Creativity and the ability to imagine are essential skills for strategic leaders in the next normal. We cannot invent the new within old constraints, routine habits, or outdated assumptions. Leaders with the courage to embrace intuition, imagination, and creativity...

Your team craves it. New hires wonder about it. But, truth be told, so do your customers, board members, and investors.   What’s your organization’s purpose? What’s your why?   Psst CEO. Each person is looking to you for the answer. Quit bungling the reply. Go from...

This month I celebrate the first anniversary of my “Goodbye SWOT” webinar for alumni of the University of Texas at Austin McCombs School of Business. The messages bear repeating as I nudge you to form new habits.   Using SWOT Analysis for strategic planning is a bit...

Hello Strategy Studio. CEOWorld Magazine asked me to share my tips for navigating and maximizing disruptions.   What are the five most important things a business leader should do to pivot and stay relevant in the face of disruptive technologies? Please share a story...

As a creative strategist, I’m compelled to feed the artist within. When I get too busy to paint, I feel that my professional work starts to suffer. Painting fuels me. Releasing my creative drive leads me to new ideas and frees me from outdated modes of thinking....

Corporate strategy can seem a bit esoteric or heady. It's time to make it real by connecting the dots between corporate strategy and your team's day-to-day work. In my experience, executives underestimate the importance of strategy storytelling, crafting a powerful...

Lessons from The Logan School  My work as a strategy consultant provides a unique vantage point on organizations and people management. I frequently find myself a keeper of secrets and a vessel for insights on topics spanning organizational design, culture, and...

Understand retreat limitations Experience has taught me that organizations typically expect more of their annual retreat than the day or weekend can deliver. Everyone comes into the day with high hopes for team cohesion, fresh insights, a breakthrough idea or two, and...

On CEO Blog Nation, Karla Raines lays out three master tips for facilitating effective strategy retreats. Make this year's board retreat memorable. You can find these tips on our website or in "Secrets from a Facilitator: Planning an Effective Strategy Process." The...

Finally, engage your people with purpose and strategy. Companies large and small are on a quest for a deeper meaning. Consumers, especially younger generations, demand it. You understand its importance for talent recruitment, retention, and motivation. You can add...

My second recommendation is to get comfortable with complexity and ambiguity. Each of us is called to provide clarity and focus as the world swirls around us. Welcome to the vanguard. The terrain is uncharted territory for us all. You are at the forefront, sharpening your prowess just-in-time as your company navigates unexpected competitor moves, unresolved supply chain snafus, talent shortages, and the need to stand out in the marketplace.

First-hand observation pinpoints the defining attributes of leaders ready to make bold steps. Here’s my first tip. Get comfortable with the concept of strategy. The term is often used interchangeably with tactic when it is not. A strategy is directional. It sets your...

Experience taught me what to spot. I was on the lookout for demonstrated strategic understanding, comfort with uncertainty, and the resolve to set aside today’s pressing issues and lofty aspirations. Those characteristics would define the moment’s success.

Creativity is essential in strategy development, especially in times of uncertainty and ambiguity. It isn’t merely a matter of applying creativity during a specific step or using it to complete a discrete task. A one-off activity won’t lead you to discover your...

"Your customers are searching and exploring without you even knowing about it. And they are redefining your competitive set, too. Welcome to the customer zeitgeist.”Chapter 3 of Differentiated explores the new world of competition based on real-world observations and...

If you search the term “customer mindset,” you’ll find associations with marketing and customer service. The premise? A deeper understanding of your customer generates increased sales and engagement. Let’s be honest. We want both.  A heartfelt appreciation for...

We greet 2021 with renewed hope that we can create the change we seek in the world. Welcome to the next normal. If 2020 schooled us in anything it reminded us that an event like a once-in-a-millennia pandemic has the power to distort. And distort it did. We recognize...

