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IT Organizations Built to Last

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Over the past two decades, technology has advanced exponentially; and with that burgeoning growth, IT organizations have seen tremendous expansion. As the IT industry continues to evolve, the question becomes more relevant: how does one build an IT organization that is both impactful and lasting?

Flip through any business magazine and you will find article upon article suggesting general guidelines for increasing workplace motivation, perfecting employee performance, and banishing mediocrity; and while this advice is well meaning, lasting IT organizations need to look deeper and must be founded on the following core principles:

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About the Author

Ajay KaulAjay Kaul, managing partner at AgreeYa Solutions, brings over 25 years of experience in sales, staffing, and IT project management for clients throughout the world. As managing partner, Ajay has led AgreeYa through 15 years of success, leading the company in highly competitive and complex markets and driving significant profitable growth. Prior to founding AgreeYa, Ajay was responsible for managing engagements for Deloitte Consulting, serving private and public sector clients.

20 Interesting Behaviors of Strategy Tourist

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Let me start by reassuring you: the chances that you are a strategy tourist are close to zero.

But I’m sure you do know a strategy tourist.

Most likely you know plenty of them, since strategy tourists – those individuals who lack the motivation, skills and knowledge to turn a strategy into performance – can be found in abundance in most organizations. They are easily recognizable by the following characteristics:

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About the Author

Jeroen De Flander helps you to improve your strategy execution skills in his new book, The Execution Shortcut. He is one of the world’s most influential thinkers on strategy execution and a highly regarded keynote speaker. He has shared the stage with prominent strategists like Michael Porter and reached out to 21,000+ leaders in 30+ countries. His first book Strategy Execution Heroes reached the Amazon bestseller list in 5 countries and was nominated for Management Book of the Year 2012 in the Netherlands.

The Emerging Strategy of Innovative Service

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The world of the customer has dramatically changed. The tough economy has made customers more value conscious, demonstrating far more caution in how they spend their hard-earned dollar. The proliferation of self-service (while a blessing when it works) has made customers more frustrated when they feel trapped in a process with no live person to help. And the Internet, with its social media reach, has empowered customers with strong influence over other customers and the reputation of companies.

Such a plethora of challenges has required all organizations to rethink their strategy. Since revenue from customers and the power of their advocacy dramatically impacts organizational growth and profits, assuming “we know what’s best for our customers” is akin to a death knell.

But, the largest challenge today is not the changing expectations of the new, normal picky, fickle, vocal and wired customer. It is their requirement for an experience that heightens their emotional connection and ramps up their affinity. Customers are bored and want their hearts to race and their spirits to soar. And, here is the backstory.

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About the Author

Chip R. Bell is a customer loyalty consultant and the author of several national best-selling books. His last three books include The 9 ½ Principles of Innovative Service, Managers as Mentors (with Marshall Goldsmith) and Wired and Dangerous (with John Patterson). He can be reached at www.chipbell.com

Recommended Resource – Creative Thinkering

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Creative Thinkering: Putting Your Imagination to Work
by Michael Michalko

About the Reference

Creative Thinkering by Michael Michalko provides readers with actionable methods to tap into and broaden their natural creativity. Aimed at those who question their imaginative abilities, Michael reveals a systematic approach to generating new ideas through the association of two or more dissimilar subjects; resulting in the generation of entirely new products, services, and methods.

Throughout Creative Thinkering, Michael provides detail rich examples of his method’s application as well as challenging the reader to develop his or her own capabilities through numerous thought experiments. These elements transform this book from one that simply provides a method into one that is a teaching manual; helping even the most rigid of thinkers expand their creative horizons.

Benefits of Using this Reference

StrategyDriven Contributors like Creative Thinkering because of its immediately implementable methods for expanding one’s creative output. Michael clearly illustrates that anyone can be highly creative and through his plentiful thought experiments convinces even the most rigid thinkers that they too can be the source of highly original ideas. In a fast moving world that requires continuous adaptation, Creative Thinkering can help arm any professional with a crucial skill needed to remain competitive.

StrategyDriven Contributors have long benefited from Michael’s insights on creativity. We thoroughly enjoyed his earlier book, Thinkertoys and have applied the methods he prescribes therein to our work almost every day. If we had one criticism of Creative Thinkering it would be that Michael’s new book is not as ‘fun’ as his last – but it is by all accounts just as valuable.

Overcoming ones creative doubts is a key ingredient to taking the actions necessary to remain competitive in our highly innovative and rapidly changing world. Michael’s book provides those with such doubts a clear method for dealing with their rigidness and conceiving the truly unique; making Creative Thinkering a StrategyDriven recommended read.

Break the Innovation Chokehold: How to Stop Ruling Like a (Not-So-Benevolent) Dictator and Start Encouraging Big Ideas

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Do you lead your team like you’re the great and powerful head of your own nation? Hidden away in your office, shielded from others, do you deliver orders that must be followed, never considering what your employees might think? Do you parade the halls, factory floors, or store aisles of your organization, holding audience with only the small entourage of upper management trailing after you?

Okay, this might be a slight exaggeration. But even if you embrace a less extreme version of the old ‘command and control’ style of leadership, you’re blocking the natural flow of the life’s blood of the company. Innovation.

The boss must act as the ‘external force’ for continuous, systematic change and innovation in an organization. He or she must be poised to seize the moment and capitalize on unique opportunities when they’re presented. But they’ll never be presented if you don’t stir the pot by constantly listening to your employees and challenging them to think about ‘What if?’ in order to improve your products, processes, or procedures.

To achieve true innovation, you can’t lead like an iron-fisted dictator, where your word and only your word is final. You should instead lead as a benevolent dictator – benevolent’ being the operative word – who always puts the company, the employees, and, most importantly, the customer, first.

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About the Author

Michael Feuer co-founded OfficeMax in 1988 starting with one store and $20,000 of his own money, a partner, and a small group of investors. As CEO, he grew it to more than 1,000 stores worldwide with annual sales topping $5 billion. He is also CEO of Max-Ventures, a venture capital and retail consulting firm, and founder and CEO of Max-Wellness, a comprehensive health and wellness retail chain that launched in 2010. After opening initial laboratory test stores in Florida and Ohio, a national roll-out is now underway. To read Michael Feuer’s complete biography, click here.