Latest news with #strategy
Forbes
34 minutes ago
- Business
- Forbes
The Cure For Shiny Object Syndrome? Try 'Strategy Stacking'
How to Lead Your Company Into the Future—Even When Everyone Around You Is Obsessed With Right Now Getty Images Business leaders, let's face it: your day is a battlefield of distractions. Your inbox is a parade of 'urgent' requests. Your team needs answers. Your customers need reassurance. Your vendors want time. Everyone has a to-do list—and you're on it. But here's the catch: their to-do list is not your job. If you're truly leading, your role isn't about solving today's fires. It's about architecting tomorrow. That's why you need Strategy Stacking—a method that helps founders and CEOs shift from reactive chaos to deliberate progress. Think of Strategy Stacking as a productivity hack for your vision. It's a way to consistently focus on long-term growth—even when the world keeps pulling you into short-term noise. Here's how it works: Simple? Yes. Easy? Not at first. But once you master it, you'll spend 10–20% of your time in a state of high-leverage leadership. That's where your impact is greatest. It's flattering to be the genius behind the curtain. But if your team can't make a move without your approval, you're not leading—you're babysitting. And guess what? They'll always ask, because it's safer to get the boss's blessing than to think for themselves. Don't take the bait. Empower your people to own their lanes so you can stay in yours. In a tech-enabled world where businesses have to re-invent their value propositions every 12–18 months, long-term plans are mostly fantasy. At Birthing of Giants, we live by a more agile framework: the 'One Year From Today' Plan. Here's the prompt: What's the one opportunity you'd gladly devote the next year to solving? This simple question sharpens your focus. It demands prioritization. And once you define the opportunity, you build a roadmap—complete with resource plans, red-light/green-light checkpoints, and clear definitions of success. Stack one focused year on top of another, and the transformation is real. We've seen it help leaders build A-player teams, exit at 9- and 10-figure valuations, or completely reinvent their brand. Not every plan works. But every plan moves you forward. Let's be honest: you're a bit of a control freak. And that's okay—because as an owner, you have X-ray vision across your company. You see pricing. You see delivery. You see customer satisfaction and operational gaps. Your instinct to pivot? That's your superpower. Strategy Stacking channels that instinct into focused evolution instead of scattered reaction. Here's where it gets even more powerful: the best strategy for the year ahead often comes from the lessons of the year behind. Warren Buffett once said: 'The percentage change in book value in any one year is likely to be reasonably close to that year's change in intrinsic value.'Translation? If you want to know where to go, look at where you've been. We call this the Buffett Benchmark: Take an honest look at what helped—or hurt—your company's value in the last 12 months. That's your starting point for your next 'One Year From Today' plan. Double down on what worked. Skip the potholes. Allocate resources wisely. Because you're not Google. You have limited time, money, and people. If you: You'll burn out your team and your budget long before you hit gold. Strategy Stacking fixes that. Here's the formula: It's how you stop being the 'help desk' for every little problem and start becoming the architect of your company's future. It lets you stack wins, stay focused, and keep your business moving in the right direction—one year at a time. Finding the right value proposition for your business is where you, the leader, add the most value. Your time is your scarcest resource. Use it where it counts.
