
What’s wrong with your board?
Three common ‘traps’ impact boards across the world in private and publicly listed businesses alike. Here’s how to identify which trap is standing between you and success in the boardroom....

by Michael D. Watkins Published April 7, 2025 in Brain Circuits • 2 min read
When the pandemic hit in early 2020, Amazon faced a surge in e-commerce demand and supply chain disruptions. The company’s rapid adaptation was no accident; it was the result of a sophisticated sensory system that enabled them to detect, interpret, and respond to changes faster than competitors. Amazon’s success lies in its real-time data collection, advanced analytics, and a culture of continuous adaptation.
 By refining your organizational sensory system, you can better anticipate challenges, seize opportunities, and sustain long-term success in an increasingly complex and unpredictable world.
Ready to enhance your strategic agility? Click here to evaluate your organization’s sensory system and start building a more agile, data-driven enterprise.

Professor of Leadership and Organizational Change at IMD
Michael D Watkins is Professor of Leadership and Organizational Change at IMD, and author of The First 90 Days, Master Your Next Move, Predictable Surprises, and 12 other books on leadership and negotiation. His book, The Six Disciplines of Strategic Thinking, explores how executives can learn to think strategically and lead their organizations into the future. A Thinkers 50-ranked management influencer and recognized expert in his field, his work features in HBR Guides and HBR’s 10 Must Reads on leadership, teams, strategic initiatives, and new managers. Over the past 20 years, he has used his First 90 Days® methodology to help leaders make successful transitions, both in his teaching at IMD, INSEAD, and Harvard Business School, where he gained his PhD in decision sciences, as well as through his private consultancy practice Genesis Advisers. At IMD, he directs the First 90 Days open program for leaders taking on challenging new roles and co-directs the Transition to Business Leadership (TBL) executive program for future enterprise leaders, as well as the Program for Executive Development.

14 hours ago • by Denise H. Kenyon-Rouvinez, Paul Strebel in Brain Circuits
Three common ‘traps’ impact boards across the world in private and publicly listed businesses alike. Here’s how to identify which trap is standing between you and success in the boardroom....

March 4, 2026 • by Tomoko Yokoi, Michael R. Wade in Brain Circuits
Many organizations are discovering that scaling AI is far more difficult than piloting programs. Drawing on data from the world’s largest 300 companies, the IMD AI Maturity Index reveals how the leading companies...

March 3, 2026 • by Jackie Cooper in Brain Circuits
Assumptions about digital natives in the workplace often prevent leaders from building more meaningful connections....

February 26, 2026 • by Michael R. Wade in Brain Circuits
Workplace silos are a huge productivity inhibitor. Casper Herzberg, CEO of industrial software company AVEVA, tells Michael Wade how radical collaboration can create value....
Explore first person business intelligence from top minds curated for a global executive audience