Prepared Minds
Bain & Company - Sep 16, 2021
The traceability transformation: How transparent value chains can help companies achieve their sustainability goals
A new report from Bain & Company and the World Economic Forum highlights the digital traceability journey and the challenges companies face along the way
HBR.org ($) - Sep 15, 2021
Who Is Driving the Great Resignation?
The last several months have seen a tidal wave of resignations, in the U.S. and around the world. What can employers do to combat what’s being called the Great Resignation?
The Innovator - Medium ($) - Sep 13, 2021
Interview Of The Week: Victoria Ossadnik, E.ON
Victoria Ossadnik is a member of the Executive Board of E.ON, one of the world’s largest investor-owned electric utility service providers, and is responsible for the Group’s digital technology and in-house consulting.
Towards Data Science - Medium ($) - Sep 10, 2021
One Easy Way to Improve How you Communicate your Data
How to Give Context to Your Data to Improve Your Message
Fast Company ($) - Sep 4, 2021
Productivity metrics aren’t useful any longer. Here’s a better way to measure what’s getting done
Work futurist Dominic Price says that as leaders seeking to create better ways of working, it’s not that we need to get rid of calculatable metrics. We just need more meaningful ones.
McKinsey & Company - Sep 10, 2021
The autonomous plant: Entering a new digital era
The requirements of the energy transition present significant industry challenges. Energy companies must embrace new technologies, transform management systems, and expand workforce capabilities.
Zapier - Sep 21, 2021
Progressive profiling: a non-icky way to collect customer data
There’s a way to build customer personas and give consumers personalized experiences without having to creep on their data.
HBR.org ($) - Sep 23, 2021
KPIs Aren’t Just About Assessing Past Performance
Many companies track KPIs as a way of predicting performance. To really exploit the predictive power of KPIs, though, you need to map how the KPIs for your key stakeholders feed into each other and ultimately into financial performance.
MIT Sloan Management Review ($) - Aug 23, 2021
Online Shoppers Don’t Always Care About Faster Delivery
Analyzing online customer data may reveal that other delivery attributes matter more than how quickly an order is received.
HBR.org ($) - Aug 25, 2021
The Sales Playbook of Successful B2B Teams
High-performing B2B companies are increasingly using sales plays–a coordinated set of actions to create and win an opportunity at a specific customer or prospect, driven by data.
Wired ($) - Aug 19, 2021
Now That Machines Can Learn, Can They Unlearn?
Privacy concerns about AI systems are growing. So researchers are testing whether they can remove sensitive data without retraining the system from scratch.
MIT Sloan Management Review ($) - Aug 16, 2021
How In-Store Tech Will Transform Retail
Automation and sensors promise a better customer experience — and fuel for improved analytics.
HBR.org ($) - Aug 18, 2021
Why Do Chief Data Officers Have Such Short Tenures?
The Chief Data Officer is arguably one of the most important roles at a company. It’s also a position that has become notoriously hard to stay in. The average tenure of CDOs is just two to two-and-a-half years.
George Veth
I like this article’s concept of a Vigilance Quotient – “defined as [the] distinctive ability to anticipate major shifts and spot opportunities ahead of rivals”. It suggests that advantage goes to those organizations that constantly push themselves and their companies to explore their internal and external environments for ideas for the future. It goes on to outline four basic design principles for improving vigilance. I kept returning to the comment that “vigilant companies seek out anomalies as early warning signs”. I’ve linked out to a video, outside the paywall, which is worth watching.
California Management Review ($) - Jun 10, 2021
Preparing Organizations for Greater Turbulence
Vigilant organizations excel at seeing looming threats and embryonic opportunities sooner than rivals, which prepares them to act faster when needed. Four drivers distinguish vigilant from vulnerable organizations, which can be used to design a roadmap to improve organizational acuity and preparedness.
E&Y - Aug 10, 2021
How finance can use data to create value across the enterprise
With public perception always in mind, CFOs must strike the right balance between managing the rewards and risks of corporate data usage.
Fast Company ($) - Aug 6, 2021
For AI to grow up, it needs to learn on its own
AI is already pretty powerful when humans show it what to do. As it gets better at drawing smart conclusions on its own, the technology will enter a new “age of self.”
George Veth
This article discusses the need to fully understand segment costs as the simplicity of a small business turns into the complexity of a midsize business with a myriad of products, customers, etc. This knowledge of costs moves from simple intuition to data-backed evidence. With these numbers as a backdrop, many decisions and/or considerations can be discussed – with the facts being on the wall. I love this picture of “prepared minds” coming around a challenge to discuss a path forward. Great article for those of us that are nerdy about having a shared knowledge of the actuals, so you can discuss what’s possible!
HBR.org ($) - Jul 30, 2021
Midsize Companies Need a Systematic Approach to Cost Analysis
As companies grow from small to midsize, manual checks will no longer suffice to track a broader array of costs back to individual products or services.
MIT Sloan Management Review ($) - Jul 29, 2021
Fast-Track Data Monetization With Strategic Data Assets
To monetize data, companies must first create strategic data assets that can be reused and recombined for new value creation.
George Veth
I like this article’s approach to knowledge management. The researcher/author is searching for a way to leverage or incorporate key attributes of creativity to instruct the evolution of traditional knowledge management – from what has traditionally focused on organized document management to that of continuous learning. The author cites various attributes that she also equates with artists, and she talks about how these attributes should be infused into the knowledge management function to bring the function to life. The article is a bit dense and meanders a bit, but it is worth skimming for the idea.
Frontiers - Jul 13, 2021
Radical Knowledge Management: Using Lessons Learned From Artists to Create Sustainable Workplaces
George Veth
Having been at the intersection of finance and IT for many years, I appreciate the charge for CFOs to fully leverage data to become the Chief Value Officers of the organization; that is the purveyors of “data-based business strategy and drivers of corporate added value”. This article outlines the opportunity as well as some factors of success.
E&Y - Jul 19, 2021
How finance can use data to create value across the enterprise
With public perception always in mind, CFOs must strike the right balance between managing the rewards and risks of corporate data usage.
All Time Favorites
McKinsey & Company - Jun 1, 2002
HBR.org - Feb 7, 2012
HBR.org - Nov 29, 2013
George Veth
I couldn’t agree more with the actual empirical evidence of this article – that online shoppers don’t always care about faster delivery times, especially if the exact delivery time window could be pegged. However, to get up on the balcony, I really appreciated the elements of the case study – the use of data to understand customer preferences and, then, the move to organize employees to think through how to meet the newly understood preference. This article highlights the benefits of working to create prepared minds in our organizations. A virtuous cycle of continuous improvement follows!