Thought Leadership Space

It's interesting how we are finally recognized for...

2008-09-09T15:59:00.000-04:00

It's interesting how we are finally recognized for who we really are and what we really accomplish only after we pass. Michael Hammer's impact on the way we do business, both in the commercial as well as the government sectors, will be felt for a generation or more.

I have taught and consulted with hundreds of organizations around the world for over 20 years and have yet to see a situation where Hammer's focus on process was not only relevant, but critical to their success. With all of the talk that Reengineering is dead, long live six sigma, we have missed the point. Reengineering was never the point, performance improvement was. Reengineering was never solely about IT, but most relegated it to the offices of the CIO. As Hammer said on so many occasions, it's about giving people more of what they need to become better at what they do!

I will miss his limitless drive to improve our work and our lives. We have lost a true warrior!

I had a conversation with Mike earlier this year, ...

2008-09-05T09:02:00.000-04:00

I had a conversation with Mike earlier this year, and I was struck by his assertion that business reengineering had only just begun - that there was another 30 or 40 years to go before it was fully realized.

I think that's a hallmark of truly disruptive change. Whether it was the advent of the railroads in the US, the Internet or Reengineering, they all had way too much hype in the beginning, short-term impact was way overestimated and lots of moeny was poured into projects (and companies) that went bust.

On the other hand, the impact of all three over 50 years was underestimated. They all changed the business landscape enormously. Whatever the scepticism about reenginerring after the honeymoon was over in the mid-nineties, everyone talks about business processes today as though we aleways have.

Mike was pivotal in opening our eyes to the process dimension. The change he unleashed will go on for some decades yet. And his legacy will live perhaps forever.

Yes, there are many people who are in CEO position...

2008-08-29T09:09:00.000-04:00

Yes, there are many people who are in CEO position do blogging for instance there is one IT company called http://www.ThoughtWorks.com that encourages its employees to write blogs and they publish the employees blog on their corporate site http://blogs.thoughtworks.com. This will enable clients to know more about
What Employees having in side their head, than what CEO having in his head.
It’s good thing that our CEO Vineet is writing blog and it’s happy to know what he is thinking about business, But I could be good if every body who is playing a key role in a company like managers, CTO (Who Reports to CEO) should write the blog and share it with their employees so that employee will be aware that what is the vision of the management about the business.

I think the home page is great - I have one minor ...

2008-08-28T15:03:00.000-04:00

I think the home page is great - I have one minor gripe... I don't like their putting their thought leadership under "What we think" - that's the kind of inside-out perspective that professional services firms are finally growing away from. Of course it jives nicely with "Who we are" and "What we do", but it's still unfortunate. Customers don't really care what you think, they care what you have that might help them. So call it Resources, Insights, Research, Articles, or anything else that makes it clear it's there to help them, not showcase your genius.

Glad to find you in the blogosphere! This was a he...

2008-08-25T14:05:00.000-04:00

Glad to find you in the blogosphere! This was a helpful link, even for every kind of consulting firm. I've always enjoyed your content and look forward to more.

Thanks Bob, good pointer and comment; I hadn't see...

2008-08-22T12:56:00.000-04:00

Thanks Bob, good pointer and comment; I hadn't seen the new site. Looks almost like a magazine site, which is a good thing. Companies, and especially marketing organizations, need to think more like publishers in general to get people interested in their ideas, so this is a great move by Booz.

Jonathan Schwartz, The CEO of Sun Microsystems:htt...

2008-08-07T10:38:00.000-04:00

Jonathan Schwartz, The CEO of Sun Microsystems:

http://blogs.sun.com/jonathan/

and, for the lawyers, Sun's general counsel, Mike Dillon:

http://blogs.sun.com/dillon/

Bob -Welcome to blogging! I look forward to seeing...

2008-08-07T07:51:00.000-04:00

Bob -

Welcome to blogging! I look forward to seeing more of you demonstrating your expertise and not merely declaring it.

I agree. Professional services firms are inherent...

2008-08-07T07:48:00.000-04:00

I agree. Professional services firms are inherently about networking. To truly "network" you need to contribute and share with network. The more you contribute, the more you get back.

And is not about giving away secrets. We do not have the secret formula to Coca-Cola. For transaction attorneys, a big chunk of our work ends up in the public records, the registry of deeds, EDGAR, etc. for all to see.

We are showing our expertise by sharing. Our clients are buying our expertise, not our secrets.

I agree, implementation in a professional service ...

2008-08-06T20:23:00.000-04:00

I agree, implementation in a professional service firm is so contextually sensitive that you can talk about almost anything without any risk of it being duplicated quickly, if at all. Taking an idea to a service offering that makes money is a herculean task in most firms. The idea has to be presented in such a way that partners get excited about it, you have to sell the idea to a client, money needs to be made available to scale up delivery capability. On and on. Of course, ideas are diffused through competing firms, but it takes a while, certainly long enough that a firm can brand itself with an insight, like Hammer did with re-engineering.