http://blog.bluesummit.net The Art of Strategic Leadership Thu, 16 Jul 2009 04:39:52 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en Creating and sustaining a good long term strategy for growth isn't easy even when times are good. But what do you do when things are looking worse than your worst case scenario? Conventional Wall Street wisdom says you should abandon your strategy, cut staff to the bone, and ... http://blog.bluesummit.net/strategy/strategy-in-a-downturn/2008/ For a limited time, we are offering existing and potential clients a complimentary strategy audit. We will work with you to understand and evaluate: The quality and completeness of your existing vision and strategy The robustness of your existing strategy to various recession scenarios How well you are on track to ... http://blog.bluesummit.net/general-business/complimentary-strategy-audits/2008/ Try as we might, we can never accurately predict the timing or depth of a recession. The best we can hope for is a set of scenarios with probabilities associated with them. As the Nobel laureate Paul Samuelson once said, "Economists have correctly predicted nine of the last ... http://blog.bluesummit.net/general-business/recessions-cause-industry-shakeups/2008/ An example of ineffective strategy is a dry, one-inch-thick report that people only refer to when they need some market numbers, or a PowerPoint slide deck full of esoteric whiz-bang charts put together by a team of consultants. Powerful strategy is the living, breathing force behind the actions of an ... http://blog.bluesummit.net/creativity/creativity-in-strategic-planning/2007/ Even though most of us would agree that it's a good thing to bring more creativity into our strategic planning efforts, much of the time very little attention or effort goes into actually making it happen. This month's practice is about taking stock of your organization's efforts at bringing ... http://blog.bluesummit.net/creativity/practice-of-the-month-how-creative-is-your-strategic-planning/2007/ How many times have you seen one of those vague, slightly inspiring, but wishy-washy vision statements?  They're often found buried in a thick report or framed on a wall, overlaying a sublime photo.  Nobody knows quite what they mean, who wrote them, what actions they imply, or why they should ... http://blog.bluesummit.net/vision/the-7-cs-of-powerful-vision/2007/ Even though most of us understand that a powerful vision is critical to achieving what we want, we don't usually put much attention on the quality or power of our vision. This month's practice is all about taking stock of the level of quality of your vision. You can do ... http://blog.bluesummit.net/vision/practice-of-the-month-how-powerful-is-your-vision/2007/ There are over 2 billion people on this planet living on less than $1 a day. Another 2 billion average just a bit over $2 a day. And the gap between rich and poor is only getting bigger. Natural resources are deteriorating an alarming rate. We're ... http://blog.bluesummit.net/collaboration/the-need-for-collaboration-in-creating-a-sustainable-future/2007/ One of my greatest passions is doing my part to help corporations generate a strong sense of purpose beyond making money for its shareholders. So, when I came across this post on purpose beyond profit by Chris Nel at the Tom Peters blog, I just had to share it ... http://blog.bluesummit.net/leadership/purpose-beyond-profit/2007/ One of our passions is finding the best ways to visualize complex ideas like a competitive environment or a strategy. We use a wide variety of graphic and visualization methods to help clients literally "see" where they're at and where they're heading. Well, the folks over at the ... http://blog.bluesummit.net/visual-mapping/periodic-table-of-visual-methods/2007/