398: Northwestern University Professor, Lan Nguyen Chaplin — How to Disrupt a System That Was Built to Hold You Back

Hello everyone! This is Monday Morning 8 a.m., a weekly newsletter where we distill the insights from all of the distractions, articles, and emails that you receive in your inbox every day. In this newsletter, we’re going to focus on four major themes from last week’s news.    To listen to the audio version of this newsletter, search for “Strategy Skills” in any podcast app. To get a written copy with links to mentioned articles sign up here: www.firmsconsulting.com/promo To get a copy of some of the previous issues you might have missed, get the Strategy Insights book. If you love Strategy Insights and support it with reviews on Goodreads and Google Play (and support on Amazon is very much appreciated) by May 30th 2021, please email support@firmsconsulting.com as we will be sending 1-month access to the accompanying course as a gift to members who loved and supported the book with reviews. P.S. If you want to support the Monday Morning 8 a.m. and our other work, there are many ways you can do that, including reviews on iTunes / Amazon / Goodreads / app, purchasing our memberships / books, applying to join our prelaunch team, or just spreading the word. Some links above are affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate, we earn from qualifying purchases.

12 Touko 202113min

Hello everyone! This is Monday Morning 8 a.m., a weekly newsletter where we distill the insights from all of the distractions, articles, and emails that you receive in your inbox every day. In this newsletter, we’re going to focus on four major themes from last week’s news.    To listen to the audio version of this newsletter, search for “Strategy Skills” in any podcast app. To get a written copy with links to mentioned articles sign up here: www.firmsconsulting.com/promo

3 Touko 202121min

In an era of dizzying speed, complexity, and competition, harnessing innovation is the only way to fuel growth and beat the old guard. Linkner’s newest book, BIG LITTLE BREAKTHROUGHS, reveals the creative thinking behind the world’s most successful entrepreneurs and why they focus on small, daily creative acts to topple industry giants. Drawing on his three decades of experience as a tech entrepreneur, his investments in over 100 startups (including a “unicorn”), and interviews with innovative leaders around the globe, Linkner provides proven tools to accelerate growth, gain competitive advantage, and drive meaningful results. BIG LITTLE BREAKTHROUGHS by Josh Linkner: https://amzn.to/337W4UV BIO Josh Linkner is a creative troublemaker. He started his career as a jazz guitarist and then went on to become the founder and CEO of five tech companies, which sold for a combined value of over $200 million. He is also a deeply experienced business leader, venture capitalist, top-rated keynote speaker, New York Times bestselling author, and professional jazz guitarist. He is a world-renown expert on innovation, disruption, and hyper-growth leadership and has delivered over 1,000 keynotes to companies and organizations across sectors, including ABC, Heineken, American Express, Mercedes Benz, and the U.S. State Department. Enjoying our podcast? Get access to sample advanced training episodes here: www.firmsconsulting.com/promo We use affiliate links whenever possible (if you purchase items listed above using our affiliate links, we will get a bonus).

2 Touko 202155min

Hello everyone! This is Monday Morning 8 a.m., a weekly newsletter where we distill the insights from all of the distractions, articles, and emails that you receive in your inbox every day. In this newsletter, we’re going to focus on four major themes from last week’s news.    To listen to the audio version of this newsletter, search for “Strategy Skills” in any podcast app. To get a written copy with links to mentioned articles sign up here: www.firmsconsulting.com/promo

28 Huhti 202140min

Hello everyone! This is Monday Morning 8 a.m., a weekly newsletter where we distill the insights from all of the distractions, articles, and emails that you receive in your inbox every day. In this newsletter, we’re going to focus on four major themes from last week’s news.    To listen to the audio version of this newsletter, search for “Strategy Skills” in any podcast app. To get a written copy with links to mentioned articles sign up here: www.firmsconsulting.com/promo

21 Huhti 202140min

Jim Hemerling is Senior Partner at Boston Consulting Group’s San Francisco office and a leader in the firm’s People & Organization and Transformation Practices. He has been the leader of BCG Greater China and is a Fellow of the BCG Henderson Institute. His work with clients and his research focuses on holistic human-centric approaches to organizational transformation. Jim is a co-author of BCG's new book - Beyond Great: Nine Strategies for Thriving in an Era of Social Tension, Economic Nationalism, and Technological Revolution. Global companies remain hamstrung by organizational forms that leave them mired in bureaucracy and slow to respond to changing needs. To grow in the volatility of the 21st century, firms must go beyond the familiar matrix structure and reconfigure themselves in more flexible ways. COVID-19 and its myriad effects on ways of working will force leaders to rethink how they build teams and acquire, upskill, and retain talent. Hemerling and his colleagues launched a study of dozens of global companies to determine successful leadership strategies and found that, though seemingly obvious, the best leaders put people and their needs first, rather than regarding them as resources to exploit. Hemerling and coauthors write about these topics in Beyond Great: Nine Strategies for Thriving in an Era of Social Tension, Economic Nationalism, and Technological Revolution (October 6, PublicAffairs). BCG’s first major book in years, it will redefine strategy in the post-COVID era. Extending their research far beyond the expected Silicon Valley players, Hemerling and his coauthors at BCG looked at over fifty companies and interviewed hundreds of CEOs across sectors and geographies. The trends: By 2030, companies around the world will have some eight-five million skilled jobs unfilled—a gap that will exact a severe economic toll; In a 2018 BCG survey of 366,000 people from two hundred countries, ranked “good work-life balance” as much more important than “financial compensation” Over 40 percent of hiring managers anticipated that nontraditional educational criteria—like a coding “boot camp”—would soon be just as good a credential as a college degree when evaluating candidates.   For incumbents to thrive amidst these challenges, they must deploy new strategies that touch every part of their business, from value propositions and global supply chains to leadership and social responsibility goals. A huge part of this is leadership and the future of work—how to retain employees, attract top talent, and navigate tension when global forces are changing attitudes about work and life. Examples of innovative leadership: Deemphasizing hierarchy encourages employees to take ownership of projects and propel them forward without bothering to seek approval from bosses; Exploiting the gray area of informal conversations that typically take place between colleagues allows employees to break free from their daily work and innovate; Gamifying candidate screening and identifying talent via online competitions and hackathons to appeal to a new generation. Enjoying our podcast? Get access to sample advanced training episodes here: www.firmsconsulting.com/promo We use affiliate links whenever possible (if you purchase items listed above using our affiliate links, we will get a bonus).

14 Huhti 20211h 1min

Hello everyone! This is Monday Morning 8 a.m., a weekly newsletter where we distill the insights from all of the distractions, articles, and emails that you receive in your inbox every day. In this newsletter, we’re going to focus on four major themes from last week’s news.    To listen to the audio version of this newsletter, search for “Strategy Skills” in any podcast app. To get a written copy with links to mentioned articles sign up here: www.firmsconsulting.com/promo

13 Huhti 202129min

Hello everyone! This is Monday Morning 8 a.m., a weekly newsletter where we distill the insights from all of the distractions, articles, and emails that you receive in your inbox every day. In this newsletter, we’re going to focus on four major themes from last week’s news.    To listen to the audio version of this newsletter, search for “Strategy Skills” in any podcast app. To get a written copy with links to mentioned articles sign up here: www.firmsconsulting.com/promo

5 Huhti 202138min