Tag Archives: Wisdom

Balance Continuity and Change Precisely because change is a constant, the foundations have to be extra strong. The more an institution is organized to be a change leader, the more it will need to establish continuity internally and externally, the …

Long-Range Planning The future requires not just happen if one wishes hard enough. The future requires decisions – now. It imposes risk – now. It requires action – now. It demands allocation of resources, and above all, of human resources …

Practice Comes First Decision makers need to factor into their present decisions the “future that has already happened.” Decision makers – in government, in the universities, in business, in the labor unions, in churches – need to factor into their …

Business Not Financial Strategy “There ain’t no bargains,” and “You get at most what you pay for.” Successful acquisitions are based upon business plans, not financial analyses. Acquisition targets must fit the business strategies of the acquiring company; otherwise, the …

Managing Oneself: Identify Strengths It takes far less energy to move from first-rate performance to excellence than it does to move from incompetence to mediocrity. You can learn to identify your strengths by using feedback analysis. This is a simple …

Hitting Them Where They Aren’t “Hitting them where they aren’t” outflanks the by creative imitation. Here, the innovator doesn’t create a major new product or service. Instead, it takes something just created by somebody else and improves upon it. This …

Unrealized Business Potential “Opportunity is where you find it,” not where it finds you. Luck, chance and catastrophe affect business as they do all human endeavors. But luck never built a business. Prosperity and growth come only to the business …

Managing Cash in the New Venture There is an old banker’s rule of thumb according to which one assumes that bills will have to be paid sixty days earlier than expected and receivables will come in sixty days later. Entrepreneurs …

Social Innovation: The Lab Without Wall Steinmetz’s technology-driven science is anathema to many academic scientists. Steinmetz’s innovation also led to the “lab without walls,” which is America’s specific, and major, contribution to very large scientific and technological programs. The first …

Tunnel-Vision Innovation Often a prescription drug designed for a specific ailment sometimes ends up being used for some other quite different ailment. When a new venture does succeed, more often than not it is in a market other than the …