Don’t Get Busier – Get Better!

Don’t Get Busier – Get Better!
In the last post I talked about how change presents enormous opportunities to grow your business better than ever before.
What is the driving force to fuel change?
If you are the leader of the organization, that driving force is YOU
In stable times, the two fundamental forces affecting business are typically technology and globalisation. At present, we are now feeling the down side of the business cycle, which is bringing change with it – demanding changes in the way we operate, and more and better leadership. 2010 demands real leadership, and better leadership than ever before.
The key word to focus on in your current goals is ‘BETTER’.
A better product, a better price, a better business. Focus on getting something better. Create a sensible vision, see something better – a vision that makes sense to everyone in the organization, common sense tells you this is what you should be doing. How can you get a better result out of what you do already – don’t try to do something new. Do something better.
Focus on making your business better – serving better, managing better, making better decisions. This may not feel you are getting ahead of the game, however you will find there are those prospering because they have focused on plugging the holes instead of focussing on the bullets still coming at them. They see the opportunity of doing something better and winning as a result. If you can cope with the circumstances that are trying to sink your boat –you can end up with a better business. Get away from survival thinking and get into a prospering mentality. This may seem counterintuitive, and it may not be how most businesses are operating right now – and there’s the rub, the opportunity. Most businesses will not improve over the next 12-24 months. They will focus on retrenching and surviving, instead of getting better. And the shame is, that very survival focus will be the reason some will not survive. In spite of previous hard times being different from that we are experiencing today – there is one thing common to all – all downturns are temporary. If you are not focusing on how to make your business stronger, and better, when good times return, you will not be in the position to take advantage of it – and your competitors will.
The choice is yours – choose wisely!

In the last post I talked about how change presents enormous opportunities to grow your business better than ever before.

What is the driving force to fuel this change? If you are the leader of the organization, that driving force is YOU

In stable times, the two fundamental forces affecting business are typically technology and globalisation. At present, we are now feeling the down side of the business cycle, which is bringing change with it – demanding changes in the way we operate, and more and better leadership. 2010 demands real leadership, and better leadership than ever before.

The key word to focus on in your current goals is ‘BETTER’.

A better product, a better price, a better business. Focus on getting something better. Create a sensible vision, see something better – a vision that makes sense to everyone in the organization, common sense tells you this is what you should be doing. How can you get a better result out of what you do already – don’t try to do something new. Do something better.

Focus on making your business better – serving better, managing better, making better decisions. This may not feel you are getting ahead of the game, however you will find there are those prospering because they have focused on plugging the holes instead of focussing on the bullets still coming at them. They see the opportunity of doing something better and winning as a result. If you can cope with the circumstances that are trying to sink your boat –you can end up with a better business. Get away from survival thinking and get into a prospering mentality. This may seem counterintuitive, and it may not be how most businesses are operating right now – and there’s the rub, the opportunity. Most businesses will not improve over the next 12-24 months. They will focus on retrenching and surviving, instead of getting better. And the shame is, that very survival focus will be the reason some will not survive.

In spite of previous hard times being different from that we are experiencing today – there is one thing common to all – all downturns are temporary. If you are not focusing on how to make your business stronger, and better, when good times return, you will not be in the position to take advantage of it – and your competitors will.

The choice is yours – choose wisely!

Why Leaders Must Feel the Fear and Do it Anyway

Why Leaders Must Feel the Fear and Do it Anyway
In my last post I wrote about the three critical actions leaders must take to succeed in 2010 to get out of the valley of recession. Taking action in uncertain times takes courage. Yet it needs to be the right kind of action; very focused, very urgent and supported by the whole organization.
Volatile times can make people feel volatile – they just see 100 things that need to be done.
Smart, strategically focused CEOs never let their organizations have more than 5 priorities. Even one more kills your productivity. Before they add anything new, they complete and eliminate one current priority from their list.
This is a time, when energy levels are tested, relationships are strained and stress challenges good health. Taking care of oneself is essential to taking care of others. Don’t exhaust yourself with unnecessary activity. Stay calm, clear, and rested. Focus on a few things remarkably well – and make sure those things are things customers really want.
This may seem counter intuitive to those who think they need to do more in bad times. But most people are under enough stress – they don’t need more to do.

