CEO Advisory

Have you ever wanted to call it quits on a goal for your team—or yourself? How do you know when the time is right? How do you know if an opportunity is keeping you tethered securely, or if it’s choking the life out of you? Quitting is nothing more than...

Both employers and employees are continually looking at how to improve productivity. I often hear from many clients that there “are simply not enough hours in the day to get the work done”. This was confirmed again when I recently spoke at a conference and asked the audience of about...

Making good use of data is now universally accepted as critical to competing in today’s business landscape. As new technologies emerge, how we acquire and analyze that data will be key to a company’s survival. One of the most exciting new opportunities is real-time voice analytics, which is already providing insights...

Many companies tout strategic innovation initiatives on their annual reports, yet how many are making real headway? True innovation takes time, and it's often not a linear process. To succeed, you need champion teams that form innovative solutions. What Are Champion Teams? Champion teams are designated by leadership to drive...

Why do larger companies acquire startups? If you’re a startup founder or even entrepreneur strategizing a venture you can take all the way through from launch to glitzy exit, you’ve got to know why a larger company would buy you. Here are ten of the most common M&A strategies of...

At Tencent, all talent and leaders are selected and assessed according to the company’s leadership model, particularly the focus on user experience. In the company’s lexicon, customer-centric means constantly paying attention to the details of products and services from a user or customer perspective. Everyone in the company strives to...

For a couple of days, I have had the pleasure of being in sunny Barcelona in Spain. Though it wasn’t the palms on the beach that was the attraction, but rather, a 1,000-person fixed income convention, where I was invited to share some thoughts on the podium. This convention always...

Around the time of the Cold War, the military coined the term for the climates of unpredictable and turbulent: VUCA.  What does it stand for? Volatile, uncertain, complex, ambiguous. And as you likely know, it’s now applicable to the business world.  Despite all of our increasing data and knowledge, our...

When it comes to successful innovation, it seems like three is the “magic number”. While many would have you believe in the classic overnight success story  - a Eureka moment, followed by a quick launch and immediate success - the truth is that the old Robert the Bruce saying, “If...

Successful pivots are the stuff of Silicon Valley legend. In the best of these origin myths, a sudden and drastic change in strategy allows a struggling business to rise like a phoenix from the ashes of its outdated model, soaring above its competitors and into public acclaim. These success stories...