Assessment of the situation to devise a game plan for things to come to fruition.
As the hierarchical model of leadership has fallen from favor, there has been a trend towards the “buddy model” where leaders are increasingly inclusive in their decision-making and more openly consultative. This has been incredibly useful, as industries have moved from a more linear, process-driven mode of operation to more creative and adaptable business applications. […]
Leaders Don’t Wait For Permission Read More »
By reducing the Employee Engagement challenge to surveys and project management when it is really more a matter of institutional soulcraft, you run the risk of taking unearned comfort in the illusion of rigor: “This must be valid. There are many numbers, and many of those numbers have several decimal places!” You also run a serious–and
De-Humanizing Your “Human” Resources Read More »
I admit it; I had a lot of problems with Sarah Palin the candidate. What I had the most problem with her when she was running for Vice President of this country was her attitude about education and elitism. With her degree from University of Idaho in hand, she routinely criticized an Ivy League education.
Leadership is Tricky: Just Ask Sarah Palin and Lebron James Read More »
St. Louis Cardinal Matt Holliday makes $17 Million a year. A hot dog vendor at Busch stadium makes a little above minimum wage, or about $10 an hour. A professional baseball player and hot dog vendor both work in the same stadium for the same number of hours addressing the needs of ticket holders. However,
I used to do strategic planning year-by-year looking at the previous year and then thinking of an incremental improvement over the previous year. This worked, but we missed many opportunities because we didn’t start with a vision of the future. High growth companies look out at least 3-5 years into the future. They decide when
Double Quarter by Quarter Read More »
I really like Dilbert— Scott Adams’ dry take on the ins and outs of corporate life always makes me laugh. Not long ago Adams did a series on mentoring, where engineer Wally seeks out the company’s CEO and asks him to be his mentor. “Yes I will!” the CEO replies. “You are wise to ask
Networking Inside the Office: How to Secure the Right Mentor Read More »
Today’s marketplace teems with both opportunities and competition. The way to succeed amid continuously changing circumstances, in my view, is to pursue a strategy for growth. My firm, Spector Group, which is celebrating its 50th anniversary this year, has for years followed three distinct, but interconnected elements for strategic growth: • Deepening relationships with current
The Art of Strategic Growth in a Competitive Marketplace Read More »
The strategic planning review meeting started on a downbeat note. “We just lost Acme, our biggest customer. How could this happen?” Fred, the CEO of what I’ll call Precision Manufacturing, was more sad than angry. “Acme always gave us a positive review in our annual survey. We visit them at least monthly. How could this
How to Lose a Loyal Customer Read More »
The word “innovation” is such a constant in meetings around the world that it has almost become a contender for “corporate buzzword bingo.” Although it is often over-used it is not always well understood in terms of how it should be implemented into organizational culture, or even how it might be best used as a
Innovation is Actually Category Leadership Read More »
We’ve all heard the doom and gloom statistics about mergers and acquisition. Even those that don’t move the financials to the wrong side of zero often fail to delight shareholders and stakeholders. Poor evaluation procedures take part of the blame—but only part. A failure to carefully plan for the integration has some culpability too. In
The Art of M & A Integration Read More »
