Tag: corporate turnaround

decision making, Management, strategy, uncertainty

Singularity, the ultimate resource in the face of adversity

When things go wrong for us and uncertainty is everywhere, we become defensive. The temptation is to protect ourselves. We do this by keeping a low profile, minimizing our singularity, and conforming to the dominant models that appear to be successful. A little-known episode from Apple’s 1997 turnaround suggests that, on the contrary, the key to recovery in the face of adversity is to assert our singularity.

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Management, transformation

What Does your Team (Really) Do? Lessons From Microsoft’s Windows’ Turnaround

New leaders of organizations almost always face at least one significant hurdle – understanding the intricate web of roles, projects, and methods that interact to produce its results. This combination of skills, culture, assets and processes form the bedrock on which their decisions are built and outputs achieved. This analytic challenge is especially critical in troubled organizations, where the gap between promises and actuality can be glaring. A good historical example of this is Microsoft’s Windows group turnaround.

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innovation, Management, strategy, transformation

How declining organizations create an imaginary double

Organizations in decline tend to create an imaginary double in which they lock themselves. This double is themselves, but in an idealized version. It is a mask that they create to hide and to insulate themselves from a reality that they refuse, letting the world go without them, even against them. The dissolution of this double, i.e. the acceptance of reality, however unpleasant it may be, is a prerequisite for any recovery. A good illustration of this is provided by the Apple turnaround in 1997.

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decision making, Economy and society, innovation, strategy, uncertainty

Redefining strategy for uncertain times: Learning from Apple’s 1997 Turnaround

The Covid shock in the spring of 2020 shattered strategic plans. The continuing uncertainty, exacerbated two years later by the invasion of Ukraine, has led some executives to question the very possibility of having a strategy when everything keeps changing. Are we living in a post-strategy world? The short answer is no; we need strategy more than ever, but it depends on how you define strategy. The Apple turnaround in 1997 provides a useful lesson.

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