Long before farmers and ranchers had the machinery to make today's small rectangular or large round bales of hay, they made haystacks. The principles farmers employed to work together and make a good haystack also apply to organizational alignment. Strong organizational alignment in these four key areas is a matter of strategy and design and can drive better business results.

Common Objectives - Before the haying began, the boss gathered the crew and announced his…

The traditional approach to productivity in your business is going to dry up, if it hasn’t already. At some point, every department will have squeezed out what they think are the last remaining pennies by cutting overhead costs, improving yields or utilizations, applying lean/six sigma to their areas of responsibility, or squeezing their suppliers one more time. When productivity begins to dry up, so does the funding for growth. Before that happens, companies need to innovate their approach…

The farm is where I learned that to keep things running at peak performance you had to listen carefully for squeaks, grinding or other out of place sounds that signaled adjustments and repairs were needed before things got worse. The same goes for business. Here’s what to do about the sounds coming from your…

I really don’t even know if I’ve ever heard one of her songs. From the little I know about Lady Gaga, I doubt that I’d ever be much of a fan. But I am a big fan of one thing: she has an entirely different, and very disruptive, business model. According to this article in Ad Week, she is accomplishing in 18 months what Madonna took a decade to do.…