Business

DRIVERS Framework
Reading Time: 5 minutesCustomer Experience Has Entered Its Governance Era For more than a decade, customer experience has been discussed as a cultural aspiration – the DRIVERS framework helps executives to understand its impact. Organisations spoke about empathy. They invested in journey mapping, launched listening programmes and tracked sentiment. Yet many leadership teams [...]

Introducing the DRIVERS Framework

 in Business / Leadership / Teams  tagged Governance / Leadership / Strategy / Success by
Net Promotor Score NPS
Reading Time: 6 minutesSeeing B2B Customer Success Through the Right Lens For many boards, Net Promoter Score (NPS) has become the default proxy for customer success. It is reviewed regularly, discussed confidently, and often treated as evidence that the organisation is either “doing fine” or “needs attention”. The problem is not that Net [...]

Beyond the Net Promoter Score (NPS)

 in Business / Customer Experience / Leadership / Management  tagged Business / Customer Experience / CX / Leadership by
Sustain - SUCCESS Framework
Reading Time: 5 minutesKeeping Growth Alive After the Excitement Fades with Sustain Every transformation begins with energy. The first workshops spark new thinking.The new rhythm feels refreshing.Teams experience early wins.Leadership sees movement.Confidence spreads. And then — slowly, quietly — reality returns. People get busy.Priorities multiply.Operational pressure reasserts itself.Urgency shifts.Enthusiasm fades into routine.Routine fades [...]

Sustain – SUCCESS Framework

 in Business / Leadership / Management / Teams  tagged Business / Communication / Leadership / Team by
Executable Plan
Reading Time: 5 minutesTurning Customer Truth Into Coordinated Movement The Executable Plan is the discipline that stops Account-Based Growth from becoming a well-framed intention rather than a lived organisational behaviour. It is the point in the SUCCESS framework where understanding becomes movement — where strategy gains a pulse. There is a dangerous moment [...]

Building an Executable Plan – SUCCESS Framework

 in Business / Leadership / Management / People  tagged Business / Communication / Leadership / Team by
Customer Spectacles
Reading Time: 4 minutesWearing Your Customer Spectacles – How it can shift organisational behaviour. There is a moment in every organisation — usually subtle, often unspoken — when the internal truth drifts away from the customer’s truth. Leaders still believe they’re customer-centric. Teams still talk about value. Dashboards still pulse green. The strategy [...]

Wearing Your Customer Spectacles – SUCCESS Framework

 in Business / Customer Experience / Leadership  tagged Customer Experience / CX / marketing / NPS by
Customer Segments
Reading Time: 5 minutesCustomer Segments – Who Deserves Your Best? Many leadership teams still don’t know who their best customers really are. They know who shouts the loudest.They know who spends the most time with them.They know who complains.They know who buys occasionally but demands constantly. What they often don’t know is: Which [...]

Customer Segments Development – SUCCESS Framework

 in Business / Customer Experience / Leadership / Technology  tagged Business / Digital Transformation / Leadership / Success by
Understanding & Unification
Reading Time: 6 minutesUnderstanding & Unification – Where Strategy Meets Reality Most leadership teams believe they’re aligned. The quarterly review ends, the dashboard looks healthy, the pipeline report shows green, and everyone around the table nods with confidence. Then a customer says something that stops the room cold. – “That’s not what your [...]

Understanding & Unification – SUCCESS Framework

 in Business / Leadership / Technology  tagged Communication / CRM / Leadership / Strategy by
Strategy & Governance
Reading Time: 5 minutesIf you read the introductory post in this series, you’ll know that SUCCESS begins with the discipline that holds everything else together. Here, we start with S — Strategy & Governance: the foundation of predictable, aligned commercial growth. The discipline that determines whether your organisation will actually grow — or [...]

Strategy & Governance – SUCCESS Framework

 in Business / Digital Transformation / Leadership / Project Management  tagged B2B / Leader / Leadership / Success by
SUCCESS Framework
Reading Time: 3 minutesWhere Growth Becomes a Leadership Discipline Most growth initiatives don’t collapse because the model was wrong. They collapse because the rhythm is lost. A small misalignment here, a missed review there. A decision made on assumption. A customer insight diluted. A Heatmap ignored. A success plan left to gather dust. [...]

The SUCCESS Framework Series

 in Business / Digital Transformation / Leadership / Technology  tagged Business / Leadership / Team by
Christmas Future
Reading Time: 8 minutesChristmas Future – The Era of Cognitive Transformation 1. Introduction — The Acceleration to 2035 When I first wrote The Post of Christmas Future in 2014, the world still felt full of uncomplicated technological optimism. We pictured electric cars, self-driving systems, virtual reality training suites, 3D-printed homes, and an emerging [...]

The Post of Christmas Future 2035

 in Business / Leadership / Technology  tagged Business / Leadership / technology by
Christmas Past
Reading Time: 6 minutesTen Seismic Shifts in the Decade of AI and Uncertainty I. The Dickensian Frame: Looking Back to Christmas Past to Learn Forward Every December, reflection becomes ritual. It’s when leaders, like Scrooge before his ghosts, turn to the past not for nostalgia—but for truth. When I first wrote The Post [...]