Forbes
10 hours ago
- Politics
- Forbes
How AI Is Rewriting Reality—And Why Media Literacy Is Our Best Defense
Dr. Lyric Mandell of MOXY Company is a media strategist and scholar merging credibility, creativity, and culture to shape communication. We live in a society where AI-generated images of presidents in papal robes or pop stars in pitiful props aren't just the brainchildren of bored internet users—they now circulate through official channels and have real-world consequences. The rise of AI-driven visuals from sources as superfluous as anonymous Reddit threads to as sacred as the White House shows how blurred the line between satire and statecraft is, and it's not just political theater. When military agencies experiment with deepfakes and public health campaigns feature AI-generated humans, it becomes clear: This is no longer just about technological novelty—it's a crisis of perception, authority and what we, as a society, agree to call 'real.' In his 2005 book discussing 'BS,' Harry Frankfurt reminds us that much of what circulates in public life is neither truth nor lie—it's language used without any regard for the truth. In the digital age, that indifference becomes content. And when this kind of insincerity becomes visually striking and algorithmically optimized, the danger isn't just that we misinterpret the message—it's that we stop caring whether the message is real. For communicators, this shift is seismic. We now operate in a landscape where audiences often don't care about who shares something—only how it makes them feel or how frequently it appears in their feed. And perhaps more unsettling is that much of this isn't malicious; it's rooted in media illiteracy. The erosion of traditional credibility markers—expertise, authorship and institutional trust—forces communicators to ask complex questions: How do we create messages that resonate in a reality where factual grounding is optional but ethical responsibility isn't? The stakes aren't just strategic—they're societal. Research suggests that false information spreads six times faster than truth and often appears professional enough to pass as fact, even influencing how governments, organizations and the public respond to events. As AI grows more adept at mimicking human behavior, our critical filters weaken. Although the technology is new, the terrain is familiar. As early as 1922, journalist Walter Lippmann theorized in Public Opinion that people respond not to actual events but to the 'pictures inside our heads'—mental shortcuts or 'stereotypes' that help us navigate chaos. In an age where media circulates in many-to-many networks, AI doesn't just reinforce those images; it manufactures them at scale. Media theorist Neil Postman calls this the entertainment-ization of public discourse. In Amusing Ourselves to Death, he argues that television renders 'serious' ideas digestible only when entertaining. AI-generated media becomes Postman's nightmare realized: politics as parody and medicine as memes. This overflow of information, although entertaining, also drains us. With people spending over two hours a day on social media, each swipe delivers another micro-dose of engagement—or irritation. This content overload leads to what scholars describe as 'information fatigue syndrome'—a cognitive condition marked by emotional burnout, decision paralysis and, most alarmingly, active avoidance of news and discourse. Research from Reuters suggests that people don't turn away from the news out of apathy—they retreat because the content feels repetitive, emotionally exhausting and beyond their power to influence. In an ecosystem where audiences can't—or won't—filter every post for truth or relevance, trust becomes optional and attention becomes reflexive. And AI accelerates this breakdown. When content never stops and everything feels true, our brains default to shortcuts. We adopt Lippmann's stereotypes—those 'pictures in our heads'—because interrogating every piece of media proves too exhausting. The antidote isn't withdrawal—it's critical literacy. In an 'apathy economy' where content circulates without conviction, modern communicators must create signals worthy of the scarce, fatigued attention users still possess—but at what cost? For communicators, this shift demands more than creative recalibration—it requires ethical clarity. In an environment where virality often outperforms veracity, the temptation rises: optimize for engagement, lean into outrage and co-opt the aesthetic of authenticity without accountability. But the real challenge isn't just how to get attention—it's how to deserve it. Credibility is no longer a given. If we want audiences to engage intentionally rather than impulsively, we must build trust actively—and often, uphill. This means resisting the allure of AI shortcuts that produce volume without value. It means recognizing that saturation breeds cynicism, and most importantly, it means creating content that contributes to literacy, not just visibility. Frankfurt warns that 'BS' is dangerous not because it's false but because it's indifferent. Postman warns that spectacle smothers substance, and Lippmann warns that our internal 'pictures' overpower facts. Today, all three thinkers converge at the intersection of AI and public discourse. The real danger we face isn't just misinformation—it's the erosion of consensus, not consensus as shared opinions but of shared processes: a collective understanding of how we evaluate and prioritize truth, source credibility and what constitutes reliable evidence. In a world where every post, video or AI-generated image circulates with the same weight—regardless of origin or intent—that consensus collapses. This collapse doesn't just disrupt public trust; it dismantles the conditions that make disagreement productive. Without a baseline agreement on how we determine what's real—and more importantly, why truth should still matter—we lose the ability to disagree meaningfully. We don't just fight over facts—we fight over whether facts exist at all. For communicators, this places a unique responsibility at our feet. We're not just competing in an attention economy but shaping a reality economy. Every message we craft doesn't just influence a market; it contributes to—or corrodes—the broader information environment. We must evaluate our impact not just within KPIs but across our social world. If we're all architects of attention, we're also stewards of its consequences—and that includes preserving a cultural commitment to truth itself. Forbes Communications Council is an invitation-only community for executives in successful public relations, media strategy, creative and advertising agencies. Do I qualify?
