Nilofer Merchant

How not to win points with bloggers

As someone who writes a weblog that gets thousands of visitors a week, I receive an e-mail like this every few days (the names have been deleted out of politeness): === From: [deleted] Sent: Friday, August 22, 2008 7:56 AM…


Harvard Business Publishing: Umair Haque - What Apple Knows That Facebook Doesn’t

Too often, we don’t recognize the power of platforms - even in Silicon Valley. Nilofer Merchant, Rubicon’s CEO, writes frequently on the topic and ties it together with strategy. The piece below by Umair Haque, draws an interesting difference between…


Nilofer Merchant's Blog


Employees and Strategy

August 20, 2008

For many executives, the two words above don't go together. Why? Because they think strategy is done in the C-suite. I'm here to tell you that's old thinking. Life is different now. Status is less relevant. We're in an era...

Nilofer Merchant on August 20, 2008
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Strategy vs. Truth

August 17, 2008

What happens inside an employee when strategy doesn't jive with what they know to be truth? In a millisecond, a string of questions unwinds. Questions like: Do they expect me to say something? Will I get in trouble if I...

Nilofer Merchant on August 17, 2008
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Strategy has 5 Structural Elements: People

August 15, 2008

Strategy has 5 Structural Elements - power distribution, decision-making, idea generation, ideas, process and people. If you miss tuning one, you'll fail. Add items that don't blend and you'll fail. People In an organization of any size, people bring their...

Nilofer Merchant on August 15, 2008
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Strategy has 5 Structural Elements: Process

August 14, 2008

Strategy has 5 Structural Elements - power distribution, decision-making, idea generation, ideas, process and people. Miss tuning one and you'll fail. Add items that don't blend and you'll fail. Process Process is the way that ideas are handled and consumed...

Nilofer Merchant on August 14, 2008
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The Five Structural Elements of Strategy: Idea Generation

August 4, 2008

Strategy has 5 Structural Elements - power distribution, decision-making, idea generation, ideas, process and people. Miss tuning one and you'll fail. Add items that don't blend and you'll fail. Idea Generation How ideas are generated affects the quantity and quality...

Nilofer Merchant on August 4, 2008
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Let's not do it again

July 29, 2008

Review of web-based failures, and they had me going down memory lane. It is both funny and sad.

Nilofer Merchant on July 29, 2008
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The 5 Structural Elements of Strategy: Decision-Making

July 28, 2008

Strategy has 5 Structural Elements - power distribution, decision-making, idea generation, ideas, process and people. Miss tuning one and you'll fail. Add items that don't blend and you'll fail. Decision-Making The way decisions are made in organizations determines how ideas...

Nilofer Merchant on July 28, 2008
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The 5 Structural Elements of Strategy: Power Distribution

July 23, 2008

Strategy has 5 Structural Elements - power distribution, decision-making, idea generation, ideas, process and people. Miss tuning one and you'll fail. Add items that don't blend and you'll fail. Power Distribution This dictates who to involve, how much information each...

Nilofer Merchant on July 23, 2008
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The Missing Strategic Ingredient

July 21, 2008

Part of the difficulty in strategy creation is the temptation to direct rather than ask open-ended questions. When the C-suite sends a directive telling people to head in a certain direction, thinking isn't involved. Teams start to align against that...

Nilofer Merchant on July 21, 2008
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Strategy Failure = Strategy Creation Process Gone Awry

July 18, 2008

We've all seen it - the company that makes a play for new customers and finds they've targeted incorrectly. The product launch that fizzles. A big rebranding move that ends up being underwhelming. Is strategy failure due to poor leadership,...

Nilofer Merchant on July 18, 2008
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