Short-Cutting Process Breeds the Next Corporate Scandal When leaders trumpet results and dismiss the “plumbing” that produces them, the organization’s moral compass drifts, controls erode, and risk snowballs, often invisibly, until the inevitable blow‑up. When former Wells Fargo CEO John Stumpf told U.S. senators, “I care about outcomes, not process,” he meant to sound decisive. Instead, he …
What are we really doing while we wait to “notch a point,” and does the point even matter? From ledgers to Balanced Scorecards Score-keeping has been a part of commerce since the days of clay tablets, but the modern business “scorecard” traces its roots to the early 1990s, when Robert Kaplan and David Norton published …
A Business Thriller About the Capacity Cliff Picture a night highway outside the city: headlights white‑knuckle the asphalt, engines humming at the red line. For a mile or two, the traffic feels exhilarating, pure speed, no brake lights. Then someone taps the pedal. One wobble becomes a ripple, the ripple becomes gridlock, and suddenly the …
When 100% Efficiency Turns Into 0% Effectiveness Read More »
It is true! There is evidence that strategy is in crisis! Strategy (not strategic planning) is often heralded as the cornerstone of organizational success. Yet, paradoxically, many strategies are doomed to fail even before they are implemented. This phenomenon isn’t merely a result of poor execution; it often stems from fundamental flaws in the strategy itself. Drawing …
I celebrate the fact that business managers have asked this question a lot, especially in the past year. The evidence I see is that risk managers are much more self-aware and aware of their internal and external environments, conditions, and circumstances. We have seen an evolution in the maturity of judgement, though the confusion between risk …
