Winning Moves Blog

As someone who has studied and analyzed histories of many companies over the past 25 years, I want to praise the article in the December 2012 issue of Harvard Business Review “History as a Leadership Tool” by John T. Seaman and George David Smith. In my work, I analyze and interpret business history, to identify and understand why companies succeed or fail. But, unlike the authors of the Harvard article, Continue reading “Business History Teaches Valuable Lessons” »

The October issue of Harvard Business Review featured articles on Big Data. One of them, “Data Scientists: the Sexiest Job of the 21st Century” by Thomas H. Davenport and D.J. Patil, discusses the role and skills of data scientists, the professionals charged with making discoveries from Big Data. The article lays good groundwork regarding who data scientists are and what they do.

Yet, the article misses the mark in a key area, since Continue reading “Success with Big Data Requires More than High Tech Skills” »

Shortly after I wrote my September newsletter article titled “Integrating Diverse, Outside Perspective with Inside Strengths”, I saw an interesting article about advisory boards. Advisory Boards can be a mechanism for integrating diverse outside perspective with inside strengths. So, I decided to do this blog post about advisory boards, where I not only talk about the article, but also tie in key points from my September newsletter.

The article is “Best Practices for Successful Advisory Boards” Continue reading “Advisory Boards for Outside Perspective” »

Building on strengths does not always follow a standardized approach. Even when defying conventional wisdom, companies can succeed by building on their strengths. A good example is Tootsie Roll, as described in the article “Tootsie’s Secret Empire” in the August 22, 2012 Wall Street Journal.

Tootsie Roll is a relatively Continue reading “Successfully Building on Strengths, Even When Defying Conventional Wisdom” »

Building on strengths, a key theme in my last newsletter (July 2012) and recent blog entries, shows up here in this post as well. Sticking with that theme, I’ll start by re-emphasizing a crucial point: businesses succeed by building on their strengths.

Understanding the business is a strength. And, those who understand the business can better recognize what else might be a strength to build on. Furthermore, understanding the business is of value at many levels within the organization, even as high as the corporate board of directors.

Along these lines, I’ll comment on “You Can’t Know it All: Why Directors Continue reading “For Corporate Boards, Understanding the Business Helps Build on Strengths” »