By Mark Howell, on April 26th, 2010
 Where did business strategy originate? When was it that understanding the business idea might make a difference? The Lords of Strategy, by Walter Kiechel, III, is a fascinating new read that details the history of business consulting. The short course in determining interest in it? If you’ve read Michael Porter, Tom Peters, Jim Collins or Gary Hamel and found yourself highlighting, dogearing pages and underlining…you’ll like where Kiechel takes this one.
Tracing the history of strategy by recounting the four biggest players (Bruce Henderson, founder of the Boston Consulting Group; Bill Bain, creator of Bain & Company; Fred Gluck, longtime managing director of McKinsey & Company; and Harvard Business School professor Michael Porter), The Lords of Strategy is 330 pages of stories that detail how the field of business consulting developed.
If you’ve been around the business world at all, you’ll recognize many of the strategies and practices that were developed by these four men and their firms. Lords of Strategy is a very compelling recounting of how these strategies were developed. The backstory, the actions and attitudes of the players, and the state of business as the strategies were developed all provide a level of detail that put the reader right into the backrooms where business changed and the competitive landscape changed.
At the same time, this is more than a history or collection of anecdotes. I found myself dogearing pages, underlining and starring sections for later review. If you’re building a consulting practice this will be a helpful resource. If you ever deal with consulting firms it will provide some important insights into their development and practice. Regardless of the reason you pick it up, if you’ve been in business in the last twenty to thirty years…you’ll recognize a lot of the strategies that are developed…and I think you’ll enjoy hearing how they came to be.
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 as program or product. You may even have a little righteous indignation thinking about the word customer. But if you want your organization to matter to the next generation of customers you need to spend some time thinking this way.
Reading Design Thinking: Integrating Innovation, Customer Experience, and Brand Value I tripped across this line:
“The services that product brands provide to their current customers were designed and developed to satisfy the lifestyle and values of their past customers (p. 122, Design Thinking).”
Go back and think again about all that your organization is offering. Got it clearly in your mind’s eye? Now ask yourself…how much of what you’re offering is designed to appeal to the people who aren’t your customers yet?
Craig Groeschel’s insightful comment that “If you want to reach people that no one else is reaching, you’re going to have to do things that no one else is doing” is born out of this understanding.
Perpetuating the programs and products…the experiences…that were designed to appeal to today’s customers, will eventually result in a disconnect. To the extent that you’re offering programs, products and experiences that were designed to appeal to yesterday’s customers…the disconnect has already happened.
You can pick up your copy of Design Thinking right here.
By Mark Howell, on March 29th, 2010
 Picked up Making Ideas Work by Scott Belsky. Very practical. All about how to get organized to actually make ideas happen. 50 pages into it, this is a great book. I picked up some great ideas from Getting Things Done. This is similar, but way more focused on the practical steps that help ideas to make it beyond the ideation stage and into implementation.
I am really excited by the very practical nature of the book. Each chapter is a very thorough examination, really a step-by-step guide to implementing Belsky’s ideas. In addition, there are many spot on illustrations of companies that are seeing progress by putting these concepts into practice.
Belsky is the developer of a website called The 99 Percent, devoted to the forces that push ideas forward. The idea is taken from a quote by Thomas Edison who said, “Genius is 1% inspiration and 99% perspiration.”
If you’re looking for a way to get from envisioning a new idea to living it out…I highly recommend Making Ideas Happen. This is a book that will help you and your organization whether you are on a team, lead a team or lead an organization.
By Mark Howell, on March 15th, 2010
 Every once in a while a book comes along that is really packed with ideas. Way more often a book will have an idea or two…maybe even a few. Steering Through Chaos is one of the former. Packed is the best way to describe it.
The subtitle gives a very good overview of the content: “Mapping a clear direction for your church in the midst of transition and change.” Now that I think about it, that’s actually a pretty good mission statement for what Scott Wilson has pulled off in Steering Through Chaos.
Beginning with a chapter on turning points and transitions and ending with one on staying the course (endurance), the book is extremely readable. With no shortage of engaging stories that make point after point, this is a page turner…and one that you’ll end up making up, highlighting and folding down pages.
A feature that I found to be an added bonus was a collection of short vignettes from other ministries around the country. Larry Osborne, Dino Rizzo and Greg Surratt are a few of the better known. Equally engaging are monographs by John Bishop, Troy Gramling and Tim Stevens.
As I worked my way through the book I recognized hints and traces of practices and principles from books that have long been part of my library. What I appreciated about Steering Through Chaos is not its originality. Rather, I found it to be a great example of a handbook on ministry in the year 2010 when so much is at stake and up for grabs.
I love Wilson’s closing quote on the promo video: “To steer the church through the chaos of change and live to tell about it.”
If you’re looking for a resource that will help you navigate the challenge of transition and change…I highly recommend this book.
By Mark Howell, on March 14th, 2010
 The last few months have taken me on a fascinating journey into design thinking. Books like The Design of Business by Roger Martin, Tim Brown’s Change by Design, and Design-Driven Innovation by Robert Verganti have given me a language and a way of thinking about organizational design.
The latest step in the journey? Design Thinking: Integrating Innovation, Customer Experience, and Brand Value. Edited by Thomas Lockwood, Design Thinking is a collection of articles mapping the development of the discipline. Very interesting and packed with ideas.
Although I find design cool and interesting in its own right, its really the design of organizations that I’m drawn to. And it turns out it makes sense. According to Richard Buckman, there are four orders of design:
- Communication: the creation of signs and symbols to be used in mass communication (we’re all at least at this level)
- Construction: the creation of objects via traditional industrial design
- Interaction: the actions and behaviors of people, as affected by design (many of us are working this edge as we try to design experiences that are conducive to interaction)
- Organization: design considerations in the context of organizations, environments, systems and cultures (this is the piece that is lacking for many of us)
I love Lockwood’s take on the fourth order of design, calling it:
“the sweet spot–the point at which the organization can involve design more integrative and holistic, building design methods into some of the internal systems and processes, and moving design towards a core competency. This is the desired end state because the real value of design is in discovering and solving all manner of problems (p. 82).”
