Strategy and Tactics
« Previous EntriesThe more things change …
Monday, August 30th, 2010Imagine a map. Imagine yourself folding the map.
Now imagine an economist who, seeing the crease, complains about the canyon you just dug in the middle of someone’s corn field.
The actual headline read “Shocking New Accounting Rules.” Published in The Economist (8/19/2010), which really should know better, it explains that IASB (the International Accounting Standards Board) [...]
Measure? If you can’t predict you can’t manage
Monday, August 16th, 2010Imagine Pacioli took a different tack.
You remember Pacioli. Italian guy. A friar. Invented modern accounting five centuries ago, give or take a few years. Ring a bell?
We still keep the books the Pacioli way. It’s why, when you buy a computer, you credit cash and debit tangible assets but when you train an employee you [...]
Managing to the numbers
Monday, August 9th, 2010The problem with managing to the numbers is that it doesn’t work. Far too many of those who think having an equity stake in a business qualifies them to run it, is that they think it does.
They are, in a word, naïfs, and in another word, arrogant. Bad combination.
Understanding that the plural of anecdote isn’t [...]
A $575 trillion lesson in IT governance
Monday, July 12th, 2010Are we serious?
Total global wealth stands at $125 trillion, more or less. The total world market for financial derivatives stands at $700 trillion. Does anyone else see something terribly wrong with this picture?
I’m hesitant to form a Strongly Held Opinion about complex matters I only dimly understand. So it’s with some trepidation that I ask [...]
Enterprise technical architecture management — an old new idea
Monday, May 10th, 2010Ever meet someone who just has to have a strong opinion on every subject, whether or not they know anything about it?
Those known for expertise are particularly prone to this ailment. Some of us, having learned one subject in great depth (in my case the behavior of electric fish), use that experience to recognize our [...]
The Edison Ratio
Monday, April 12th, 2010Physicists should add the Edison Ratio to their list of fundamental, universal constants. Edison’s formulation for genius — 1 percent inspiration and 99 percent perspiration — is as invariant as the speed of light in a vacuum.
Purveyors of business panaceas appear to have reached a different conclusion. Whatever else happens in the corporation, they appear [...]
Core American Virtues
Monday, April 5th, 2010I’m promoting a new business model: Whole Business Outsourcing (WBO). It’s the next logical step after Full Functional Outsourcing (FFO) and its successor, business process outsourcing (BPO). Here’s our value proposition:
A popular means to personal wealth is to start a company, create the illusion of success, then get rid of it for a large chunk [...]
The importance of being a person
Monday, March 22nd, 2010Margin is so often misunderstood.
People who should know better explain that companies selling products with low profit margins should pursue a different strategy, because “… a 5% profit margin isn’t doing very well for your shareholders.”
They’re confused. Don’t believe me?
Chasing the what?
Monday, February 15th, 2010To operate a computer, you point, click, double-click, or right-click. To operate a car you push on the gas, stomp on the brake, or crank the steering wheel.
Which is why you have to feel sorry for Steven Spear.
Spear, you’ll recall, authored Chasing the Rabbit (2008) — an in-depth analysis of what makes high-performance organizations tick. [...]
Debatable propositions
Monday, January 25th, 2010A good debater, I’m told, can successfully argue either side of an issue. I’ve also been told, mostly by debaters, that this is desirable … that learning to debate is an excellent way to create fair-minded citizens.
Being debaters, they do an excellent job of making this case. Ironically, they do not seem able to argue [...]
Bob Lewis is president of 