Rubicon Consulting

Insight+: Articles: Moving On

2010-12-31T16:16:33Z

Rubicon Consulting closed its doors in 2010.

The journey started as a solo practice, and grew to a multi-million dollar firm. It was time for the journey to take a shift after 11 years of offering practical advice that worked. Grateful to do the interesting work we would have done for free, we thank those who enabled us to contribute our gifts, and for those that enabled the larger Rubicon community.

Each principal is exploring what’s next in our own unique ways.

Harry Max, our web and experience expert, can be reached here.
Mike Mace, the best mobile and product strategist, can be reached here.
Nilofer Merchant continues to advise on how to win markets; reach her here.

Insight+: Speaking Events: AMA Webcast

2010-04-20T19:00:00Z

In leading organizations, creativity drives business results and executable ideas are the core of strategic and competitive advantage yet talented and motivated individuals cannot jointly achieve effective results until the enablers of collaboration are in place.

Entrenched organizational hierarchy is the roadblock to collaboration.

A new mindset is required to lead and enable co-creators to increase the quality of ideas, speed up decision making, and solve the toughest problems throughout the organization.

And without responsibility-sharing, decision-making, and idea-generation protocols, individual assets are limited, innovation is stifled, and in many cases organizations are on the path to steady decline.

Collaborative leaders create conditions for their company to outshine the competition by out-thinking them, out-creating them, and out-innovating them repeatedly. If your role is to help leaders and all contributors in the organization learn to collaboratively formulate and execute a winning strategy, this eye-opening webcast is for you!
What You Will Learn

* How to take a systemic view of strategy creation
* Ways to link strategy to execution with practical techniques
* Advice on nurturing idea generation, innovation, and engagement
* Strategies for enabling organizational velocity
* Advice on leveraging on-line resources and discussions to further collaboration and innovation

While attending the Webcast is FREE, reservations are required.

Insight+: Speaking Events: How to Build a High Performance Culture

2010-04-02T14:45:00Z

Keynote address

About Us: As Seen In...: Mission Clarity Cranks Performance “Up to Eleven”

2010-03-24T18:15:38Z

Effective CEOs recognize that articulating a clear mission is an important part of their job. Yet, in my 20 years in Silicon Valley, including eight years of consulting with dozens of companies, I've sadly concluded that few CEOs do this really well. Part of the problem is that it's hard to distill what's needed for success in a complex technology-based business into a simple mission that can be understood throughout the organization. And few even know what they are missing. Most companies have mission statements, many of which seem clear and concise, so why don't more companies operate with clear missions in practice? Sometimes it's because companies are living a lie and there is a mismatch between the culture and the mission, but usually it is because words alone don't drive culture. The two most mission-driven organizations I've been part of didn't have a written mission statement. Read the rest of the article on Sandhill.com.

Insight+: Speaking Events: Building Business Solutions Through Collaborative Strategy

2010-03-03T01:00:00Z

Once in a generation, a book comes along that transforms the business landscape. The New How is that book!

In The New How, Nilofer Merchant shows us that by including employees at all levels we can create the best business strategy. Typically company strategies have been planned by corporate chiefs in annual meetings, and then dictated to managers to carry out. But when employees help to create the strategy, they believe in and are equipped to implement, it is the best way to create a winning strategy.

To register online, go to: www.scu.edu/business/gidrsvp/

Insight+: Speaking Events: The New How: Strategy that moves at the Speed of Technology

2010-02-25T16:30:00Z

Too many companies have their execs or planners decide the strategy for the company and then tell others what to do. This is an artifact of the past. It’s what we did when we didn’t have a highly educated, creative workforce. It’s what we did when information didn’t flow freely and we needed to tell people what to do. It is a relic of the time when markets and competitors moved more slowly. Organizations that win need to engage people everywhere within their organization — be transparent about the problem, have the necessary debates, pick well, and ultimately take responsibility for creating (or rather, co-creating) the new future.

While all of this sounds “motherhood and apple pie”, experience suggests it’s not at all easy because of the humans involved. So we need some tools and approaches — a New How -- to actually make this idea more than a Utopian idea but a way in which we create better results together. The session will share 3 key tools to make insights — your insights -- from anywhere get heard at the table, get built into strategy, and ultimately into a new marketplace reality.

February 25, 2010
8:30 - 10:00 AM

$15 BMA members / $30 non-members. Includes breakfast.

Insight+: Speaking Events: Book signing

2010-02-23T15:45:00Z

1535 Broadway
New York, NY

Book signings during the morning and evening receptions.

Insight+: Speaking Events: Reinvention as an Economic Necessity [Half-day workshop]

2010-02-22T21:00:00Z

Here's a rule of thumb: during a downturn, executives are much more likely to think change is necessary. In a similar fashion, during times of great growth, we assume that what we're doing is causing the desired results so staying the course makes sense. Neither point of view is necessarily true. It could be that a rising or falling tide lifts or lowers all boats, and what our strategy needs to do is propel our organizations to better than general market outcomes!