I’m intrigued by the possibilities of organizational design. What if all of us learned to be more purposeful about the way our organizations were put together; the way our systems were designed? Think it might make a difference in outcomes? Want to come along? You can pick up your copy of Design Thinking right here.
By Mark Howell, on January 30th, 2010
 What motivates what you do? Is it money? Is it reward or recognition? Turns out that what motivates most of us isn’t what we’ve thought. You may remember author Daniel Pink from his bestseller, A Whole New Mind. He’s back with an intriguing take on motivation. His newest, Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us, will no doubt fill in some blanks about the underlying truths that set us in motion.
What motivates us? If you think it’s about carrots and sticks…you’re going to find Pink’s conclusions very surprising. If you’ve already concluded that there must be something more, a different way to motivate, you’re going to love this book. Drive skillfully articulates the difference between motivation 2.0 (carrots and sticks) and 3.0 which taps into the intrinsic motivators that change outcomes.
Because the carrot and stick concept is so well entrenched, Drive takes its time, carefully establishing the background and foundation to motivation 2.0 and thoroughly outlining its history. Once established, Pink shifts to an examination of the holes in the carrot and stick concept and finally a very detailed demonstration of ways that motivation 3.0 can be implemented. Finally, the last section of the book is a really helpful toolkit designed to further enhance your practice.
Whether you’re simply leading a team, a staff or you’re an HR professional, this is a must read. On a side note, it turns out purpose (along with autonomy and mastery) plays a role in the kind of intrinsic motivation Pink is writing about. This is a great read…and I highly recommend it. You can order your copy right here.
By Mark Howell, on January 28th, 2010
What happens when the thing your organization is really good at…no longer matters? You know, when what put you at the top of the charts no longer is in demand? Or maybe it still is but it’s not exactly what people want anymore?
What happens? Do you just keep on keeping on? Maybe because you’ve invested in the scaffolding that holds it in place?
What do you do? Maybe it’s even the thing you are known for…but if you really look under the hood you can see the signs that it just isn’t working any more?
I love this paragraph from Chief Culture Officer by Grant McCracken. He’s describing the season when Coca Cola passed on developing non-carbonated drinks. After all, they no doubt thought, we’re Coca Cola! We are all about carbonated!
“The Coca Cola Company had a hard time grasping the significance of branded water and non-carbonated soft drinks, even when the evidence was piling up around it. The Coca Cola Company was very good at making Coke. It wanted to keep making Coke (p. 106, Chief Culture Officer).”
Got something you’re really good at making or doing? Want to keep making it even though sales are dipping? Even though the signs are everywhere that the times have changed?
By Mark Howell, on January 26th, 2010
 How tuned in is your organization? I asked a friend who had just moved to a new organization, “How’s the new reality?” He said, “To borrow a phrase from Leonard Sweet, I live in the Google Era, but my work environment is Gutenberg Era.”
Makes you think, doesn’t it? How many of our organizations are operating as if the Gutenberg press was still an exciting new idea? Okay…maybe none. But how many are operating as if yesterday is still the present?
It’s not easy to stay up with the times. It is a challenge. But if you’re looking for help, I want to recommend Chief Culture Officer by Grant McCracken.
By Mark Howell, on January 21st, 2010
My friend Will Mancini wrote and interesting article in mid-December and challenged all of his readers to learn to drip vision. He followed that post up with a challenge to drip vision every day. Today Mac Lake, leadership guru/practitioner extraordinaire, entered the game with his own 5 visiondrip ideas…actually saw Mancini’s 5 and anted up 5 of his own.
I like the way this game is shaping up! I’m in. Here’s my 5:
- This is more permanent, but I love the way crossroads in Corona, CA, has used a combination of faces and scripture in their worship center lobby to call out their vision for people everyday. I know PlainJoe Studios played a role in the design. Very cool…and always on.
- Speaking of always on, I love the way Gateway Church in Austin, TX, has integrated their slogan “no perfect people allowed” into their website. At the same time, the line “come as you are” appears prominently above the fold on the home page.
- When you find a quote that really resonates with your vision, type it out, change the layout to landscape, and enlarge the font. A little fold near the top allows you to hang it where everyone who visits your office can see it.
- Point your leaders to online messages that drip your vision. I love this Andy Stanley message that was done at LifeChurch.TV in 2009. I’ve never heard a more insightful look at Acts 15. Powerful. Watch for Andy’s quote near the end of his message. “We need local churches that have all the rungs on the ladder. Because church is for everybody.” Awesome…and right at the heart of what North Point is about.
- Make it a daily practice to send an email or write a note that points out a way that the recipient is living out the vision.
Actually, I want to see Will and Mac’s 5 and raise them 1. Here it is: Use upfront time and casual conversation as opportunities to make heroes out of those who are living out the vision. We all get to choose who will be the heroes in our organization. Choose wisely. And do it everyday. Always on.
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 it…that is the key. So I love this Tom Peters quote:
I … do not denigrate the usefulness of a thoughtful strategy. It’s just that it is … Crystal Clear (to me!) that strategy is in fact unequivocally subordinate to Execution Excellence/Execution Mania/Bias for Action.
Yep. That pretty well sums it up. You can have the best strategy, you can even frame it and put it up on the wall, but if you’re not executing…it’s just artwork.
By the way, I’m subscribed to Tom Peters’ daily quote by email. You can get it on it right here.
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