Winning Moves Blog

The recent turmoil at Penney’s illustrates the challenges of transformational change. And, when transformational change goes awry, merely halting the bold moves and attempting to reverse the damage does not eliminate the challenges. At Penney’s, challenges remain even after ousting its CEO, former Apple executive Ron Johnson, who was hired to bring about transformational change. So, now what for Penney’s? Continue reading “Stop the Transformational Change–It’s Too Bold for Penney’s, but Now What?” »

The March 2013 issue of Harvard Business Review described a research study which found that CEOs who have been in their jobs for more than five years perform more poorly than those whose tenure has not yet reached the five year mark. The article, “Long CEO Tenure Can Hurt Performance” by Xueming Luo, Vamsi K. Kanuri, and Michelle Andrews, explains that Continue reading “CEO Tenure: How Data Can Be Misleading” »

Have you seen the article “Big-Bang Disruption” in the latest issue (March 2013) of Harvard Business Review? This article screams panic. It elicits potent emotional reactions by displaying powerful images of buildings being destroyed. Its message: the severe damage and destruction seen in these buildings can easily happen to your business if you don’t take bold action fast.

But, panic is a poor business strategy. And, the strategic advice Continue reading “Don’t Panic! It Won’t Save You from Market Disrupters” »

Yahoo CEO Marissa Meyer deserves praise. She is saying the right things about what Yahoo must do to regain momentum and put itself on the path to success. Based upon my 25+ years researching business success and failure patterns, what Meyer says she wants to do fits the patterns of success–at least on a big picture level. This is a plus since many companies stumble largely because Continue reading “Can Yahoo Succeed by Returning to Its Roots?” »

Both Southwest Airlines and Google began as entrepreneurial start-ups that grew rather rapidly into major corporations. Both have been extremely successful, even after growing quite large. Both were the subject of articles in the January 14, 2013 issue of Fortune magazine, and both articles included the founders’ views on change.

It is easy to come away from those two Fortune articles with the impression that Continue reading “Should Businesses Make Big Changes or Stick to What They Know?” »