Business performance: done well + done differently

I thought business success was mainly about operational excellence, but I learned it’s equally about growth.

Early in my career as a lab scientist, I saw projects get cancelled, not because they weren’t innovative, but because they didn’t fit the strategy.

I wanted to understand how these decisions were made. What differentiated the ideas that moved forward from those that didn’t? This curiosity took me out of the lab and into management consulting.

That’s where I realised that strategy requires a creative approach.

Roger Martin (a fellow Monitor alumnus) argues that strategy is about inventing the future rather than relying on past data or analysis.

Here’s what I’ve learned: it’s not just strategy that needs creativity. Business performance needs it too.

But many companies focus on execution and optimising operations by reducing errors and avoiding mistakes. This is only half of the performance equation. Strong business performance needs new strategies and products, and marketing ideas that only happen through insight and creativity.

That’s why I work with science and technology businesses that need immediate solutions to drive growth or want to develop the skills to foster creativity and better decision-making.