Exploring ideas in strategy, management and how organizations really work.
Land grab In more pastoral times, town layouts might include a designated area of public land on which anyone was free to let their livestock graze. An early example of this was Boston Common, originally a pasture for cows before…
Divided loyalties In the early 1980s, a swirl of deregulation was upending the cozy and profitable arrangements U.S. airlines had enjoyed for years. Routes had previously been tightly restricted, and fares were regulated to ensure a comfortable return for owners….
A tale of two cities Detroit was a uniquely American success story. Originally a strategically situated trading post, it rose to its greatest prominence in tandem with the booming automotive industry. The city was home to several pioneering industrialists whose…
The Midas touch Imagine you’ve been wildly successful in a highly visible role, celebrated for your genius in introducing innovations to a market not traditionally known for them. On the strength of that track record you vault into another space…
If you are even remotely connected to modern organizational life you have sat through your fair share of presentations, be they routine readouts to a small team or the spotlit keynote before an audience of hundreds. Although a few of…
Step right up Community gatherings and carnivals have long entertained attendees with guessing games, in which a glass jar containing some vast quantity of small objects is kept on display, with a prize going to the person whose entry is…
House of cards When the accountants have no idea what’s going on, leaders struggle to explain the choices they’re making, and even savvy Wall Street-types who dig into this stuff for a living are thoroughly baffled, you can bet something…
Sounds good It started with a disappointing audio system. A diligent MIT engineering student was nearing the end of his doctoral studies, and as a classical music fan he decided to purchase the best stereo he could find as a…
You, robot Ray Kurzweil was a precocious child, to put it mildly. His fascination with robotics and programming began early, and by the time he was a teenager he was already demonstrating the technological brilliance that would come to characterize…
Happy meals Before it became the colossus of fast food with outposts in nearly every country, McDonald’s was a novel hamburger chain with a limited menu and an emphasis on low prices. A distinguishing feature was its rapid service, which…