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Increasingly, companies have begun to understand the importance of succession planning. Best practice companies invest considerable time and money in the identification of up-and-coming leaders; more boards of directors have also come to embrace their role in overseeing succession to the CEO position, as well as to a few senior roles such as COO and CFO. Unfortunately, unless executives are being considered as candidates for higher level roles, these development efforts rarely extend to other members of a company's senior team: the heads of major operating groups and corporate functions such as finance and IT. In this article, we identify three patterns that increase the risk of performance failure for long-tenured senior executives who are not being considered candidates for higher level roles. We then present three questions that can trigger a number of important development actions, which can in turn create more effective senior executive teams, curb unplanned attrition, and lead to more predictable succession plans.

Developing strong leadership within the organization is one of the most valuable pursuits any firm can undertake. Considering the many demands on the resources of leaders, developmental opportunities must be efficient and effective to truly impact leadership ability. Comic books and their role in storytelling can offer unique insights regarding core leadership characteristics underlying great sales leadership and act as a tool for growth in leadership capabilities. With the recent explosion in superhero awareness through blockbuster movie releases and increased comic book readership, this article presents a series of leadership characteristics and their embodiment within superheroes. A list of top sales leader qualities from a panel of practicing sales professionals is first provided. Specific examples of these leadership qualities as evidenced by a particular superhero are then offered. These examples are solicited from a panel of superhero subject matter experts and yield insight into how managers can use superhero narratives as a learning tool. We summarize the findings from our research and propose specific managerial challenges and actionable recommendations offered by the exemplars we review.

Despite the growing importance of information technology (IT) in organizations, chief executive officers (CEOs) and top management teams exhibit an alarming degree of distrust toward IT and chief information officers (CIOs). This CIO-CEO gap can be explained by several factors including failure of IT to deliver value, poor understanding of IT by business executives, lack of a clear vision with respect to IT, different worldviews of business executives and technology specialists, lack of a shared vision in relation to IT, poor relationship skills of CIOs, and criticism of IT by so-called experts in the popular and academic press. These factors stand in the way of a good CIO-CEO relationship, IT alignment with organizational goals, and improvement in organizational performance with the help of IT. Bridging the gap requires a set of joint and independent actions by the CIO, the CEO, and the entire top management team. Recommendations for both CIOs and CEOs include communication, knowledge sharing, and developing a shared vision in relation to IT. CIOs are advised to focus on business value and develop managerial, leadership, and political skills. CEOs should establish an appropriate reporting structure for the CIO, educate top managers regarding IT, and increase personal involvement in and support of the IT function and the CIO.

Business models are a current hot topic, and their design has become a key to performance. In fact, business model design is often associated with innovation. Many firms, though, fail to realize the full potential of their current business model simply because they are not aware of it. Nevertheless, Google succeeded in realizing its business model's full potential by offering its main service, Internet search, completely for free while capturing value from secondary opportunities such as Google AdWords. Especially for new ventures and SMEs, capturing value from secondary opportunities or business model sophistication is of critical importance toward increasing the pool of resources at hand and giving momentum to the firm's development. But what are these opportunities, and where can they be found? Based on various examples including Google, Ryanair, the Super Girl Contest on Hunan TV, and Spreadshirt, this article develops a framework that introduces five business model sophistication strategies: (1) uncover additional functions of your product, (2) identify strategic benefits for third parties, (3) take advantage of economies of scope, (4) utilize cross-selling opportunities, and (5) involve users and the crowd. All five strategies place a strong emphasis on stakeholder commitment.

Companies often initiate strategic changes to adapt to an evolving environment and/or to improve their competitiveness and performance. In this article, I examine why some strategic changes are fruitful for the companies that initiate them whereas others are not. I propose a framework for understanding the fruitfulness of strategic changes based on their expected impact on competitiveness and likely stakeholder commitment to the changes. I propose that strategic changes are likely to be most fruitful when their potential to enhance competitiveness is high and the stakeholder commitment is likely to be high. At the other end of the spectrum, companies should avoid implementing strategic changes that have low potential to enhance competitiveness and where the stakeholder commitment is low. Being poor strategic choices, these changes may not enhance competitiveness or performance, but, in fact, detract from them. I provide case-based evidence for the framework drawing on strategic changes implemented by Starbucks, McDonald's, and Tupperware and also identify conditions, specifically relating to the decision-making process and corporate governance, under which detrimental strategic changes may be implemented. I also offer a set of recommendations to companies to help them avoid making poor strategic choices.