Welcome to Strategy Studio! A studio is a space for exploration, for trial and error, and for learning new techniques. It’s a place where breakthroughs occur. Studios invite mess. They give wholehearted permission to create as you explore something for the first time....

PSST tacticians. I’ve got your cheat sheet In all my years of facilitation, I have found two types of people generally comprise any group: tacticians and visionaries. The former greatly outnumbers the latter in most groups. The next time you participate in a group...

Why does your organization matter? Why should it matter to me? Can you answer those questions today? Can you anticipate your customer’s answers in six months? Twelve? Eighteen? When I speak with purpose-driven executives and consultants, I hear a common refrain. The...

What’s your pandemic passion project? Have you perfected your banana bread recipe? Mastered the art of orchid growing? Bought an above-ground pool for your backyard?Searches for "Banana Bread Demo" have increased by 500% over the last year.Since April, I’ve been...

How do you know if something is genuine? Authentic? Novel? Your gut. No, I’m not talking about the pandemic pudge. I’m referring to intuition.  Intuition  - the ability to understand something immediately, without the need for conscious reasoning. Intuition...

We’re familiar with the phrase originated by Peter Drucker—culture eats strategy for breakfast. Time and again we’ve crafted brilliant strategies and perfected plans only to have them crash against the immovable wall of organizational culture. A culture attached to...

When I created your Bounce-Back Plan three months ago, one thing was certain: Business model reinvention was a must-do. I knew you’d be tempted to try a few workarounds to extend the life of your existing programs and services. Or you might pause for a bit until the...

Are you finding yourself feeling a bit sluggish this month? Me too. Just when we hoped to grab onto a portion of our beloved “normal” life, it slips out of grasp, swept up in the Covid-19 resurgence. To be honest, I give myself a pep talk every morning. You too? I...

Whenever I read a survey, forecast, or study about Covid-19 and its impacts, there is hedging. It’s understandable. No one can predict what the next three or six months might bring, much less the next year.  Here’s what we do know. This is a hot mess. I’m not dissing...

Like clockwork, towards the completion of a strategic planning process, the fatigue sets in. Your group is tired of it all, especially the never-ending series of meetings, and the constant discussions. When will we decide? What will we do? It feels a bit like...

July 1st marks my 20th anniversary at Corona Insights. When my husband Kevin asked, “Hey honey, wanna help me with a big project?” I never knew those early startup days would propel the career I cherish today. Ten years ago, I set myself on the path to discover...

The stories are beginning to emerge. Innovation is rising up to address unforeseen challenges and wicked problems.  Organizations are tapping into creativity instead of dismay as they channel energy and investment into novel solutions. They are asking themselves,...

Goodbye avocado toast. Hello box of cereal. Kitchen staples proclaimed passé are popular again. Seems it’s easy to get your kids to make their own breakfast when the right ingredients are on hand. Plus, $9 goes a lot further when buying cereal and milk. In a few...

Fifty-one times. That’s the number of bullets my Dad’s helicopter took during a single mission in Vietnam. He was so proud of landing safely following the battle. The photo of his commendation is a treasured memory. Remarkably, he was never injured during the height...

Each of us is being called to serve in ways we’d never imagined. We’re looking for opportunities to step up and stand up for others. I continue to live by this mantra.

Comfort food and large refrigerators are to blame for the COVID 15—those extra pounds around our collective middles—thanks to Zoom fatigue and step counters that rarely click to 10,000. Virtual runs replace downward dogs as you attempt to re-engage in work, tossing...

When I ask folks who work with purpose-driven organizations to think about who their customers are, I occasionally get questions like, “Aren’t you talking about beneficiaries?” This is what goes through my mind when I hear that term: For someone to be the beneficiary,...

I remember the day clearly. As I prepared to write my weekly email on March 9, my sixth sense and years of consulting told me that we were headed for something unprecedented. That intuition prompted me to offer pro bono coaching services via email the next day.It took...

