David Pyke's Blog

Here I am at my labtop

I’m a firm believer in giving a dog his due. And, as the dog who belongs to the big guy who usually writes this blog, I haven’t gotten my due since August. So today I speak up.

This isn’t as easy as it looks

I think a lot about treats and opportunities ever since I ate the SWOT analysis off the coffee table (that’s right, sometimes we should be blamed for the missing homework). This new information I digested has opened an area of conversation with the big guy. Although, I’m pretty easy to get along with, so I don’t understand why he points his finger at me and says, “It’s threats, not treats” over and over.

Our new game is for him to throw me a topic, and I chew it over and then offer my assessment. Here’s a taste of how it goes:

• Acronyms – Opportunity. And I mean a perfect opportunity…to use complete words!  Too many capital letters in a row is not only unsightly, but also confusing. Case in point, BHAGs. What business really needs Big Hairy Audacious Goats in their strategic plan, or anywhere else around the office for that matter? Sheesh.
• 

  School of Business mascot

  Business School Name — Opportunity, opportunity, opportunity! Allow me to point out that the current name is SBA (see acronyms, above).  Instead of that, just imagine…your name over the entrance to a beautiful new building. As a matter of fact, the Bunter School of Business has a nice ring to it. BSB, not!

• Creative problem solving – Treat. The more we teach and practice this in business school, the more we’ll see it done well in the complex global world we live in — that’s a paraphrase of how the big guy says it. Honestly, my world is not all that complex. However, the creative problem solving that produced new gourmet dog food products for the reportedly $18.9 billion pet food industry (Bloomberg Businessweek) is a treat to my taste buds.

Portrait of the writer as an old dog (apologies to James Joyce)

The big guy is ominously saying “threats” again…and we only got through the ABC’s. Well, I’ll be back next time I can wrestle the keyboard away.