by Robert Bradford | Jul 1, 2026 | Competitive Strategy
Customer preference is the currency that most of us in business seek. But what do we know about customer preferences – and how can we manage them, strategically? Most of us have a real blind spot when it comes to actually thinking like a customer and finding ways to...
by Denise Harrison | Jul 1, 2026 | Strategic Thinking
By Denise Harrison, Executive Vice President & COO Your new product makes the “nifty fifty” list of innovative new product introductions; you envision your picture on the cover of Fortune magazine; and then….you end up in legal battles and with little money. Here...
by Dana Baldwin | Jul 1, 2026 | Strategic Planning
By M. Dana Baldwin, Senior Consultant Experts estimate that American industry could improve its bottom line results by about $350 billion per year by getting everyone to truly buy in to the mission and culture of their companies. While the absolute number could be...
by Robert Bradford | Jul 1, 2026 | Competitive Strategy
Events threaten us strategically for three reasons: They threaten our customers, they threaten displacement of our products or services, or they threaten our competitive position. Each of these types of threats contains an opportunity for innovation hidden within....
by Denise Harrison | Jul 1, 2026 | Strategic Planning
By Denise Harrison, Executive Vice President & COO Too often we are so myopically focused on the product or service we are trying to sell, that we don’t listen to what our customer is saying. The product or service may be great – but something around the buying...
by Dana Baldwin | Jul 1, 2026 | Strategic Planning
by M. Dana Baldwin, Senior Consultant Are you meeting your customer where your customer is looking? Customers are changing the way they look for goods and services. Yes, the traditional way of selling still is important and necessary for most business to business...
by Robert Bradford | Jun 30, 2026 | Strategic Planning
I’ve come across references to a “new” strategic planning tool called the “business model canvas” in a few places recently. As with other “new” tools, it does offer a different way to structure how you think about your business. But how new is this tool, really? The...
by Denise Harrison | Jun 30, 2026 | Strategic Planning, Uncategorized
by Denise Harrison, Executive Vice President & COO Follow the leader – or dare to be different – which works better? The Center for Simplified Strategic Planning challenges client teams to dare to be different – based on our experience of working with many...
by Robert Bradford | Jun 30, 2026 | Strategic Planning
by Robert W. Bradford, President & CEO Looking over action plans with a client this week, I was struck by a comment one of the team members made. “Some of our action plans” he said, ” have delivered great results, and improvements to our top...
by Dana Baldwin | Jun 30, 2026 | Strategic Planning
by M. Dana Baldwin, Senior Consultant Good strategic planning should lead a company to growth, increasing profitability and growing market share over time. But what happens when a company refuses or neglects to listen to and understand what is happening in the...
by Denise Harrison | Jun 30, 2026 | Strategic Planning
by Denise Harrison, Executive Vice President & COO Action plans are the detailed road maps that turn your strategic plan into results. Action plans support the key strategic objectives that your team selected as the most important projects to work on for the next...
by Dana Baldwin | Jun 30, 2026 | Strategic Planning
By M. Dana Baldwin, Senior Consultant Once you have completed your strategic planning for the upcoming year, how often should you go back and look at it to determine that the plan is still valid; heading you in the right direction and staying on the course you have...
