82019Nov

Operating an Ocean Liner Like a Speed Boat – the Zappos Journey

At this year’s Responsive Conference, John Bunch, Lead Organizational Designer at Zappos told the story of Zappos’ organizational journey.  Zappos is, first and foremost, a customer service operation, regardless of what they sell.  They are focused on establishing a healthy and sustainable organization that can weather the changes and disruptions that could undermine their existence….

Read More
222019Mar

Structuring for Innovation: Don’t Lose the Schmooze

It’s not often that I have a visceral reaction to something I read in a Harvard Business Review article.  However, Safi Bahcall’s article The Innovation Equation in the March/April 2019 issue got my attention. The Challenge Bahcall addresses the problems that start-ups can face as they mature into larger organizations.  As they grow, they often…

Read More
32017Oct

“Pop-Up” Teams

In today’s world of rapidly changing markets and technological advances, the traditional focus on scale and efficiency is going the way of the dinosaur.  Rigidly structured, “siloed” organizations seem to be constantly restructuring and changing leaders to be competitive.  This form of change creates a lot of angst and disruption to the organization and the…

Read More
12017Jun

Setting a New Leader Up for Success

If your organization is experiencing ongoing changes in leadership – whether due to turnover, reorganization, or a merger or acquisition – you are in good company.  Organizations often need some degree of redesign to meet the demands of an ever-changing environment and, as a result, new business units or teams are created with new leaders. …

Read More
142016Nov

Mining Network Gold – LinkedIn and LinkedIn Profinder

Green Silk Associates, LLC facilitates breakthrough thinking and ways of working for leaders and their teams.  We are pragmatic and trusted consultants with operating experience as senior leaders in complex organizations. We understand what it takes to get things done and help our clients get there faster. We create more effective organizations.  Our expertise includes…

Read More
92016May

Developing Careers — Focus on Marketability

The Case for Career Development Reports on business trends for 2016 show that one of the key priorities for executives this year is human capital management.  In particular, can companies access the talent they need to succeed in an uncertain future? Executives are grappling with ensuring they have the right talent when the market for…

Read More
42016Mar

2016 Business Bets

Various projections of “hot issues” for 2016 abound.  Looking over the lists published by The Conference Board, Bersin, Forbes, Fast Company, and the CFO Alliance, we should expect to see that business executives are focused on the following trends: Customer relationships/Corporate Brand and reputation.  Top line growth will come from retaining and expanding customer relationships…

Read More
92014Jan

Culture as a Lever for Organizational Change

The folks at Strategy & Business just released a report summarizing the results of research  conducted by Booz & Co with over 2,200 global businesspeople on the role of culture in organizational change. http://bit.ly/1cH1fKC The results are compelling.  Culture is a major factor impacting the success or failure of organizational change initiatives.  It is important…

Read More
202013Aug

The Behaviors of Innovators

Interesting blog post in  Forbes. http://www.forbes.com/sites/innovatorsdna/2013/08/14/the-secret-to-unleashing-genius/ Check out the video posted August 13, 2013.  Interesting perspective on what separates the innovative from the creative. I don’t know what is more fun — watching innovators and distilling what it is they do so well OR being out and about observing, asking controversial questions, and seeing the…

Read More