Toyota Needs A Strategist

No, this is not an opinion piece or in any way a critique. It’s more like a public service announcement for business professionals in the job market, looking for a strategy position with market leader. Like most regular users of LinkedIn, I constantly get pushed notices about “Jobs I Might Be Interested In.” Even though […]

How Conflicting Constraints Produces Breakthroughs

Over at the HBR Blogs Network, I’ve posted a piece about how pairing challenging goals and constraints in direct conflict with each other can produce innovative thinking. To read, share, comment, click HERE.

Elegant Solutions No. 1

If you’ve followed the evolution of my thinking through the series of books I’ve written, you know that elegance–defined as the ability to achieve the maximum effect with minimum means, and characterized by the presence of both uncommon simplicity and surprising impact–is my root cause. Elegant solutions are identifiable when some degree of four qualities […]

The Art of 5 Whys

Recently I had a conversation with a friend who was upset about some directional shifts and looming job shuffles swirling around their company. As I listened to the lament, I recognized the fact that they were focusing on the symptoms of the issue. All of his reactions and proposed courses of action in response to […]