In my last post I wrote about the three critical actions leaders must take to succeed in 2010 to get out of the valley of recession. Taking action in uncertain times takes courage. Yet it needs to be the right kind of action; very focused, very urgent and supported by the whole organization.

Volatile times can make people feel volatile – they just see 100 things that need to be done.

Smart, strategically focused CEOs never let their organizations have more than 5 priorities. Even one more kills your productivity. Before they add anything new, they complete and eliminate one current priority from their list.

This is a time, when energy levels are tested, relationships are strained and stress challenges good health. Taking care of oneself is essential to taking care of others. Don’t exhaust yourself with unnecessary activity. Stay calm, clear, and rested. Focus on a few things remarkably well – and make sure those things are things customers really want.

This may seem counter intuitive to those who think they need to do more in bad times. But most people are under enough stress – they don’t need more to do. Focus on only doing those things that really count – that really make your business better in ways appreciated by your customers. And don’t make assumptions about what your customers want today – it is most likely not the same as they may have felt they wanted 12 months ago. Get out there and ask.

Stay calm, stay healthy, stay in business!

Who Will Be the Winners in 2010?

There are a lot of blogs at the moment about what people think is going to happen in 2010. Regardless of who you believe – one thing is certain. There will be winners and losers, leaders and laggers.

2010 is a year of leading businesses out of the valley and back on the climb to the peak. There are going to be those leaders who win and those who lose – so what makes the difference. 3 simple actions: Getting real about the situation
Getting focused about what parts of your business are critical to success and how you can do those things better
Creating urgency in improving critical success factors
Read full article on Leading Success in 2010

2010 is a year of leading businesses out of the valley and back on the climb to the peak. There are going to be those leaders who win and those who lose – so what makes the difference. 3 simple actions:

  1. Getting real about the situation and your feelings about it
  2. Getting focused about what parts of your business are critical to success and how you can do those things better
  3. Creating urgency in improving critical success factors

Read full article on Leading Success in 2010

Clever People – More Pain than Profit?

I was just out walking around the bays listening to Harvard Business IdeaCasts [Podcasts] on my iPod and one particular interview had me chuckling – probably to the amusement of those I passed along the way. It was on “Leading Clever People” with Gareth Jones – author of the book Clever – Leading Your Smartest and Most Creative People. The reason for my mirth was the personality profile attributed to such types – you see it wasn’t totally flattering, but being a person typically dubbed by others as ‘clever’ I had to admit identifying with what he was claiming. In particular, clever people:
Jones’s definition of ‘clever’ people is those who add disproportionate amounts of value to their organization – not those necessarily with Harvard MBA’s or high IQ.
They can be extremely difficult – they dont want ot be leaders, yet they certainly dont want to be lead. However, they are most effective when they have the discipline of peer boundaries, when they are lead in the right way. He does add that although they are difficult, they are well worth it [pulled a few memory files from the men in my life]. Hey – who wants to be easy, to be boring, the be blandly following the status quo – I am one for travelling the road less travelled, and if that makes me difficult in the eyes of others, then I have succeeded in breaking out of their tedious view on life. [we are not defensive either!!]
Clever people are capable of breakthroughs
The book focuses on how to locate, understand and manage clever people
They are not compliant – from the age of 3 it was identified that I was ’seemingly very obedient and compliant’ – however it was rided with ‘when it makes sense to me to do so’. When rules don’t make sense to me, I don’t go out to challenge the rule, I just find a way to negate it and work around it. I don’t like conflict, it is a complete waste of time, and typically driven by egos – and clever people are not impressed by egos or fashions. They are impressed by other clever poeple and quality.
Explain and persuade them – don’t tell them what to do. Remember, clever people don’t follow the normal paths – if you try to tell them what to do and how to do it you are pushing them down the road to the same bland outcomes that the routine and mundane churn out.
Do use your expertise – don’t use your hierarchy or title. So true, clever people are not impressed by who you think you are, they are impressed by what you know and what you demonstrate in action. I also don’t afford much value to
Tell them what to do, but don’t tell them how to do it. They get extremely irritated by being told what to do. The more challenging the problem, the more they will rise to the challenge, but get out of their way on how to resolve the problem.
Sounds like a great book – worth checking out.
Where I didn’t align with Gareths personality attributes – is that they don’t give thanks – maybe this was valid when I was younger and didn’t know that I was clever, and thus discounted things others did that I didn’t regard as important or contributing to something important – however as I have gained more wisdom with age, I am highly grateful to those who enjoy doing the more mundane administrative tasks, and do them well. They add significant value to my life by negating the need for me to perform such tasks.
People can also be clever in all kinds of contexts – personally, I don’t have much time for academic cleverness, I do admire those everyday people who invent fascinating things in their garages, or who grow large businesses from small beginnings and survive all means of hurdles – now that’s clever. Such people humble me, and it is why I really enjoy living in New Zealand. The population at large may not be that sophisticated on an international scale – but overall, they are clever. They are innovative, adaptable and will keep at a problem until they resolve it.
Thank goodness it takes all types – I would be exhausted dealing with a whole world like me!!

