When should you launch a strategic planning process?  Here's when.

How suited are today's management systems to the challenges at hand? That was the question raised in a discussion among a group of University of Chicago trained strategists.

Next time you are looking at an organization that is not performing well, ask yourself, what's the cause? Of course, the cause could be one of many: Lack of funds and investment, insufficient or unsuited staff, ineffective technology, misguided marketing, "me-to" branding, high cost structure, misunderstanding of customer needs, and so on. At the University of Chicago Booth School of Business Management Conference last Friday, Professor James Schrager described a handy three-option construct he uses to parse the success or failure of organizations.

Wikipedia: "Knowledge is a collection of facts, information, and/or skills acquired through experience or education or (more generally) the theoretical or practical understanding of a subject."After sitting through my second "How to use social media for business" presentation in a week (both well done, but that's not my point), it hit me: We are trying to grab a wave.