Don’t be Surprised…
We often find clients that doggedly follow a strategic direction despite plenty of warning signs giving ample notice that the direction is not going to deliver success.…
Standards but not Standard
Governance is a much misunderstood discipline at the leadership level from the perspective that the scope of the term is often limited. Governance is not just about…
What Kind of Boss Are You – Star or Idiot?
We spend a lot of time thinking, coaching and writing about the challenges of talented people frustrated with life inside big organizations. If you’re the leader,…
Balance of Power
Rest and recovery are a crucial part of any exercise program. After putting your body through a significant amount of stress during a grueling workout, you have…
It's a Slow Fade
When dealing with a lack of engagement amongst the workforce the key is to recognize the early warning signs. Often it really is a slow fade – rarely do people…
Seek and Destroy
When working with clients on developing their strategy, too often we see them tempted to adopt a “me too” strategy – simply copying what the competition are…
Improbable Awards
The Ig Nobel awards are now in their 34th year and here at Optimize we look forward to this whacky awards ceremony every year. The awards are the result of the science…
Divided We Fall
Celebrating diversity is key to a healthy organization and we don’t just mean in terms of ethnicity, gender etc. We mean celebrating the fact that others have…
New Year, New You?
A famous line from Alice in Wonderland is “If you don’t know where you are going, any road will get you there” and here at Optimize we think it’s pretty…
Pudding Politics
As the festive season’s ultimate celebration looms large in the form of the mighty Christmas dinner we would like to provide a few paragraphs to honour the Christmas…
A Year in Review
As we march headlong into the final month of the year many minds turn to the dreaded annual performance review. The truth be told that here at Optimize we are not…
If You Know, You Know
Knowledge is a strategic asset and while it has always been good practice to treat it as such, in more recent times, and going into the future, the need is perhaps…
Now What?
Today, organizations of all kinds are reevaluating their strategies as they face unprecedented levels of change in their industries and the world. While the strategic…
Culture Shift
When thinking about making a shift in culture we need to clearly understand that any cultural transformation takes a long time. How long is long? Well that depends…
The Future is Bright
As the dreaded annual performance reviews and goal setting process comes around once again, we thought it might be pertinent to share a few words on creating a process…
Social Medium
Going three for three we thought we would consider a different bias in this blog building on the past two and this time we are thinking about social bias. Social…
We Before Me
Hard on the heels of our last blog about cognitive bias, we thought we might consider another bias that leaders can fall prey to. Today’s bias for discussion is…
Shake it Up
Few senior leaders when making important strategic decisions consciously consider their cognitive biases. These systematic tendencies to deviate from rational calculations…
Mentorship Musings
Ill-thought out mentorship programs can backfire on the organizations that use them. Instead of motivating employees, a poor mentorship experience can leave them…
Did You Know?
Intellectual Technology is a fascinating subject which continues to mature. The term in this context relates to a progression from Information Technology. If Information…