Favorite Articles for Week Ending June 17
Management Innovation
novel principles, processes, and practices that alter both the system and the way that organizations perform work
In the classic struggle to foster corporate innovation, we are faced with the need to both exploit our current business model (or products, etc…) as well as to explore new paradigms. However, it is hard to do both well within the same wine skin! Therefore, we seek ways to create skunkworks projects. This article suggests that an innovation hub is the way to make innovation a permanent and recurring part of your business ecosystem. It goes on to share the advantages of doing so while citing well known examples of such hubs.
Strategic Clarity
articulates long term priorities as well as current strategies throughout the company
Appreciated this article and its focus on how intangibles are being purposely harnessed to develop core capabilities that differentiate a business for its customers. Those companies investing more in intangibles (innovation capital, digital and analytics capital, human and relational capital, and brand capital) are growing faster than those that do not. What intangibles is your business focused on developing?
Cultural Cohesion
creates a foundation of values, norms, and behaviors that bind together your team and your decision-making
I thought this short post was a nice twist on how both good strategy + good culture influence performance! The article asks a catchy question (the title), and then, it walks through a handful of things (strategic and cultural) that need to be in place to help employees to focus on and engage in what’s important.
Prepared Minds
ensures that information and context are provided to employees, so they are equipped to take initiative in their roles
This is a simple read on identifying and mapping the strategic skills needed in your business against the scarcity of supply of those same skills in the external market. By gaining this awareness, you can plan accordingly. It’s not brilliance, but it is a key to strategy execution!
Resource Fluidity
mobilizes people and dollars across a portfolio of ongoing and emergent initiatives
Here is an article about getting your corporation’s head up to sense the environment, so you can iteratively detect, discuss, & align around a set of commonly held assumptions about the future. I love all articles that challenge teams to understand one another and to share understanding transparently.
Enabling Technology
leverages the latest software and devices to support the themes of management innovation
I may be the last to grow tired of “digital twinning”. This is the ability to construct a digital double of a physical or business environment, so you can model and run scenarios to create designs and/or improvements to systems. The technology is here. This article talks about the use of this approach in various aspects of city planning.
Curated News on Strategy Execution
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Finding the Right Fit
There are many factors that play a role in finding the best fit for your cross-boundary coalition. How are you selecting your team members?
adaptable - Jun 17, 2021
“Weekly Picks” (June 17th)
These are adaptable’s favorite few articles on Strategy Execution for the week ending June 17th. Enjoy!
Fast Company ($) - Jun 17, 2021
These immersive, virtual 3D models are helping plan the infrastructure of the future
‘Digital twins’ of spaces like ports, roads, and train stations let planners experiment with changes before implementing them in real life.
George Veth
I thought this short post was a nice twist on how both good strategy + good culture influence performance! The article asks a catchy question (the title), and then, it walks through a handful of things (strategic and cultural) that need to be in place to help employees to focus on and engage in what’s important.
Dr Richard Shrapnel PhD ($) - Jun 16, 2021
Can Your Business Concentrate?
The effectiveness of your business rests in its ability to concentrate. That ability to focus on what is most important is vital if your business is to outcompete others in its marketplace.
Fast Company ($) - Jun 11, 2021
Companies fire employees for these personality traits, but maybe they should be getting bonuses
The founders of Motto say that the most innovative workers approach problems and solutions with blinding originality despite all their quirks and sharp elbows.
Fast Company ($) - Jun 14, 2021
A growth mindset doesn’t improve productivity, but this does
A new study finds that grit is a better predictor of performance success than talent or mindset. It helps you find your flow, too.
George Veth
This is a simple read on identifying and mapping the strategic skills needed in your business against the scarcity of supply of those same skills in the external market. By gaining this awareness, you can plan accordingly. It’s not brilliance, but it is a key to strategy execution!
IBM Data and AI ($) - Jun 17, 2021
Understanding Skills Scarcity in An External Market — Part 1
What is Skills Scarcity? How to measure it? Where to use it?
George Veth
Here is an article about getting your corporation’s head up to sense the environment, so you can iteratively detect, discuss, & align around a set of commonly held assumptions about the future. I love all articles that challenge teams to understand one another and to share understanding transparently.
