Have Organizational Units Outlived their Function?

Three ideas collided this week.

1. I spoke with an executive at a global FMCG company who shared that their CEO is working on reshaping the enterprise from a functional to a value-stream, or end-to-end

The Existential Threat of Irrelevance

Becoming “Irrelevant” in a changing world is an existential threat.

For GBS, for sure, as well as many other organisation units . . .

More than ever . .

Just stop and think about those …

I have had some interesting discussions in recent weeks with various GBS organisations on their “Why?”.

What is the “Why” of GBS?

From an external perspective, what is the “Purpose” of GBS?

Why should executive leadership or investors care?

The …

A news item from Financial Executives International (FEI) made grim reading this week.

FEI Weekly reported on the ACCA/IMA Global Economic Conditions Survey (GECS) for Q2 2026 which delivered a stark picture:

• 76% of ACCA and IMA members surveyed globally

The Ambition for Value Creation is not yet matched by Action

I have had a few debates over recent months on whether “Think like a CFO” is the right aspiration to raise our thinking, problem solving and execution above and …

Time-to-Value and Pareto

There is an understable discussion around “value creation” in business, and nowhere more than amongst Global Business Services leaders.

There are many changes in focus, reporting and governance for GBS organizations in these turbulent economic times, with …

Business Value in Transformation is Driven by These “Big Rocks” . . .

70% of successful value creation from digital or AI-enabled transformation is down to people and end-to-end process.

This 70% represents our biggest priority.

Value Creation = P&L …

3 Questions on Purpose and Happiness

We hear and read a lot about purpose, both in life and in business.

It tends to be discussed either from the perspective of business performance or related to personal fulfilment and happiness.

A …

The Silo Effect on Value Creation

I started reading “The Silo Effect” this week. 

In this era of hope and aspiration for massive enterprise value creation enabled by AI, we first need to broaden our thinking beyond our current horizons …

The Seductive 10x Productivity Myth . . .

The myths of productivity have always fascinated me.

Not least because I received some harsh lessons on them from mentors and leaders in firms I worked in when I was younger and …