The Post of Christmas Past – 2025 Edition

 in Business / Leadership / Technology  tagged Artificial Intelligence / Business / technology by
Leadership Alignment
Reading Time: 5 minutesOrganisations rarely break at the bottom. They fracture at the top. Leadership alignment is key to recovery. Misalignment inside a leadership team isn’t dramatic at first. It begins quietly, in the background: different interpretations of the same data, different definitions of success, meetings where people nod but leave with different [...]

Leadership Alignment – Where Recovery Takes Root

 in Business / Leadership / Management / Teams  tagged Alignment / Communication / Leader / Leadership / Strategy / Team by
Focused Execution
Reading Time: 7 minutesThe A–Z of Focused Execution distils the behaviours, decisions and rhythms that separate organisations that talk about progress from those that actually achieve it. Each letter highlights a practical principle, the common pitfalls that undermine it, the C-suite actions that drive it, and the people lens that makes it stick. [...]

A to Z of Focused Execution

 in Business / Digital Transformation / Leadership / People  tagged Execution / Focus by
Commercial Momentum
Reading Time: 11 minutesIntroduction: Why Commercial Momentum Is the Untapped Competitive Advantage Most organisations don’t fail because they lack strategy, talent, or ambition. They fail because they lose commercial momentum or didn’t have momentum in the first place. Momentum is the force that turns intent into impact. It is the difference between teams [...]

The A to Z of Commercial Momentum

 in Business / Digital Transformation / Project Management / Teams / Technology  tagged Business / Communication / Digital Transformation by
Digital Handoffs
Reading Time: 5 minutesDigital Handoffs: The Delivery Paradox While digital projects celebrate on-time delivery, we find the real threat to success lies in the handoffs—the critical transitions between teams where intent is diluted, context is lost, and the promised business value quietly leaks away. 70% of digital transformations fail to meet their objectives [...]

Digital Handoffs: Where Value is Lost

 in Business / Customer Experience / Digital Transformation / Project Management / Teams / Technology  tagged Business / Digital Transformation / Leadership / Project Management / Team by
B2B eCommerce
Reading Time: 7 minutesBecause the Future of B2B eCommerce Isn’t Digital Transactions, It’s Digital Trust For the C-suite, B2B eCommerce is not a channel; it is a Commercial Operating System and a primary source of enterprise risk. To secure executive buy-in and investment, this transformation must address three core mandates: Strategic MandateC-Suite FocusQuantifiable [...]

The A to Z of B2B eCommerce

 in Business / Customer Experience / Digital Transformation / Information Security / Marketing / Sales  tagged eCommerce / marketing / Online Sales / Sales by
A to Z of Culture and Collaboration
Reading Time: 6 minutes26 leadership behaviours that turn strategy into execution Introduction: The Invisible Advantage Strategy might set the direction, but culture and collaboration sets the speed. Every leader knows the strategic map, but few measure the invisible friction that dictates execution speed. In today’s complex world — marked by hybrid workforces, cross-functional [...]

The A to Z of Culture and Collaboration

 in Business / Customer Experience / Leadership / People  tagged Collaboration / Culture / Leadership / Team by
Stakeholder Engagement
Reading Time: 4 minutesIntroduction: Beyond the Boardroom: The Strategic Shift Stakeholder engagement has become one of the most misused phrases in modern leadership. For many organisations, it still means investor updates, community statements, and polite Q&A sessions at annual meetings. The goal is often compliance, not connection. But the world has changed. Stakeholders [...]

Shifting Stakeholder Engagement for Real Alignment

 in Business / Leadership / Project Management  tagged Business Change / Leadership / Relationship / Transformation by
A to Z of B2B CRM
Reading Time: 9 minutesBeyond Transactions to Transformation – B2B CRM For most enterprise and public sector organisations, the B2B CRM promise remains unfulfilled. It was meant to be the single source of truth for revenue growth; instead, it’s often a cumbersome reporting tool, a compliance checkbox, or a system plagued by distrust and [...]

The A to Z of B2B CRM – An Executive ...

 in Business / Customer Experience / Technology  tagged CRM / Leadership / Sales by
A to Z B2B Customer Experience
Reading Time: 8 minutesWhat really drives loyalty, trust, and value in your B2B Customer Experience? B2B Customer experience isn’t a department anymore — it’s the arena where every B2B organisation now competes. Products can be copied, prices undercut, and technologies leapfrogged, but how customers feel when they work with you determines whether they [...]

The A to Z of B2B Customer Experience (2025 Edition)

 in Business / Customer Experience / Leadership  tagged Customer Experience / Customer Services by
From Pitch to Delivery - Where B2B Trust Breaks Down
Reading Time: 4 minutesWinning the deal is only half the battle – Pitch to Delivery Success is Key In the pitch room, the atmosphere is electric. Slides are polished, ideas flow, and promises are made with confidence. Customers nod along, excited by the possibilities. They say “yes” to the vision. But the true [...]

