January 2023-Round Up
An antidote to bureaucracy?
Perhaps 2023 becomes the year that more organizations take advantage of technology to create what my co-author Ram Charan and I call the Permissionless Organization. By using technology to get the outcomes that managers used to be needed for (coordination, task assignments, monitoring of progress), layers can be collapsed, teams can self-manage and jobs might even become a lot more enriching. If your organization is embarking on such a journey, I’d love to learn more.
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University administrators hate them. Students feel forced to depend on them. Critics have said they contribute to income inequality. Is it finally time to dial down the power of the college ranking system?
A heartwarming customer service story – who knew that my experience with Sameer Vashisht of Patagonia would lead me to write a love letter about the retailer?
How are streaming services affecting Hollywood’s business model? They seem to be killing off the “hit-driven” business model of the ’90s. Good thing or bad? It’s complicated!
Is your organization a bureaucratic nightmare? Chances are good – but that won’t last forever!
In case you missed it!
A fun and fast-moving chat with world-famous coach and author Carol Kauffman kicked off my formal events for the year. The replay is here.
I really enjoyed connecting with my good friend Richard Rumelt to talk about his terrific new book The Crux by the fireside. The book takes you through the combination of creation and analysis that go into his challenge-based strategy method. It is like a master class for strategic problem solvers.
The Vienna Center for Management Innovation has launched! An opening keynote from Michele Zanzini kicked things off – watch this space for more news.
Aiden McCullen has developed a tribute series to Clayton Christensen, interviewing people who knew Clay and his ideas. Here’s a short clip from his interview with me.
More Rita’s! My chat with the “Goddess of Go-Getting,” the much-awarded and successful pioneer of belonging, making people feel valued, and creating more diverse perspectives can be re-watched here.
NEWS
This Forbes article by Bill Fischer cites me, arguing that arenas are a more fruitful way to think about how and where you need to compete than the traditional concept of an industry.
Want to be successful? Networking is a huge component, which host Shay Dalton talks about in this 1% podcast.
DuPont’s Alexa Dembeck and I are featured virtual speakers at the Innov8rs kickoff of the year. You can watch the replay here.
Tool of the month:
Discovery-Driven Planning Software for Educators
Although discovery-driven planning has been around for a while, we still haven’t made much progress beyond Excel and PowerPoint! We are beta-testing a version of our SparcHub software for educational use this month. Creating projects, mapping uncertainties, tracking assumptions, assign strategic scores – make the professor’s life easier and gives the students a tool they can use to bring the concepts to life.
Drop in on our LinkedIn Live demo on February 21st or contact us at Growth@valize.com to set up a demo.
Upcoming Events
February 10: Friday Fireside Chat live with the delightful Bob Sutton of Stanford. We’re going to talk about his new HBR article and the “friction project” he’s been working on for a while. Register here.
February 17: I’ll be doing a keynote at the Columbia Business School Private Equity Club’s 29th Annual conference. Check it out.
March 6 and June 5, 2023: My Columbia Executive Program “Leading Strategic Growth and Change” runs in person on campus for a week! I’ll be there, and you’ll be putting your learning to work right away on a personal strategic challenge. Info here.
Get in Touch, Keep in Touch, and an invitation to shape the agenda
We’re all about learning new things in 2022. You can follow me on Twitter (@rgmcgrath), Instagram (@ritamcgrathofficial), LinkedIn, and, YouTube.
And an invitation: If there are topics you’d like to see me explore in a Thought Spark, let me know!
Warmly,
Rita
Really enjoyed the session with Dick Rumelt. You mentioned following up with some additional responses based on attendee questions. I did not attend the original session, but is it possible to get a copy of that?