There's a way to bringing teams together to look at organizational trade-offs—decisions across all areas of their business or department. Remember "White Boarding" -- the tool we use to envision new horizons, new products, new opportunities, new growth? Well here’s a tool to help make tough decisions -- MurderBoarding™

The opposite of white boarding, is MurderBoarding, we select from among the many initiatives to choose only the best. The desire is to cull and eliminate. Many times resources are wasted because we try to do too much. MurderBoarding is a process that helps narrow opportunities so that decisions can be made. This methodology invites us to narrow our focus to what is critical, what is crucial.

MurderBoarding is the opportunity to let some things really flourish by trimming off the excess that can distract you and your staff. By killing those time and resource draining activities, the company or department gets "pruned" so it can come back better, stronger for it. And in reality, it's less about "killing ideas" than putting them into purgatory so they can be resurrected when the time is right

Insight+: Speaking Events: Women's Leadership Forum 2010

2010-02-20T18:45:00Z

Come hear seasoned Entrepreneurs and Professionals at the annual OPEN Women's Leadership Forum 2010. Building on the success of last year, OPEN is excited about 2010's theme: "Finding Your Power: Creating Opportunities in Tumultuous Times."

About Us: As Seen In...: Re-Inventing Product Management wtih LOVE

2010-02-08T22:43:24Z

The critical role of the product manager is in the process of changing significantly, and both companies and product managers need to adapt. While product management is among the most critical roles in any company, it’s a role whose importance is under-heralded in most organizations. The extent and nature of the changes to the role mean that those that fail to re-invent themselves—or don’t try—are likely to find themselves displaced.

Insight+: Speaking Events: Book signing

2010-01-23T02:00:00Z

Rubicon Team

Insight+: Speaking Events: The Innovation Mindset: a fundamental shift from "what" we do to "how" we do it

2010-01-21T20:00:00Z

Without wanting to, companies large and small, government institutions, and non-profits create "bottlenecks of growth" that limit innovation, personal ownership, and productivity.

This lecture introduces five practices that unleash innovation by removing boundaries, mobilizing teams, and collaborating regardless of formal roles. The key is to be comfortable with calling our, being fully present, demanding transparency, living is a state of discovery, and embracing the contradiction inherent in complex decisions.

When individuals and teams use these practives, ideas start flowing. But in order to drive new products and services to scale, organizations must focus their resources on the best, and only the best, ideas. The real challenge is agreeing on which ones to pursue.

So how do you choose? One of the tools introduced in this lecture this presentation is MurderBoarding. The opposite of whiteboarding, this process enables teams to navigate through ideas before "killing off" options one by one until the best solutions emerge. By working through the process, teams align to a common goal and produce clear, achievable, and measurable results.

This session will get you in the innovation mindset and provide you with a framework for downright getting things done.

Insight+: Speaking Events: The New How: Strategy that moves at the speed of technology

2010-01-21T03:30:00Z

A discussion on how organizations that win need to engage people everywhere within their organization - be transparent about the problem, have the necessary debates, pick well, and ultimately take responsibility for creating (or rather, co-creating) the new future.

Insight+: Speaking Events: When Creativity Isn't Enough

2010-01-20T02:00:00Z

January 19, 2010
6:00 - 8:30 PM

Making the right choices leads us, and our organizations to thrive. Many books and speakers wax poetic that the best ideas come from "blue-sky ideation," but generating ideas is only part of the challenge of winning. While brainstorming generates lots of ideas, but you still have to discern the right choices to win.

The current economic situation means identifying, winnowing and making the tough choices to choose ideas that deliver immediate results. Organizations often avoid tough choices because they want consensus, immediate results, and to avoid political fights.

The opposite of whiteboarding, the MurderBoarding™ decision process ensures teams creatively generate many potential options before "killing off" options one-by-one until there is single best solution for a specific organization and situation. The result is the organization aligns to a common goal and takes on clear, achievable, and measurable goals. This session provides you with a framework for nailing the tough choices you need to make to win.

Insight+: Speaking Events: When Creativity Isn't Enough, Try Murder

2010-01-15T02:30:00Z

January 14, 2010
6:30 - 9:00 pm
map

Making the right choices leads us and our teams to thrive. While brainstorming generates lots of ideas, you still have to discern the right choices to win. AND you have to get a group of people to believe that IT is the right solution

That means we need to have a way to build a vision and envision options, but then make the tough choices to choose ideas that match the goal. Teams often avoid tough choices because they want consensus, immediate results, and avoid political fights.

The opposite of white-boarding, the MurderBoarding™ decision process, ensures teams creatively generate many potential options before "killing off" options one-by-one until there is single best solution for a specific organization and situation. This session provides you with a framework for nailing the tough choices you need to make to win while dealing with the human beings involved!