Wednesday May 22, 2013 in Washington, DC

Session Title: “Evolution of Innovation thought: 75 Years of Innovation”

Featured Speaker: DSI Founder & Chairman, Paul J.H. Schoemaker, Ph.D

Featured Panelists:

Dr. Mostafa Analoui, Head of Healthcare & Life Sciences, The Livingston Group

Dr. Paul M. Horn, Senior Vice Provost for Research, NYU

Dr. Patricia Verduin, Chief Technology Officer, Colgate-Palmolive 

Read more: 

http://www.iriweb.org/Main/Events/Jubilee/Public_Site/Navigation/Events/Annual_Meeting.aspx?hkey=98b1cc44-8c7d-4d2e-ab63-7a3ba4ac5c2f

You have to train yourself to see the world through their eyes. Here’s how.

By Paul Schoemaker & Steve Krupp

The number one worry we hear from our clients today is this: “I need to understand my customer better, but it’s getting harder, not easier.” Why is that true for so many entrepreneurs? Let us count the ways:

• Customers are less loyal and far less trusting than they used to be. This is especially true in industries whose reputations suffered during the financial crisis—including banking, pharmaceuticals, energy, airlines and media. But even if you’re in an unrelated industry, you’re likely to feel some of the same effect.
• Consumers have more power than ever before, thanks to social media, easy on-line comparison-shopping, and a proliferation of choices.
• Customer diversity continues to increase, putting a premium on micro-segmentation and deep customer insight.
• By increasing the noise-to-data ratio, the data deluge occasioned by the Internet can actually make it harder to understand your customers.
• Economic uncertainty and data overload confuse customers as well, making them less interested in products than in flexible, adaptive solutions.

To get close to this more demanding client, you really need to get inside his or her head. Here are five ways to do that. Read More. 

Senior Partner Roch Parayre and Senior Managing Partner Samantha Howland join Reda Sadki from the Red Cross to lead an “EPIC Boot Camp” centered on the highly challenging scenario of how a small team of educators from the Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) with a limited budget can train and manage 13.1 million volunteers worldwide.

Lending their expertise, Roch and Sam will explore the need to reframe problems and use new perspectives to identify approaches and solutions not readily apparent in the original problem statement.

Learn more.

Decision Strategies International Highlights Commitment to Client Service with
the Hire of Three Top Strategists

New Adaptive Strategy Experts in U.S. and U.K. Expand DSI’s Global Reach

CONSHOHOCKEN, Pa., APRIL 3, 2013 – Decision Strategies International (DSI), a leading future-centered consulting firm, today announced the continued expansion of its Adaptive Strategy practice in both the U.S. and the U.K. The addition of three high-level consulting professionals is another example of DSI’s continued growth and commitment to excellence. They include:

• Nick Turner, senior partner and head of Adaptive Strategy Consulting Group, based in DSI’s London office;
• Tolga Vural, partner, Healthcare Practice, based in DSI’s U.S. office; and
• Philip Thomas, consultant, Energy Practice, based in DSI’s London office.

“As organizations grapple with unprecedented uncertainty, they are seeking strategic solutions to be more nimble, flexible and adaptable,” said Steve Krupp, CEO of DSI. “The addition of Nick, Tolga and Philip is just the latest in a series of steps we’ve taken to provide our clients with the very best service and advising to navigate through the complexity. Our teams are built to combine global perspectives with outside-in thinking and proven business leadership, and these three exemplify exactly that. We’re thrilled to welcome them to the DSI family and are eager to share their combined experiences, knowledge and strategic guidance with our clients.”

As senior partner, and head of the Adaptive Strategy Consulting Practice, Turner will lead DSI’s continued growth in delivering strategy solutions to global clients. He brings to DSI more than 20 years of experience in various senior executive positions and expertise in the areas of global financial services, management consulting and technology sectors. Prior to joining DSI, he served as the managing director, global head investment banking strategy and head of strategy EMEA at Nomura International plc where he reshaped the global and EMEA footprint to match the evolving industry environment. Turner also previously worked at the Monitor Group, Morgan Stanley and Xerox Corporation and is a board member for the London Enterprise Panel.

In his new role as partner in the Healthcare Practice, Vural will work to carve adaptive solutions for DSI’s growing list of healthcare clients. He brings a wealth of experience to the practice, previously serving as a principal at Booz Allen Hamilton where he developed the strategy for the new commercial practice across health, financial services and energy verticals. He also served as the vice president of strategy at AARP and as a consultant for Digitas and other Fortune 500 companies. Vural has guest lectured for the Georgetown Business School’s CMAP program, George Washington University’s MBA program and MIT’s Sloan School of Management.

As a consultant, Thomas will help support the Energy Practice in the London office. Prior to DSI, Thomas played a key role in developing the Global Energy Scenarios Project at the World Energy Council from 2010-2013. Thomas also served as the project coordinator on the Nuclear Taskforce following the Fukushima disaster and previously worked for The Oxbridge Research Group and Jesus College in Oxford.

For more information about DSI and its team, visit www.decisionstrat.com/about-us/our-team.

About DSI (http://www.decisionstrat.com)
Founded in 1990, DSI is a recognized leader in future-centered consulting. As proven strategists and educators, DSI thrives at the intersection of Business Strategy & Leadership Development. Through its blend of Adaptive Planning and Leadership Development solutions, DSI has helped over 300 global organizations prepare, adapt, and profit from all types of uncertainty.

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Even in today’s economy, the most talented workers have plenty of choices. Here’s how to make sure they join you, not the competition. - By: Paul Schoemaker

Your company is in a war for talent, and in that war, just about everyone is your enemy. When Bill Gates was asked a few years ago who Microsoft’s main competitors were for top employees, he replied McKinsey and Goldman Sachs.  These days he would likely add Google and any of scores of promising startups.

