Mastering the Art of Agility: A C-Suite Blueprint for Strategic Resilience
In a world where the pace of change is unrelenting, the global business landscape presents both formidable challenges and unprecedented opportunities for companies across various sectors.
MoreThe Secret Weapon to Reimagine Your Business for a Post-Pandemic World
Instead of seeing the crisis as an opportunity to reimagine and transform their business, many incumbents are looking forward to reverting to pre-covid-19 conditions. If this sounds like you, read on to learn what you can do to repivot and reimagine your organization.
MoreMaking Lemonade from Lemons
The global pandemic’s disruption on the business landscape has presented challenges for companies large and small. During the early days of the pandemic, companies focused on what they must do to survive. After several months spent ensuring the safety and well-being of employees and managing cashflow, including reducing expenses, many pivoted, turning their attention...
MoreThe Innovation Imperative of Insurgent Companies
As the saying goes, “necessity is the mother of invention” or, said another way, “when the need for something becomes imperative, you are forced to find ways of getting or achieving it.”
MoreLeading During Disruptive times
Leaders must view disruption as a learning opportunity for themselves and their teams. As you reflect on the pandemic and the prospect of future disruptive forces, seek to better understand what you should do to help your organization develop and sustain its capacity for transformational change.
MoreLeadership Insurgence
One of the biggest issues facing most incumbent leaders (i.e., leaders at the helm of incumbent organisations) and well articulated by one of our recent clients, is “how do I navigate my organisation through disruption as the competitive equilibrium becomes more and more unstable?”.
MoreInclusive vs. Extractive Leadership
Over the summer holidays, I read an excellent book, entitled “Why Nations Fail” by Michele Boldrin, David K. Levine and Salvatore Modica. The main thesis of the book was that “inclusive” political and economic institutions have a much greater probability of long term success (i.e., are superior) as compared to “extractive”
MoreThriving in a Post-Pandemic Economy: Leadership Mindsets and Behaviors for Succeeding in 2024 and Beyond
Four years ago, the world grappled with a once-in-a-century global pandemic. The COVID-19 pandemic disrupted economies and infected millions, leading to record-breaking hospitalizations and deaths.
MoreCustomer Proximity – are you customer proximate?
One of the principal characteristics that set insurgents apart from incumbents, is the close proximity to customers (and more broadly the market) that insurgents develop. Customer Proximity can be described as the mean distance from the firm to the customer (i.e., the market place).
More6 Tips to Getting the Most Out of Your Offsites
As annual planning season reaches its peak, most organisations are gearing up to run their annual strategic planning workshops. This article provides several tips to help you get the most out of your planning offsites.
MoreAre you the Problem? – Strategy Execution in the Age of Disruption
I have spent much of my career helping organisations to execute strategy and have found that the execution of strategy is one of the most challenging things executives can face. The statistics are dire, most surveys put the success rate of well intentioned strategy execution at 10-30%.
MoreUnstable Strategy
After working for more than 20 years helping companies design and execute strategy, it is now obvious to me that strategy is undergoing a profound change. More and more as we work with clients we find that the traditional strategy methods are starting to break down. Whilst I am not suggesting that everything we have learned over this period about strategy is
MoreMacroscopic Innovation
In a series of stand up surveys of more than 350 CEOs conducted January to June 2016, we asked about the importance of innovation, i.e., how important is innovation to your current and future success? Not surprisingly, almost 100% of CEOs thought innovation was important or “very” important to their success.
MoreAchieving Greater Results with Design Thinking
As a strategy consultant for the past twenty years, I have worked for dozens of market leading companies, from family-owned enterprises in Latin America to billion dollar behemoths with global brands and operations headquartered in the US. Most of these companies have been in business for at least as long as I have been in consulting. Like most companies that have been around for decades, they have experienced periods of steady growth, in top-line revenue and bottom-line earnings, as well as periods when these indicators have taken a hit.
MoreLessons from the 2016 US Presidential Election
Donald Trump shocked the world by defeating Hillary Clinton in the 2016 US Presidential Election. He will become the 45th President of the United States upon inauguration on January 20, 2017. While this moment is surreal for many in the global citizenry, especially for those living in the US, it should serve as a blaring siren or wake-up call for business leaders in established companies, also called incumbents.
MoreEpisode Insights
The 10 Stages of Disruption as Viewed Through the Trump Administration
Disruption isn't just a business phenomenon-it reshapes governments, industries, and leadership models
MoreThe Insurgent Mindset at Nike-A Case Study in Building, and Losing, the Insurgent Mindset
How has Nike lost it's insurgent mindset, and can they get it back?
MoreNavigating 2025: Emerging Trends and the Insurgent Path to Success
Read our predictions on the trends businesses will face in 2025, and strategize how you can be an insurgent through these changes.
MoreThe Insurgent Mindset in Pharmacy: A Prescription for Disruption
The pharmacy industry is at a crossroads, with major players and innovative challengers vying for dominance. Read our take on the shifts occurring within this vital sector, offering insights applicable to any business navigating disruption.
MoreBoeing vs SpaceX: A Case Study in Business Strategy and Innovation
This compelling case study comparing two titans of the aerospace industry—Boeing and SpaceX. From legacy strategies to disruptive innovation, we unpack their approaches to leadership, technology, and market dominance. What lessons can businesses draw from their successes and struggles?
MoreInsurgent vs Incumbent: How Nvidia Redefined the Tech Industry While Intel Struggled
Explore the contrasting journeys of tech titans Intel and Nvidia. While Intel has long reigned as the incumbent in the semiconductor industry, Nvidia has emerged as the insurgent, redefining the game with a disruptive, forward-thinking approach.
MoreThe Insurgent Mindset in U.S. Elections: How Disruption Has Shaped the Path from 2016 to 2024
Explore how the insurgent mindset has reshaped U.S. elections, from Trump's disruptive 2016 campaign to the evolving strategies of 2024, examining the role of disruption, social media, and coalition-building in modern American politics.
MoreBreaking Free from the Incumbent Mindset: How to Adopt an Insurgent Approach to Thrive in Today’s Business Environment
In today’s fast-paced, ever-evolving business landscape, the difference between thriving and merely surviving often comes down to mindset. Businesses are confronted with rapid technological advancements, shifting customer expectations, and increasing competition from smaller, more agile disruptors. The question that CEOs and leaders must ask is this: Are we operating as an incumbent, or are we thinking like an insurgent?
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