strategic planning Archives

Too Much Choice Makes Brand Loyalty an Endangered Species Issue 77: Oct 13, 2022 There’s a sea change taking place in social media and streaming platforms which should be a red flag for organizations that offer memberships, subscriptions or use devices that seek to deliver continuous value via consumer consumption, leading to rich sources of recurring revenue. Members Only Membership and subscription have become all the rage over the past five years across many businesses. The continual drips of monthly…

Kevin Novak

October 13, 2022

Systems Thinking Powers Actionable Solutions in Three Easy Steps – Ideas + Innovations from 2040

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Ideas and Innovations Newsletter

Systems Thinking Powers Actionable Solutions in Three Easy Steps – Ideas + Innovations from 2040

Systems Thinking Powers Actionable Solutions in Three Easy Steps The Past Is No Playbook for the Future Issue 76: Oct 6, 2022 If by chance you have been asleep for the past three decades, you may have missed the success of a systems thinking strategic model. Everyone who understands climate change realizes that we (all of us, sentient and non) live in a closed-loop, interconnected system. That understanding is based on the ability to look at life holistically, connecting the…

Kevin Novak

October 5, 2022

An Elephant? What Elephant? Where Is the Elephant? – Ideas + Innovations from 2040

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Ideas and Innovations Newsletter

An Elephant? What Elephant? Where Is the Elephant? – Ideas + Innovations from 2040

An Elephant? What Elephant? Where Is the Elephant? Decision-Making: Actions, Influences, Impacts and Unintended Consequences Issue 75: Sept 29, 2022 In June of this year, we published an article about unintended consequences and how many organizations, governments and individuals are blindsided by not anticipating the future. Technically, unintended consequences are outcomes of actions in the immediate past or in current times that have unforeseen impacts or influences on the near or far future. Consider a line of dominoes or a…

Kevin Novak

September 29, 2022

What Is Your North Star? – Ideas + Innovations from 2040

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Ideas and Innovations Newsletter

What Is Your North Star? – Ideas + Innovations from 2040

What Is Your North Star? Issue 71: Sept 1, 2022 Do you know your organization’s North Star? Or maybe a better question is whether your organization even has a North Star. Not to get all astronomical on you, but Dr. E.C. Krupp, Director of the Griffith Observatory in Los Angeles and a world-renowned expert in ancient astronomy explains, “The north pole of the sky and whatever stars were close to that point told the ancients there was foundation and structure…

Kevin Novak

August 31, 2022

To Be Forewarned Is to Be Forearmed – Ideas + Innovations from 2040

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Ideas and Innovations Newsletter

To Be Forewarned Is to Be Forearmed – Ideas + Innovations from 2040

To Be Forewarned Is to Be Forearmed Issue 64: July 14, 2022 The savvy, experienced executives are curious, informed, and naturally anticipate the future, not catch up to it. That usually requires these individuals to step out of their comfort zones and confront ambiguity and change head-on. They support their teams and coach them to think critically and stretch to maintain high performance, both individually and for the organization. This may sound obvious, but in our experience, we have encountered…

Kevin Novak

July 14, 2022

Always Start with a Strategic Premise – Ideas + Innovations from 2040

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Ideas and Innovations Newsletter

Always Start with a Strategic Premise – Ideas + Innovations from 2040

Always Start with a Strategic Premise Issue 60: June 16, 2022 You’ve developed an aspirational strategic plan that is going to help you crush it compared to your competitors and allow the organization to expand its customer base and be more relevant to existing customers. The direction of the plan and its goals seem to address the declining performance of existing business lines and offerings by developing a new model. You’ve worked on it, honed it, and vetted it with…

Kevin Novak

June 16, 2022

Transformation Is a Messy Business – Ideas + Innovations from 2040

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Ideas and Innovations Newsletter

Transformation Is a Messy Business – Ideas + Innovations from 2040

Transformation Is a Messy Business Issue 58: June 2, 2022 When it comes to digital transformation, some thought leaders correlate it to chaos theory. We’ve all heard about chaos theory, even if we don’t understand it. Dumbed down, it’s the mathematical theory that explains what seems random and chaotic but that in actuality has underlying patterns, an interconnectedness and self-organization that can give order and logic to what seems chaotic on the surface. As we have continued to share in…

Kevin Novak

June 2, 2022

2040’s Ideas and Innovations: How Illusion and Delusion Derail Organizations

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Ideas and Innovations Newsletter

2040’s Ideas and Innovations: How Illusion and Delusion Derail Organizations

How Illusion and Delusion Derail Organizations Issue 56: May 19, 2022 Two colleagues just attended their monthly executive committee meeting. One is the chief revenue officer of the organization, and the other is the head of marketing. The organization is struggling with diminishing membership revenues and sponsorship sales are running behind. The salesperson gave an upbeat, optimistic presentation asserting they would close the revenue gap by the end of the quarter. The marketing executive had a completely different take on…

Kevin Novak

May 19, 2022

2040’s Ideas and Innovations: Inflation + True Value

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Ideas and Innovations Newsletter

2040’s Ideas and Innovations: Inflation + True Value

Inflation + True Value Issue 41: February 3, 2022 This is the first time since 1982 that inflation has grown at such a fast pace and become such an urgent short-term issue for so many organizations and individuals around the world. It is clearly affecting consumers forcing them to make fundamental changes in their choices and their overall lifestyles. The consumer who is now having to be more discerning about their own expenses contributes to a set of challenges faced…

Kevin Novak

February 3, 2022

2040’s Ideas and Innovations: Shared Purpose

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Ideas and Innovations Newsletter

2040’s Ideas and Innovations: Shared Purpose

Shared Purpose Revisited Issue 59, June 9, 2022 Back by popular demand, our newsletter on Shared Purpose is the best-read article we have published. It resonates because organizations today need a shared purpose to make a business sustainable. It’s not enough to have shared goals, an organization needs shared intent. Axios reports, “So much misunderstanding, tension and turmoil flow from thinking the other people are dishonest or out to get you. So, stop assuming the worst. Dig deep enough into…

Kevin Novak

January 6, 2022

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