How Etsy Found Its Purpose and Crafted a Turnaround
Harvard Business
MARCH 22, 2022
CEO Josh Silverman’s purpose-driven turnaround at Etsy made the company profitable and improved its social and environmental impact.
Desperate Times Call for Effective Turnarounds
BCG
NOVEMBER 11, 2016
We refer to these as turnaround and restructuring efforts. At this point, the company starts burning through cash reserves and needs to launch a turnaround. . Turnaround and restructuring programs involve applying all three components: * Funding the Journey. Winning in the Medium Term. Organizing for Sustained Performance.
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How Microsoft Became Innovative Again
Harvard Business
FEBRUARY 20, 2023
Inside the cultural turnaround that helped the tech giant think like a startup.
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AlixPartners Interviews and Culture
Management Consulted
JANUARY 25, 2016
AlixPartners is an international business advisory firm based in Southfield, MI known for its work in corporate turnarounds, bankruptcy assignments and restructuring. Generally regarded as turnaround market leaders, AlixPartners is doing a killer job at taking up more room in the consulting space by strategically hiring a plethora of gurus.
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Soft Skills Training in the Digital Age: Strategies and Best Practices
Clarity Consultants
APRIL 18, 2025
On-the-Job Performance Metrics : Look for changes in measurable outcomes: improved customer satisfaction scores, reduced internal conflict, faster project turnaround times, or higher engagement survey results. This also supports a culture of continuous learning. These indicators often correlate with stronger soft skills in action.
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FTI Consulting Interviews and Culture
Management Consulted
FEBRUARY 15, 2015
FTI CONSULTING INTERVIEWS & CULTURE. FTI expanded into investigation and research capabilities as well as turnaround, restructuring, bankruptcy and forensic accounting with the moves. Restructuring/Turnaround Services. FTI CONSULTING CULTURE. 1999: FTI Consulting began trading as a public company on the NYSE.
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The Key to Campbell Soup’s Turnaround? Civility.
Harvard Business
OCTOBER 5, 2017
.” One of the first things Doug did to address the dysfunctional, low-performance environment was to visibly set expectations for how he intended to create a more civil culture built on respect. Practices can be seen both in the smallest of moments and in large-scale adjustments to company culture and procedure.
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At LEGO, Growth and Culture Are Not Kid Stuff
BCG
JANUARY 19, 2017
The turnaround of the LEGO Group is one of the famous business stories of this century. He was a 35-year-old former academic and consultant who quickly gained a reputation as a turnaround artist. Prior to the turnaround, Knudstorp acknowledges, LEGO had taken this loyalty for granted by stretching the brand too thin.
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Saving RadioShack
Tom Spencer
SEPTEMBER 14, 2014
When the business landscape changes, how can you turnaround a failing company? Assuming this leads to successful refinancing, what should the strategy be to turnaround and save this iconic company? When faced with a broad turnaround question, it is important to ask a variety of questions to determine the source of the problem.
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Big Ideas, Bad Results: Avoiding Strategic Uselessness
Tom Spencer
APRIL 25, 2025
Inability to Execute A strategy detached from the organizations capabilities, resources, or culture is destined to fail. Cutting dozens of projects allowed Apple to focus on a few core products, leading to one of the most remarkable business turnarounds in history. Actionable A strategy is only as good as its execution.
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Seabury Group Interviews and Culture
Management Consulted
JUNE 14, 2015
Founded in 1995 by former Bain consultants and headquartered in New York City, they focus on developing airline strategy and implementing major operational turnaround. SEABURY GROUP CULTURE. In fact, in terms of firms we profile, they are truly one of the new kids on the block.
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When Is Teamwork Really Necessary?
Harvard Business
AUGUST 16, 2018
Role Models: shape the values, behavior, and culture of the organization. In turnaround situations, for example, the most important roles for the team often are Agenda Setters, Execution Drivers, and Architects (leading required organizational transformation). Talent Developers: attract, assess, develop, and retain talent.
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Leading Across Cultures Requires Flexibility and Curiosity
Harvard Business
MAY 30, 2016
Even without speaking the local language, you can learn a huge amount about a country’s culture from tuning into local television shows, especially comedy programs. Being able to tune into a culture without pre-conceived biases or judgment is a skill all leaders need in complex, global organizations. Managing Across Cultures.
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70 Your Consulting Niche vs Jack-of-All-Trades Myth
Successful Independent Consulting
JANUARY 20, 2017
Transformation and turnaround leader specialized in building teams, measurement systems, and driving results at distressed and growth companies alike, with a focus on the middle market. Translation: turnaround expert. Translation: change management for IT projects. What problems do you solve? What situations do you know how to address?
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Narrow Your Niche to Win More Work as a Solopreneur
Successful Independent Consulting
APRIL 1, 2024
Working within the intersection between these disciplines, Jack emphasizes leadership development, inter-cultural business communication, employee engagement, and customer focus. This is not a service offering; this is a laundry list of skills. What is his sweet spot? What is he really good at?
