-
The Blind Spot of Expertise
Today’s Strategic Alignment Journal post in two sentences: Experience helps us recognize patterns, make informed decisions and interpret complex situations, but it can also lead us to rely on familiar explanations without recognizing what makes a situation different. The value of expertise lies not only in what we know, but in our willingness to question…
-
Beyond the Family Fortune: Alice Walton and the Meaning of Success
Today’s Strategic Alignment Journal post in two sentences: An Instagram post featuring the world’s wealthiest women brought me back to Sam Walton’s Made in America, one of the first success stories I ever read and loved. Curious about his daughter Alice Walton, I began investigating what she had accomplished and discovered a different expression of…
-
Perfect Harmony, Broken Infrastructure: The Illusion of Strategic Alignment
Today’s Strategic Alignment Journal post in two sentences: An organization can have a beautifully articulated strategic plan, with its vision, mission, values and priorities appearing perfectly aligned, while its structures, systems and everyday practices contradict what it intends to achieve. Meaningful strategic alignment requires more than agreement on direction; the organization’s operating infrastructure must support…
-
Control: The Most Potent Addiction of All
Today’s Strategic Alignment Journal post in two sentences: The need for control can create a sense of security while gradually increasing dependence, limiting initiative and reinforcing the very conditions we’re trying to prevent. Recognizing the boundaries of our responsibility and influence allows us to make more appropriate decisions without assuming that every outcome must be…
-
Feeding the Cobra: Why Our Fixes Backfire
Today’s Strategic Alignment Journal post in two sentences: Organizations sometimes introduce solutions that unintentionally encourage the very behaviors or conditions they are trying to eliminate, leaving problems unresolved or even making them worse. Understanding how interventions influence behavior, incentives and organizational practices is essential to avoiding unintended consequences and recognizing when the solution itself has…
-
The Fix Forward Session: Tackling Recurring Roadblocks
Today’s Strategic Alignment Journal post in two sentences: Organizations can conduct increasingly effective meetings while continuing to discuss the same unresolved problems, introducing corrective actions without adequately understanding why previous efforts have failed. The Fix Forward Session™ changes the conversation from repeatedly managing recurring issues to understanding what keeps them in place before determining what…
-
The Illusion of Effort: When Persistence Blinds Progress
Today’s Strategic Alignment Journal post in two sentences: Persistence can create the appearance of progress when repeated effort becomes more important than understanding whether we’re achieving the intended results. Remaining committed to an objective requires more than perseverance; it also requires the willingness to assess what we’re learning, question our approach and make changes when…
-
When a Mistake Becomes a Position
Today’s Strategic Alignment Journal post in two sentences: A mistake may begin as one decision, but the effort to defend it can gradually create problems far greater than the original error. Recognizing when a decision needs to be reconsidered is an important part of leadership, accountability and strategic alignment. In organizations, mistakes often begin with…
-
Are We Driven More by Instinct or Insight?
Today’s Strategic Alignment Journal post in two sentences: Instinct can help us recognize a pattern quickly, but recognition is not necessarily understanding. The danger begins when the speed with which we recognize a problem becomes evidence that we understand it. Much of what we do begins before we have fully thought about it. We sense…
-
Don’t Make Fear the Organizing Principle of Your Life
Today’s Strategic Alignment Journal post in two sentences: Fear does not always look like fear; sometimes it looks remarkably like preparation, responsibility, control or good judgment. The question may not only be what decision we are making, but how much fear is influencing the choice. Fear does not always show up in a way we…
Get Clarity before the Fix
