As a November 2019 article in The Economist suggests, strategy consulting is under significant pressure. Whereas it used to be one of the main pillars of the large consulting firms—McKinsey & Company, the Boston Consulting Group, Bain & Company and so on—it has become a marginal activity now, accounting for about just a tenth of…
Both Apple and Amazon have earned record profits in the fourth quarter of 2019. Propelled by sales of the iPhone 11, Apple reported an all-time record in revenues and profits. Revenues topped at $91.8 billion and profits at $22.3 billion. And propelled by Christmas sales, amazon revenues have risen to $87.4 billion over the last…
During the Davos 2020 meeting of the World Economic Forum something remarkable happened. A group of more than hundred millionaires, calling themselves “Millionaires against Pitchforks” spread a letter to governments in which they ask for more taxes. What drives some of the richest people on this planet to do this? As we infer from the…
2020 has come and will ask a lot from leaders across the globe. Facing significant economic, political and climate challenges, leaders will have to prove themselves this year. First and foremost this means they will have to show effective leadership by turning plans, ideas and words into actions. Effective leadership means getting things done through…
Executives, managers and employees spend up to 23 hours per week in meetings. When we break this figure down, it turns out that about 15% of an organization’s total time is spent on meetings, 35% of middle managers’ time and up to 50% of executives’ time. That’s an incredible amount. If these meetings were value-added,…
In the November 2019 issue of McKinsey Quarterly, McKinsey describes three characteristics that leaders need to have to make their organizations flourish in today’s world. As they argue in their article “Answering Society’s Call: A New Leadership Imperative,” society increasingly demands transparency, empathy and meaning from their leaders. Whether this demand is really new, as…
How often are you completely relaxed, do you do things exactly the way you want them to do and are you completely in control? Probably less often than you would like. And how often do you feel stressed, insecure and lived by others? Probably more often than you would like. You are not the only…
Some people today feel the world is becoming increasingly stressful and difficult to grasp and cope with, both privately and in business. They see the world getting more volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous (VUCA) and experience a constant pressure to perform. For entrepreneurs this is a challenge. They need to constantly keep up with what is going on in their markets and broader environment. But…
In this age of fake news, information overload and social media stress, we easily lose our sensible selves. We stress out and do, feel, say and think exponentially strange things (see this post for some examples). This applies to political and corporate leaders, but just as well to managers, employees, students and anyone else. With so much…
Two weeks ago I launched my first so-called self-help book: No More Bananas: How to Keep Your Cool in the Collective Madness. It is a book that offers practical advice for staying calm and confident in today’s stressful world of social media and information overload. Even though very well-intended, I realize that its effect may be quite limited.…
Last month, Accenture published an interesting report, carrying the title “Striking Balance with Whole-Brain Leadership.” The gist of that report: leaders need to dramatically increase the use of the right part of their brain—the part allowing us to be creative, empathetic, self-aware and use our intuition and holistic thinking. Why? First, because today’s volatile, uncertain,…
This week is “World Well-Being Week,” the one week a year when we are stimulated to explicitly pay attention to our own well-being and that of others. Of course, that is something to pay attention to every day, but a special week like this can help to draw attention to this crucial aspect of life. Because crucial it is. In today’s overheated society,…
