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…
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…
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…
Shake it Up
Few senior leaders when making important strategic decisions consciously consider their cognitive biases. These systematic tendencies to deviate from rational calculations…
Same Old, Same Old
We often hear the term ‘innovation’ being used in organizations and generally used appropriately as people recognize that within business, innovation is key.…
Prime Time
Prime numbers are found hidden in nature. Buzzing quietly beneath the planet we inhabit is an unseen world of numbers, patterns and geometry. Mathematics is the…
It's All About Attitiude
Providing outstanding customer service is one of the most rewarding yet challenging activities within any organization. Exceptional organizations that provide outstanding…
Distracting Distortions
Strategic decision making is not easy and many times they go wrong due to the fact that as human beings, we have shortcomings. Behavioural economics provides crucial…
Good Luck!
The element of luck is often cited in business and careers and here at Optimize we subscribe to the fact that success in a career or in business comes from three…
Functional Dysfunction
Many organizations have invested huge amounts in customer relationship management (CRM) applications and these investments have generated a wide range of outcomes…
Transformation Time
Like individuals, organizations change continuously, reacting to developments in their markets and to the arrival and departure of key people. In a large company,…
Building a Winning CRM Strategy
“Getting the right product, to the right customer, at the right time, via the right channel at the right price supported by excellent customer service” is the…
The Customer Management Myth
Our view on Customer Relationship Management (CRM) is unambiguous. For us it is all about getting the right product, to the right customer, at the right time, via…
Time for a Change?
Like individuals, organizations change continuously, reacting to developments in their markets and to the arrival and departure of key people. In a large company,…
Risk Versus Reward
Trying to avoid all risk in business is the same as trying to avoid all opportunity. Simply reacting to risk, meanwhile, is just crisis management: shutting the…
The Data Dilemma
The strategic impact on companies of the exponential technological rate of change is both extensive and fundamental. How can you plan properly in an environment…
Why Your Boss Is Wrong About You
As the performance review season comes to its usually unsatisfactory conclusion for many, we thought we would share our thoughts on why many performance review systems…
Behavioural Science?
Conventional wisdom amongst those running organizations would agree that there is value in good service. An abundance of literature exists supporting the notion…
Engaging Conversations
Organizations care about employee engagement because the facts would suggest that it directly impacts their bottom line. Don’t believe us? Well recent and consistent…
Vive Le Tour
As the Tour de France grinds its way through the mountains in the second week we were considering it as a metaphor for life, for business life and for our careers.…