Lose the Bafflegab Already!

I've seen enough corporate strategies to choke a polar bear but could never really put my finger on what was wrong with them. Then again, I am not the one to create these things either. Criticism is always easier to do than create, and it's a lot more fun.

Strategy is not what many people think it is. It is not a fill-in-the-blanks mission statement blathering about how XYZ Corp. will ethically serve its stakeholders by implementing best-in-class integrated sustainable practices to grow as a global leader while maximizing shareholder value. Such bafflegab is “Dilbert“-fodder that generates cynicism and contempt. It is, at best, a big waste of time.

Neither is strategy a declaration that the ABC Co. will increase sales by 20 percent a year for the next five years, with a profit margin of at least 20 percent. Strategy is not the resolve to hunker down and try harder -- what Kenichi Ohmae of McKinsey criticized in a 1989 Harvard Business Review article as “do more better.” Effort is not strategy. Neither are financial projections. And neither are wishes.

A strategy “is a way of dealing with a high-stakes challenge,” Rumelt told me in an interview. “It’s a way around the obstacles or problems in a difficult situation.”

Every good strategy, he writes, includes what he calls the kernel: a “diagnosis” of the challenge (“What’s going on here?”), a “guiding policy” for dealing with that challenge (the core idea often called a strategy), and a set of “coherent actions” to carry out that policy (the implementation).

Egypt vs. Extremism

There is no way I can do justice to this opinion piece by Boutros Boutros-Ghali. Just read it.

On Jan. 6, the eve of Coptic Christmas, thousands of Muslims showed up at Mass to act as human shields and show their solidarity with the beleaguered Christian community.

Amy Chua's Chinese Parenting Style

I know I should have something to say about this but many others have weighed in. So, in typical fashion, I will reduce all of the thoughtful commentary on both sides of the issue contained in the links above to the creative, anonymous ramblings of an Internet meme.

It's been a long time...

I don't know why I stopped blogging right around the time Rob and George stopped blogging here. A lot has happened since the last time I posted something in November of 2008 -- I have two daughters now, Pilar (21 months) and Pasqualina (4 months), more gray hair, the same job, a lower interest mortgage (twice), and a new desire to start blogging again.

There are a number of topics I could wax poetic on from politics, to music, to child rearing, to computers, to zombies, etc. However, being the ADD person I am, I can't seem to settle on a topic. Even if I were to settle on a topic I don't think I could settle on a sub-topic. In fact, I prefer just rambling on and on and on and on.

I could write about work but that would just get my blood boiling and then I'd shut down again. I need a creative outlet, someplace where I can be creative. This might be the place.



That's Rob on the left, me in the stroller (and awesome pink diamond-plate-pattern-pants), and George on the right. Yes, the woman in the picture is our mother. This shot was taken in 1975 I believe. The 70's were awesome.



That's little Pasqualina Maribel just after she was born. Well, ok, sometime is the past three months, OK?



That's Pilar Penelope in Hoboken, NJ back in May. She wanted to go to Hoboken, so we took her.



Those two people? Those are our parents, Bob and Catherine. This photo was taken on their latest cruise.

So, that's about all I got for the blog for today. I will try to think up some topics that will bring traffic to the site and people clicking my Amazon links so I can earn a penny or two in 2011.

--Mike

Noteboek

(Not a typo: it's Dutch.)

A Dutch artist has made a video of her and her notebook that you won't want to miss.

Hat tip: Dubious Quality