By Francis I was recently called by a company interested in having 60 attendees at their one-day strategic planning event. As they described the desired outcome I decided to give them the bad news up front: they had unwittingly put their goal in jeopardy. In short, the design of their workshop was in opposition to...

By Francis Do your company’s top leaders need to be just like everyone else? Or should they publicly strive to achieve the highest levels of performance? Does it make a difference? I recently advised a client: “Why don’t you try to run your meetings more efficiently?” The manager viewed me suspiciously, then laughed. “How effective...

By Francis Many top executives find themselves in a tricky spot. Human beings and technology, two essential ingredients for a company to thrive, don’t naturally work well together. Here is one way to tackle the issue, using the case of Business Process Management (BPM). A recent McKinsey Journal article described the advent of a new...