Kevin Novak

Taking Stock Issue 88, December 29, 2022 One could argue that January 1 is an arbitrary date to evaluate the past 12 months. We routinely like to look back to the past calendar year, determine what went well and reflect on what we wanted to change. We view January 1 as a fresh start to tackle our procrastination, fix things that are broken, generally refresh, and forge a committed pathway forward. We all know that for many, these reflections, decisions,…

Kevin Novak

December 28, 2022

View Post

Ideas and Innovations Newsletter

The Unintended Consequences of Indecision – Ideas and Innovations from 2040

The Unintended Consequences of Indecision Issue 87, December 22, 2022 Should I stay or should I go? Should we pivot or stay the course? Are my next-gens going to quietly quit? How are we going to make more money in such a disruptive economy? Is everyone going to agree with me? Am I going to be held accountable? Do I even need to be accountable? And why is everything so damned hard all the time? If you are a leader,…

Kevin Novak

December 22, 2022

Value in Every Page: The Truth about Transformation

View Post

Ideas and Innovations Newsletter

It Was the Best of Times …and Maybe the Worst – Ideas and Innovations from 2040

It Was the Best of Times …and Maybe the Worst Issue 86, December 15, 2022 It’s that time of year for stories. We’ve all got them: holiday merriment, missteps, and mayhem. All the stories that we remember and pass on from our portfolio of family and personal legends. We have a few stories as well. In our new book, The Truth About Transformation, we have an entire section devoted to dispatches (aka case studies) that are some of the most…

Kevin Novak

December 14, 2022

View Post

Ideas and Innovations Newsletter

Belonging Matters – Ideas and Innovations from 2040

Belonging Matters Issue 85, December 8, 2022 According to the British Columbian First Nation Haida, if you have forgotten or lost your language and your stories you are among the walking dead. (And there are only 24 people left in that nation that speak their endangered language.) The same could be said about evolving an organization’s purpose, using the past to help redefine the future, moving toward a shared purpose and always staying true to an organization’s North Star. A…

Kevin Novak

December 8, 2022

View Post

Ideas and Innovations Newsletter

Is Your Organization Ready to Comply with Privacy Protections? – Ideas and Innovations from 2040

Is Your Organization Ready to Comply with Privacy Protections? Issue 84, December 1, 2022 A wise man once told us when thinking about a significant life event, “We can be prepared, but we’ll never be ready.” So, it may be a stretch to connect mortality with privacy laws, but we would argue that most organizations are neither prepared nor ready to deal with the privacy changes at the state level in the United States and countrywide in many countries around…

Kevin Novak

December 1, 2022

What Does it Mean to Practice Gratitude? Image

View Post

Ideas and Innovations Newsletter

What Does It Mean to Practice Gratitude? – Ideas and Innovations from 2040

What Does It Mean to Practice Gratitude? Issue 83, Nov 23, 2022 We’ve been thinking about gratitude, and not just because it’s the season. Every era has its set of challenges and disasters, and each ensuing decade we think it’s getting worse. But we would argue that perception is based on the human condition that we are risk averse and generally content to live in a safe and secure bubble, professionally and personally. That’s not an indictment, it’s just the…

Kevin Novak

November 22, 2022

View Post

Ideas and Innovations Newsletter

Back to Basics – Ideas and Innovations from 2040

Back to Basics Issue 82, Nov 17, 2022 How often have we been reminded to get back to basics? We live in an overprogrammed, overcommunicated, overstimulated world. Recently several cultural threads caught our attention, and when combined, remind us of how the basics in art and culture can have a positive effect on ourselves, our workplace, the organizational community, and society writ large in counterpoint to high-tech. Although we have been seduced to worship technology over the past few decades,…

Kevin Novak

November 15, 2022

View Post

Ideas and Innovations Newsletter

What’s Holding You Back? – Ideas and Innovations from 2040

What’s Holding You Back? Issue 81, Nov 10, 2022 An important part of 2040’s practice with our clients is to use an open mind in applying intelligence and solutions from one sector to another. The concept of systems thinking is to look at the world holistically and find the intersections of new ideas and trends that paint a larger picture of an organizational landscape. By habit, we often become so focused on the day-to-day and keeping our nose to the…

Kevin Novak

November 10, 2022

A Modern Fable About Social Media: Ideas and Innovations from 2040

View Post

Ideas and Innovations Newsletter

A Modern Fable About Social Media: Ideas and Innovations from 2040

A Modern Fable About Social Media Issue 80, Nov 3, 2022 Over the past 18 years, social media has become a way for organizations to market their products and services. It has also enabled society at large to remove physical borders to connect, express their thoughts and opinions, and share the events of their day-to-day lives. Social media offers efficiency and immediacy in a highly-connected world. Before the internet, connecting took time — whether in person, writing letters, telegrams or…

Kevin Novak

November 3, 2022

Uncertainty and Disruption: Ideas and Innovations from 2040

View Post

Ideas and Innovations Newsletter

Uncertainty and Disruption: Ideas and Innovations from 2040

Uncertainty and Disruption Issue 78, Oct 20, 2022 You know something’s happening, but you don’t know what it is. Your competition is edging ahead. Your stakeholders are ambivalent. Your workforce is listless. Your management team is exhausted. Nothing that worked before is working now. You’re not alone. High performance in disruptive markets puts everyone to the test and on edge. Old strategies don’t work because conditions have changed. Managing a remote workforce with traditional management tactics doesn’t work because they’re…

Kevin Novak

October 29, 2022

← Newer Posts

Older Posts →