In 2023, Silicon Valley Bank failed. Then so did US Regional. One of the main reasons? Bad news travels fast, and in the telling, the severity cranks up until everyone is in a panic, yanking cash out of a sinking ship until there’s nothing to keep it afloat.Our brains abhor...
How to lead change when your project is crashing and burning – Part 1
Read the fine print.Terms are subject to change.Results may vary.We do not guarantee hair growth.There is no such thing as a sure thing. Every purchase comes with a warning label. Caveat upon caveat. That’s the lawyers talking and they’re no fun.But they’re right. Every project carries risk. I’ve witnessed two...
Managers suck at hybrid. Take a Ukrainian approach
When was the last time you saw an entire team together in the office? A rare event. Terminations are conducted by Zoom and no one wants to pick up the phone anymore. Emotions are conveyed by a small set of icons. We are a heavily digitized and distanced workforce. The role...
Branding Strategies for Trending Transformation
Hype is good. Empty hype is not. Twitter...err, X...is under pressure. Meta's competitor Threads recently launched to huge fanfare (see my analysis: Don't be a Twit(ter): How to build strategic resilience). Elon Musk needed to respond, but by doing something different. Add features? Nope Tackle cyber-bullying? Nope Fix the blue verification...
Is change really a struggle??
Who wants another model of change? We need it like another hole in the head. They are all pretty much the same. However, in her book “Next! The Power of Reinvention in Life and Work” Joanne Lipman discusses four stages people go through during personal transformation: Search – When you...
Learning from the slow driver
Have you ever found yourself stuck behind someone driving slow? I admit, even 5mph/kmh below the limit and I start to feel…constrained.If you’re in a rush, this is a recipe for anger. Some drivers flash their lights and honk. Road rage is a real risk. But not for me. I...
How to Leverage AI to Develop Strategy
It was very quiet. I stood at the front of the room in front of a large group: executives, board members, and committee members. We were there to develop a new three-year plan. “The future is always changing. What trends and influences do you see in our world today that could affect...
Make your change a combo!
If you’ve traveled on a big airplane, you might have noticed that when you lock the door in the bathroom, the light comes on. Some smarty pants connected two actions to prevent an embarrassing incident because in our rush to finally get in and go, it’s easy to forget to...
How to Draw a Culture
I live in Calgary (see the map!), a city in the province of Alberta, Canada. A research team asked locals to “draw an Albertan.” What does a typical Alberta resident look like? Would it reflect our growing tech sector? Our obsession with winter sports? Drumroll please!Almost half drew farmers and cowboys. Nearly unanimously male....
How to run a status meeting
I hate status meetings. Well, most of them.On large projects, status meetings typically pull together a number of people to update leadership about progress. And while each person speaks, a portion of the audience zones out because their work is unrelated. Or worse, they multi-task and forget to tune back...
