Long before there are departments, quarterly business reviews, dashboards, or executive scorecards, there is simply a problem worth solving. Every organization begins with a purpose. A founder sees an opportunity to make something better, gathers people around a common vision, and measures success in the most direct way possible: Are we making a meaningful difference […]
When a Measure Becomes the Mission Read More »
One of the least appreciated responsibilities of a consultant is not delivering recommendations but recognizing when a client’s mental model no longer matches reality. Over the years, I have learned that the best consultants rarely win arguments where a client is deeply entrenched in a belief. The only way forward for us is to help
Epiphany 41: Reality Stewardship Read More »
Over the past several weeks, I have found myself repeating a phrase that, at first glance, sounds dismissive. “Then just don’t do it.” The first time I used it, it was not intended as criticism, nor is it an attempt to diminish the challenges organizations face. Rather, it is an acknowledgment of a simple business
Then Just Don’t Do It Read More »
Why Organizations Lose Their Way and How Leaders Can Reconnect the Work to the Why Every organization begins with clarity and slowly converts purpose into proxies. For decades, I’ve helped organizations improve digital performance. At first, I thought I was solving SEO, technology, governance, or organizational challenges. I wasn’t. I was seeing the same pattern
The KPI Trap – The Book Read More »
Recently, I had my annual HVAC inspection. Like most homeowners, I view these visits as preventative maintenance. A technician arrives, inspects the equipment, performs a few routine tasks, and hopefully can assure me that everything appears to be operating properly. This year was different. A younger technician asked me to stay for a minute after
Epiphany 40 – The Dimensions of Competence Read More »
A genuinely busy few weeks for structured-data research: a viral duck, a controlled study with thousands of evaluations, a twelve-chatbot rendering test, and a field report on broken audit tools. Four methods, four angles. You’d expect that much evidence to settle something. Mostly, it sharpened the picture of how much we still don’t know, while
It’s 8:30 AM on a Tuesday. Your Chief Marketing Officer’s inbox flashes with an urgent, cold email from an external “AI Growth Consultant.” Attached is a beautifully formatted, terrifying PDF report generated by a brand-new, fully autonomous “Agentic SEO Auditor.” The email pitch is pure psychological warfare: “Your web development team has left your brand
While at The Fletcher School, I must have heard the phrase rational actor a thousand times. It appeared everywhere in economics, international relations, negotiation theory, strategic analysis, political science, and organizational behavior. The assumption was deeply embedded in the frameworks: actors evaluate incentives, assess consequences, and pursue outcomes aligned with their interests. And honestly, I
When the Rational Actor Isn’t Rational Read More »
The Difference Between a Coach and a “Great Coach” There seems to be no shortage of “life” and “business” coaches these days, and some of the more entrepreneurial ones appear to be making a fortune selling courses on how to become a coach. That is not what I mean when I talk about coaching. What
Epiphany 39: Find a Great Coach Read More »
When Everyone Agrees, Nothing Can Move One of the most dangerous moments in an organization is not when something breaks. It is when a room full of intelligent, capable people quietly agrees that nothing can move forward. I encountered this again in a recent meeting. The account team was pushing to deliver more value for
Epiphany 38: Help People See Around the Wall Read More »