Tag Archives: Leadership

The Perfect Storm

By John Evelyn  |  August 14, 2009  |  Adversity,Agility,Alignment,Capability,Competition,Execution,Leadership,Lean,Leverage,Operational Excellence,Resources,Rigidity,Six Sigma,Sustainability,Technology,Transparency,Winning

Our customers make us better! Have you heard that phrase? When I have, the translation that emerges is that our customers sometimes have to drag us into improvement. In fact, it often means that we become aware of the needs to improve from feedback and complaints. Someone might argue that we sometimes innovate from negative feedback
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“Band of Brothers”

By John Evelyn  |  August 12, 2009  |  Adversity,Agility,Alignment,Blind Spots,Capability,Competition,Diagnosis,Execution,Leadership,Leverage,Resources,Rigidity,Risks,Teamwork,Technology,Winning

A must read chapter is “Battle of the Nile.” For me, it resonates with the importance of knowing your competition and your real estate (where you are competing), planning, innovation, and most of all, empowering your team to win. It also serves as a vivid example of how much the rigid controls of an adversary created wonderful opportunities for execution with agility and surprise.
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“What Do You Think?”

By John Evelyn  |  August 10, 2009  |  Blind Spots,Capability,Diagnosis,Fit for purpose,Leadership,Rigidity,Transparency

“Cogito, ergo sum” means “I think, therefore I am” is a principle developed by Rene Descartes in 1637, often referred to as a foundational element of Western thought and philosophy. It speaks to how we attain knowledge among other things. Western culture places great value on the individual, so the word “I” is a big deal for us. If we believe Rene, and we are because we think, then how we do this stuff called “think” is a pretty important process.
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Francis Bacon, Top Guns, and the Breakfast of Champions

By John Evelyn  |  August 7, 2009  |  Adversity,Agility,Blind Spots,Capability,Competition,Deming Prize,Diagnosis,Execution,Fit for purpose,Leadership,Leverage,Operational Excellence,Resources,Rigidity,Risks,Technology,Winning

It’s time for breakfast. I’m having a bowl of OODA Loops, a true Breakfast of Champions. Want some?

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“Once Upon a Time … and Then They Lived Happily Ever After”

By John Evelyn  |  August 5, 2009  |  Adversity,Agility,Blind Spots,Capability,Diagnosis,Execution,Fit for purpose,Rigidity,Risks,Sustainability,Transparency

“Once Upon a Time … and Then They Lived Happily Ever After”
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“Go or Check, Mate?”

By John Evelyn  |  August 3, 2009  |  Adversity,Agility,Capability,Competition,Execution,Leadership,Leverage,Resources,Teamwork,Winning

Chess and Go are two games that require a real time combination of strategic, tactical and analytical skills to master. They have military emphasis, with conquest as an objective, but are worlds apart in terms of what how success is …
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“Something In The Way She Moves……”

By John Evelyn  |  July 24, 2009  |  Adversity,Agility,Capability,Competition,Execution,Leadership,Leverage,Operational Excellence,Rigidity,Winning

We were having a discussion one night about agility. It started with the language of sports or war to develop metaphors for illustrating business parallels. Agility became my pet for that chat and endless ranting to come. I concluded that …
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“If I Had a Hammer, I Would Hammer in the Morning, …”

By John Evelyn  |  July 17, 2009  |  Agility,Execution,Fit for purpose,Leadership,Rigidity,Sustainability,Tailoring,Transparency

“To a man with a hammer, everything looks like a nail.”  This quote is attributed to Mark Twain (and a few others, including Abraham Maslow).  When I first heard the phrase, it was also quoted as a Japanese proverb and …
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He is heavy, … , he ain’t my brother …

By John Evelyn  |  June 19, 2009  |  Execution,Integrity,Leadership,Purpose and Values,Transparency,Vision

As I observe the early days of a new era in governance, one that increases the role and authority of government regulation and central planning, I am saddened. I am saddened by the foreseeable consequences of constraining innovation and reinvention that are necessary to succeed, even survive, in this complex multi-polar world. I am saddened because most regulation is earned. It is earned by the guilty and implemented onto the innocent as a general rule. Leadership and stewardship gave way to greed, discarded integrity, illusionary value creation, and the uncontrolled behemoths that emerged in this interconnected virtual business landscape. Algorithms replaced decisions and the perversion of the foundations based on earning and affording what you own turned the American dream that I have lived as a naturalized American into a nightmare that has not yet ended.
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May I Have a Word with You? …. Values.

By John Evelyn  |  June 10, 2009  |  General,Leadership,Purpose and Values,Transparency

“Values” is a word that I hear often. I hear it when people read from a wallet card they keep. I read it from organizational documentation and hall posters, often completing a trilogy with vision and mission, the three amigos
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