strategic planning Archives

Hope vs. Optimism: Leveraging Both for Strategic Success Issue 208, April 17, 2025 In today’s volatile, chaotic marketplace, organizations often fall back on hope as a default business strategy. When leaders feel overwhelmed by external, confusing, and contradictory factors, hope may seem like the last resort. Americans are naturally resilient problem-solvers, but when challenges shift daily, the stress triggered by uncertainty becomes debilitating. The instinct is to retreat, wait, and hope for the best. At 2040, we’re fascinated by these…

Kevin Novak

April 17, 2025

View Post

Ideas and Innovations Newsletter

The Risk of Certainty

The Risk of Certainty Issue 143, January 18, 2024 Human nature, at its deepest core, reinforces our longing for certainty and the prospect of security and stability. We don’t want things around us to change. We want assurance that what we know is true and real. We want certainty that we made the right decisions and choices so that outputs and outcomes will be what we expect. Ambiguity creates anxiety and insecurity and makes us defensive. Ambiguity makes most of…

Kevin Novak

January 17, 2024

View Post

Ideas and Innovations Newsletter

The Value of Intangibles

The Value of Intangibles Issue 132, October 26, 2023 We continue to be fascinated by the value proposition of intangibles. This isn’t some weird magical idea. We’re talking about assets that have no physical form but are nonetheless valuable. Considering that we are living in a digital marketplace, intangibility has a profound relevance despite our inherent and deeply programmed need to see, feel, and touch something tangible. If it can be seen, felt, and touched we believe it is real…

Kevin Novak

October 25, 2023

View Post

Ideas and Innovations Newsletter

Planning Ahead

Planning Ahead Issue 123, August 24, 2023 With all the data at our disposal, why aren’t we connecting the dots to ensure better outcomes? To be more specific, let’s look at our healthcare system – and you can use it as a metaphor for your own strategic planning. Next Gen Career Shifts Take two trends: the US population is aging and so many next gens are more interested in entrepreneurship and tech startups than medicine as a career. What are…

Kevin Novak

August 22, 2023

View Post

Ideas and Innovations Newsletter

Change Is a Team Sport: We All Play a Role 2040’s Ideas + Innovations

Change Is a Team Sport: We All Play a Role Issue 118, July 20, 2023 Last week we gave you a case study to demonstrate how critical the human factor (and personalities and our own blind spots) becomes in seeking to innovate, make change and transform. Change is ever-present in daily life. It is also a constant in response to an organization’s market, system, and the needs and wants of customers and workforce. Resistance to innovation, change, and transformation is…

Kevin Novak

July 18, 2023

As the World Turns: Why Population Trends Matter to You

View Post

Ideas and Innovations Newsletter

As the World Turns – Ideas and Innovations from 2040

As the World Turns Issue 113, June 15, 2023 We’re taking a pause to share several trends that we believe are bellwethers for a sustainable future. And we’re not including climate change, although it clearly ranks high on anyone’s list as a cause for concern. We’re talking about two trends that don’t get much attention: population shifts and life expectancy. Here’s the big picture from the UN: The world’s population is expected to increase by two billion people, from 7.7…

Kevin Novak

June 14, 2023

View Post

Ideas and Innovations Newsletter

Are You Ready? – Ideas and Innovations from 2040

Are You Ready? Issue 112, June 8, 2023 Wrong question. Are your customers ready? Is the market ready? Actually, the real question is a fusion of both. Is the customer base in your market ready to adopt what you have considered building and offering as you seek to stabilize, grow, and expand your organization? Put another way, is what you are contemplating developing something nice to have or necessary? Then add a layer of complexity to that: if the customer…

Kevin Novak

June 7, 2023

What Happens When You Make Assumptions? – Ideas and Innovations from 2040

View Post

Ideas and Innovations Newsletter

What Happens When You Make Assumptions? – Ideas and Innovations from 2040

What Happens When You Make Assumptions? Issue 106, May 4, 2023 Does your organization have what it takes to succeed? For example, how many times a day do you make an assumption? On a scale of magnitude, perhaps it’s the assumption that the sun will rise each morning and gravity will still be in place at night — to assuming that other people will drive responsibly and the trash in your neighborhood will be picked up. Assumptions are based on…

Kevin Novak

May 3, 2023

What Do Top Performing Organizations Get Right? – Ideas and Innovations from 2040

View Post

Ideas and Innovations Newsletter

What Do Top Performing Organizations Get Right? – Ideas and Innovations from 2040

What Do Top Performing Organizations Get Right? Issue 105, April 27, 2023 For anyone that insists on predictability and familiar expectations, today’s disruptive marketplace can throw a wrench into a rigid planner’s world. Will there be a recession? Is inflation going to abate? Are current economic conditions the new normal? Will customers continue to pull back on their spending? There are so many moving parts to evaluate and consider for aligning organizational purpose, direction and focus. Since we are hardwired…

Kevin Novak

April 27, 2023

View Post

Ideas and Innovations Newsletter

The Distortion of Time – Ideas and Innovations from 2040

The Distortion of Time Issue 103, April 13, 2023 With our celebration and awe of emerging tech (think generative AI), there is a basic issue that we rarely consider: the distortion of time. What we mean is that we are in such a hurry to develop and adopt new tech that we frequently leapfrog over its actual relevance, usefulness or even its consequences to our organizations and business models. Let alone do we address the potential legal or policy issues…

Kevin Novak

April 13, 2023

← Newer Posts

Older Posts →