Robert Crouch

Why You Should Design Your Company Culture Like a Product

Post author By Robert Crouch
Post date September 28, 2020

Product differentiation is crucial in our ultra-competitive world. So why do we leave treat culture ― your company’s talent “product” ― as an afterthought?

In ultra-competitive markets, product differentiation is crucial. Countless books, blog posts, talks, and trainings have been dedicated to product development — and with good reason. Without a product that serves a need for a specific target audience and stands apart from the competition, you don’t have a company. And even these factors aren’t enough — you also need to make people aware of your offering and communicate its value in a compelling way through effective marketing and sales positioning.

Agile Transformation

Avoid the trap of ‘doing agile’ without ‘being agile’ in IT

Post author By Robert Crouch
Post date September 21, 2020

Agile is more than a technique to increase speed-to-market. Done well, it’s a complete reboot of IT mind-set and behaviors.

Agile Transformation Project Management

When Waterfall Principles Sneak Back Into Agile Workflows

Post author By Robert Crouch
Post date September 14, 2020

AgileFall describes a situation in which project managers attempt to shift to Agile methodology, but are forced to continue operating under many of the rules and practices of traditional Waterfall development. This piece describes a client where this is happening–and how the company worked to reduce the paperwork and slow review timing that was hobbling progress.

Change Management

Buffett and Gates Say It’s the Best Business Book… Ever.

Post author By Robert Crouch
Post date September 7, 2020

Billionaires Warren Buffett and Bill Gates both agree “Business Adventures” by John Brooks is best business book ever written. Published 50 years ago, it still remains relevant today. Here’s why it’s a must-read that offers valuable lessons in both business and life.

Change Management

McKinsey’s Three Horizons Model Defined Innovation for Years. Here’s Why It No Longer Applies.

Post author By Robert Crouch
Post date August 31, 2020

In the 20th century McKinsey created a model called the Three Horizons to explain how businesses must invest in current products, incremental innovations, and breakthrough innovations. The framework relied on time as a guiding factor; it assumes that truly breakthrough innovations will take years to develop. Technology has made that assumption incorrect: Today innovations like Uber and Airbnb can be rolled out extremely quickly. Because established companies tend to move slowly and must invest resources in existing products, this means that unlike in the 20th century, attacking disruptors now have the advantage.

Agile Transformation Change Management Innovation

Achieving Strategic Agility By Seeing Around Corners

Post author By Robert Crouch
Post date August 24, 2020

Disruption, which happens gradually then suddenly, is both a risk and an opportunity. In her important new book about strategic agility, Seeing Around Corners (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, published today September 3, 2019), Rita McGrath shows us how Agile firms must not only see around corners. Even more important, they must take action.

Change Management

Here’s What Your Business Really Needs Instead of a Strategic Plan

Post author By Robert Crouch
Post date August 17, 2020

Every successful company has a vision statement. Vision and business go hand in hand. The best entrepreneurs are the ones who can set an audacious goal, inspire talented people to pursue it with them, and build a business that achieves that vision and makes a lasting impact.

Personal Improvement

Turn Strangers Into Friends With 8 Great Questions From Harvard Business Review

Post author By Robert Crouch
Post date August 10, 2020

“So, what do you do?” “Where do you live?” “How do you know [Name of Host]?” are some of my least favorite kind of questions, because they don’t elicit interesting answers. If you want to get to know someone, you’ll have to do a lot better than this.

Helpfully, the Harvard Business Review has now published 8 great questions to ask at any kind of networking event. They’ve also written up their findings on how colleagues get on better, enjoy work more, and stay connected for longer if they share common experiences outside of work. Sociologists refer to these connections where there is an overlap of roles or affiliations from a different social context as multiplex ties.

Agile Transformation Change Management Project Management

Planning Doesn’t Have to Be the Enemy of Agile

Post author By Robert Crouch
Post date August 3, 2020

Planning was one of the cornerstones of management, but it’s now fallen out of fashion. It seems rigid, bureaucratic, and ill-suited to a volatile, unpredictable world. However, organizations still need some form of planning. And so, universally valuable, but desperately unfashionable, planning waits like a spinster in a Jane Austen novel for someone to recognize her worth. The answer is agile planning, a process that can coordinate and align with today’s agile-based teams. Agile planning also helps to resolve the tension between traditional planning’s focus on hard numbers, and the need for “soft data,” or human judgment.

Collaboration Personal Improvement

5 Ways to Work Effectively from Home

Post author By Robert Crouch
Post date July 27, 2020

As the number of COVID-19 cases in the United States continues to grow, the number of people working remotely will rise exponentially. But working outside an office can be a challenge. What are the best ways to set yourself up for success? How do you stay focused and productive? And how do you keep your work life separate from your home life?

Tags Managing Yourself