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,…
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…
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 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…
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…
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…
Designing a Business Strategy – Between Foresight and Signalling
A business strategy typically addresses a mid-term time horizon of three to five years. Businesses should also explore what lies before and beyond this timeframe. To…
How to Solve Your Company’s 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,…
Building People Skills Is No Longer Enough
Executive Summary: The dangers of neglecting strategic skills in leadership development Leadership development programs have long been mainly about so-called soft skills. Participants learned how…
From $1mn to $100mn: The Top 5 Barriers That High-Growth Companies Need to Overcome
Scaling a high-growth startup from $1million to a lofty 100 million is a monumental achievement. The path to such exponential growth is riddled with numerous…
Nurturing Success: The Dynamic Dance Between Strategy and Culture
In the wild world of business, catchphrases run rampant, sparking debates and raising eyebrows. One such catchphrase that tends to get a reaction out of…
Moving Beyond Purpose: Aligning Strategy and Impact for Meaningful Change
Purpose has become a popular buzzword in many organizations, with companies proudly proclaiming their commitment to noble causes. However, merely having a purpose is not…
What So Many Get Wrong About Business Strategy – And How To Fix It
Business strategy is a widely misunderstood concept – which is terrifying given that it is also one of the most important aspects of any successful…
Boost Your Chances for Success: The Benefits of Establishing a Strategy and Enterprise PMO
A few reasons stand out when we analyze why organizations fail to design and implement business strategy, from unaligned leadership to management systems that don’t…