While 2017 was many things to many people, our job is to make sense of it for our clients and collaborators. One of the ways we do this is through the voices of our Senior Advisors, the personification of our commitment to strategic and operational expertise within our firm.

Bob Kaplan is one of our original Senior Advisors. He works in the fields of strategy, organizational structure and processes, and IT. He acts as a counselor and sounding board for CEOs and other senior level executives. We recently sat down with him to learn more.

A a recent Deloitte survey indicates that Americans plan to spend a majority of their holiday shopping budget online. Meanwhile, in a major Pitney Bowes study of retailers and consumers from around the world, almost half of respondents reported issues, frustrations and an overall experience that did not meet their expectations. So everyone is doing it while almost half of us seem to hate it. What gives?

HighPoint is pleased to finally show off one of our big initiatives of 2017: new branding and an improved online experience.

Fantasy football’s runaway popularity – and the massive gambling activity it attracts – are borne from the endless combinations and possibilities it offers. After all, there is no such thing as fantasy boxing or tennis. Two competitors meet, one is victorious and the result hinges on individual performance. A football team, on the other hand, is an interconnected web of capabilities, flaws and potential. It’s a puzzle. At Highpoint, we think about that puzzle in the corporate context all the time and seek inspiration wherever we can find it.

We often forget what large swaths of New York used to be like. This was made clear to me recently during a fascinating session with Douglas Blonsky, President of the Central Park Conservancy and perhaps the single biggest reason the park appears the way it does today.

Earlier this month, I spent some time hiking in the Canadian Rockies with my wife, and reflected on my last eight years at HPA and how much the business has changed over that time.

When I started at HPA in early 2009, we were in the throes of a major market correction and business slowdown that many had not experienced in our lifetimes. Today the concerns we most often hear from clients are how to best position themselves in a rapidly changing world.

I have been giving this idea of “Change = Hope, but not necessarily Progress” a lot of thought recently. The litany of egregious missteps, cultural issues and backwards policies do not get solved just by changing out the CEO. 

The full quote — “There are three kinds of lies: Lies, Damned Lies, and Statistics” — has been attributed to Mark Twain, who himself attributed it to British Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli, who might never have said it in the first place. Regardless of the origin of the phrase, it is one that I hold near and dear. I’m a numbers geek. Love numbers and statistics. Always have, always will.

Last year was my first visit to the land of Omaha and the Berkshire Hathaway Annual Meeting, and I took it all in, from the stadium teeming with people to the merchandise being hawked everywhere. It was a fascinating experience. So fascinating, in fact, I wrote a three-part treatise on it. And so much so that I had to go back again this year.