Daily Mail
12 hours ago
- Business
- Daily Mail
Berkeley reveals leadership shake-up as housebuilder plots £7bn strategy rethink
Berkeley Group has revealed major leadership changes and a new 10-year strategy to lift the housebuilder after profits came under pressure last year. The housebuilder said on Friday that chief executive Rob Perrins, who has held his post since 2009, will replace Michael Dobson as its executive chairman following its annual general meeting on 5 September. Richard Stearn will succeed Perrins, having been Berkeley's chief financial officer for the past decade. After working at accounting giant PwC, Stearn joined Berkeley in 2002 as its financial controller, before departing nine years later to go and work for Quintain Estates and Development, a property developer in Wembley. His promotion to CEO comes as Berkeley embarks on a 10-year strategy called 'Berkeley 2035' to grow the business. The Surrey-based group intends to deploy £7billion of capital, with £2.5billion going towards land investment, £1.2billion on build-to-rent, and £2billion for shareholder returns. It told shareholders the strategy will help the UK Government achieve its goal of constructing 1.5 million new properties over the current parliament. Berkeley said it was 'very conscious of the complexity of today's operating environment in our industry, the role of housing in the government's growth agenda and the importance of the current executive team to maintaining Berkeley's unique business model and culture.' Britain's housebuilding sector has struggled over the past few years with elevated interest rates, housing unaffordability, and the rising cost of raw materials. For the year ending April 2025, Berkeley reported that its pre-tax profits decreased by 5.1 per cent to £528.9million, although this was above the company's forecast of £525million. Turnover increased by 0.9 per cent to £2.49 billion, with higher commercial revenue and land sales compensating for the decline in residential sales. Berkeley sold over 500 more homes in London and South East England during the period - 4,047 versus 3,521 in the prior 12 months - but these properties sold for an average of £593,000, compared to £664,000 the previous year. For the coming year, the firm expects its pre-tax profits to shrink significantly to £450million. Following the release of its results, Berkeley shares slumped 8.2 per cent to £37.78 on Friday morning, making them the FTSE 100's biggest faller by some distance. Adam Vettese, market analyst at eToro, suggested that the drop could be due to a 'changing of the guard at the top level'. He added: 'Regulatory costs as well as stickier interest rates, which are softening demand, could pose further challenges.'
Arab News
a day ago
- Business
- Arab News
How to foster AI implementation and adoption
The UAE is considered among the first few countries to implement a national artificial intelligence strategy. This was amply demonstrated by its appointment of the world's first AI minister, Omar Al-Olama, back in 2017. The following year, the strategic plan for AI implementation was laid out in the UAE National Strategy for Artificial Intelligence 2031. Figuring out the right policies to guide innovation is a significant global challenge due to the diversity in cultural, legal, and economic contexts in different countries. To address this challenge, a multitude of initiatives and events have been launched in the UAE to foster AI implementation and adoption in the region. These initiatives allow companies and government entities to develop and test AI technology in a controlled environment actively creating a regulatory sandbox in which different policies can be further tested before being implemented. The UAE's approach to AI implementation balances innovation and responsibility with human beings at the center of that balance. This approach provides valuable insights into how to create a flexible yet adaptable AI policy which can help to identify the required measures for a global framework for AI policies. In addition, focusing on the human aspect when developing policies has a significant effect on building trust between citizens and the government. Figuring out the right policies to guide innovation is a significant global challenge due to the diversity in cultural, legal, and economic contexts in different countries. Odai Khasawneh This trust affects people's attitude toward technology and leads to a positive societal impact. For example, this user attitude is one of the factors that the International Institute for Management Development uses when they generate their Smart City Index. In 2025, the Smart City Index examined 146 cities around the globe, and the UAE has two cities ranked in the top five; Dubai is fourth and Abu Dhabi is fifth. In addition to AI policy incubators, the UAE released the first Arabic language model (Falcon LLM) as an open-source module and the 101 billion Arabic words dataset by Clusterlab. This is valuable because Arabic is a 'highly contextual' language, which means that understanding Arabic text depends highly on the surrounding context. Language models like Falcon LLM help to fill in the gap that currently exists in the Natural Language Processing research. This model, and others like it, help train AI modules to be capable of understanding and generating more accurate results when handling Arabic content. Furthermore, in May 2025, the UAE approved an AI curriculum to be introduced to public schools starting in the 2026 academic year. The curriculum will focus on seven key areas such as AI ethics and real-world application and introduce age-appropriate content with hands-on and project-based activities. In an interview with Fortune magazine in 2023, Al-Olama discussed the UAE's plans to become a global leader in AI, paralleling the US and China. In 2025, the UAE signed an agreement with the US to build a 10 square mile AI campus in Abu Dhabi, which would be the largest AI campus outside the US. This creates numerous opportunities for local talent in the MENA region to find jobs and build local economies while contributing to technological advancements at an international level. • Odai Khasawneh is a teaching associate professor in information technology management at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee
