Back in the day Benjamin Franklin (or Daniel Defoe) famously said: “In this world, nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes.” While such wisdom is true, it feels somehow incomplete. One could rephrase it today as follows: “In this world, nothing can be said to be certain, except death, taxes, and …
Being in command out of control
Do you feel like the world is spinning faster these days? Are there too many things happening simultaneously? Is the pace of your life too fast? Are you looking for a way to keep things under control? How can you control people and events around you when deep down you know you can't even fully …
Thinking about business systematically
A long, long time ago there once lived a man, who was mesmerized with the night sky… His entire life was devoted to understanding the meaning of the endless sea of shiny dots above. One night, he wondered what would happen had he connected the dots. And just like that, he invented the constellations, which …
Systemic Solutions for Toronto Raptors – Part 1
Under the management of Bryan Colangelo, Toronto Raptors has been getting progressively worse. That is a fact. We should not let that, however, overshadow the fact that this two-decade-old organization never had a successful GM since its inception (except Glen Grunwald.) Many bigwigs came and went, but the narrative of the Raptors stayed the same: …
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When do people support change?
Did your key project fail to deliver the expected result? Has your organization undergone a massive restructuring process, yet nothing has changed? Did your city spend a fortune to brand itself, but in reality nobody has cared? Don’t feel bad, because you are not alone: Turns out 75% of organizational change projects do not yield the promised result. Let’s …
Systems thinking and Los Angeles Lakers
Los Angeles Lakers is one of the greatest franchises in the history of modern sports. They won the NBA championship 16 times and missed the play-offs just five times! I have always admired the "championship-or-bust" mentality of this organization. After a couple of “relatively” unsuccessful seasons, the Lakers decided to assemble a “super team.” They signed …
Systems Thinking and Toronto Raptors
Two years ago, I wrote an article about the Raptors’ brand strategy or lack thereof. Recently, I asked the Raptors Republic community what has changed over the last two years. The topic generated decent interest and started an excellent dialogue, so I decided to edit my comments and share them with you. It is about …
Branding Czech Republic Part 1
I have always thought that the most difficult branding projects are the place branding ones. As such, I have written quite a bit about the unique challenges of these beasts. The reality is, unfortunately, most of them are destined to fail and this is proven by hard data. Months ago, Czech Republic revealed its new …
Place branding failures caused by consultants
NEWS FLASH: Around the world, the place branding failure rate is 86%! Over the past ten years, k629, a place-branding consultancy, has developed a database of more than 5,000 place brands. From that data source, they have found that only 14% of place brands continue a year from launch, meaning the rate of place branding failures …
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