How Leaders Shape Culture without the Fluff
One of the surest ways to burn money is to invest in a culture initiative. Culture often gets treated as something that can be improved…
Problem vs vision: what you should ground your strategy in
When it comes to designing strategy, I see two approaches collide. Vision-driven strategy versus problem-driven strategy. Vision-driven strategy starts with describing a desired status quo,…
All you Need is Love – Values that Work
I challenge you to play a game of buzzword bingo with me. Take out a pen and paper and write down the first ten positively…
10 uncomfortable truths every leader should read
When you’ve been around long enough, you see patterns in behavior, individual and organizational. And you hear people say things, and repeat them again and…
What effective team development looks like – and what you should avoid
If you ask 10 CEOs whether they’d like their business to have a winning strategy, you’d probably get 11 “yes” responses. Everyone wants their business…
Why ELTs struggle to focus on strategy and how to overcome It
Executive Leadership Teams (ELTs) often find it challenging to shift gears, from day-to-day operations to long-term strategy. This brings a number of challenges, the most…
Aligning Employees on Strategy – The Art of Strategic Dialogues
Why do strategies fail? Apart from making wrong choices, one topic stands out: failure to engage teams and help them understand a new strategy. Strategy…
Avoiding the Tyranny of the Urgent – The Power of Strategy Governance
“Here we go again.” This was my initial thought when a client was reluctant to establish structures for strategy implementation. I had seen similar hesitation before…
Great Teams Create Great Strategy. But Most Teams aren’t Teams.
Think about strategy conversations as a seed. And think about your team environment as soil. If the seed falls on toxic or infertile soil, and…
What the Heck is a Strategy anyway?
A couple of days ago, I posed this question to my LinkedIn network. There was a flood of responses that unveiled the essence of strategy…
The Hardest Thing to get Right – How to Solve Your Communication Issue
When a client had just completed a merger, they were shooting for the top spot in the market. While the physical aspects of the merger,…
Vision or no Vision – The Art of Storytelling in Strategy
When it comes to designing strategy, I often see two approaches collide. Vision-driven strategy versus problem-driven strategy. Vision-driven strategy starts with describing a desired status…
Blaming Employees – The Corporate Gaslighting Epidemic
The blind pursuit of productivity has led to an epidemic of corporate gaslighting. At the heart of this lies a fundamental flaw: when leaders fail…
Defining the Big Bets – The Power of Strategic Foresight
A business strategy typically addresses a mid-term time horizon, often three to five years. Here’s the issue: the shorter the timeframe, the less likely will…
From Time Teller to Clock Builder – How I Failed to Lead and Started Over
The first leadership job typically comes to a person because they are great at what they do. And because they master their subject, someone thinks…
How Strategic Leadership Development Creates RoI
Developing effective leaders is a critical component of any successful organization. But simply training individuals in leadership skills doesn’t cut it. For maximum impact –…
Dog Eat Dog and Tree Huggers: Why the Wrong Environments Can’t Create Good Strategy
The environment in which we design strategy matters more than leaders often realize. The leadership culture, and the wider business culture, dictate the nature of…
5 Habits of Strategic Thinkers to Boost Your Influence
Strategic thinking is a key skill for leaders and executives. Almost every job ad out there lists it as a requirement. Here are 5 key…
Two Must-Have Resources To Design More Impactful Strategy
Two approaches have proven particularly effective to start aligning leadership teams at the beginning of a strategy and identity process: Combining a 360-degree feedback and…
In memoriam: Dr. Mark Goulston
If you didn’t get to know Mark, the resources I share in this article will make your life richer. Mark built an incredible legacy, the…
How to Write a Great Vision Statement
Most vision statements I’ve seen in fact aren’t vision statements. They are aspirations, inspirations, or slogans. Something businesses would publish on their websites. But nowhere…
Why is there so much Strategy Talk, yet so little Great Strategy?
In my first book, Secrets of Next Level Entrepreneurs, I made the point that business strategy is a must-have hard skill for leaders. No matter…
The Fish Stinks from its Head: When Boards of Directors Cause More Harm Than Good
The fish stinks from its head. A sentence describing that issues in a business can usually be traced back to the executive table. And that’s…
The Essence of Executive Leadership: Nailing Business Strategy and Culture
What’s the job of an executive leader? So many thoughts come to mind. But in a nutshell it comes down two two things: they’ve got…
Operational Scalability: How To Set Up Systems, Procedures, And People To Prepare A Business To Scale
This is an excerpt from an interview with Alex Brueckmann that was first published by Authority Magazine – read the full interview here. In order…
100 Dynamic Leaders Award: Facilitating Strategies that Impact Businesses
This feature of Alex Brueckmann is part of Exeleon Magazine’s listing of The 100 Most Dynamic Leaders of 2023. Check out the entire issue and…
What Wayne Gretzky Teaches Executives About Strategy
Wayne Gretzky, often hailed as the greatest hockey player of all time, holds a legacy that transcends the rink. Beyond his exceptional skills on the…
Eliminating “Let’s Agree to Disagree”: Fostering Constructive Dialogue for Effective Strategy
Strategic decision-making is a crucial aspect that determines the success or failure of organizations. In executive meetings and boardrooms, diverse perspectives often collide. Sometimes they…
Overcoming Doubts: 7 Challenges Leaders Face with Business Strategy
Leadership demands not only vision but the confidence to act on that vision. Yet, many leaders find themselves wrestling with doubt, which can hinder their…
6 Essential Ingredients for Exceptional Customer Experiences
Exceptional customer experiences are the bedrock of small and big businesses looking to stand out in the market. These experiences transcend mere transactions and create…