Major league innovation.

It’s October, and if you’re an American sports fan, you’re probably choosing sides in the upcoming World Series – the culmination of Major League Baseball’s season. But are you reflecting on what you as a manager could learn from the winning team?
When you think about it, a corporate executive on the hook for delivering [...]

Lego CEO Jorgen Vig Knudstorp Leading through survival and growth

Sometimes a CEO’s most challenging leadership transition is not a matter of switching jobs but of guiding the company onto a new path. Jorgen Vig Knudstorp, a former McKinsey consultant who came to the family-owned Lego Group as an outsider in 2001 and was named CEO in 2004, learned that a series of distinct leadership [...]

Investing in the information technology that makes a competitive difference

It’s not just you. It really is getting harder to outpace the other guys. Our recent research finds that since the middle of the 1990s, which marked the mainstream adoption of the Internet and commercial enterprise software, competition within the U.S. economy has accelerated to unprecedented levels. We found that a central catalyst in this [...]

Getting brand communities right

In 1983, Harley-Davidson faced extinction. Twenty-five years later, the company boasted a top-50 global brand valued at $7.8 billion. Central to the company’s turnaround, and to its subsequent success, was Harley’s commitment to building a brand community: a group of ardent consumers organized around the lifestyle, activities and ethos of the brand.

Inspired by Harley’s results [...]