July 25, 2018

Why 97% of Business Strategies Fail

Posted byDr. Don Frazier in Guiding Principles, Prioritization Strategy, Strategy Risk Management, Strategy /

According to a recent article in Forbes, only 3% of strategic plans succeed.* In my experience, strategic plans fail because the planning process is flawed. The traditional top-down sequential process of vision-mission-objectives worked when the industry landscape changed at a glacial speed 30 years ago. Now the competitive environment changes almost daily. So by the […]

July 6, 2018

New CxO? Rapid On-boarding!

Posted byDr. Don Frazier in E-Book

I created this for one of my clients who suggested I share it with the public. Report to Executive Sponsor after 9 Days Exec Sponsor: “Come on in!” CxO: “Thanks for taking the time to talk. I know you’re extremely busy.” Exec Sponsor: “So are you getting settled in?” CxO: “Yes. Beyond the normal on-boarding […]

January 1, 2018

In the grand scheme of things…

Posted byDr. Don Frazier in Prioritization Strategy, Strategy BRM, Consulting, Portfolio Management, Prioritization, Sales, Strategy /

“The world is not run by those who are right. It is run by those who can convince others that they are right” -Jamshid Gharajedaghi Convincing others is the first hurdle to getting things done. You might think just stating your salient points should be sufficient, then you summarize with the statement— “so in the […]

October 10, 2017

How to build a bulletproof prioritization strategy

Posted byDr. Don Frazier in Prioritization Strategy

Prioritizing projects can be a difficult, politically charged process, resulting in a portfolio with mixed support and difficulties in execution. Or, it can be an efficient process creating a shared vision and understanding for your whole team. LeverSource provides tools and an approach to upgrade your process to the latter. In reality, prioritizing projects is […]

August 29, 2017

Change your strategy process from periodic mash-ups to an ongoing integration

Posted byDr. Don Frazier in Guiding Principles, Organization, Strategy

We’ve all seen it happen. Deadlines for next year’s budget requests drive a mad dash to come up with defensible proposals. Drop everything. All hands-on-deck. If you’re fortunate enough to have a Business Relationship Management (BRM) Group then at least you’ve had the conversations with your business customers. But conversations don’t always translate to buy-in. […]

August 12, 2017

How to become a “Trusted Advisor”

Posted byDr. Don Frazier in Guiding Principles, Strategy

Does your presence incite your client to insight? Not necessarily by directly challenging your client’s thinking but by surfacing assumptions that may go unchallenged. I always start my client engagements by saying: “I’ll never know as much about your organization as you do. But what I will do is help build a detailed picture that puts […]

July 17, 2017

Retire & Consult!

Posted byDr. Don Frazier in Strategy

My retirement at age 58 lasted 6 months. Then my wife strongly suggested I find something to occupy my time instead of “helping” her optimize our domestic processes. (Not smart on my part in retrospect!) I had to do something in consulting because of my background but I wasn’t sure how effective I’d be without […]

July 13, 2017

High Fidelity Strategy Formulation

Posted byDr. Don Frazier in Guiding Principles, Strategy

I’ve always been something of an audiophile. My early stereo systems had limited options for shaping the sound quality—just “Bass” & “Treble” controls. Later models added more options in the form of equalizers with dozens of individual frequency sliders. The benefit of having so many potential adjustments was the ability to compensate for the unique sound […]

July 7, 2016

Is Your Strategy a Map or GPS?

Posted byNick Maus in Uncategorized

“We are lost!” says the angry wife to her flustered husband. “No we’re not, I know where I am going!” he shouts back (he has no idea where he is at).Sound like a familiar conversation? If you were born before the 90’s it is likely you have experienced this dreaded scenario. The only navigation tool […]

September 4, 2015

Proactive IT

Posted byDr. Don Frazier in Uncategorized

This week yet another CIO ask me “How can I make my IT team more proactive?”