In other words, great employees have many choices, even in today’s economy, and they aren’t just limited to your industry.  To attract top-flight intellects, you need to build a persuasive case as to why your opportunity is not just the best of your competitors, but the best of all potential employers, including the one he or she works for now.  How do you do that? Read more.

CEOs Urge Employees to Embrace Failure and Keep Trying

By: Leslie Kwoh

When Jim Donald took the helm at Extended Stay America a year ago, he sensed fear.

Many employees at the national hotel chain, which had recently emerged from bankruptcy, were still stuck in survival mode. Worried about losing their jobs, they avoided decisions that might cost the company money, such as making property repairs or appeasing a disgruntled guest with a free night’s stay.

“They were waiting to be told what to do,” recalls the former Starbucks Corp. SBUX +0.96% chief executive. “They were afraid to do things.”

So Mr. Donald gave everyone a safety net: He created a batch of miniature “Get Out of Jail, Free” cards, and is gradually handing them out to his 9,000 employees. All they had to do, he told them, was call in the card when they took a big risk on behalf of the company—no questions asked.

Growth and innovation come from daring ideas and calculated gambles, but boldness is getting harder to come by at some companies. After years of high unemployment and scarred from rounds of company cost-cutting and layoffs, managers say their workers seem to have become allergic to risk…

…Steve Krupp, CEO of consulting group Decision Strategies International, says one of his clients, a financial-services firm, dubbed its portfolio managers the “walking wounded” because they remain traumatized by losses their portfolios sustained during the economic downturn.

Many have become overly cautious about taking even ordinary risks with investments, adds Mr. Krupp, who is devising ways for the firm’s senior leaders and employees to overcome their fears and take balanced risks.

“You can’t just avoid all risk, because it will lead to entropy,” he says.  Read the full article here.

The military hones its strategies with role-playing simulations. The technique can help your business, too–but you have to make it realistic. By: Paul Schoemaker & Toomas Truumees, partner at DSI.

Before the SEALs raided Osama bin Laden’s hideout, they worked for months on their strategy, studying satellite pictures of his compound, constructing a detailed model of the buildings and rehearsing exactly how the mission would unfold. A key part of the preparation was to have some participants play the role of the enemy–to simulate how the defenders would react, so the SEALs could remain one step ahead.

In our consulting business, we encourage clients to do simulations in their business strategizing. We call it war-gaming–because metaphorically, that’s what it is. It serves exactly the same purpose as for the SEALs.

For example, one client, a pediatric hospital, was grappling with how to respond to rapid consolidation in their metro area. Larger hospitals with adult patients were actively looking to merge or form strategic alliances. To prepare, the hospital CEO engaged his board in a simulation in which board members teamed up in roles as the market’s five major competitors. Each team was given wide latitude to explore possible alliances or mergers over the next two years. Thanks to the simulation, the executive team quickly realized that their most direct pediatric competitor would likely want to merge if certain adult hospital mergers were to occur.  As it happened, one such major consolidation was announced just a week after the simulation. The CEO and board were aligned and ready to act. They quickly approached the other pediatric hospital about teaming up and seized an opportunity that might otherwise have been lost.

Five steps to a good simulation. Read More.

Tuesday, February 26, 2013 in Miami, Florida 

Session Title: “Future Proofing Your Leadership Team”

Featured Speaker: DSI Principal John Austin, Ph.D

Read more: http://summit.marketingresearch.org/program.cfm

By: Ladan Nikravan on February 22, 2013

I’ve read — and contributed to — the giant electronic stack of articles on what Gen Y can teach you, but this week I wanted to find out what learning leaders should be teaching Gen Y. What’s going to elevate my generation’s success in the years to come? I interviewed Samantha Howland, senior managing partner for DSI, a management consultancy, who has worked with her team to identify six skills that, when mastered and used in concert, allow leaders to think strategically and navigate the unknown effectively. They’re skills that will strengthen all leaders, but millennials need your help to develop them.

There is a severe strategy gap in the C-suite right now and organizations are hungry for strategic thinkers, yet, according to Chief Executive Magazine, 70 percent of executives said they are not strategic. So what’s missing and what does Gen Y need to do to close this gap?

Members of Gen Y expect clear, concrete direction as well as constant feedback. But, with an increasingly ambiguous environment, with continual market changes, this demographic group needs to increase their tolerance of and comfort with uncertainty. As professionals, they need be able to map out a course of action, make decisions with limited or incomplete information and acknowledge uncertainty as an opportunity, not purely a risk. This requires the consideration of diverse alternatives, picking a path that may not be a binary choice of A or B, and building flexibility into the direction they choose.

Gen Y must seek out experiences to expand their networks, by working with diverse groups of leaders to solve complex problems. They’ll need to find their voice, in a way they can be heard, and challenge long-held assumptions with leaders who are more senior to them. They can ultimately help introduce new ways of thinking, adding to the strategic thinking for their teams. Read More.

A recent DSI Strategic Leadership Forum, which hosted more than 15 business and learning leaders from varying industries, highlighted a critical, cross-industry deficit in strategic leadership capabilities and development.

By Samantha Howland, Senior Partner and Executive Training Director, DSI

In an era of unprecedented uncertainty, the ability to think strategically has emerged as an indispensable skill in helping leaders and organizations navigate change and sustain growth. Yet, for those charged with identifying and developing strategic thinkers, there is no clear path.

A recent DSI Strategic Leadership Forum, which hosted more than 15 business and learning leaders from varying industries, reaffirmed this point. The roundtable discussion highlighted a critical, cross-industry deficit in strategic leadership capabilities and development. Click here to read more about the hot buttons issues.