The growing popularity of Strategic Doing: Some questions answered
As the popularity of Strategic Doing grows, we are encountering some questions that deserve answers. Where has Strategic Doing worked? On places where Strategic Doing has worked, we have a number of...
View ArticleConfronting complexity: Can we distinguish the simplistic from the simple?
A column by NYT’s Nicholas Kristof touched a nerve in the academy, when he suggested that academics had “walled themselves off”. Reaction from the academy is neatly summarized in this Harvard Press...
View ArticleMoving past gridlock: A path forward to reshaping our democracy
Our politics is a mess. Thirty years of increasingly partisan wrangling has left Congress incapable of taking on any complex policy task. Sadly, there is little prospect of escaping these ideological...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Overcoming the tyranny of stakeholders
An academic leader recently connected with me, frustrated. After two years of trying to implement large-scale system change within her university, her team had little to show for it. A relatively small...
View ArticleSome thoughts on strategy in a world of open networks
Over the years, I have collected a number of thoughts on developing strategies in a globally connected world. In a globally connected world, isolation is a choice. If you want to face the turbulence...
View ArticleReplacing strategic planning with agile strategy
In a world that is becoming more complex, turbulent and less stable, our traditional approach to strategy – – strategic planning – – becomes increasingly less reliable and effective. The alternative is...
View ArticleMoving from strategic plans to strategic action plans
In the last month, I’ve encountered two situations in which the conventional approach to strategy has broken down. Strategic planning, as a management discipline, emerged from operations planning...
View ArticleConducting strategy with difficult people
When we introduce ideas around agile strategy, some folks get stuck on how the jerks will react. For example last week someone asked, “What happens when you encounter loud, obstinate people? Don’t...
View ArticleThoughts on the emerging practice of strategy
Strategy practices that emerged from WWII are increasingly inadequate to the task of guiding today’s organizations, communities and regions. Even when they are executed, the results from traditional...
View ArticleRebuilding our industrial commons
For over 30 years, U.S. manufacturing has been in relative decline in the face of relentless competitive pressure. Rebuilding our relative competitive position in manufacturing will not come easily....
View ArticleClik here to view.
Networks: A promising approach to poverty
Across the country, we are dealing with the consequences of the growing disparity in income between the rich and poor. How can we use new thinking about networks and collaboration to address these...
View ArticleClik here to view.
It’s time for regions to start jumping the curve
Most economic development organizations rely on a standard pack of traditional economic development strategies: real estate and infrastructure development, regional marketing; business retention and...
View ArticleGetting on with designing “What’s Next”
Sadly, the world is never quite so simple as politicians would have us believe. Our politicians have, for some time now, been failing to address the real challenges we face. Democratic capitalism...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Connecting Collective Impact and Shared Value
Are the concepts of “collective impact” and “shared value” connected? If so, how? Consider first the case of collective impact. In their article in the Winter 2011 issue of Stanford Social Innovation...
View ArticleAgile Strategy is Like Ocean Kayaking
Today, organizations of all types are facing an uncertain future. While we hope for calm times in which we can make steady progress, we know that turbulence can arise at any moment and throw us off...
View ArticleIs Collective Impact transformative?
Ever since its debut in 2011, the concept of “Collective Impact” has offered the hope that citizens, acting together, can productively address the “wicked problems” confronting our communities. As set...
View ArticleRebuilding our civic economy
Our future prosperity depends on developing new, collective habits of complex thinking together. At the Purdue Agile Strategy Lab, we have introduced the concept of a “civic economy” to explain the...
View ArticleTo move quickly, go slowly (at first)
I (re)learned a valuable lesson this week. We design and guide new networks to move quickly, to be come more agile. The paradox, however, is that you cannot rush the formation of these trusted...
View ArticleDiversity Drives Innovation: Here’s How
We’re finding more and more value in the concept of “strategic diversity” – that is, the way in which team members’ cognitive preferences shape their roles on the team. Learning how to optimize that...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Confusing Technical and Adaptive Challenges
Companies get into trouble when their managers confuse technical and adaptive challenges. A technical challenge has a right answer. It involves linear thinking, root cause analysis, and...
View Article