Editor’s Choices for Week Ending Aug 10, 2012

Article of the Week
Why boards fail to choose the right CEO (Fortune)
Big Idea:  If leadership is critical to strategic alignment then so is the leader. Ram Charan points out that the choice of CEO…

Why boards fail to choose the right CEO

By Ram Charan
Fortune
August 8, 2012

Big Idea:  If leadership is critical to strategic alignment then so is the leader. Ram Charan points out that the choice of CEO must begin with the Board understanding clearly the leadership requirements of the company. He contrasts the selection of Gerstner at IBM (success)…

Editor’s Choices for Week Ending Aug 3, 2012

Article of the Week
Why Cascading Goals Doesn’t Work (The Rypple Blog)
Big Idea:  Rypple, a social application for workforce management recently acquired by Saleforce.com, challenges the conventional top-down approach to goal-setting. As scorecard practitioners know, cascading goals…

Why Cascading Goals Doesn’t Work

By Lisa Skapinker
July 31, 2012

Big Idea:  Rypple, a social application for workforce management recently acquired by Saleforce.com, challenges the conventional top-down approach to goal-setting. As scorecard practitioners know, cascading goals is often the bane (bain?) of the strategic alignment process. Short piece, with useful references, that raises a timely…

Editor’s Choices for Week Ending Jul 27, 2012

Article of the Week
How strategists lead (McKinsey Quarterly)
Big Idea:  Cynthia A. Montgomery of HBS describes the key roles of “the strategist” –meaning maker (purpose), the voice of reason (competitive reality), and operator (think about…

How strategists lead

By Cynthia A. Montgomery
McKinsey Quarterly
July 2012

Big Idea:  Cynthia A. Montgomery of HBS describes the key roles of “the strategist” –meaning maker (purpose), the voice of reason (competitive reality), and operator (think about construction not just design). As she explains, these are the characteristics that enable leaders to forge the…

Editor’s Choices for Week Ending Jul 20, 2012

Article of the Week
A Better Way to Manage Risk (HBR Blog Network)
Big Idea: Professor Kaplan is joined by his HBS colleague, Anette Mikes, in an audio presentation with slides covering the basics of risk management. As you would expect from one of the creators of the…

A Better Way to Manage Risk

Webinar w/ Robert S. Kaplan and Anette Mikes
HBR Blog Network
July 19, 2012

Big Idea: Professor Kaplan is joined by his HBS colleague, Anette Mikes, in an audio presentation with slides covering the basics of risk management. As you would expect from one of the creators of the Balanced Scorecard, they…

Editor’s Choices for Week Ending Jul 13, 2012

Article of the Week
Managing the strategy journey (McKinsey Quarterly)
Big Idea:  Dynamic times require dynamic management. A few years ago McKinsey asserted this must begin with executives spending more time together to discuss strategy….