“Effective stories that win both listeners’ hearts and minds are critical communications tools that can enable leaders to achieve difficult strategic goals,” write Doug Randall and Aaron Harms in an article in Strategy & Leadership magazine. The onus is on leaders—not their audience—to deliver a successful narrative that transfers meaning and motivation. The authors warn executives that their strategy initiatives are at risk every time the message they deliver is not convincing or clear.

The global economy faces serious risks of a second “great recession” if world leaders fail to cooperate on solutions to prevent “near-term economic divisions to devolve into deeper-seated geopolitical divisions,” write Peter Schwartz, Jonathan Star, and Nikhil Prasad Ojha in The Times of India newspaper. In this piece that demonstrates scenario thinking, the authors project the global economy is likely to go through a near-term period of low growth. The long-term prognosis then depends on the actions—or failures—of leaders to respond.

This white paper by experts from Monitor and Global Business Network (GBN) analyzes the impact that deep structural shifts in commodities markets will have on the competitive landscape, including the critical supply chain and business location decisions C-level executives will face as higher prices for food, fuel and minerals become permanent.

A new report funded by the Rockefeller Foundation estimates that the field of Impact Sourcing, employing socioeconomically disadvantaged people in Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) centers, is currently $4.5 billion and has the potential to reach $20 billion and employ 780,000 by 2015. The report, conducted by Monitor Group, suggests a strong business case for Impact Sourcing, which can provide high-quality, reliable services at prices that are at least competitive with traditional BPO centers and, in some cases, almost 40 percent lower than what traditional providers can offer.

Agencies and departments at all levels of government are facing increased pressure to cut costs and become more efficient. In this article, leaders of Monitor’s High-Performance Bureaucracy™ practice explain how to avoid the traps of traditional budget-cutting, and outline the three keys to “doing more with less.”

In this year’s sovereign wealth fund (SWF) report, Monitor found that 2010 marks the beginning of a new pattern of SWF investment, characterized by an increased number of smaller investments and a focus on financial services and commodities sectors. 

In the Center for a New American Security’s recent report, “America’s Cyber Future: Security and Prosperity in the Information Age,” Peter Schwartz of Monitor’s Global Business Network (GBN) outlines potential scenarios for the future of cyber security—ranging from openness and security to continual attacks and conflict.

High-impact entrepreneurship and innovation are actually a state of mind, explains Monitor partner Pedro Arboleda in this article for the Spanish newspaper Cotizalia. He explains that innovation and entrepreneurship can only thrive when both the individual and his or her society are tolerant of risk and failure.

The crisis at Japan's Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant has brought to light dramatic differences in the ways Japan and America each handle crisis management, transparency, and access to information, writes Monitor's Michael Zielenziger in a column for the Japanese newspaper Nikkei. Because a nuclear crisis is of global importance, Japan may now have to become more transparent and candid, he writes.