Futurealities Limited ($) - Jun 15, 2021
Incorporating ‘Futures‘ Foresight Into The Process Of Strategic Planning
In the authors’ experience a fact of corporate life is that management all too often ignores future uncertainty. And, even if vaguely uncomfortable with this situation, it is unfamiliar with, or even skeptical about, ways to address it. Yet paradoxically the increasing pace of change on many dimensions makes this an ever more critical issue for effective strategic planning.
Harvard Business Review ($) - Jun 15, 2021
Figure Out the Right Hybrid Work Strategy for Your Company
As leaders grapple with how to return their teams to the office, they face an additional challenge when discussing hybridity: What they think is a single discussion is in fact three different discussions in disguise, each with different objectives. It’s a bit like trying to declare a winner among three teams that are each playing a different sport.
Harvard Business Review ($) - Jun 15, 2021
IKEA Navigates the Future While Staying True to Its Culture
How should IKEA adapt to big internal and external changes, while staying true to its core values?
MIT Sloan Management Review ($) - Jun 11, 2021
Digital Transformation After the Pandemic
Organizations should challenge their pre-pandemic assumptions about conducting business digitally.
George Veth
Appreciated this article and its focus on how intangibles are being purposely harnessed to develop core capabilities that differentiate a business for its customers. Those companies investing more in intangibles (innovation capital, digital and analytics capital, human and relational capital, and brand capital) are growing faster than those that do not. What intangibles is your business focused on developing?
McKinsey & Company - Jun 16, 2021
Getting tangible about intangibles: The future of growth and productivity?
Companies that master the deployment of intangibles investment will be well positioned to outperform their peers.
George Veth
In the classic struggle to foster corporate innovation, we are faced with the need to both exploit our current business model (or products, etc…) as well as to explore new paradigms. However, it is hard to do both well within the same wine skin! Therefore, we seek ways to create skunkworks projects. This article suggests that an innovation hub is the way to make innovation a permanent and recurring part of your business ecosystem. It goes on to share the advantages of doing so while citing well known examples of such hubs.
YBF Ventures ($) - Jun 16, 2021
What comes next? The Resurgence of Innovation Hubs for Business & Industry
What can you do today that you couldn’t do a year ago?
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Valued and Disvalued Effects of Organizations
Public Value theory can be used to see the effects of your organization on its environment, including how it contributes to systems of welfare and justice.
Fast Company ($) - Jun 11, 2021
How permissionless organization design gives your company an advantage
In a time of exponential growth in technology, we need to rethink the org.
adaptable - Jun 10, 2021
“Weekly Picks” (June 10th)
These are adaptable’s favorite few articles on Strategy Execution for the week ending June 10th. Enjoy!
Todd Metrokin ($) - Jun 9, 2021
A new way to understand and upskill creative thinking
One beautiful yet sometimes frustrating truth is that not all creative thinking is the same… or in the same league. Why are some people able to connect dots into a breakthrough insight, or develop a jaw-dropping concept for a problem we had yet to define?
Harvard Business Review ($) - Jun 9, 2021
Employees Are Lonelier Than Ever. Here’s How Employers Can Help.
Loneliness comes with many negative side effects, and rates of loneliness at work have risen thanks to the pandemic. While increasing face-to-face interaction may be beneficial for some aspects of work, it’s not enough to create strong interpersonal bonds among colleagues. Whatever form the return to the workplace takes, building high-quality connections will require a focused set of structures and practices built on a bedrock of psychological safety.
MIT Sloan Management Review ($) - Jun 8, 2021
Fighting Backlash to Racial Equity Efforts
Understanding the real reasons why diversity initiatives provoke opposition can help you lead employees through cultural transformation.
George Veth
Very interesting article about the different approaches to leverage the merits of cloud computing. It’s amazing to see how quickly companies can respond to a changing environment with the plug-and-play use of cloud applications. The article explores four approaches to cloud architecture – each delivering different benefits and constraints. I appreciated the nuance of the comparison, as I had never thought through it at this level of detail.
Deloitte. - Jun 3, 2021
A new framing for cloud innovation
Four potential scenarios for the future of cloud innovation strategy
George Veth
I may be the last to grow tired of “digital twinning”. This is the ability to construct a digital double of a physical or business environment, so you can model and run scenarios to create designs and/or improvements to systems. The technology is here. This article talks about the use of this approach in various aspects of city planning.