Blog
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...
In Search of the Canadian Hippo
During the years we lived in Canada, my family became fond of Canadian Heritage Moments. These were sixty-second vignettes that depicted formative moments in Canadian history. One of my favorites has the intrepid French explorer Jacques Cartier arriving in the valley...
“Fight” of the Bumblebee
Have you heard the common legend that scientists have proven that bumblebees, in terms of aerodynamics, can’t fly? This is a myth that came about because about eighty years ago an aerodynamicist made this statement based on an assumption that the bees’ wings were a...