The development of mobile applications has represented a challenge and opportunity for companies to market their brands and products through a new channel; however, the branded mobile applications (branded apps) currently available in the market are far from perfect and existing app designs do not yet have well established mobile and social features. This article offers systematic guidelines for branded app design by identifying different levels of strategies that should be taken into consideration by companies. We illustrate five business objectives (communication, customer relationship management, sales, product innovation, and marketing research) and identify five types of branded apps (tool-, game-, social-, m-commerce-, and design-centric). Three functional building blocks are proposed to specify how mobile features, social features, and brand mention elements should be incorporated into branded app development. Various examples of branded apps are provided to illustrate relevant best practices in order to guide marketers in improving branded app design.

Managers often struggle to determine why their firm is underperforming relative to its rivals. This article outlines how managers and consultants can use an existing strategy tool, Kim and Mauborgne's strategy canvas, to robustly test whether their firm is underperforming because it is (1) properly executing the wrong value proposition's delivery or (2) failing to properly execute the right customer value proposition's delivery. Once the issues with the firm's value proposition and its delivery activities are correctly diagnosed, the strategic value curve analysis tool assists in developing recommendations to improve the firm's profitability. The article concludes by describing how the authors successfully used the tool to help a consulting client complete a review of its strategy.

Members of the Millennial Generation ('millennials') are strongly attached to their smartphones and engrossed in social media. They frequently post pictures and tweet about the products they like and buy. Consequently, established consumer brands unable to master the use of Twitter and other social media are likely to lose their ability to communicate with this generation. This article reports findings from a study of millennials' Twitter usage and presents the concept of brand entification as the next evolutionary stage of brand personality made possible by this social media. Brand entification refers to a distinct emotional and cognitive attachment between heavy-Twitter-using millennials and the brands they like, and to a unique set of attributions they make toward the brand. Herein, we explain the nature of brand entification, describe how it emerges, and distill some key lessons for brand managers interested in reaching Twitter-using millennials.

U.S. companies spent $5.1 billion on social media advertising in 2013, but a recent Gallup survey revealed that these advertisements had no influence on the majority of U.S. consumers' buying decisions. For social media marketing to be effective, we argue that social media marketing efforts need to be congruent and aligned with the different needs of social media users. To this end, this article presents a typology of current social media services using the following categories: relationship, self-media, collaboration, and creative outlet. We further elaborate on how each type of social media caters to basic human needs, and provide implications for social media marketing based on the need-congruence lens.

Companies can engage with many online social networks and communities to attract customers, disseminate product information, conduct research, and stimulate innovation. However, for these activities to be successful, it is key that consumers at these platforms trust each other and are willing to share their knowledge freely. The study presented in this article assesses what companies can do to encourage members of online communities and marketplaces to share information with others. For this purpose, a netnographic study was conducted of Etsy.com, an online marketplace for handcrafted and vintage products. The study revealed several key findings: companies can stimulate information sharing through activities that build trust and develop a norm of reciprocity; rules and guidelines are helpful to discourage abuse, but do little to stimulate sharing; and companies should give the right example by sharing knowledge themselves. The guidelines that were developed based on these findings can be used by companies that own or manage an online community as well as by those who intend to engage with one.

Too many CEOs believe they need to have all the answers, all the time. But companies are run well by asking questions, not having all the answers. Not understanding this sets leaders on the path to failure. This article argues that the best way for CEOs to harness the skills of others is by using the listening–sensing–observing troika. 1. Listening: Simply by listening to both customers and employees, CEOs can break the glass ceiling of imagination. While most organizations strive to hear customers, many do so while overlooking the need to hear employees. And when employees are not adequately heard, good ideas are left unexpressed and employees underperform and appear to lack skills. 2. Sensing: During the growth phase, organizations commonly develop slack in the system, which impedes fresh thinking and creates a lack of perceptiveness regarding market trends and customer preferences. To battle the slack buildup, companies need a detecting culture that can uncover hidden problems and identify unwanted behaviours. 3. Observing: CEOs must always be on the lookout for what is portrayed in rosy pictures painted by employees, as well as what is deliberately being hidden by growth and success.

