colleagues

I recently did an interview with Michael Fischer from Lyondell-Basell about important change work to do during this economic downturn. The short list of to do’s is pretty straightforward:

Manage costs. Decrease them wherever possible

Protect your share of a shrinking marketplace

Conserve cash so that you can weather the financial storm

These make sense. But alone, they miss the mark.

There’s one good thing about times like these when the economy tanks. It encourages out of the box thinking. You get ahead by challenging fundamental assumptions. The more sacred the assumption, the more you need to call it into question.

What’s the most basic assumption in this economy?

Download the rest of "Partner With Your Competitors" in pdf format.

Click here to listen to a podcast with Kris Nelson as we explore different social networking tools and the impact they can have on your daily work.

Click here to hear an interview with Kay Hubbard about how she started her Real Time Strategic Change change and the difference it's made in her practice and for her clients.

We’ve all heard the age-old story of the cobbler’s children having no shoes. What’s the OD consultant’s version? Too often we’re so busy doing strategy, values and metrics work with our clients that we don’t get around to doing it for ourselves. John Ledwith from Sandia Labs is a great example of someone who does make the time. John is the Organization Development department at Sandia. That means he’s pretty busy.

My virtual assistant Taryn Merrick suggested I meet with a previous client of hers, Edith Bodnar. She thought we’d find some innovative ways to match Real Time Strategic Change with her company’s work. Since we both work in the LA area, it was easy to set up a “get to know you” lunch.