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The beginning of something new: 2iQ Management & Consultancy

After 25 years, working for seven different employers in multiple countries on two different continents it was time for a new step. The real choice was to either support the vision of someone else or follow my own dreams and act on my own values…

Sourcing for a better world?

The drivers for sourcing are quite diverse, but more often than not 'cost savings' is high on the priority list together with 'focus on core business' and 'quality improvement'. Very rarely sourcing engagements are seen as an opportunity to…

Robotics: can your work be automated?

A recent trend in Shared Services and Outsourcing is Robotics Process Automation (RPA). In the early days labour arbitrage and industrialized delivery models were used to optimize processes and bring down cost. Twenty years later we see that…

Canada, Eh?

There are several ways to make decisions in life. My type of personality would generally rate the rational approach above the more emotional attempts to get to a conclusion. Normally I would do a risk analysis, talk to people who's knowledge…

Parkinson’s Law or why we procrastinate while we can…

Management Consultants as a species are always busy. Client meetings, presentations to prepare, reports to finish, networks to be maintained, we are running all over the place. But to be fair, our level of activity varies over the year. When…

Life without Facebook…

Early in the new year is the time to think about life's priorities. Numerous people start 2015 with the best intentions to live healthier lives by eating better, exercise more and if applicable stop smoking. When making up your mind about things…

Crowdsourcing, a phenomenon that is here to stay

Sourcing consultants should aspire to understand every aspect of sourcing. My question is whether that should include 'crowdsourcing' as well because this is an upcoming phenomenon. At first glance crowdsourcing seems to be something in the…
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The key to motivation: Autonomy, Mastery and Purpose

Career analyst Dan Pink has been looking at the science of human behavior. Particularly he looked at the impact of intrinsic and extrinsic motivators. His conclusion is plain and simple: we are doing something completely wrong! More than…
Best Value
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Best Value Procurement, a one-size-fits-all solution?

Well over a year ago I had several people who talked to me about Best Value Procurement (BVP for short). For different reasons they were all very positive about this approach and its potential benefits. Fragmented stories and various recommendations…
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Regular Engagement Maintenance, a continuous effort in the relationship

As a huge fan of the TED talks, I quite regularly listen to the diverse range of speakers telling about their expertise and providing new insights. A recent example of a very interesting presentation was from Dan Gilbert who talked about The…

Thinking In New Boxes – Luc de Brabandere

Recently I concluded an on-line course 'On Strategy : What Managers Can Learn from Great Philosophers'. The course was given by Luc de Brabandere, a professor at Ecole Central Paris and a fellow at the Boston Consultancy Group. During the course…
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Musical chairs in the corporate world

Career development systems in a consultancy firm have some nasty streaks in it. First I'll explain how it works and then why I think we should abolish it in this form asap. The career development in many partnership firms is a variation on…