Strategy & Tactics
4/15/12
A take on the interrelation between strategy frameworks
Marketing managers and executives: What would you do if you were asked to take several of the most common strategy tools and organize them to show how they interrelate for marketing planning and strategic decision making? (No peeking below!) The tools and frameworks to be considered, in no particular order, are: PEST, SWOT, the “5 […]
By Leo LewisRead More
4/9/12
Do your homework before using strategy models
The following is a graphic example of the GE/McKinsey matrix, a fairly well-known consulting framework that allows for visual representation of a market(s) that a company serves and where these market(s) are positioned relative to key factors such as level of market attractiveness (high, medium or low) and relative strength of the business unit (high, […]
By Leo LewisRead More
4/2/12
What is your marketing organization missing? If you don’t know, it could be time for an audit
That’s not to say that you’re definitely lacking something, but…let’s face it, there’s nearly always room for improvement, and quite often marketing organizations are missing something that’s pretty important. Findings of marketing audits commonly show that organizations typically lack a truly strategic approach in their marketing. The 1989 reprint and review of the original article (The […]
By Leo LewisRead More
3/23/12
CWEE featured on PBS
The Center for Work Education and Employment (CWEE) was featured on a recent PBS NewsHour feature, “To Receive Welfare, Should Drug Tests Be Required?” CWEE’s executive director Laurie Harvey, who has been working with single mothers for 30 years, is interviewed in the clip as Colorado is one of the states considering this new measure. […]
By Meredith BadlerRead More
3/16/12
MythTrouncers Episode 3: Research is only useful for making tactical decisions.
Myth: Research is only appropriate and useful for testing products or campaigns so that we can make good tactical decisions. If you were to make this comment in front of our company’s principals, they’d likely collide with one another in a mad dash to reach their soapbox – and rightfully so. While we do carry […]
By Holly RussoRead More
2/27/12
The vortex of anxiety
Anxiety in organizations is like a vortex – a whirling mass with suction capable of drawing into its current everyone that surrounds it. I’ve experienced the vortex firsthand in my strategic consulting work. I’ve learned that the vortex exists when leadership is absent or insufficient. More specifically, I’ve witnessed it swirl, suck and consume the […]
By Karla RainesRead More
2/21/12
Inspiring the next era nonprofit association
Inspire – to motivate, to stimulate to action, to bring about, to fill with enlivening or exalting emotion As a consultant, I strive to do more than advise, provide expertise or facilitate decision making. I want to inspire my customers to believe they can do and be more than they are today. Not only do […]
By Karla RainesRead More
2/1/12
Foresights Exemplified – Hello, Nonprofit Business Model
As consultants, we have the privileged opportunity to learn from each customer engagement. We also practice at our professions. After all that’s what it means to be a practitioner. Each consulting engagement provides a forum for me to hone my associative thinking skills – an opportunity to make connections across ideas and customers – and […]
By Karla RainesRead More
1/20/12
Next Era Nonprofits: Upcoming SVP Workshop
We’re in an era of profound and broad change for the nonprofit sector. In fact, this may be the most dynamic period the sector has experienced in two decades. Not only are the rules for success being rewritten, we’re thinking anew about what to call the sector, who is in the sector, and what defines […]
By Karla RainesRead More
1/8/12
The Audacity of Accountability
The four most dreaded words in any group endeavor – “That’s not my job.” The six most dreaded words in any group endeavor – “I didn’t sign up for that.” Imagine being the CEO of an organization and hearing those comments from your Board of Directors as you face down the third year of deficit […]
By Karla RainesRead More