Blogs

• Lake Wobegone Law Firms Lake Wobegon is a fictional US town where "the women are strong, the men are good looking, and all the children are above average." It has been used to describe a real and pervasive human tendency to overestimate one’s...... ....
• Three Unpalatable Truths OK, I’m just going to come right out and say it. Let’s cut to the chase and face up to a few unpalatable truths: 1.   THE FUTURE IS UNKNOWABLE Any attempt at predicting it is never any better than...... ....
• Why Committing to Success Leads to Failure Guy Kawasaki has a very thoughtful post on his blog How to Change the World, about a new book by Michael Raynor titled The Strategy Paradox : Why Committing to Success Leads to Failure (and what to do about...... ....
• Climate Change Practice Areas Holland & Hart has joined the small but growing ranks of law firms with a dedicated practice group focused on legal issues surrounding climate change / global warming. This according to an article in the Denver Business Journal. I...... ....
• Future Gazing Imagine: All the glittering technology that surrounds us in these opening years of the 21st Century will, in a decade or two, be as old-fashioned to our kids as black and white television, typewriters and 1970s style Chevvys are...... ....
• Solving Difficult Problems I'm busy reading Solving Tough Problems, an excellent little book by Adam Kahane. Kahane was the architect of the Mont Fleur Scenarios that were developed in South Africa in 1992, just before the formal end of apartheid, to develop...... ....
• One Night Stands and Chinese Math Some while ago, I sat in on a presentation on another management consulting firm’s strategic plan. Perfectly legal – no Watergate tapes here. I was simply present in the room. Basically, the plan was as follows: “We’ll create a...... ....
• Dream Teams or Dysfunctional Nightmares A new year beckons! What do you plan to do in your firm, in 2007? Are you contemplating going out into the market, to hire brilliant individuals away from your competitors, to let the magic of Dream Teams loose...... ....
• Creating Prepared Minds I have discovered another kindred spirit in the form of Eric D. Beinhocker, author of The Origin of Wealth and Senior Advisor at McKinsey & Co. His article at Harvard Business School Working Knowledge, Creating Strategy in an Unknowable...... ....
• Positive Deviancy One of the worst things that can be said of any professional practicing in a professional service firm is "he/she doesn't fit in here." Career-wise, it's often a death blow. This is particularly true in the precision-based professions such...... ....
• The End of Apprenticeship David Maister's material is always solid and worth noting, but every now and again he comes up with something that transcends even this and produces a piece that is both fundamental and truly profound. His recent posting titled The...... ....
• Competitive Intelligence on the Upswing in Law Firms While competitive intelligence (CI) has long been a standard tool in mainstream industry and in consulting firms, it has only recently come to the fore in law firms. This is according to an e-brief received from the Society of...... ....
• The Seven Immutable Laws of Change Management My friend and colleague Gerry Riskin is reproducing his Seven Immutable Laws of Change Management on his blog. Says Gerry to managing partners: "I guarantee that if you respect these rules, you will get the cooperation you need to...... ....
• New Friends: Oxford Analytica I've just spent a fascinating morning with Oxford Analytica here in Oxford, England. Oxford Analytica is the organization that Clifford Chance turned to, to undertake their scenario planning exercise that underpinned their strategy review last year. I was privileged...... ....
• The Brain Sees What It Wants To See Strategic blindspots seems to be popular topic amongst readers of this blog. (My posting Blindspot Analysis - Uncovering Strategic Bias has featured on the list of five most read postings on this blog for two out of the past...... ....