From Pitch to Delivery: Where B2B Trust Breaks Down

 in Business / Leadership / Management / Marketing / Sales  tagged Leadership / marketing / Sales by
Alignment
Reading Time: 4 minutesB2B Growth slowing, but why? When B2B growth stalls, leadership teams often point the finger at market shifts, aggressive competition, or disruptive technology. Those factors matter, but in countless organisations I’ve seen, they’re not the real killer. The silent assassin of B2B growth is misalignment across functions. It doesn’t scream [...]

The Silent Killer of B2B Growth: Misalignment

 in Business / Leadership / Management / Teams  tagged Communication / Leadership / Sales. Marketing by
A to Z of Customer Alignment
Reading Time: 14 minutesIntroduction At Oak Consult, we believe that customer alignment is the difference between transactions and partnerships. That’s why we’ve built this A to Z of Customer Alignment: 26 practical lenses to help leaders, managers, and teams see alignment in action, understand why it matters, and put it into practice. Most [...]

The A to Z of Customer Alignment

 in Business / Customer Experience / Leadership / Teams  tagged Customer Alignment / CX / Success by
Purpose-driven Projects
Reading Time: 9 minutesPurpose-Driven Projects – Yes the what and the how are important, but what’s often missing is the why. Most organisations measure project success with the familiar three: time, cost, and scope (sometimes quality is added too). Deliver to budget, hit the dates, and stay within scope — and on paper, [...]

Purpose-Driven Projects: Why Mission Matters as Much as Milestones

 in Business / Business Skills / Digital Transformation / Leadership / Project Management / Teams  tagged Business / Communication / TCQ / Team / Vision by
The A to Z of Digital Transformation
Reading Time: 7 minutesOver the past decade, Oak Consult has published a series of A to Z guides covering the essentials of business: strategy, leadership, employability, risk, building winning teams, and customer experience. Each has combined timeless principles with practical guidance to help leaders reflect and act. Digital Transformation now joins that series. [...]

The A to Z of Digital Transformation

 in Artificial Intelligence / Business / Digital Transformation  tagged Digital Transformation / KPI / Success by
Reading Time: 3 minutesWhy even the best proposition underperforms when your teams aren’t pulling in the same direction — and how to fix it. We Know What We Do. So Why Isn’t It Landing? You’ve got a strong product or service. You’ve invested in development.The customer results are great. And yet… Sales aren’t [...]

Your Proposition Isn’t the Problem — Your Alignment Is

 in Business / Leadership / Teams  tagged Business / Communication / marketing / Sales / Team by
Reading Time: 7 minutesBusiness strategy is never static. What worked a decade ago doesn’t always cut it in 2025. The pace of change, the rise of digital, the climate agenda, and shifting customer expectations mean that leaders need a new lens. Back in 2014, Oak published the original A to Z of Business [...]

The A to Z of Business Strategy (2025 Edition)

 in Business / Business Skills / Leadership  tagged Business / Customer Centricity / Digital Transformation / Quality Management / Strategy by
Oak Consult, Customer Experience, CX
Reading Time: 5 minutesHelping teams build a culture that truly puts the customer first by wearing customer spectacles Introduction When was the last time your team truly saw the world as your customers do? Most organisations say they are customer-focused, but targets, processes, and politics often pull attention inward. The result is experiences [...]

Customer Spectacles: Seeing Through Your Customer’s Eyes

 in Business / Leadership / Teams  tagged Communication / CRM / Customer Experience / CX / Leadership by
Reading Time: 6 minutesYour Guide to AI Concepts, Capabilities, and Practical Uses Introduction Artificial Intelligence is no longer a futuristic concept — it’s here, shaping how we work, live, and make decisions.But with the jargon, hype, and complexity, it can be hard to separate the essentials from the noise. This A–Z guide gives [...]

A to Z of Artificial Intelligence

 in Artificial Intelligence / Business / Technology  tagged AI / Artificial Intelligence / Business by
Milestones, Inch Pebbles, Project Management
Reading Time: 5 minutesIt’s fair to say that I’ve been involved in my fair share of projects during my career. Some have been market changing product launches or operational transformations and some have been must do, dull, but important projects. Others have been misguided, bonkers and failed projects. I’ve learnt from each and [...]

Effective Projects – Inch Pebbles, Milestones and Tombstones

 in Business / Leadership / Project Management / Teams  tagged Delivery / Project Management / Projects by
Christmas Future, Business, Technology, Leadership
Reading Time: 15 minutesIn the third and last in the series of Think Oak’s Christmas blog posts – The Post of Christmas Future, let’s take a look at the next 15 years in Technology, Business and Leadership and see how they might have changed by 2030. (In case you missed Part 1 and Part [...]

The Post of Christmas Future

 in Business / Leadership / Social Media / Teams / Technology  tagged 3D Printing / Artificial Intelligence / Automated Vehicles / Crowdfunding / Robotics by