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195 7 Factors of Great Office Design
Harvard Business
MAY 20, 2016
An office environment reflects and reinforces a business’s core values, through the placement of different teams and functions and design elements that reflect culture, brand, and values. The scrappy functionality of the space culturally constrained their evolution from start-up to mature business.
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Leaders Who Get Change Right Know How to Listen
Harvard Business
OCTOBER 17, 2016
What she learned informed her strategy for the turnaround, which she then communicated through a series of town halls, roundtables, and memos. ” And she restored the company’s profitability — the turnaround was a success. “The response was overwhelming,” Mulcahy said. “Defection slowed to a trickle.
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70 Is It Too Late for Sears to Save Itself?
Harvard Business
MARCH 30, 2017
Analysts say that Sears may still have time to stage a turnaround. Its brand still has clout; its name is as steeped in American culture as Coke and Levi’s. It should start with its internal culture. The company says it is taking action to ensure its future viability. So what should Sears do now?
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How Organic Wine Finally Caught On
Harvard Business
APRIL 3, 2018
The Turnaround. In an increasingly globalized 21 st century world, organic wine had become a potent symbol of localized place and culture strongly tied to the past century. European legislation finally emerged for organic wine in 2012, allowing producers to add sulfites up to a certain maximum level.
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How Companies Escape the Traps of the Past
Harvard Business
APRIL 26, 2016
One effective way is to work on culture. Box 2 muscle requires a culture where honest Box 2 questions are encouraged. Looking at Nadella’s communications, you may consider what new narratives could you introduce to create a Box 2 culture in your company? Imagine Jack looking at your organization.
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PE Firms Are Creating a New Role: Leadership Capital Partner
Harvard Business
AUGUST 11, 2017
Most of the LCPs we studied began with the task of ensuring the PE firm itself had the right talent, culture, and leadership, and then moved on to do the same for portfolio companies. A company turnaround focuses on costs and can often be done through financial reengineering and cost cutting measures.
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71 Leaders Need Different Skills to Thrive in Tech
Harvard Business
OCTOBER 17, 2016
A series of jarring experiences have taught you that: Your management authority is meaningless in a culture that worships engineers. Dense geographic concentrations in regions such as Silicon Valley, Seattle, Boston and Bangalore foster even more cultural idiosyncrasies. Tech employees work long days and during weekends and holidays.
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How to Get on the Shortlist for the C-Suite
Harvard Business
MARCH 2, 2017
Turnaround leaders pick up the pieces and make things right when a business or function is failing to perform. Even if you succeed in your functional or business roles over a long period, you won’t make it to the top team unless the cultural fit is right. Most companies have a distinct culture.
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Quick Tips for Consulting to Small Organizations | Consulting and.
Consulting and Organizational Management
OCTOBER 26, 2011
Instead, I’ve been more successful with, e.g., ”turnaround specialist” or “business developer.” Business Ethics, Culture and Performance. ” Assessments should use the pareto principle, i.e., focus on some “best practices” in each of the major management functions. Librarys Blogs.
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Business Buy-Sell and the Business’s Status – #3
Martinka Consulting
AUGUST 11, 2014
I like to say (especially to business buyers with stars in their eyes) that, “turnarounds make headlines because they are rare.” Here are five: Great people with depth of management, above average compensation (to attract better employees), and a good culture. If you’re the owner of one of these, congratulations.
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40 Private Equity’s New Phase
Harvard Business
AUGUST 9, 2016
These buy outs shifted agency from owners to managers; “corporate raiders” worked with high-yield debt to fund these turnarounds. That means that in this phase, PE firms also require expertise into leadership, talent, and organizational capabilities and culture.
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Jenny Dearborn Data Driven Strategies
LSA Global
JANUARY 1, 2018
This book tells the story of a successful sales executive who, after leading an analytics-driven turnaround (in Data Driven, this book’s predecessor), faces a new turnaround challenge as chief human resources officer. Shape an analytics-centric culture that generates data driven leaders. Realistic and Actionable.
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Why the Insurance Industry Can’t Risk Overlooking Artificial Intelligence - SPONSOR CONTENT FROM COGNIZANT
Harvard Business
NOVEMBER 22, 2016
Improved operational efficiency: AI-based needs analysis systems allow insurers to not only improve their probability of lead-to-quote conversion but also reduce turnaround time conversions. Start small. Insurers should focus the case for a proof of concept on activities that require agility, automation, and continuous innovation.
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71 To Grow as a Leader, Seek More Complex Assignments
Harvard Business
JULY 20, 2016
Japan’s educational institutions and cultural work ethic give its managers a jump-start in their careers, but most companies don’t continue the development process as far as it could go. What we found was an incredible paradox. Japanese professionals had higher potential than the global average but lower competence.
