KeyBlog

Where Are You Going?

tim.empringham@keyconsulting.ca — Tue, 03 Apr 2012 00:59:00 GMT

There's an old saying that failing to plan is planning to fail. It holds true as much today as it ever has, but I've been thinking about it a bit lately and the more I think about it the more I think there is something missing from this sage advice. Planning is critical... as long as you know where you're going.

Consider two people who are planning a trip. The first has clear goals in mind - to visit New York City and while there to take in some key sights including the Statue of Liberty, Central Park, Times Square, and a musical on broadway. The second isn't quite sure where they are going, but they're determined to go somewhere for a four day getaway.

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Loss Aversion and the Importance of Changing Your Lens

tim.empringham@keyconsulting.ca — Tue, 27 Mar 2012 13:00:00 GMT

There is a concept called Loss Aversion that suggests that we hate losing exactly twice as much as we love winning. That concept drives our behaviour in predictable ways and is a key driver for our aversion to failure in our work. For that same reason I think it is twice as important to focus on areas of challenge with the right lens in order to accept our failures early and maximize our potential for success long term.

In the late 1970's there was a study done by psychologists Daniel Kahneman and Amos Tversky that demonstrates the loss aversion phenomenon.

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This Makes You... Think?

tim.empringham@keyconsulting.ca — Mon, 12 Mar 2012 00:10:00 GMT

I came across this graffiti painted on the back wall of a building at Yonge and Greenfield in Toronto and I was drawn to it instantly. Most tagging mostly makes me angry at the gall of people who violate the property rights of others, but this one was different - it had a message.

If you can't read it clearly in the picture, the tag reads:

THIS MAKES YOU...

( ) ANGRY
( ) UPSET
($) THINK

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The Power of Radical Goals

tim.empringham@keyconsulting.ca — Thu, 08 Mar 2012 19:36:00 GMT

How do you set goals in your organization today? Surely by now we all define our goals according to the guidelines of SMART (Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic and Timely), so everythings great right?

What if I told you that SMART goals are self-limiting? What if I told you that if you insist on defining SMART goals that your business will not achieve its potential and is at risk of being disrupted?

Heresy right?

Let me explain.

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Modifying Drucker's Five Most Important Questions

tim.empringham@keyconsulting.ca — Wed, 13 Apr 2011 20:42:00 GMT

In his book The Five Most Important Questions You Will Ever Ask About Your Organization, Peter Drucker offers a tool for self-assessment and transformation in his "Five Most Important Questions You Can Ask". The questions are designed to drive action and create focus on doing the right things to drive exceptional performance within your organization, only when I read them they fall short of delivering on what matters most. So in the interest of challenging one of the greatest management thinkers of our time (and someone who I have great respect for) I will offer my own version of the Five Most Important Questions You Can Ask.

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Commit to making Errors of Commission

tim.empringham@keyconsulting.ca — Mon, 21 Jun 2010 18:19:00 GMT

According to Rosabeth Moss Kanter, when it comes to innovation the big mistakes are “generally not errors of commission”. Put another way a former boss used to say “if you’re not failing you’re not trying”. Ultimately they both mean that it’s actually the lack of innovation that is the most risky approach to doing business.

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The Slipping Point

tim.empringham@keyconsulting.ca — Wed, 19 May 2010 20:10:00 GMT

At some point in the evolution of even the most successful companies, an interesting thing happens – growth stalls. Even the brightest and most experienced Entrepreneurs and managers are perplexed as the things they did to create the initial growth in the company no longer drive new revenues. In fact if they stick with old methods and ideas things go from bad to worse as revenues and profits start to fall. I call this moment of change a ‘slipping point’, and no business is immune to them.

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'Change by Design' and 'The Parable of the Fly Fisherman'

tim.empringham@keyconsulting.ca — Wed, 16 Dec 2009 01:00:00 GMT

Sunday night I got started reading my first book in a while (it is hard to get as much reading done when you're not riding the train for two hours a day) and it is one that I've been looking forward to - Change by Design by Tim Brown (CEO of IDEO). I had heard great things about the book and even though I am only half way through it as I write this tonight, I can heartily recommend it to anyone who struggles with the 'old way' of creating in a corporate environment. To my way of thinking, design thinking is simply a better term for those of us who are entrepreneurial who need to pitch a new approach to a more traditional company without scaring them off... it also reminded me of a great story that I was told a couple of weeks ago that seems to epidomize the design thinking process - a story I'm going to call 'The Parable of the Fly Fisherman'.

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Out Of The Box Opportunities

tim.empringham@keyconsulting.ca — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 01:12:00 GMT

There is a great article in this week's BusinessWeek magazine entitled 'Fertile Ground for Startups' that illustrates the opportunities that are at hand for truly innovative ideas in today's economy. The article outlines that investment by angel investors and venture capitalists is up significantly over the first half of this year, and that as many as 50,000 new businesses will obtain some form of angel or venture investment in 2009 in the US.

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Appropriate Management Controls for Small Business

tim.empringham@keyconsulting.ca — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 00:52:00 GMT

One of my pet peeves (and one of the main reasons I haven't spent a lot of time in larger more bureaucratic organizations) is process for the sake of process, and I truly believe that management controls used poorly constitute exactly this problem. One of the most innovation stifling innovations is the standard operating procedure, specifically if it implemented before there is a specific need for control or before an organization has grown to a size that would justify requiring that level of control.

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