Who knew we’d be cast in The Poseidon Adventure? Our scrappy band of survivors is making its way through the capsized ocean liner, attempting to avoid the steam pipes and all manner of floating debris as we search for the propeller shaft tunnel. It’s dark and...

What were you doing in February? It seems like a lifetime ago.I was facilitating a daylong Strategy Camp with a dozen purpose-driven leaders. A highlight was the all-camp case study. We came together to discover what differentiates Hollywood. It was the perfect topic...

Are you ready to reopen? Prepped for the pivot? Guess what? Sometime soon stir-crazy people will be ready to engage with your organization. Your future will be guided by macro-level milestones driven by public health indicators and a combination of local, state, and...

Like many of you, I’m escaping the world through learning. I spotted an online art history class (or knowing Facebook, the class found me). Its title and image caught my attention. As the instructor opened the course, she touched on the first word in its title —...

In late 2018, I realized the eureka moment I experienced over the summer might in fact be something special. As I noodled over the original idea for Differentiation Zone®, I reached out to people who could help me figure out if I really had something worth investing...

Because I love you, I’m nudging you to be more strategic than what feels comfortable today.  Because I love you, I’m reminding you that the essence of strategy is choice. Because I love you, I’m insisting you get clear about strategic differentiation. There is no time...

In times of ambiguity and incomplete information, we need agility and intuition to guide us. Your world is changing by the day—and by the hour.  Here’s your game plan. First, focus on the immediate future in March and April: Theme: Improvise Get tactical about: People...

The sweep and scale are jarring. Your college student just got sent home to finish out the term with online classes. Your museum is closing for a few weeks. Your event was cancelled. Your retirement account isn’t what it was on March 5th.   New themes for 2020: social...

As a small business owner, I know how stressful it was to navigate 9/11 and the 2008 recession. The impacts were long-lasting. We learned to be nimbler and more resourceful as we led with courage and resolve.   Fast forward to now.  This new decade began on a positive...

What a day! Strategy Camp on February 28th took us to Hollywood and back as we explored the power of a customer mindset with a case study about the Oscars. As we embraced the six principles of Differentiation Zone, we realized there is much to learn from industries...

It’s not very often that you get to make history—let alone create community with a group of prison inmates. That’s exactly what took place in Denver in December 2019. Forty inmates from Denver Women’s Correctional Facility performed two shows of the holiday classic, A...

My journey with the College of Arts, Humanities, & Social Sciences at the University of Denver began in the middle of winter – and in the middle of a strategic planning process – in early 2017. I’d just wrapped up Forward. Faster. Strategic Plan 2022  for the...

How is the customer mindset resonating with you now that we’ve established that “customer” belongs in your purpose-driven vocabulary?   Leaning into the notion of customers and competitors is a game changer. Recognizing you have customers is what differentiates you...

I don’t know about you, Reader, but I love to talk about what I do. Give me five minutes and I’ll gladly take 30. After all, this is my life’s work. And of course, five minutes into a monologue I see distraction run across your face as I realize that I haven’t...

As a master strategist, I’m known for many “Karla-isms.” “The essence of strategy is choice” and “You have to say ‘no’ to say ‘yes’” are among them. Not surprisingly, the two are related. Let’s unpack this idea a little bit. Strategy draws a roadmap which helps you...

You might have heard me say, the zeitgeist of our era is the customer experience. As a consultant or executive, you know this because you’re living in the experience economy every day. The brands you love weave their stories to engage you and win your loyalty.If you...

For those of you in the purpose-driven space, the word “customer” can be a turnoff. You might say it’s overly commercial. That it ignores how much you care about people and the work you do.  It’s an unfortunate – and costly – turnoff. When we think about customer from...

I’m thrilled to announce that Differentiation Zone® has moved to RISE Collaborative Workspace! Until now, Differentiation Zone has operated like a skunk works® within Corona Insights, the company I co-own with my husband Kevin Raines. A skunk works is not a furry...