Author: Gérard

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GenAI for Business Leaders: Strategic Lever or Cognitive Trap?

Generative AI (GenAI) and large language models (LLMs), such as GPT-4o, have swiftly revolutionized our work dynamics. They have emerged as indispensable business tools, reshaping the modern corporate landscape. These advanced AI systems promise transformative benefits, driving unparalleled productivity, innovation, and profitability. Despite the complex challenges that come with their adoption, companies embracing GenAI are on the brink of a transformative era. The success of this journey hinges on intentional oversight, robust governance frameworks, and a strategic balance between automation and human judgment. How prepared is your organization to harness the full potential of this transformative era?

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Are you leading or just reacting? A look at the systems thinking mindset

close up of a tree trunk in lush forest

Most leaders don’t realize they’re stuck in a cycle of reacting to problems instead of solving them at the source. In this episode, we explore Systems Thinking—the mindset that helps leaders break silos, anticipate ripple effects, and make smarter long-term decisions. From the great toilet paper shortage of 2020 🧻 to business strategies that backfire, we’ll dive into why understanding the bigger picture is the key to effective leadership.

📖 Read the written companion to this episode: ccworld.ca/systems

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Seeing the Forest and the Trees: Why Leaders Need a Systems Mindset

close up of a tree trunk in lush forest

Leading a business is like running a control center. Every switch, gauge, and flashing red light represents decisions, external forces, and a network of human relationships. It’s tempting to jump from crisis to crisis, putting out fires. But without stepping back to see the whole system, leaders risk missing the bigger picture. Problems persist, and root causes remain untouched.

Systems thinking shifts focus from firefighting to foresight. It reveals hidden bottlenecks, delays, and inefficiencies. It helps leaders make smarter decisions by understanding how changes ripple across an organization.

My introduction to systems thinking came when I decided to attend an elective course at university. What I learned about seeing the bigger picture and inter-connectedness has shaped my thinking ever since. This mindset has helped me always consider how decisions ripple through organizations over time.

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Go beyond PLG and focus on the Customer Journey

In this podcast episode, I look at why it isn’t about Product-Led, OR Sales-Led, OR Marketing-Led Growth. It’s all the above simultaneously. It’s about Customer-Led Growth. It’s about delivering an end-to-end experience at every touchpoint of the customer life cycle that feels like one, delighting the user at every step.

This episode has a related blog post, and includes a graphical representation of the Customer Journey “Game of Life” and the Product “Ferris Wheel”.

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Time to go beyond Product-Led Growth – think Customer Journey

In recent years, PLG, or Product-Led Growth, has become a significant buzz in the tech world, and rightfully so. Products that delight customers and fuel growth loops are essential. If your offering can’t deliver considerable value to your users, if your product isn’t resolving major pain-points, or isn’t providing big WOWs over the alternatives where it matters, then you’ve got (lots of) work ahead. But with the rise of digital channels, customers interact with businesses in multiple ways that drive the overall experience. Only focusing on the product or go-to-market-led growth is no longer enough – it’s time to prioritize the whole Customer Journey (CJ).

It isn’t about Product-Led, OR Sales-Led, OR Marketing-Led Growth. It’s all the above simultaneously. It’s about Customer-Led Growth. It’s about delivering an end-to-end experience at every touchpoint of the customer life cycle that feels like one, delighting the user at every step.

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Leveraging Lean Startup in established organizations

In this podcast episode, I look at how established organizations can leverage the lean startup methodology to drive velocity through simplicity. I also experiment with the format, providing you with a chance to participate and go through the framework described yourself.

This episode has a related blog post that will provide you with the framework in written form.

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Leveraging Lean Startup in established organizations

As organizations mature and become more complex, aversion to risk increases, resulting in a slow decision process. Yet the world around is not standing still, and the speed of change continues to accelerate. Nimble young businesses, who live by the Lean Startup approach of building, measuring, and learning, move from nothing to a product customers love in what appears, from an established company perspective at least, virtually no time.

If both have strategic clarity around the vision, startups leave established organizations in the rear-view mirror because they optimize for simplicity and velocity. Startups practice the lean methodology to avoid spending time on things that ultimately won’t deliver value. They prevent waste by learning early and quickly where they are wrong.

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V1 innovation within a V+1 org

Startups are optimized towards launching version 1.0 offerings, identifying product-market fit, and putting in place the best go-to-market organization to attract new customers. Once the “magic” happens (or should I say the challenging work pays off), when users and products find each other in a happy place, the growth loops evolve towards retention in addition to the original focus purely on acquisition. As the company matures, there is a natural tendency to increasingly drive the business towards delivering incremental products, focusing on the existing target audiences. After all, that’s where the revenue has come from historically, so why not concentrate the R&D and go-to-market investments on what we know best and minimize financial risks? Larger companies sometimes have a hard time going after something unproven that will take investing multiple years to become a meaningful part of the revenue. It could even take market share away from existing offerings!

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