ClearPurpose

This week I was asked to tell a story from the (relatively) distant past. The audience seemed to benefit from the lessons learned, so perhaps it’s worth retelling here.

In 2014, I was the vice president of corporate strategy for Sprint, the 100+ year old global telecommunications giant best known as the (then) number 3 mobile operator in the U.S. There were four multi-billionaire entrepreneurs from four different countries whose paths had all led them to the U.S. wireless industry and the future of Sprint likely depended on whether these highly successful (and highly independent) men could work together in a coordinated fashion.

Could the unicorns dance? Read the full story here and see how the story turned out.

The Strategist’s Toolkit is a helpful and handy reference for anyone involved in strategy development. It’s not a compelling read that keeps you engaged from cover to cover, but it’s a great collection of essential tools that can easily be pulled off the shelf when needed. 

Using the authors’ own “toolkit” analogy, this book is like the handy and inexpensive, all-in-one tool sets you can find at stores like WalMart. It works in a pinch when you need something quick. But if you’re starting a major project, you probably want to take the time and spend the money to get a “professional grade” version — whether that might be going to the “foundational readings” the authors reference to learn more, getting professional coaching on how to apply the tool effectively in your specific situation, or hiring a professional to facilitate the process for you.

The book serves well as a starting point. Just don’t expect it to teach you everything you need to know to successfully use the tools it introduces.

Read the full review here.

Tom Eisenmann teaches entrepreneurship at Harvard Business School (HBS), including a course on startup failure. In Why Startups Fail, he has tapped into the rich network of HBS grads who have started companies to uncover six reasons why many of those startups failed. More importantly, he has deeply explored the decisions that entrepreneurs make along the startup journey, the tradeoffs involved, and how to approach those decisions in a way that increases the likelihood of success. In short, while the six patterns that account for most startup failures provide the title for the book, the really valuable lessons taught in the book are reflected in the book’s subtitle.

Why Startups Fail has become one of my favorite books to recommend to entrepreneurs. The first third of the book covers the decisions that early stage startups face and the three patterns that lead to failure during that phase. The second third covers the decisions that scaling startups face and the associated failure patterns. The final section of the book deals with the challenges founders of failing startups face, both in the wind-down and beyond. As an entrepreneur, wherever you are in that journey, this book has valuable lessons for you.

Read the full review here.

The Six S framework is another tool introduced by Tom Eisenmann in his book Why Startups Fail. He uses this framework to identify the most likely reasons that later-stage startups might fail. My perspectives differ slightly from Eisenmann. I see three of the six S’s (Speed, Scope, and Series X) representing the three dimensions that define has a VC-backed startup might scale. I see the other three (Shared Values, Staff, and Structure) representing the level of internal maturity of the business.

As Eisenmann points out in his book, the different dimensions of scaling all have benefits, but can also introduce significant (even fatal) challenges for startups. I believe that a business that has well established Shared Values, a well defined Structure, and the right Staff for the company’s current level of development, is well positioned to manage the challenges of rapidly scaling.

In practical use, I see the framework serving almost like a “pre-flight” checklist, regularly examined by leadership. Many industries have adopted safety checklists to avoid catastrophic disasters. I’m glad that entrepreneurs now have their own framework for doing the same.

Read the full article here.

In Why Startups Fail, Tom Eisenmann introduces the Diamond-and-Square (DaS) framework. Like the Business Model Canvas (BMC), the DaS represents the value proposition, the marketing activities that drive customer acquisition and retention, and the technology and operations (resources and activities) that all translate into the revenues and costs that feed a profit formula. 

Unlike the point-in-time perspective of the BMC, the DaS reflects the necessity for the startup to gain the resources necessary and apply those resources successfully to achieve a sustainable profit formula. The DaS and the BMC are complementary. Entrepreneurs should be thankful to have the Diamond-and-Square framework to add to their toolbox in building and scaling a successful startup.

Read the full article here.

For today’s podcast episode, I talk to Tolu Oridota, co-founder and chief technologist of Koalie. Tolu recently took a major step in his career, leaving T-Mobile to join Bryght Labs, and his experience with his side-gig, Koalie, played a key role in that move. Tune in to episode 9 to hear Tolu describe the major pivot that Koalie recently made and the lessons he’s learned through the process.

Listen here.

Recently I virtually sat down with Tom McNamara, the founder and CEO of hopr and asked him to tell the company’s story. As he described it:

“Hopr got its start out of a painful personal history. I’ve been working in technology for most of my career… but I learned through about five data breaches that my private information had been stolen… and I thought, this is crazy. … Why can’t these big, well-funded companies with top security talent stop hackers from around the world from breaking in and stealing things that aren’t theirs?”

Click here to give it a listen!

In my opinion, Monster is a great description of the dangers posed by the technologies of the Connected Intelligence revolution. While fun and engaging at times, and perhaps a bit too alarmist at others, my biggest issue with the book is that it promises a solution to those dangers, but fails to deliver a credible path forward. Still a worthwhile read if you manage your expectations appropriately.

Read the full review here.

In The Strategist, author Cynthia Montgomery introduced the Strategy Wheel as a framework that visualizes and records how a system of value creation supports an organization’s purpose. While I prefer using the Purpose Pyramid and Strategy Map for formulating strategic plans, the Strategy Wheel presents a holistic view of the business in one picture showing how all the parts of the business are strategically aligned. With a few minor tweaks, I think this tool can be a great way for a business leader to “keep their eye” on all aspects of strategy execution.Strategy

Read the full article in which introduce the Strategy Wheel and the minor tweaks I’d add as well as extend an example I’ve used before to demonstrate how a leadership team could use the framework for regular strategic reviews.