Field Trip To Kmart

The discussion in class on Kmart had me thinking, so when was the last time I actually saw a Kmart or walked in one. Yesterday I found one and decided to venture in. The store felt very “tired” and the inventory was a jumbled mess all over the place, the floors were a miss-match, chipped and dirty tiles. I saw very few employees and even fewer customers.

The only interesting thing that jumped out at me was they had an “Internet Café” area – next to the 2 week old rolling hot dog warmer food stand next to the exit – that was very busy, there were six computer stations (every seat had a person both using it and one waiting). Actually there were more people at the Internet Café than in the whole store combined (employees and customers). I kept thinking, put the Internet Café in the middle of the store and allow the users to look at sale items while they sit there? Ask them to take a survey before they use the Internet (on line) what items do they want and need?

Agile Corp?

Well the week is flowing by fast, but I did have a moment to go back to my notes from the class and put together a few ideas/ thoughts on the idea around structure. The case study on Fung really challenged me to look at structure not based on assets but instead on what it is a company could really be doing beyond the physical aspect. The attached page is just a starting thought for me.

Harvard Business School July 2008

The Week After Class

It was great spending time in Boston at the Harvard Business School thinking about the strategies around so many different businesses, and how agile to change these organizations are. The trick is to now come back to our “real world” lives and apply what we heard, read and talked about. The class and especially the classmates were great fun.

What I hope to achieve with this blog site is the ability for us to stay in touch, share, learn and continue to grow from our time together.

My key learning’s from last week:

Understand what business you are in and also what you are not.

1. Leadership drives the ability of an organization to both have a strategic direction and also if that organization will have attributes that allow for agility and stretch.
2. There is the seen and the unseen in networks and corporate structure/ organizations make sure you take both into account.
3. What made you successful in the past will most likely not make you successful in the future.
4. Never assume you have the whole picture - get others to help check in and give a reality check.
   
   Best in Spirit! David Carrithers