69 Posts found for Author: Michael E. Raynor

because Disruptions necessarily take root in unattractive markets, the quest for innovation can begin by looking not where the money is (the essence of good management) but, rather, where the money isn’t (the essence of good Disruption). Consequently, rather than encourage a wide range of solutions to a host of problems—typically the result of an emphasis on variation—innovation processes can begin by focusing people’s creative … [ Read more ]

Content: Quotation | Author: Michael E. Raynor | Source: The Conference Board Review | Subject: Innovation

Although we need not “correct” for luck when allocating economic reward it is worth considering the role of luck when allocating other valuable commodities, such as our moral approbation and our efforts to learn from the experiences of others. Those who win lotteries justifiably get to keep the money, but few of us admire lottery winners just because they won the lottery. (Don’t confuse envy … [ Read more ]

Content: Quotation | Authors: Jeff Schulz , Michael E. Raynor, Mumtaz Ahmed | Source: Deloitte Review | Subjects: Achievement, Luck

The gulf between the question you want to ask and the question you can answer is often unbridgeable.

Content: Quotation | Author: Michael E. Raynor | Source: The Conference Board Review | Subject: Knowledge

We shouldn’t take the view that we need a single narrative that unifies our experiences. Rather, we should carry multiple narratives simultaneously, continuously updating our estimates of the contours of each and our assessments of which is most likely to be right as new data points become available. Need to understand why your company is successful? Entertain the possibility that you’ve just been lucky, as … [ Read more ]

Content: Quotation | Author: Michael E. Raynor | Source: The Conference Board Review | Subjects: Knowledge, Wisdom

Why do companies mistakenly believe the path to success lies in emulating venture capitalists?

Content: Article | Author: Michael E. Raynor | Source: The Conference Board Review | Subjects: Management, Organizational Behavior

How rational managers came to be seen as reckless risk takers…
…but have been behaving sensibly all along

Content: Article | Authors: Jeff Schulz , Michael E. Raynor, Mumtaz Ahmed | Source: Deloitte Review | Subject: Risk Management

We must remember that theories claiming to be improvements because they explain what other theories failed to foresee are committing the worst kind of bait and switch, promising insight into the future when all they really have to offer is a prediction of the past.

Content: Quotation | Author: Michael E. Raynor | Source: The Conference Board Review | Subject: Thought

The market functions just as it’s supposed to, except when it doesn’t.

Content: Article | Author: Michael E. Raynor | Source: The Conference Board Review | Subject: Economics

Competition typically focuses on one of two dimensions—either functionality, as in speed, reliability, or power; or convenience, such as ease of use or customization. Whichever is more valuable to the customer is the basis of competition in a market at that time. Dominating a market is a function of delivering more of the kinds of performance that matter to customers than your competitors can. The … [ Read more ]

Content: Quotation | Authors: Daniel Littmann, Michael E. Raynor | Source: Optimize Magazine | Subjects: Competition, Strategy

Today, the critical dimensions of IT performance aren’t driven by integration between functional departments and IT services, but instead by integration between the various components of the IT architecture and the supporting communications infrastructure.

Content: Quotation | Authors: Daniel Littmann, Michael E. Raynor | Source: Optimize Magazine | Subject: IT / Technology / E-Business

A clearer view of economics means looking beyond the invisible hand.

Content: Article | Author: Michael E. Raynor | Source: The Conference Board Review | Subject: Economics

Because the prescriptions of most success studies lack an empirical foundation, they should not be treated as how-to manuals, but as a source of inspiration and fuel for introspection. In short, their value is not what you read in them, but what you read into them.

How did these researchers create such compelling narratives, then, if their samples are suspect? The human mind being what it … [ Read more ]

Content: Quotation | Authors: Andrew D. Henderson, Michael E. Raynor, Mumtaz Ahmed | Source: Ivey Business Journal | Subjects: Best Practices, Success / Failure

What can science fiction accomplish that management books cannot?

Content: Article | Author: Michael E. Raynor | Source: The Conference Board Review | Subject: Personal Development

Are all the companies that supposedly go from good to great really that great after all? Or, are they merely one of a pack of pretty average performers? As these authors state, those really great companies may only be putatively great, successful but only in a middling sort of way. The authors studied the popular literature on “great” performing companies and came to their own, … [ Read more ]

Content: Article | Authors: Andrew D. Henderson, Michael E. Raynor, Mumtaz Ahmed | Source: Ivey Business Journal | Subject: Best Practices

Rather than seeking out contrary or little-understood points of view, many of us need so badly to be told we’re right that we’ll pay people to do it.

Content: Quotation | Author: Michael E. Raynor | Source: The Conference Board Review | Subjects: Learning, Organizational Behavior, Personality / Behavior

Studying even the right tail of a distribution doesn’t tell you how to break free of the distribution. In short, if you want to use inferential methods to get outside the box, you have to look at someone who is outside the box!

To see the importance of this step in the analysis, ask yourself this question: If two firms in the same industry had differences … [ Read more ]

Content: Quotation | Authors: Andrew D. Henderson, Michael E. Raynor, Mumtaz Ahmed | Source: Ivey Business Journal | Subjects: Best Practices, Statistics

If most companies aren’t delivering demonstrably exceptional performance, what is the justification for granting demonstrably exceptional compensation to senior executives? Rare indeed is the pay-for-performance contract that seeks to pay only for performance by separating out the effects of luck from the contributions of the skill and effort of the executive.

Content: Quotation | Author: Michael E. Raynor | Source: The Conference Board Review | Subjects: Compensation, Corporate Governance

What is it that makes luck so dominant in the determination of outcomes? Almost every system of even moderate complexity is subject to random variation. Because of this, in any system with a large number of players engaged in repeated attempts to win, some will pile up seemingly remarkable streaks simply as a consequence of that randomness. And the greater the randomness, the longer and … [ Read more ]

Content: Quotation | Author: Michael E. Raynor | Source: The Conference Board Review | Subject: Luck

May you have the good luck to realize its importance to success.

Content: Article | Author: Michael E. Raynor | Source: The Conference Board Review | Subject: Miscellaneous

The opposite of success is not failure, but mediocrity. To achieve big successes, you need to take big risks; if you take little or no risks, mediocrity is guaranteed.

Content: Quotation | Authors: Marisa Taylor, Michael E. Raynor | Source: Ode | Subjects: Achievement, Success / Failure