The Stagnation Assassin Blog
Weapons-Grade Wisdom
Short Slaughters, Permanent Profits
Start Here: My Most-Read Articles
The Stagnation Encyclopedia: Why Is Your Company Dying While You Celebrate Success?
The warning signs most executive teams miss, in one reference.
The Three Essential Leadership Behaviors That Make or Break Organizational Transformation
Three behaviors that quietly sabotage change efforts, and how to master them.
HOT System Transformation vs. Kotter's 8-Step Change Model
A 90-day rapid turnaround approach compared with the classic 8-step model.
The 3-Question Transformation Leader Test
Three questions that show who can actually run a turnaround.
What's the “70% Rule” and Why Does It Work?
Decide before you have every fact, and stop paying for delay.
What's the Difference Between Activity and Productivity?
The audit that turns busyness into measurable impact.
Drowning in Data but
Starving for Strategic Solutions?
Why Your Middle Managers Aren’t Executing
Your middle managers agree with the plan. That is not a consolation and it is not the beginning of a […] Read More
Consulting Proposal Scope Language: A Decoder
What does this article cover? Why does scope language read like this? The decoder The small words doing the most […] Read More
Bezos 70 Percent Rule: From Maxim to Decision System
What Bezos Actually Said Where the Maxim Runs Out The Four Upgrades the System Makes Why the Difference Matters on […] Read More
Why Doing More Work Doesn’t Get You a Raise
Your Salary Is Not a Reward for SufferingThe Two Forces That Set Your PayWhy Doing More Work Doesn't Get You […] Read More
Urgency vs Consequence: Which One Works
You have the evidence. Four slopes, all pointing the same way, and a room that has looked at them and […] Read More
Jack Welch vs Paul O’Neill: Who Wins?
Verdict: Paul O'Neill def. Jack Welch by split decision, 3 rounds to 2. Welch put up numbers O'Neill never touched […] Read More
Why Do Profitable Companies Stop Growing?
The question, more precisely The incentive that rewards not losing Portfolio drag Orthodoxy calcification So what do you do about […] Read More
The 4 Beliefs Your Industry Has Never Tested
1. Stop trying to challenge your assumptions 2. Find the beliefs nobody defends 3. Identify which of the four kinds […] Read More
How to Decide What to Fix First
The first time I had to make this call myself, the list in front of me had eleven items on […] Read More
What It Costs to Fix a Business That Works
The business in question Why the standard method does not start here The first move is building a case nobody […] Read More
When to Judge a Turnaround, and When Not To
A turnaround deadline is not a date by which the business is fixed. It is a date by which whoever […] Read More
Aggression Gap: Why Frontier’s Pivot Underwhelms
What Is Frontier Doing, and Why Now? Is Frontier's First-Class Pivot the Right Move? How Does Frontier Score on the […] Read More