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Goodbye SWOT! Four Steps to Take Your Best Shot!
For decades, SWOT—Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats—has been a go-to tool for strategic planning. But for today’s mid-market...
May 14 min read


Three Key Ingredients That Make a Successful 'Strategic Recipe'
Every award-winning chef has a book of winning recipes that is chock full of extensive ingredient lists and detailed step-by-step...
Mar 274 min read


"Thanks for Helping Us Change" - Four Success Stories from the Front Lines
Why do we change? To achieve better outcomes. But if you’ve ever tried to get your team to alter long-standing habits, you know just how...
Feb 45 min read


5 Strategic Solutions to Move Your Team from Chaotic to Clarity
If my daughter’s high school crew team (feel free to review our 2022 post - The Power of Alignment ) was to have a prayer of winning...
Nov 25, 20245 min read


What DOES Future Success Actually Look Like? It Matters a Lot.
What does future success look like? It seems like a simple question. Yet, this is not a simple question for many midmarket firms. When...
Mar 20, 20244 min read


Building Your Growth GAMEPlan - The Shepherd Way
One thing is certain, to grow is to change. When transitioning from a family led business to private equity, many management teams are...
Jan 23, 20243 min read


Seven Critical Strategic Planning Missteps to Avoid Now
The business landscape is littered with strategic plans that went nowhere. They sit on the proverbial shelf, many never even seeing the...
Oct 7, 20233 min read


A New Strategic Mindset Could Unleash Your Company
Many businesses have momentary success, only later to endure long-term challenges. We’ve seen businesses that have endured those...
Jul 22, 20232 min read


Is Your Growth Game Plan Working?
A common recipe for companies trying to repair underperforming revenues and margins is a hasty meeting to “fix” sales, “boost” marketing...
May 31, 20233 min read


The Power of Alignment – Leverage this Force Multiplier
My daughter was a Coxswain for her high school crew club. As Coxswain, her job was to: Steer the boat to the finish line (vision), Urge...
Sep 30, 20222 min read


Why ARE we here Anyways?
As we wrap up another really challenging year, you might take stock and ponder... Why ARE we here anyways? For more and more of us, our...
Dec 20, 20212 min read


Strategy Matters! 4 Growth Forces Shaping Success in 2022
In our growth strategy work, we look for market growth forces shaping the future. We define a growth force as a market trend or dynamic...
Nov 17, 20215 min read


3 Steps To New Normal Success
What a crazy time it is! Well, we now know what the “new normal” is also an ongoing period of changes, surprises, and uncertainties...
Aug 6, 20213 min read


Fortify Your Most Important Future Assets...
Several recent conversations have made me stop to ponder how today’s employment landscape is throttling growth. Before COVID, the level...
Jun 14, 20213 min read


Surfs Up! What is your Industry 4.0 "Blue Ocean"?
In their book Blue Ocean Strategy, W. Chan Kaim and Renee Mauborgne’s metaphor outlining “red oceans” and “blue oceans” really struck me...
Apr 23, 20212 min read


Seize Your Now
Now is a moment. Now is constantly changing, here and yet pressing forward. Today, the energy of a new year is all around us. Can you...
Nov 2, 20201 min read


Transitional And Transformational Conversations
Employers and employees are transitioning into the next phase of COVID uncertainty, and we can be assured that the next several months...
Jul 2, 20202 min read


Tuesday Tip: Get Your Grip On Current Reality
With this COVID-19 crisis, many structural market assumptions that we built our businesses on are now questionable - or simply no longer...
Jun 9, 20201 min read


Tuesday Tip: Use Scenario Planning to Convert Uncertainty to Clarity
Our global turbulence is challenging and reshaping long-standing market assumptions and practices. This is challenging our mindsets and...
Jun 2, 20202 min read


Using Scenario Planning To Navigate The Fog of Uncertainty
How disruptive are COVID-19’s unexpected impacts proving to be for your business? How clear is your team’s line of sight over the next...
May 19, 20204 min read
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