change Archives

It’s Really the Journey that Matters

It’s Really the Journey that Matters Issue 161, May 23, 2024 In our never-ending quest to understand human behavior in the context of organizational culture, we study a lot of nontraditional, surprising, and often seemingly unrelated, strange material. There is plenty written about pop psychology and behavior, but every once in a while, we discover a paradigm-shifting visionary. Dr. Robert Sapolsky’s book Behave, written in 2017 is still relevant and a seminal thought-shifting proposition. We introduced our admiration of Sapolsky…

Kevin Novak

May 22, 2024

Ideas and Innovations Newsletter

The Trouble with Making Assumptions and Over-Generalizations

The Trouble with Making Assumptions and Over-Generalizations Issue 160, May 16, 2024 We’ve noticed a disturbing trend over the past three years. To put it bluntly, organizations including governments, are making many assumptions about their stakeholders and constituents. The assumptions stem from over-generalizations, past knowledge, or due to wearing blinders. In each instance, we will discuss how you, the consumer, will bear the cost and impact of these behaviors. Failing to See the Total System Let’s take a US political…

Kevin Novak

May 16, 2024

Ideas and Innovations Newsletter

Why Strategic Re-Think Is Today’s Prerequisite Strategy

Why Strategic Re-Think Is Today’s Prerequisite Strategy Issue 158, May 2, 2024 Although it seems counterintuitive in today’s dynamically changing marketplace, many organizations still live, breathe, and sometimes die by their static three- or five-year strategic plans. It takes so much work and time to develop these long-term plans, often structured more as a laundry list of aspirations, that they are hard to let go of. This multi-year term model is often disconnected from the actual capability or capacity of…

Kevin Novak

May 2, 2024

Ideas and Innovations Newsletter

The Importance of Language in Organizational Transformation

The Importance of Language in Organizational Transformation Issue 157, April 25, 2024 Think about this for a moment. The English language we speak is referred to as Modern English dating back to 1450. It‘s related to the emergence of the printing press and was adopted through the expanded volume of printed materials including Shakespeare in the late 1500s and the King James Bible in 1611 (study.com). That was over 570 years ago. If you’re following us here, it might dawn…

Kevin Novak

April 24, 2024

Ideas and Innovations Newsletter

Where Has Our Optimism Gone?

Where Has Our Optimism Gone? Issue 156, April 18, 2024 If you were asked to describe the personality of America you might use the adjectives resilient, optimistic, can-do, problem-solving. Our history has been built on these principles and they are still very much embedded in what drives our economy. However, what’s driving our culture seems to be shifting from these positive “optimistic, can-do” characteristics and turning to a darker, more fractious side – if you believe what you see, hear,…

Kevin Novak

April 18, 2024

Ideas and Innovations Newsletter

Reactive Decision-Making, Social, and Youth

Reactive Decision-Making, Social, and Youth Issue 154, April 4, 2024 We’re worried about the members of our younger generations – your customers, employees, children, and family members. We’re worried as well about the kneejerk attempts of some of our leaders and those with influence to solve what is perceived as a problem without truly understanding it or the consequences of the solution they attempt to put into place. Reactive States of Mind Post-pandemic society appears to be in reaction mode,…

Kevin Novak

April 4, 2024

Ideas and Innovations Newsletter

Are We Playing Monopoly as a Society?

Are We Playing Monopoly as a Society? Issue 153, March 28, 2024 Big tech has been taken to task repeatedly often without a complete understanding of who they are, what they do and how their business model functions. For many, it seems elusive to understand their motives, wrapped up in proprietary strategy. And frankly, just about no one (certainly not the average individual) can figure out what they’ve been up to and what their intentions are. Are they out to…

Kevin Novak

March 28, 2024

Ideas and Innovations Newsletter

What We Know About You: Welcome to the Surveillance State

What We Know About You: Welcome to the Surveillance State Issue 152, March 21, 2024 We recently read a report in The Wall Street Journal that got our attention. Commercial data brokers are selling their third-party data to the government. If you’re an optimist, you would think this could be a good thing. Our intelligence agencies and the defense department may be able to identify patterns that could predict and prevent an unfortunate event – terrorism, for example. But honestly,…

Kevin Novak

March 20, 2024

Ideas and Innovations Newsletter

Unintended Consequences: Decision-Making and Economic Interconnectedness

Unintended Consequences: Decision-Making and Economic Interconnectedness Issue 151, March 14, 2024 We’re entering the fray in the debate on the economy. And central to this debate is a refresher focused on our inability to make connections, see patterns and anticipate how micro and macro trends can radically and consequentially compromise our approach to solving real or perceived problems. In solving what we see as immediate problems (low wages, inflation, price-gouging, lack of skilled workers and migration as examples), there are…

Kevin Novak

March 14, 2024

Ideas and Innovations Newsletter

AI: Spring Awakenings

AI: Spring Awakenings Issue 150, March 7, 2024 We think the onset of Spring is a good time for house cleaning and taking a pause to reassess AI. It has taken over both the imagination and the anxiety of most anyone who has been paying attention. Take a straw poll and you may have two oppositional results. AI is a tool that will help human beings achieve higher levels of productivity and more efficient levels of profitability. Or AI is…

Kevin Novak

March 7, 2024

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