Good intentions aren’t good enough – let’s get practical. Last week, I had written to you about reflecting on the year gone by with your family and/or friends. I hope that some of you were able to try it out. Aaron also sent me a great article on reflections that I want to share with […]
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New challenges demand bold, creative thinking – not tired, “safe” solutions. At our Kenya head office, we have a sign that greets everyone at the entrance – “KEEP SAFE IDEAS OUTSIDE”. To succeed, we need to be bold and agile. However, the further we go into unknown territory, the more we crave stability – because uncertainty makes us […]
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Creativity is serious business: ten ways to spark your imagination and unlock new ideas. We all know how the speed of change and increasing volatility is creating significant challenges and providing new opportunities for many organisations. Apart from becoming more operationally efficient, in order to sustain performance, companies need to nourish creativity and drive innovation at a […]
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Stay ahead of the curve with an appetite for learning. Every couple of weeks or so, many of us receive an email from D. Shivakumar, with a book summary of one the latest books he has read. Shiv, as you know, leads PepsiCo in India and is on our board. Shiv’s summary usually consists of 35-50 slides and includes […]
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With the right approach, a potentially incompetent manager can turn out to be a success. The bumbling boss who fumbles and blusters his way through life in the office is an enduring caricature across popular culture, from television series like The Office to the Dilbert comic strip in the daily newspaper. Behind this stereotype lies some truth. […]
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The wisdom of talking to strangers, and how to start a conversation with just about anyone. Frankly, I am quite reticent about striking up conversations with strangers. On a flight for instance, I don’t usually initiate conversations with fellow passengers. I prefer immersing myself into a book or a magazine. If the stranger next to me is […]
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Are you solving the right problem? Reframing should be an essential part of your problem-diagnosis toolkit. I have been reading HBS professor Bharat Anand’s highly acclaimed book, The Content Trap, on digital transformation. One of the fascinating examples that Prof. Anand talks about is the impact of digital on the newspaper industry. The conventional view is […]
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Feedback isn’t a threat – it’s an opportunity for personal improvement and increased organisational trust. We recently concluded our 360 degree feedback process, which was, like most years, met with mixed reactions. Not surprising though; because receiving feedback is always tricky. As leaders, we often think that we are required to have all the answers. […]
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Curiosity and everyday experimentation keep you at the cutting edge. “All life is an experiment. The more experiments you make, the better” – Ralph Waldo Emerson How does a chess player go from good to great? What sets an extraordinary classical musician apart from the crowd? Why do some cricketers achieve legendary status, while others lag […]
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Turning a blind eye to uncomfortable truths makes you a poor decision-maker. In recent years, we have seen new types of players emerge in the FMCG industry. For many incumbents though, the first reaction was to ignore. This was in spite of alerts from the sales teams on the ground. Several large players got into denial model. Teams took comfort […]
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