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70 4 Ways CEOs Can Conquer Short-Termism
Harvard Business
FEBRUARY 24, 2017
He developed a three-year plan for his turnaround vision, which was translated into annual and quarterly operating plans, and biquarterly responsibilities for his executive team. .” The challenge faced by all our study CEOs was how to instill that both/and mindset throughout the entire organization.
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How Avaya Turned Around Its Customer Ratings
Harvard Business
OCTOBER 25, 2016
Disclosure: Although Avaya currently has no ties with Innovators International, my interest in Avaya’s remarkable turnaround was initially kindled by the dozens of conversations I had with many people at Avaya when the company was a partner with our organization.). It takes a major cultural shift in the company.
Organizations Can’t Change If Leaders Can’t Change with Them
Harvard Business
OCTOBER 24, 2016
Historically, the organization’s culture had been slow and unresponsive because decision making resided largely at the top. He redesigned the organization to create a culture where decision rights were more appropriately distributed to those lower in the organization who were better equipped to solve problems and direct resources.
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How Volvo Reinvented Itself Through Hiring
Harvard Business
MARCH 12, 2018
Volvo’s turnaround over the last decade offers a great example. ” Sallstrom had a second reason for looking outside the company: He and Jacoby believed that only an infusion of fresh talent could transform Volvo’s culture into an entrepreneurial one. For years, Volvo was a brand stuck between a rock and a hard place.
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Internal Hires Need Just as Much Support as External Ones
Harvard Business
APRIL 4, 2016
This is confirmed by my follow-up interviews with these leaders, which revealed that these internal transitions can be every bit as tough as onboarding, involving combinations of promotions and moves to new units or new geographies, as well as dealing with different cultures and political networks.
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Improving Airlines’ On-Time Performance
BCG
SEPTEMBER 21, 2016
OTP is also affected by decisions made in multiple areas, including fleet size and composition, flight crew composition, and flight turnaround times. But the challenges of complexity and difficulty pale beside the benefits of getting OTP right and the high costs—financial, operational, cultural, and reputational—of enduring ongoing problems.
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A “Thing” That Really Works
The Fearless Marketer
DECEMBER 7, 2020
They can help your clients do things faster and better, improve productivity and effectiveness, increase sales, shorten cycle times, turnaround cultures, etc., But these programs or services can transform how an organization does things. This is the kind of stuff you’re already doing for your clients, right?
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PARADE Method
CaseInterview.com
MARCH 26, 2019
Option A was the best logical option, but it was also a tough sell, given the culture of the organization. Option B was 80% as good as Option A, but had no cultural resistance. The servers we wanted had a two-week turnaround time. It is also important to consider inter-personal factors in your rationale. and to do it fast.
As Work Changes, Leadership Development Has to Keep Up
Harvard Business
OCTOBER 10, 2016
Leaders must have the vision and forward-focus to anticipate how technology could disrupt the business model and the skill to mobilize the organization for change and drive a culture of collaboration. Voser was impatient for a new experience which attracted him to ABB and there he learned a whole new level of turnaround leadership.
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How to Evaluate Your Marketing Leader’s Performance
Prudent Pedal
JANUARY 28, 2020
Ask questions about production efficiency, turnaround times, collateral organization/dissemination, and costs. Culture and organizational effectiveness. Review KPIs related to pipeline contribution, revenue, market share, new solution development/launches, client service delivery, culture, etc. . Competitive Intelligence.
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How to Turn Around a Failing School
Harvard Business
AUGUST 5, 2016
Like any turnaround, there is no magic bullet — a series of remedial steps need to be taken. In this way, school leaders can create the right culture early on and ensure that poor behaviors never develop. So what did we find? Do create an “all through” school.
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70 Bad News: You Have to Grow to Pay Your Debt
Martinka Consulting
JULY 6, 2015
Sears was in the headlines because they are running out of cash as their turnaround is failing. As the WSJ points out: “At the same time, another challenge looms: meshing two vastly different corporate cultures inside its new global liquor subsidiary.” The above two paragraphs make my point about where was the common sense.
Getting Old, Getting Stagnant, and That’s Trouble
Martinka Consulting
SEPTEMBER 24, 2015
Given his age, family situation, and inattention to company culture the price he received was about half of what it would have been (had he acted earlier). Once stagnation hits it may not be a turnaround but it sure is a fixer-upper, and that is something all sellers need to avoid.
The Mistakes PE Firms Make When They Pick CEOs for Portfolio Companies
Harvard Business
SEPTEMBER 6, 2016
He quickly recognized that he had to institute a new strategy and culture. A private equity group led by TPG bought the company in 2007; at the time SCA had suffered more than four straight quarters of declining profits. That year TPG hired a new CEO, Andrew Hayek, to rebuild SCA. However, Hayek didn’t push training on them.
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Are You a Toxic Leader?
Peter Stark
OCTOBER 13, 2019
Hire an Executive Coach: When someone has been allowed to negatively impact an entire workgroup or culture, it’s difficult for them to change their communication and leadership style. Most often, they’re going to need additional help in developing the strategies and actions to make a positive turnaround.
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