The title of the op-ed piece on the Harvard Business School Working Knowledge site was probably meant—and destined—to get a rise out of the outsource community: “How to Do Away with the Dangers of Outsourcing.” I mean is it really possible to “do away” with the dangers inherent in any human or business endeavor? And […]
I-5 Skagit Bridge Rebuild an Opportunity to Apply Vested Principles
When I heard about the I-5 bridge collapse on the Skagit River in Mount Vernon, WA I thought about a lot of things—injuries, safety, infrastructure. But with everyone safe, I turned my attention to how Gov. Jay Inslee and the Washington State Department of Transportation now have a real opportunity to show effective leadership by using […]
Gaming with Game Theory
What happens when a behavioral ecologist uses a game theory exam to test his students’ proficiency at cheating? Even better, what happens when the same UCLA professor, Peter Nonacs, then confronts his students with a version of the Prisoner’s Dilemma to decide their final grades? Both Nonacs and the students learned important lessons about Game […]
Christensen: Capitalism Needs Work (Pt. 2)
Last time I talked about Harvard Professor Clayton Christensen’s disruptive innovation as described in his book, The Innovator’s Dilemma. Being a fan for several years now, I can’t wait for his new book, The Capitalist’s Dilemma to come out, which basically calls for a large dose of disruptive innovation for macro-economics and the free market […]
Christensen: Transforming Innovation and Capitalism
I can’t believe it has been 16 years since Clayton Christensen rocked the business world with his groundbreaking book, The Innovator’s Dilemma. The subtitle of the book is revealing: When New Technologies Cause Great Firms to Fail. His book was a bestseller in 1997 and received the Global Business Book Award for the best business […]
Billable Hours and Perverse Incentives
Those who know me or the Vested business model know the importance of Rule #1 – an Outcome vs. Transaction Based Business Model. Transaction-based business models create perverse incentives because they encourage an ailment I call the activity trap. In my speeches and classes I use the example of a rat on a treadmill when […]
Getting to a Shared Purpose Partnership
Mark Bonchek, chief catalyst of ORBIT+Co., writes in a post for the HBR Blog Network about the benefits of having a corporate purpose. Many are starting to profess the importance of purpose—for instance Simon Sinek, who has a powerful model for inspirational leadership that starts with with a golden circle and the question, “Why?” (His […]
Stalling Might Work in Basketball, Not in Partnerships
If you’re a college basketball fan—and who isn’t during March Madness?— you’ve probably heard of the four corners offense, a stalling strategy designed to ensure victory for the team using this type of offense. For the uninitiated, four players would stand at the corners of the offensive half-court while the fifth would dribble the ball in the middle—endlessly. The […]
Dell’s Journey to Vested Innovation
Dell is much in the news lately, and for good reason, what with founder Michael S. Dell’s controversial plan to buy out the company and take it private for $24.4 billion coupled with mounting opposition to his plan from no less an eminence than the financier Carl Icahn and other major shareholders. I’m not here […]
Clinton: Getting Into the Tomorrow Business
As you no doubt know by now I’ve been saying that the future of outsourcing and business success lies in collaboration, so it’s timely and nice when a former president also strongly endorses this idea. At the recent Dell World users’ conference in Austin, TX, President Bill Clinton’s lively keynote address before about 5,000 people […]
