I’ve been thinking lately about how to balance two opposing goals. One is keeping our economy open so that we avoid a deep recession. The second is containing the COVID-19 Pandemic. Companies have these kinds of seemingly opposing conflicts. A decade ago, British Petroleum was balancing the need to increase oil production (through drilling at sea) with the need to protect water and workers. More recently, Boeing was balancing the need to get the 737Max to market at an attractive overall cost against the safety needs of travelers. In the early 2000s, the Boards of Directors of US banks wanted higher stock prices through growth in assets without depleting capital. We all know these balancing acts went awry because leaders pushed one goal at the expense of another, leading to major crises. Further, the solutions to these imbalances were all costly. Pushing up…
Practice creates strategic agility for the Green Bay Packers
Hail Mary passes in American football are named after a prayer for a reason. The chances of the quarterback connecting to a receiver over a long distance make this kind of pass look like an act of desperation when the clock is close to Game Over. Did prayers miraculously come true for Aaron Rodgers’ last-chance effort to win their Green Bay Packer’s second game against the Detroit Lions? No. The final pass was not entirely an act of desperation requiring heavenly intervention. Rather, practice made the play part of the Green Bay arsenal; and practice made perfect. There is a lesson in that for all of us as organizational leaders. Apparently Rodgers and his teammates regularly practice long passes, and did so at least three times the practice before the Lions game. Green Bay’s preparation for the final attempt to score also included…
Are eroding barriers to entry hurting your business models?
Just 7 years ago, Motorola introduced the first thin cell phone to rave reviews and industry dominance. Yet, in a flash, it faced a flood of lower cost Asian knock-offs then lost its position to smart phones only to be bought by Google. Motorola’s engineering skills, supply chain excellence, and brand name strength were of little use in a massive industry upheaval enabled by new information technology. Google, meanwhile, moves from a once-distant competitor to posing a huge threat to Apple, RIM and Microsoft Windows. Google built mobile operating system leadership by acquiring and freely distributing Android. With its acquisition of Motorola, Google will likely become a device leader. No wonder Samsung’s reducing its reliance on Google’s Android system. In the Motorola story is the story of how the information age is making it harder and harder to win at business in the…