Modern CEOs are charged with taking their organizations from where they are today to where they have never been. Successfully completing this journey requires the courage to face complexity, the character to act when the outcome is clouded in ambiguity and the capacity to decide where to invest and where not to invest. If you are a modern executive, you are going to have to make some technology bets. The ONE Thing CEOs really have to work on is improving their ability to make technology investments.... Read more

There are six generations floating about the global workforce today...... Read more

The C- Suite is not for the faint-of-heart. Things change quickly at the top of the house. At the beginning of 2014 the Chief Marketing Officer [CMO] was touted as the new wunderkind. Significant resources were being shuffled from other parts of the enterprise to fuel the Big Data enabled March to Glory. By the end of 2015 the same analysts who had hoisted the CMO up on a pedestal were now at the forefront of a mob clamoring to have them carted them off to the career guillotine.... Read more

There is a lot going on in this great big world of ours. American politics has entered a new phase. Jon Meacham, author and political commentator is convinced, “the lesson of 2016 is that none of the old rules apply.” [http://goo.gl/Cu8TUo]. In Europe countries are deciding whether they want [or are wanted] in or out [http://goo.gl/TAznzS]. Throughout it all leaders need to recognize that independent of independent variables [e.g., stuff we have little or no control over] innovation transcends all happenstance. There will always be pockets of extraordinary achievement. Innovation happens everywhere – in every vertical market, geography, and discipline. What can you do as a leader do to make sure the light of innovation stays lit in this gusty world of hyper-change?... Read more

One of the little-discussed implications of living in a digital world is that everyone becomes a digital decision maker. In a simpler world, we a] didn’t use that much technology in our personal lives [i.e., we didn’t have that many digital decisions to make] and b] the technology we used at work was provided for us [i.e., the digital decisions that needed to be made had been made for us]. Today, we all have technology decisions to make. By 2017 over 50% of the $3 plus trillion dollars spent each year on information technology will be driven by decision makers outside of IT. The question becomes – are the newly empowered digital decision makers ready, willing and able to make good digital decisions?... Read more

“What’s Next?” is THE question in the technology, durable goods, food and fashion industries. “Who’s Next?” lies at the pulsing heart of the music, entertainment, political, and sports world. Mastering Next is integral to success in every vertical market. A question smart executives need to ask themselves is where are the best and most actionable discussions regarding Next happening?... Read more

The future – at least important parts of it – is knowable. Prediction is a talent that can be cultivated. In the general population, without special training ~2% of us are gifted predictors -Superforecasters in the terminology of former Ohio State psych professor Philip Tetlock. Let’s stop whining about complexity and pace of change and get busy making preparations for what should be the greatest year in any of our lives.... Read more

Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell upon hearing Shadow Foreign Secretary Hilary Benn’s powerful speech in parliament commented, “I’m always anxious that the greatest oratory is going to lead us to the greatest mistakes.” He compared Benn’s remarks to those of Tony Blair in 2003 preceding the invasion of Iraq. In the digital sphere I am concerned about the exact opposite: how the lack of powerful oratory materially reduces an organization’s ability to harvest the full value of the digital wonders surrounding us.... Read more

The future is not a Singularity [i.e., an absolute unitary end point all sentient beings and intelligent things are accelerating toward]. The future is not a place [i.e., like Cleveland]. The future is a State of Mind.... Read more

Knowledge workers inhabiting the power-fame metroplex which is Washington DC have a language all their own. I recently learned that in Washington there are “facts” and then there are “true facts.” In the global economy there are multiple realities. This is not presented to be cynical. Some of these realities are becoming instantiated in the tools, techniques and behaviors associated with rapid developments in the virtual reality [VR] and augmented reality [AR] ecosystems. All these realities have to be understood. Many of these realities offer the opportunity for supra-normal performance.... Read more