“Weekly Picks” (July 15th)

Here are our top picks of articles on Strategy Execution for the week ending Thursday, July 15th. Enjoy!


MANAGEMENT INNOVATION

[no recommendation this week]


STRATEGIC CLARITY


Clarify or Reimagine the Strategic Identity of your Organization with Identity Wind Tunneling
by Alex Fergnani (Predict – Medium)

adaptable comment: I appreciate the need for companies to create an agreed upon strategic identity – an identify that transcends all plausible futures and binds together the efforts/actions of employees. This article walks through a process that the authors took to arrive at a strategic identity with their client by using a method that they call Identity Wind Tunneling.


PREPARED MINDS


Build a Better Dashboard for Your Agile Project
by Stephan Kudyba and Agnel D’Cruz (HBR.org)

adaptable comment: This is a good old-fashioned accounting of how to create an analytic dashboard! With the advent of advanced analytics, I don’t see as many of these types of articles as I think are warranted. The author is focused on creating a dashboard to support agile project management, but it is really just a clean run at how to create a great dashboard!


CULTURAL COHESION


Centered leadership creates connection in turbulent times
by Joanna Barsh and Diane Brady (McKinsey & Company)

adaptable comment: Great podcast with transcript on centered leadership. The author describes centered leadership as – having the presence “to be self-aware of what’s driving you and to be self-aware of how your behaviors are affecting others”. The assumption being that, stemming from this understanding, subsequent action would be taken as appropriate! Loved the ideas (several others beyond what I highlight here), the dialog, and the few examples to bring the ideas to life.


RESOURCE FLUIDITY

[no recommendation this week]


ENABLING TECHNOLOGY


Analytics of IoT
by Tech in 3 (Geek Culture – Medium)

adaptable comment: I highlighted this article because I hadn’t seen the acronym of AIoT (Artificial Intelligence + Internet of Things), even though it appears that the term heralds from several years back. Where have I been? I can’t say. The article is a simple 60 second read to highlight the value of using AI on real-time IoT data in order “to learn, self-correct and self-diagnose potential issues”. I like the image of this occuring in the wearables marketplace.

About George Veth

George Veth is a consultant in the areas of strategy execution and initiative management. Most recently, he has been leading a cross-boundary collaboration program with teams from cities across North America and Europe. He lives in Cambridge, MA, and runs a nonprofit SME Impact Fund in East Africa. His subject matter interests are organizational culture, management [system] innovation, and public value management.