It’s my pleasure to bring you this issue of Visionary Talk. Here, I document what I’m learning as I work with clients to address Grand Challenge – big, bold initiatives that take on some of the wickedest problems that society is facing. I work with organizations that have chosen to become the backbone organization of […]
Grand Challenge Learning with Seth Kahan Read More »
I’ve worked with some of the most esteemed organizations globally, helping to address their strategy and innovation issues. Increasingly my work has been focused on Grand Challenges – socially intractable issues, systemic in nature, mind-numbingly complex, and often requiring labor-intensive solutions. We must understand what works when addressing these complex issues like the pandemic, supply
Grand Challenges Ahead Read More »
For the last seven years, I’ve helped leaders conceive, design, and execute strategies to address Grand Challenges – really wicked, sticky problems that resist superficial solutions, are mind-numbingly complex, and require labor-intensive approaches to resolve. I’m excited to share my next project – working with the Huntsmen Mental Health Institute on a national scale to
Grand Challenge to Eradicate the Stigma Associated with Mental Illness Read More »
For 20 years, I’ve worked closely with CEOs and senior managers as an executive consultant focusing on challenges related to strategy and innovation. My work has included projects with The World Bank under President James Wolfensohn, the Peace Corp with Director Gaddi Vasquez, senior managers for Royal Dutch Shell, and over 100 engagements with professional
Building a Grand Challenge Community of Practice Read More »
“The head of the organization was very important. If he or she made cultural change a personal crusade, it had a much higher chance of succeeding. If he or she treated it as one of numerous initiatives or delegated it pretty much entirely to human resources, success was elusive.” –Â John Kotter John Kotter is the
Organizational Culture Change Read More »
Leaders of organizations must consider how technology can disrupt their business models. Remember the internet? It became widely available in 1995-1996, but it wasn’t until the 2000s that we felt the disruption to our business. Think how much has changed since then and how much you rely on the internet today. The internet gave us
The Metaverse is Coming to a Business Model Near You Read More »
I’ve noticed a shift in attitude from my clients. They see and acknowledge the pressures their leaders face outside of the corporate world and how those pressures impact business strategy and goals. People are under a tremendous amount of stress in and out of the office. We can no longer ask our leaders to attend
Tackling Transformational Change in a Disruptive World Read More »
I’m involved in several initiatives where associations work to understand how conferences will evolve over the next 3-5 years. When forecasting, one handicap suffered by many people is the assumption that the rate of change will remain constant. But it won’t. The rate of change will be cut to a fraction of what it once
Technology and the Evolution of Associations Read More »
It’s the fall of 2021, and meetings are beginning to return. Half of the face-to-face meetings I had scheduled for September and October hare canceled due to pandemic safety concerns. The pandemic has made scheduling meetings, especially if you’re working with hotels or conference centers, challenging. Lisa Levine, CEO of the Energy Bar Association, shared
Questions for Hotels this Fall Read More »
I discovered a tool that that is extraordinarily useful in my work with CEOs. This tool is called the Productive Zone of Disequilibrium, a term coined by Ronald Heifetz, co-developer of the Adaptive Leadership framework. Heifetz defines the productive zone of disequilibrium as the optimal range of distress within which the urgency in the system
The Productive Zone of Disequilibrium Read More »
