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 30-60-90 Plan Should Be Shorter
A 30-60-90 day plan is not a schedule. It is a commitment device, and almost every version circulating in leadership […] Read More
The First 90 Days Guide for a VP of Ops
The job you were actually given Why the plant manager's playbook fails at this altitude What should you measure first? […] Read More
I Just Inherited a Business. Now What?
Step 1. Establish what the business owes, and when Step 2. Establish what it is owed, and by whom Step […] Read More
4 Kinds of First 90 Days for a Plant Manager
The standard advice for a new plant manager is a 30-60-90 day plan. Learn in the first thirty, plan in […] Read More
How to Tell If a Turnaround Is Working
Four months into the first turnaround I owned outright, the monthly numbers still looked exactly like the ones I had […] Read More
The Best B2B Marketing Books Weren’t Written for B2B
Why Were the Best B2B Marketing Books Never Written for B2B? Is Marketing an Expense to Manage or an Asset […] Read More
Gross Margin or SG&A: Which Is Killing You
A P&L that looks fine What does gross margin compression actually tell you? What does SG&A creep tell you? Mix […] Read More
When a Turnaround Works and When It Won’t
Business turnaround strategy is one of those terms that everybody uses and almost nobody defines, which is a problem, because […] Read More
Why Flat Revenue Isn’t a Stagnation Signal
Why flat revenue is the wrong tell Signals 1 to 5: how decisions behave Signals 6 to 9: how the […] Read More
The Two-Week Guide to Diagnosing a Plant
Step 1. Walk the floor before you read anything Step 2. Count the constraint yourself, twice Step 3. Read the […] Read More
Is It a Cost Problem or a Demand Problem?
You asked whether you have a cost problem or a demand problem. The more precise version of that question, and […] Read More
Why Most SKU Rationalization Backfires
The standard method for SKU rationalization is the main reason SKU rationalizations lose revenue they were never supposed to touch. […] Read More