Forbes
a day ago
- Business
- Forbes
How Purposeful GrowthCo Is Helping Companies Unlock New Frontiers For Growth
Philipp Reker & Helen Trickey, Co-Founders In an era of mounting pressures and diminishing returns, business leaders across industries are confronting a pivotal question: Where will new growth come from? For two of the brightest minds in the consultancy world, Helen Trickey and Philipp Reker, co-founders of the answer is not in the latest trend or tactic — but in a company's very reason for being. Drawing from their experiences leading global transformations — from Reker's time at Mattel during Barbie's resurgence to Trickey's work producing the most-watched speech in United Nations history — the duo is on a mission to make 'Purpose' not just a slogan, but a serious strategy for business success. started with one central insight: businesses face mounting pressures to grow, but leaders are running out of options — and their organizations can't keep up. Investor demands, intense global competition, AI disruption, rising supply chain costs, tariffs, and the green transition all require major investments. CEOs must create new growth to meet these challenges, and this pressure cascades across their organizations. CMOs need fresh growth levers for their brands. Product teams need to find new energy to innovate. ESG and DEI leaders are being asked to link impact to business outcomes. And HR must build high-performing cultures that can make all this happen. With most growth levers exhausted — and the needs of the world fast-changing — leaders are grappling with a central question: Where will this new growth and energy come from? 'Businesses face mounting pressures to grow, but leaders are running out of options, and their organizations can't keep up,' says Trickey. Purpose, Reframed At the heart of their work is a conviction: Purpose is under-leveraged as a driver of new growth. 'There is a misconception that Purpose is just about social justice, sustainability or DEI,' says Reker. 'These definitions aren't helpful for most leaders who are trying to find new growth.' Trickey and Reker define Purpose as a leadership principle that is central to the business. It starts with a clear articulation of why an organization or brand exists — and what value it can create by solving a problem or unmet need in society, which is where the societal piece comes in. Mattel's Purpose — 'to empower the next generation to reach their full potential through play' — and IKEA's focus on 'creating a better everyday life for the many people' are prime examples. These ideas express an ambition that is larger, more timeless, and more meaningful than strategic goals or profit alone. As such, they have enormous potential to motivate all stakeholders. 'Unleashing a company's full growth potential is ultimately an exercise in inspiring and motivating people to act, whether that's employees, investors or consumers,' says Trickey. Three Ways Purpose Unlocks Growth To make Purposeful Growth tangible, Trickey and Reker have identified three key areas where Purpose can help overcome common growth barriers: The Antidote to Chaos In today's volatile and fast-moving environment, clarity is more important than ever. That's why Trickey and Reker believe that Purpose is the antidote to chaos and confusion. 'The key insight here is that a distracted and confused organization cannot grow,' says Reker. 'Knowing your Purpose means being focused on what you are solving for.' He points to Microsoft's Purpose — 'empowering every person and every organization on the planet to achieve more' — as an example of how a clear, meaningful signal can inform strategy and help organizations stay aligned amid complexity. Vision Series The Vision Series: Seeing the Road Ahead To help leaders turn Purpose into action, has launched the Vision Series — a toolkit of insights for creating clear, future-focused roadmaps. 'It explores how a compelling Vision, one that helps people visualise where they need to get to, can provide clarity, direction, and motivation amid chaos,' explains Trickey. Based on fieldwork and insights from companies like Google, H&M, Apple, and LEGO, the series helps leaders define long-term strategy, align their teams, and accelerate decision-making — all with a clear north star in sight. Advice for Leaders in Turbulent Times In today's landscape, where change is constant and expectations are high, Trickey and Reker offer a bold but practical directive: 'Focus on creating growth for your business by creating value for society. And the best way to do that is by making Purpose your guiding star,' says Trickey. 'Use it to inspire and focus your people, fuel innovation, and build brands that create new value where the world needs it most.' 'Purpose isn't some 'feel-good' ornament or marketing ploy; it's a sharp, strategic advantage,' adds Reker. And for leaders looking ahead, the time to act is now. 'Now more than ever, with the world changing at speed around us, it's time to know why your company exists in response to what the world needs, which direction you want to head in, and exactly how this supercharges growth,' concludes Trickey.
