I have been involved in a variety of engagements with automotive companies over the past three decades. These companies’ abilities to understand marketplace desires 3-4 years in advance is a key element of success. There are several compelling examples of getting this right and numerous instances of getting it wrong. Beyond uncertainties about customers’ future […]
Most organizations and people like to think that everything is under control, proceeding as planned, and the sought outcomes will be realized. If anyone suggests otherwise, they will be chastised for not being team players, perhaps for having bad attitudes, or quite simply for being outright wrong. Unpopular positions are seldom socially acceptable in organizations. […]
People who are advantaged by the status quo tend to be averse to changing it. Consequently, those who are favored in this way tend to herald its merits and distain the alternatives. Why wouldn’t we continue the policies and strategies that generously rewarded them in the past. As leader of an organization needing to entertain […]
It’s a great idea, but can we do it? Can we make it happen? We are going to boil the oceans and then provide everybody gourmet seafood dinners. Ok for those who eat seafood, but how is this going to be accomplished? Making the elements of a solution happen – executing — tends to be […]
Consider two surprises for General Motors (GM) and how they reacted, initially poorly but later quite successively. Both illustrations involved Ford surprising GM. The first led to a major failure and the second to a substantial success. Indeed, failures to achieve corporate objectives are quite common in the automobile industry. Not every vehicle is a […]
