By Mark Howell, on July 10th, 2010
Like many of us, I am a student of the language of ideas. How to say it in just the right way is the essence of great communication. Without the right language it can never be more than directional. For anything to be inspirational…language is an essential element.
Need an example? Take a moment to read [...]
By Mark Howell, on April 13th, 2010
Think about the programs and products you are currently offering. Think about the experiences you are currently offering to your customers. The services that product brands provide to their current customers were designed and developed to satisfy the lifestyle and values of their past customers.I know you might struggle to think about what you offer [...]
By Mark Howell, on January 18th, 2010
Sometimes you can tell from the name of something what it’s all about. I think you can tell from the name of StrategyCentral that I think having a strategy, thinking strategically, and action strategically are all pretty central to effectiveness.
And yet, it’s not enough to have a strategy…even a beautifully worked out one. Acting on [...]
By Mark Howell, on January 3rd, 2010
One of the most important ongoing conversations a leader has is the one that keeps the mission on the front burner. As this critically important conversation becomes less frequent or more muddled the likelihood that the mission is accomplished decreases. How do you have the conversation? I say “all the time and in as many [...]
By Mark Howell, on December 8th, 2009
“To reach people no one else is reaching we must do things no one else is doing.”
That line seems like a no-brainer. Obvious. And yet, when I heard Craig Groeschel say that at Willow’s Leadership Summit last year I scrambled to write it down and then had trouble thinking about anything else for the rest [...]
By Mark Howell, on December 3rd, 2009
How does arriving where you’ve already been sound? Depends I guess. If you like where you’ve been, you might want to go there again. After all, there are places we’ve been that we love going back to. At the same time, as a metaphor for vision…most of us are dreaming of arriving somewhere we’ve never [...]
By Mark Howell, on December 1st, 2009
Keeping an eye on the effectiveness of strategy is essential. Clarifying what a win is and launching strategic steps designed to produce that win are essential to organizational success. Evaluating effectiveness is just as important.
Have you ever slowed down long enough to evaluate whether your strategy is actually working? Most organizations never really get around [...]
By Mark Howell, on October 25th, 2009
Think you know what actually is? Last Friday’s 20/20 featured an interesting segment highlighting a conversation with Steven Levitt and Stephen Dubner, authors of SuperFreakonomics: Global Cooling, Patriotic Prostitutes, and Why Suicide Bombers Should Buy Life Insurance. Turns out there’s a lot more to the global warming story and that Al Gore’s effort to [...]
By Mark Howell, on October 7th, 2009
Every organization has underlying assumptions that need to be examined. Why? Because unexamined assumptions are often at the root of issues that come back to haunt organizations everywhere.
If you haven’t heard this portion of Andy Stanley’s talk, “Recent Random Thoughts on Leadership,” this becomes required listening for today. You can listen in right here.
By Mark Howell, on October 7th, 2009
When was the last time you examined your assumptions? How about your organization’s assumptions? An assumption, you remember, is a fact or statement taken for granted. Why do assumptions need to be examined? Looking back at history, it’s easy to see many that turned out to be nowhere near correct. For example, the earth is [...]
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