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Stop Issuing RFPs Based on Assumed Needs
I was asked to review a Terms of Reference a couple months ago for a twelve-month Commercial Marketing Advisor. It was a thoughtful document. The objectives were clear, the scope of work was comprehensive, and the desired outcomes were well defined. As I read through it, however, I found myself thinking less about the proposed…
assumptions, business decisions, business leadership, business strategy, commercial sustainability, consulting, decision quality, Decision-Making, diagnostic thinking, executive leadership, governance, Leadership & Practice, leadership insights, management, organizational diagnosis, organizational effectiveness, organizational learning, pre-decision diagnosis, problem solving, procurement, requests for proposal, RFP, root cause analysis, strategic reflection, Strategic thinking -
What Happens When the Obvious is Misleading?
The obvious deserves attention. It just doesn’t always deserve to be part of the conclusion. We are conditioned to respond to what we can see. Most of us don’t witness the beginning of a problem. We encounter it only after it has worked its way to the surface. By then, what we call “the problem”…
business leadership, business strategy, continuous improvement, critical thinking, Decision-Making, executive leadership, Leadership & Practice, leadership development, Organizational Alignment, organizational development, organizational effectiveness, pre-decision diagnostics, problem solving, root cause analysis, sensemaking, strategic diagnosis, Strategic thinking, strategy, systems thinking -
Is Your Business Problem Congenital or Congestive?
Medicine makes an important distinction between congenital and congestive heart failure. A congenital condition is structural. The defect exists from the beginning. The heart may continue to function, but it was never designed optimally in the first place. Congestive heart failure is different. The heart’s structure may have been adequate, but over time it becomes…
⚙️ Sensemaking in organizations, Leadership & Practice, Strategic Sensemaking, Systems, Structure & Relevancebusiness architecture, business diagnosis, business leadership, business strategy, business transformation, change management, continuous improvement, Decision-Making, entrepreneurship, kaizen, Leadership & Practice, leadership development, leadership insights, operational excellence, organizational health, root cause analysis, Strategic thinking -
No One Tells a Cardiologist, “It’s OK…I’ll Watch YouTube.”
One of the things that has always fascinated me about medicine is how readily we accept the idea that expertise matters. If someone experiences chest pain, persistent fatigue, an irregular heartbeat, or a concerning test result, very few people respond by saying, “You know, before you spend money on a cardiologist, have you tried Googling…
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Jumping to conclusions without fully understanding the problem is one of the most expensive habits in business
The brain is wired for speed, not accuracy. Faced with uncertainty, pressure, or the need to appear decisive, it reaches for the nearest explanation and calls it a conclusion. That conclusion often feels logical, even strategic, but it is frequently built on incomplete information, unchecked assumptions, or surface-level observations. The result is a quiet but…
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