Kenichi Ohmae on Strategy

Kenichi-OhmaeMarietta — Kenichi Ohmae has been called, “Mr. Strategy,” for his innovative writings on corporate strategy and his creation of “The 3 C’s” business concept: 1) Customer, 2) Competitors, and 3) Corporation. His 1982 book entitled, “The Mind of the Strategist,” was a game changer in the world of organizational development for its insightful wisdom on how to identify the customer’s needs, evaluate the strengths of the company, and overcome competition. His comparisons of Japanese company structure vs. US companies strategic development have improved the way we do business globally and how growth has brought cross-cultural understanding as we all evolve into a global economy through technological improvements. Mr. Ohmae has held teaching positions at the Tokyo Institute of Technology, MIT, UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs and Stanford University, along with others. Check out his recent work here. kenichi-ohmae2

The EvE Methodology (Effort vs. Effectiveness)

Marietta — The EvE methodology is something I developed myself during a difficult and challenging project implementation for a large technology firm with a fast-growing Internet startup customer with huge hurdles to overcome.

I coined it, “Effort versus Effectiveness,” or EvE because we had over 100 tasks to accomplish in less than 48 hours! So I had the teams list the highest priority items in groups of ten. Then we took the TOP 10 and accomplished the top three first, then reshuffled the remaining seven until we were done, then moved on to the next ten items.  We got it done on time and under budget. Have you heard the age-old rhetorical question, “How do you eat an elephant?” The answer is: “One bite at a time.” If you feel overwhelmed by lots of tasks and not enough time to complete everything, try the EvE method: Prioritize, Reshuffle, “Do It” and Move On to the next task list. efficiency-wordcloud

Connections and Weak Links

SuperconnectIn their interesting book entitled, “Superconnect,” written by Richard Koch and Gregory Lockwood, they describe three distinct networks we encounter in our lives: strong links, weak links and hubs. There are good reasons for all three types, but connections are extremely crucial in our lives, both personally and professionally. Check out this fascinating read here:  http://www.amazon.com/gp/search?index=books&linkCode=qs&keywords=9780393079203.    #Encourage Excellence