovation into large, traditionally risk‑averse organizations. Drawing on 120+ executive interviews and real‑world case studies, the author offers step‑by‑step...
How Do We Test Our Winning Logic?
The article introduces the "Value Stick" as a pragmatic framework for testing a company’s winning logic, blending operational excellence (OpEx/Lean) with digital growth methods. It focuses on four levers—Willingness to Pay, Price, Cost, and Quantity—to assess whether a strategy can...
UMass Memorial Health Transformation Journey
In 2013 Dr. Eric Dickson took the helm of UMass Memorial Health as the system teetered on the brink of default and faced declining patient and caregiver satisfaction. He introduced a CEO‑driven lean management system that standardized nine core processes and...
From Pain Points to Progress: Medtronic’s Procurement Evolution
Medtronic is revamping its indirect procurement model to become a strategic, business‑focused function. By segmenting its supplier base, the company concentrates resources on high‑risk, high‑spend vendors while using digital pathways for low‑complexity suppliers. Leadership emphasizes speaking the language of EBITDA...
The Multifamily Tip of the Day: Complaints Are Gold Mines
Mike Brewer’s latest Multifamily tip frames resident complaints as a strategic asset rather than a nuisance. By aggregating complaints into thematic patterns, property managers can uncover systemic weaknesses that individual tickets miss. Addressing root causes instead of symptoms turns free...
How to Lead a High-Performing Team of Competitive Achievers (With Video)
The article outlines how leaders can turn a group of high‑achieving, competitive individuals into a cohesive, high‑performing team by emphasizing the "AND" mindset—leveraging personal strengths while fostering collaboration. It shares a real‑world example from Bell Atlantic where a leader used...
Strategic Levers to Turn a Low Season Period Into an Opportunity
The article outlines how hotels can convert low‑season challenges into profit opportunities by leveraging data‑driven direct‑booking strategies, diversified product offerings, and flexible policies. It stresses the importance of analyzing occupancy, ADR and RevPAR to fine‑tune pricing and channel mix. The...
Initiatives of Innovation
The article defines innovation fluency as a core capability that blends mindset, knowledge, practices, and governance to turn ideas into impact. It outlines a ten‑dimensional framework—from curiosity and problem framing to metrics and storytelling—and provides a diagnostic at individual, team,...
The Secret to Building an Elite Team
Strategy‑execution expert Pete Wilkinson warns that building an elite team requires the same relentless commitment as training for the Olympics. He outlines four "power habits"—focus, personal organisation, proactivity and self‑discipline—and stresses consistent goal‑cascading across the organisation. Wilkinson breaks the journey...
We Will Build Expertise Rapidly
Blair’s seventh proclamation in The Win Without Pitching Manifesto urges firms to build expertise rapidly through continuous learning and specialization. By staking a claim in a niche, companies create competitive pressure that forces them to race ahead of generalist rivals....