Modern business problems are ill-defined, ill-structured and require collective action in order to solve them. As a result, the authors argue, modern business problem solvers need to embrace Model-Based Problem Solving. They describe a new discipline that is nurtured by decades of scientific thinking and practice, with four components: model building, model testing, model calibration and model fusion. Key to the approach is recognizing-and addressing-the issues that arise whenever people work together. They provide advice for harnessing disagreement and turning it into productive and generative tension.

Our schools, their curricula and their governance structures are part of society's purpose-built knowledge infrastructure. The problem is, many of today's most successful leaders believe this infrastructure is not up for the job it was designed for: Bill Gates has said that our schools "cannot teach our kids what they need to know today." The authors argue that we will always face the challenge of matching our knowledge infrastructure with the skills we need tomorrow; and instead of constantly trying to fill that gap, our purpose should be to enable students to overcome the gap effectively themselves, throughout their lives.

Entrepreneurs like Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos and Steve Jobs have exceled at demonstrating a highly valuable skill: spotting unmet market needs and figuring out how to serve them profitably. In short, they excel at anticipation. The authors describe three techniques for 'tuning in' to customer signals in order to better anticipate how tastes and needs are changing. They also describe the perils of 'tunnel vision' and provide three techniques for avoiding it.

Across industries, businesses are globalizing at a remarkable rate. However, the authors argue that there is a severe shortage of executives and managers who are capable of seizing all of the available opportunities. Based on their research at the Thunderbird School of Global Management, they define 'the Global Mindset' and its three components: Global Intellectual Capital, Global Psychological Capital and Global Social Capital. They then describe how to choose between finding people with this mindset or growing a global mindset, and the steps involved in each.

In a world of true meritocracy, every individual-regardless of gender-would be fairly rewarded for their contribution. The problem, according to the author, is that such meritocracy does not exist in most organizations. She argues that the procedures and 'frames of reference' in most firms devalue women's contributions and reinforce the privileges of dominant groups. If we want to make meritocracy a reality, she says, men and women alike must confront their biases towards women. She provides eight strategies for getting closer to a true meritocracy, including 'training anyone in an evaluative position to understand implicit bias' and 'examining systems and procedures for unintended bias'.

The idea that 'less is often more' is thousands of years old, but the author describes how powerful it is in a modern business setting. He provides three key principles that can be applied in any organization: what isn't there often trumps what is; the simplest rules create the most effective experience; and limiting information engages the imagination. In the end, he shows that by focusing on what to ignore, what to leave out and what not to do, workplace decisions become exponentially simpler.

In order to master Big Data, businesses must put aside much of what they know about 'working with data' and adopt new mindsets, technologies and capabilities. The authors, all from the Boston Consulting Group, describe the key capabilities required in three areas: data usage, the data engine itself and the data ecosystem. By following their guidelines, they argue, companies can realize the full potential of Big Data faster than they might think-and more importantly, faster than their competitors.

Governments around the world are under unprecedented pressure to identify more cost-effective ways to deliver their services and produce better societal outcomes. As a result, they have begun to embrace approaches to innovation favoured by the private sector, including Design Thinking. With its customer-centric approach, Design Thinking encourages what the authors call 'citizen-centred design'. They provide a tool kit for policy makers and implementers alike that aims to tackle everything from tactical issues (i.e. getting a repeat prescription) to wider problems, such as supporting people in managing their health.

Most people define 'genius' as a person with a towering IQ; but the author argues that a genius is "anyone who turns insight into innovation, and in the process, changes our view of the world." He provides 10 time-tested principles to ignite an endless cycle of creative growth, including 'Feel before you think', 'See what's not there' and 'wish for what you want'. In the end, he shows that true innovation is an act of protest: a rebellion against rules that, in some cases, have hardened into laws. The job of the innovator, he says, is to defy those laws in the quest for creative solutions.