Family businesses are unique entities that are frequently overlooked in terms of ownership. They also form the backbone of many US and foreign economies; what today are household names, started as family-owned businesses – SamSung, Wal-Mart, and BMW to name a few. According to a January 2010 McKinsey Quarterly article by Christian Caspar, Ana Karina…
By Eric A Denniston, Managing Director, Denner Group International 6-26-2012 Takeaways: Millenials could be the “next greatest” generation like the Baby Boomers. Generational issues exist around trust, independence, competition, rebellion, individualism, collaboration, a sense of community and “optimistic, team minded players. I have written before about Systems, or Strategic, Thinking as a management tool that…
By Eric A Denniston, Managing Director, Denner Group International 4-8-2012 Part C – PLAN Now, as we begin to plan what we’re going to do about deploying our tablet initiative in our warehouse, let’s keep our parallel involvement process going to mitigate any other potential unintended consequences. This is a key Systems Thinking tool. A…
By Eric A Denniston, Managing Director, Denner Group International 4-8-2012 Part D – ACT Executing our tablet initiative project is now probably a lot easier. We’ve done a lot of hard work up front, used some good practices, and using some proven structures and processes, we have laid out our plan or road map with…
By Eric A Denniston, Managing Director, Denner Group International 4-8-2012 Part B – THINK As we move into the THINKING stage of this exercise, let’s consider what the thought styles should be. How you think is really important in achieving results. We are engaged in a project that is intended to have a lasting effect…
By Eric A Denniston, Managing Director, Denner Group International 4-8-2012 Part A – LEAD Join me as we touch on all four stages of Lead, Think, Plan, Act in a tour of the now very hot tablet market. What I’m talking about are those book or folder-sized computers that include the ubiquitous iPad and Kindle…
By Eric A Denniston, Managing Director, Denner Group International 11-18-2011 Takeaways: Systems Thinking is an excellent tool to stay ahead of changes in the world around us. Understanding and applying it in organizations improves communication, reduces unintended consequences, and changes the internal culture. What is Systems Thinking and why should it be important to ALL…
By Jeri Denniston, Chief Marketing Strategist, Denner Group International 6-8-2011 Takeaways: Answering five simple questions is the key to applying strategic thinking at work or in life. Focus on outcomes rather than tactical actions to change conversations with others and find common ground. Applying Strategic Thinking in everything you do is easy – whether it’s…
By Eric A Denniston, Managing Director, Denner Group International 6-8-2011 You see things and you say, Why? But I dream things that never were; and I say, Why Not? – George Bernard Shaw Are you a mid-level manager, a supervisor, the CEO of a young, growing organization, an owner of a small business or a…
By Eric Denniston, Managing Director, Denner Group International Takeaways: Planning can become an integral part of work. Prioritize, follow the Rule of Three, identify resources for each project, and set long term schedules are some of the steps to follow. It is apparent that planning seems to be a business task that people now often…
