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OPERATIONAL MODERNIZATION

Closing the Continuity Gap

Building Organizations That Improve Themselves

A new management thesis for continuously improving how work gets done across the enterprise.

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Business Modernization Needs a General Contractor
BizOps

Business Modernization Needs a General Contractor

Imagine you are building a house. You hire electricians, plumbers, framers, roofers, drywall crews, HVAC technicians, and dozens of other specialists, each skilled at something different. Nearly all of them will arrive with a drill. The electrician may prefer Milwaukee, the plumber DeWalt, the framer Makita, and someone else will show up with Bosch or Ryobi. As the homeowner, you almost certainly do not care. You care whether the lights turn on, the toilet flushes, the walls are straight...

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Operational Modernization and the Disciplines That Came Before It
BizOps

Operational Modernization and the Disciplines That Came Before It

Ask an experienced operating executive about Operational Modernization for the first time, and a fair question usually comes back before any agreement does. Isn't this just Lean with a new name? Agile applied to the whole company? Another pass at digital transformation? The skepticism is earned. Most executives in this audience have sat through at least one initiative that promised to change how the business ran and delivered a project instead.

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Your Best People Are Doing the Worst Work
BizOps

Your Best People Are Doing the Worst Work

Every growing company has one. The person who can tell you, from memory, which reports were finalized before the quarter closed and which were amended after. The person who checks two systems before answering a customer question because the two systems disagree about a third of the time. The person who has a spreadsheet that nobody asked them to build, that nobody else fully understands, and that the finance team quietly depends on every month.

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New Book Introduces "Operational Modernization," a Management Discipline for the AI Era
BizOps

New Book Introduces "Operational Modernization," a Management Discipline for the AI Era

Operational Modernization: Closing the Continuity Gap argues that AI has exposed a persistent gap in management thinking and proposes a new discipline for closing it.

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Most Companies Don't Need AI… Yet
AI & Automation

Most Companies Don't Need AI… Yet

Over the last year, I've had more conversations about AI than any other topic. CEOs are talking about it. Boards are talking about it. Investors are talking about it. Every software vendor seems to be adding AI capabilities to their platform, and every company is trying to figure out where AI fits into their business. In many ways, it feels similar to the early days of cloud computing when organizations knew the technology was important but weren't entirely sure how to apply it.

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What Is Operational Modernization?
BizOps

What Is Operational Modernization?

Over the past several years, I've had the opportunity to work with companies across a wide range of industries and stages of growth. While the challenges are often different on the surface, I've noticed something remarkably consistent underneath.

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The Build vs. Buy Conversation Has Moved Downstream
AI & Automation

The Build vs. Buy Conversation Has Moved Downstream

For most of my career, the build versus buy conversation was reserved for large enterprises. If you were a Fortune 500 company with a massive IT budget and an internal development team, building custom software was a realistic option. You had unique workflows, complex requirements, and enough scale to justify the investment. Everyone else bought software.

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Check Out Brian on the Forged for Growth Podcast!
AI & Automation

Check Out Brian on the Forged for Growth Podcast!

In the podcast, Brian is interviewed by Sho Rust and Thomas Belhacene, who are founders of SHO.ai, a tech startup in the branding industry. They discuss Brian's background and the sales profession as a whole.

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Mastering Sales in the AI Era: Secrets Nobody Tells You
AI & Automation

Mastering Sales in the AI Era: Secrets Nobody Tells You

In a world where technology evolves at lightning speed, sales is undergoing a dramatic transformation driven by artificial intelligence. These advancements are not just reshaping processes—they're redefining how sales professionals engage with prospects. Let's explore how to thrive in this new era of sales and make AI work for you.

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4 Things COVID-19 Has Taught Us About Data
AI & Automation

4 Things COVID-19 Has Taught Us About Data

We live in the age of information. It is literally, at our fingertips. You can pull many data sets from multiple data sources with a few taps on your phone. We are all learning a lot during this pandemic. One thing that has become clear over the past few weeks is the importance of data. Regardless of your profession or which industry you're in, you've probably heard your co-workers or bosses talking about "data-driven" this or that. Here are 4 takeaways about how data is used from our experience

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Every Sales Organization Must Eventually Make This Transformation
BizOps

Every Sales Organization Must Eventually Make This Transformation

One of Henry Ford's greatest contributions to the world of industry was the development of the assembly line. The core concept of the assembly line is that the specialization of job functions leads to increased productivity and efficiency. Rather than having an individual own a process from start to finish, you have individuals specialize in smaller, specific micro-processes.

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What the Hell is a Sales Playbook?
RevOps

What the Hell is a Sales Playbook?

Simply put, a sales playbook should be a sales rep's bible. They should sleep with it, eat next to it, and read it every night. A sales playbook is an aggregation of lots of different documents that will support the sales rep throughout the sales process. It should assist in all stages of a seller's journey from prospecting, cold calling, demonstrating, to overcoming objections, negotiation, and closing the deal.

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The Next Big Movement in Sales Strategy
AI & Automation

The Next Big Movement in Sales Strategy

I'm writing this article in the downtime between sessions at a conference for wealth management representatives. I had an interesting conversation with one of the reps in attendance. He told me a story about a friend of his that had a very successful wealth management firm that he grew from the ground up to multi-billions in assets under management. It was built on gritty cold calling and aggressive selling techniques 30 years ago.

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