Blog
How a Benchwarmer Won the Game
A rarely-used Major League Baseball backup player who spent the entire game (and most of the season) on the bench made a game-winning play…from the bench. Yes, you read that correctly. It wasn’t a highly paid player on the field. The game was won by someone sitting...
Gaming the System at the VA
Imagine you take your car to the car dealer to get serviced. Before you give your car to the service manager you see the following performance statistics posted on the wall: Average time to wait for an appointment after requesting one—27 days Number of people who...
Identify Strategic Thinking with One Simple Question
I used to work on a research team for a company that produced an operational risk software product. I always found it interesting how different members of the same team answered an important question: what do you do? Here is the way Person A and Person B...
4 Reasons Business Intelligence Systems are Like an (Unused) Gym Membership
My business intelligence (BI) and analytics software salesman friend said something interesting to me the other day over lunch. He said, “I don't sell software, I sell gym memberships. When someone joins a gym they are not really buying the membership....
Don’t Be THAT Guy!
A very distraught woman (we’ll refer to her as Vera) recently called the Balanced Scorecard Institute office in panic. Vera: “Hello? I need those flags. Can you please overnight the flags to me? It’s urgent!” Us: “Excuse me? I think you may have the wrong...
The “Words with Friends” Strategy Disruption
Umiaq is defined as a large open Inuit or Eskimo boat made of skins stretched on a wooden frame, usually propelled by paddles. I looked it up only because my Words with Friends opponent just played that word. There are several possible explanations for...