Good Ideas Department

Turning Strengths Into Weaknesses

A key tenet of Sun Tzu's strategic philosophy is to attack the opposing side's weaknesses. "Now an army may be likened to water, for just as flowing water avoid the heights and hastens to the lowlands, so an army avoids...

Work/Life Balance

With the pace of business accelerating every day it's harder and harder to maintain a balance between one's work and personal lives. So here are some thoughts from famous people that I've used to put things in perspective. ...

I'm Dying to Know...

Does it frustrate you when someone on your team, perhaps a manager or another team member, asks you a question for which they know the answer but they know you don't? Often these are trick questions, in which the answer...

Ooda Loops

The competitive environment has not gotten any easier and change occurs in the business world at an ever-increasing pace. That is why it has become essential to a company's survival and success to be able to respond faster to those...

Treating People the Same May Not Work

Western society is built on the principle of treating everyone fairly. From a personnel and human resources standpoint this makes a lot of sense; salary plans, benefits and hiring practices need to be implemented consistently....

Learning From Waves

The Chinese often look to nature to learn how the world works and be more effective in accomplishing one's goals. For instance, both Taoism and Tai Chi use nature as an example to communicate their specific philosophies. ...

Archetyping

In making the analogy between business and warfare the business corollary to the "enemy" is one's business competitor. To take the analogy further it is clear that the business terrain that must be won is the customer. Just as a...

Following The Way

Sun Tzu stated that, "Those skilled in war cultivate the Tao and preserve the laws and are therefore able to formulate victorious policies." The Tao, or "The Way", was created by the ancient Chinese philosopher Lao Tzu and has had...

Lessons Learned

In my time as a Competitive Intelligence professional, I learned some lessons along the way. In the hope you may find them useful, here they are:...

Staying in the Mud

With business booming, startups popping up all over the place and entrepreneur millionaires abounding, many of us have wondered if we should take a shot at making it big. Do the potential rewards outweigh the risks? How much do I...