Thoughts
Ideas that transform people, businesses, and industries
Deeply rooted in our organizational ethos is the celebration of authentic and unapologetic “thought.” We believe each member of our team brings with them a unique view of themselves, our clients, and of the world we live in. We make a point to not only articulate our individual experiences, senses, emotions, and actions internally, but to share them with you here.
What Do You Think of Our Capability Reference Model for Retail Energy Providers?
We’ve created two capability reference models that retail energy providers can use to: Assess the health of current capabilities and identify failing technologies or broken processes that should be addressed Determine which current capabilities could be reused to help...
It Takes More Than a Few New Roles to Transform an IT Org
At Thought Ensemble, we work with different kinds of technology organizations: software companies, IT organizations, and everything in between. The difference in mindsets, org designs, and ways of working are striking, especially between traditional IT organizations...
Herding Your Sacred Cows
Leaders face a whole host of issues when trying to implement new projects in their organizations, but one of the most pervasive and difficult issues to address is the infamous “sacred cow.” Without rounding up these bellicose bovine, improvement efforts are doomed to...
I Love 2×2 Matrices
I’ve spent most of my career in a “consulting type” job, either working for a major consultancy or in a project-oriented corporate role. Consulting typically involves running or assisting on projects that are tasked with solving a specific problem. And problem solving...
A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to Team Building
Years ago, when I was in graduate school, I took a two-day elective class on improvisational comedy. Why, I don’t know exactly, but I think someone told me it was fun. As it turned out, it was very fun and also incredibly valuable. The week after I took the class, I...
The Failure Bow: Accepting Mistakes and Moving on
A Thought Comic about yoga, improv, and accepting your mistakes.
In Honor of the Primaries…
It’s been a while since I published a blog entry. I have a few in various stages of drafting, but I need a push to get at least one of them out the door. So, rather than wait, please help me by voting on one of these topics. I promise to publish by the end of next...
There’s a New Sheriff in Town
Most of us have been through it – the person we work for leaves the company or takes on a new role and we get a new boss. This isn’t the person who hired us, we aren’t their “star” player, and we have no idea what their agenda is. It’s tempting to gossip,...
Three Books I’m Grateful for in 2015
I thought I’d wrap the final day of the year with a blog on my favorite books of the last twelve months. I’ve read a lot of great books this year – fiction, non-fiction, and business, but three of them stand out as great reads that I’m truly grateful for reading. None...
My Performance Review of Performance Reviews
I think it’s been about 10 years since I personally received a performance review and probably 8 years since I gave one. The further away I get from it, the odder the whole idea seems, especially for knowledge workers. I admit that in my earlier years, I not only...
Diaries of a Working Mom Chapter 13: Traveling with an Au Pair
It's been a while since I’ve blogged on the "working mom" topic (see here for the previous chapters), but last week was such a fun “working mom” week, I thought I’d share. First, let me explain the “au pair”. I’ve blogged before on our nannies, but I haven’t mentioned...
What’s Your CIO’s Disruptive Innovation Type?
When Jay and I stood in front of our colleagues at our recent Thought Crunch event, slyly smiling about our hand drawn magazine cover "CIO-politan", a spoof of the women’s magazine Cosmopolitan, they looked at us like we'd gone nuts. Once we got going though, they...
Creating an Executive Dashboard That Keeps You on the Right Course
Imagine driving a car that didn’t have a speedometer, a fuel gauge, or a GPS system. Would you feel in control of where the car was headed and whether you were going to get there safely? While I guess I could argue whether or not you absolutely need a speedometer...
Alexa takes on Siri
A few weeks ago, I found myself entering into a very long term relationship with my Apple Watch. When I wrote my first blog on it, I was still experimenting. But a few weeks ago, I realized I’d become completely dependent on it. My life is different now that I can...
Careers Are Jungle Gyms, Not Ladders
At a recent gathering of family and friends, I was bombarded with the usual questions. When are you having kids? What have you been up to? How’s work? Etc. This time, I found myself trying to justify why I would leave my career as a National Campus Recruitment Manager...
The Apple Watch: Grades Are in
My four year old was going through my office drawers yesterday (what is it about the office that is so intriguing anyway?) and found an iPod Nano. He asked what it was. I explained that back in the "old days", we used to use a separate little device to listen to...
We Are Pleased to Announce the Promotion of Erika Kessenger to Partner at Thought Ensemble
We are pleased to announce the promotion of Erika Kessenger to Partner at Thought Ensemble. She joined the Ensemble in 2013 as a principal and has provided outstanding strategic leadership for many of our clients during the last 2 years. Prior to that, Erika worked...
The Business Case for IoT
What’s the business case for IoT? Maybe there isn’t one. I don’t mean companies shouldn’t invest in it; I mean trying to make the business case may be futile. Not that long ago, I was getting phone calls from colleagues who wanted advice on how they could help their...
Mompreneur De-Stressors
In honor of Mother's Day month and for everyone who keeps asking me how I manage two little kids while growing a company, I thought I'd share a few of my favorite stress relievers. Before I do, I must say that the way we work as a company and my luck in finding a...
Thought Meetings Featured in Gazelle’s Newsletter
As someone who has followed Verne Harnish's newsletter for years it was very exciting to be included in one of them. After talking with Thought Ensemble CEO and co-founder Jim Smelley, Verne wrote a piece about our internal Thought meetings in his weekly "Growth Guy"...
Need Inspiration? Go for a Walk and Consider Taking a Teammate
I’ve known for a long time that if I need to work through a tough challenge, taking a walk is one of the best ways for me to clear my head and get inspired. It came as no surprise when Stanford did some research last year that supported my personal experience. In...