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The McKinsey 3 Horizon Framework for Business Growth Explained
“Long range planning does not deal with future decisions, but with the future of present decisions.” — Peter Drucker I learned about the 3 Horizon framework some years ago as a way of planning business growth and aligning innovation for the future business. It’s a simple model, and that it’s strength. And it creates a …
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How I Became a Better Storyteller at Microsoft While Driving Digital Transformation
“Storytelling is the most powerful way to put ideas into the world.” –- Robert McKee How do you become a better leader that can inspire innovation, shape the future, and change the world with skill? This is a story of how storytellers can change the world, and how you can become a storyteller if you …
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The Unicorn of Microsoft
“To be yourself in a world that is constantly trying to make you something else is the greatest accomplishment.” — Ralph Waldo Emerson I was never called a unicorn so many times in one year, based on my achievements, my accomplishments, and work experience at Microsoft. I’ve been called a force of nature at Microsoft …
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A Futurist is Born–How I Learned to Predict the Future
“You cannot predict the future, but you can create it.” — Peter Drucker Early on in my career, I kept getting surprised by how the world changed. It could be things at work like reorgs or new priorities or changes in direction. And that’s a big deal at Microsoft. It could be big things in …
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How I Learned That Innovation is a Skill (and You Can Learn It!)
“Every Child is an artist. The problem is to remain an artist once they grow up.” — Pablo Picasso Growing up in a high tech company like Microsoft, I was surrounded by innovation. I knew a lot of Softies that were good at innovation, but I didn’t think of myself as an innovator. Then …
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The Best Innovation Quotes of All Time That Inspire Work and Life
“The only way to discover the limits of the possible is to go beyond them into the impossible.” – Arthur C. Clarke Here are 100+ innovation quotes that will inspire, teach, and grow you. Innovation is a new idea, method, or device. This is my hand-crafted collection of the best innovation quotes. It’s a comprehensive …
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What I Learned Building Knowledge Bases at Microsoft
“Knowledge is life with wings.” — William Blake I learned a lot from building world-class knowledge bases at Microsoft over 25 years. Mostly I learned how to learn faster by organizing incredible libraries of profound knowledge. But also I’ve learned that knowledge is an incredible competitive advantage. The value of your skills is the value …
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How Might We–How 3 Words Can Create a Billion Dollar Business
“Business opportunities are like buses, there’s always another one coming.”–- Richard Branson I love it when a simple tool or technique can empower an individual to change the world. At Microsoft, one of the most important skills I developed is the skill of innovation. Innovation is a broader skill with a lot of supporting skills. …
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Sustainability at Microsoft
“Executives at all levels see an important business role for sustainability. But when it comes to mastering the reputation, execution, and accountability of their sustainability programs, many companies have far to go.” — McKinsey This is my roundup of the best places to look for sustainability information if you are trying to learn about Microsoft’s …
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The Best Advice I Got from Bill Gates About How To Live Life
“Don’t compare yourself with anyone in this world … if you do so, you are insulting yourself.” — Bill Gates When Bill Gates came to talk to a group of us, I didn’t know what to expect. We asked Bill Gates a simple question: “How do you spend your time now?” He paused for a …
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Best Books on Digital Transformation
“When digital transformation is done right, it’s like a caterpillar turning into a butterfly, but when done wrong, all you have is a really fast caterpillar.” — George Westerman Here is a roundup of the best books on Digital Transformation, the ones that really help change your game and equip you for the future. A …
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Satya Nadella Quotes on Culture, Innovation, and Leadership
“The view you adopt for yourself profoundly affects the way you lead your life.” — Satya Nadella This is my hand-crafted collection of Satya Nadella quotes on culture, innovation, leadership and more. Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella is famous for leading Microsoft’s digital transformation and helping Microsoft rediscover its soul. Satya is also high respected for …
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10 Blog Posts that Teach You a Lot About Satya Nadella and Digital Transformation
“Everything is going to be connected to cloud and data… All of this will be mediated by software.” — Satya Nadella A while back, Comparably, a compensation, culture, and career website, ranked Satya Nadella as the #1 CEO in the US. I was “head coach” of Satya’s Innovation team and I met him in person. …
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How To Build Better Journey Maps to Drive Better Digital Transformation
“I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.” — Maya Angelou One of my best tools in my toolbox for driving digital transformation is what I call a Journey Map. Journey Mapping isn’t new, but what can be …
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The New Hire Guide for Softies that Want to Change the World
“Today new job. Tomorrow the world!” Hi there, welcome to Microsoft. Whether you’re a new hire at Microsoft or taking on a new job, here’s some principles, patterns and practices to be more effective. I learned a lot from 25 years at Microsoft, and I hope that some of these lessons can help you in …
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My Philosophy
“Life is like skiing. Just like skiing, the goal is not to get to the bottom of the hill. It’s to have a bunch of good runs before the sun sets.” – Seth Godin In one word, my philosophy is: Empowerment My mission is empowering every person to become the greatest version of themselves through …
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How To Create the Big Picture of Digital Transformation for an Industry
“Customer expectations are far exceeding what you can really do. That means a fundamental rethinking about what we do with technology in organizations.” — George Westerman You can drive better Digital Transformation, disrupt industries, and make new markets if you know how. I’m going to share one of my best tools for driving Digital Transformation …
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What is Digital Transformation?
“Change before you have to.” — Jack Welch What is digital transformation? Digital transformation can be elusive if you can’t define it. So I ask you again, for real, “What is digital transformation?” Lucky for us, there is no shortage of definitions for digital transformation. If you are a leader in today’s world, you need …
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How John Chambers Explains Digital Transformation, Innovation, and the Digital Era
“It’s all about speed of innovation and changing the way you do business.” – John Chambers Many moons ago, while I was trying to wrap my head around the full scope and impact of Digital Transformation, my manager shared one of the best videos about the Digital Era. It was a brief video where McKinsey …
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How Satya Nadella Helped Microsoft Rediscover Its Soul
“Longevity in this business is about being able to reinvent yourself or invent the future.” — Satya Nadella At the core of every company is its soul – the motivation and inner direction that drives the company to do what it does uniquely best. Figuring out the soul of your company is key to driving …