Steven Goldbach

Blowing Up Best Practices In a new book, Steven Goldbach, BCom’96, offers an explosive way for businesses to survive. As principal and chief strategy officer at Deloitte in New York City, Steven Goldbach often works with companies wishing to transform themselves. One thing he’s noticed, though, is that businesses too often stick with the same old ways of doing things, regardless of the real value these activities provide.  In response, Goldbach and fellow Deloitte principal Geoff Tuff have written Detonate: Why—And How—Corporations Must Blow Up Best Practices (and bring a beginner’s mind) To Survive (published May 2018 by Wiley). “There’s a lot of stuff that companies do that, on the surface, doesn’t make sense. ‘Why do we do things this way?’ That’s a question that doesn’t get asked nearly enough,” says Steven, a member of Smith’s Global Council. In Detonate, Steven and Geoff suggest that business leaders think like a beginner — because, as the Zen saying goes, “in the beginner’s mind there are many possibilities, but in the expert’s mind there are few.” They also recommend drastically rethinking best practices, such as strategic planning, risk management and financial forecasting. A few sacred cows that need to go too: organizational charts and “celebrating failure.” With new technologies rapidly changing the world, companies have little choice but to blow up their old methods, says Steven. “The difference between success and going out of business in the future is the challenging of legacy behaviour.”