The Music of The Devil
The most common complaint from leaders of transformation is that one of their key stakeholders “simply does not get it” – “it” being the need for change or the understanding of the approach. How can this be? Surely the need for change is clear, the concept is not hard to understand. The implication of such a…
Inciting a Movement
Why is it that the vast majority of corporate transformations do not achieve their stated ambitions? Why are people in companies so cynical about change programs? Why are employees so keen on keeping things the same even when it is clear that the very survival of their company depends on changing. Success or failure depends on your…
The Power of Impatient Learning
What happens to our curiosity as we grow up? As soon as we are born we are asking questions of the world. Before we can talk we are looking at, touching and (in the case of my children) tasting everything around us. The moment we can string a question together we ask incessant mostly unanswerable…
Curiosity Killed the HIPPO
One of the hardest things for leaders to do as they find success in their careers is knowing when to shut up. The more senior a leader becomes, the more the people in their organisation scrutinise their every word and action. Suggestions become commands that quickly cascade throughout the company. A view stated too early…
The Fight Against Corporate Inertia
People do not resist change, companies do. Companies are designed for inertia. They are made up from standard processes to drive productivity and policies to ensure people do not cross lines. We hire people who are like us and place them in an organisational structures where they sit with people with the same skills. We…
A Ticking Timebomb
When the pandemic first hit most of us were surprised at the effectiveness of distributed virtual workforces. We also learnt how relentless Zoom calls and lack of demarcation between work and home can lead to burnout and other mental health issues. However, as we gradually emerge from COVID 19 it seems that most office-based companies…
It’s breakfast time and digital culture is hungry
Why is it that everyone sagely agrees with Peter Drucker’s aphorism that culture eats strategy for breakfast but the vast majority of companies spend far more time on their strategy than their culture? We organise strategy offsites, strategy departments are set up, extensive strategy documentation is developed, expensive strategy consultants are engaged and we present…
The Biggest Silo of them All
What happens in your company when IT systems fail, software development projects are late or there is a data breach? Do the business people indignantly escalate the issues to the IT department? Do they write angry emails to the CIO? If that is the case and you aspire to be a digital company then you…
Digital to the Core
In mid 2015 a group of executives were huddled in a windowless Mumbai conference room debating how to overcome what many believed to be an insurmountable challenge. Half the room were bankers, the rest were an eclectic mix of entrepreneurs, transformation specialists and designers. The bankers were adamant that the task in hand was not…
Are you Future Ready?
Companies that execute successful transformations seem to be able to predict the future better than others. They spot trends early and are able to make informed investment decisions that give them a head start developing innovative solutions. Do they employ psychics or have leaders with superpowers? Clearly not. It is because they follow a structured…
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Paul Cobban 