I was just out walking around the bays listening to Harvard Business IdeaCasts [Podcasts] on my iPod and one particular interview had me chuckling – probably to the amusement of those I passed along the way. It was on “Leading Clever People” with Gareth Jones – author of the book Clever – Leading Your Smartest and Most Creative People. The reason for my mirth was the personality profile attributed to such types – you see it wasn’t totally flattering, but being a person typically dubbed by others as ‘clever’ I had to admit identifying with what he was claiming. In particular, clever people:

Jones’s definition of ‘clever’ people is those who add disproportionate amounts of value to their organization – not those necessarily with Harvard MBA’s or high IQ.  In describing clever people he included that:

They can be extremely difficult – they dont want ot be leaders, yet they certainly dont want to be lead. However, they are most effective when they have the discipline of peer boundaries, when they are lead in the right way. He does add that although they are difficult, they are well worth it [pulled a few memory files from the men in my life]. Hey – who wants to be easy, to be boring, the be blandly following the status quo – I am one for travelling the road less travelled, and if that makes me difficult in the eyes of others, then I have succeeded in breaking out of their tedious view on life. [we are not defensive either!!]

They are not compliant – from the age of 3 it was identified that I was ’seemingly very obedient and compliant’ – however it was rided with ‘when it makes sense to me to do so’. When rules don’t make sense to me, I don’t go out to challenge the rule, I just find a way to negate it and work around it. I don’t like conflict, it is a complete waste of time, and typically driven by egos – and clever people are not impressed by egos or fashions. They are impressed by other clever poeple and quality.

The book focuses on how to locate, understand and manage clever people. A few insights on this:

Explain and persuade them; don’t tell them what to do. Remember, clever people don’t follow the normal paths – if you try to tell them what to do and how to do it you are pushing them down the road to the same bland outcomes that the routine and mundane churn out.

Do use your expertise; don’t use your hierarchy or title. So true, clever people are not impressed by who you think you are, they are impressed by what you know and what you demonstrate in action. I also don’t afford much value to

Tell them what to do; don’t tell them how to do it. They get extremely irritated by being told what to do. The more challenging the problem, the more they will rise to the challenge, but get out of their way on how to resolve the problem.

Sounds like a great book – worth checking out here.

Where I didn’t align with Gareths personality attributes – is that they don’t give thanks – maybe this was valid when I was younger and didn’t know that I was clever, and thus discounted things others did that I didn’t regard as important or contributing to something important – however as I have gained more wisdom with age, I am highly grateful to those who enjoy doing the more mundane administrative tasks, and do them well. They add significant value to my life by negating the need for me to perform such tasks.

People can also be clever in all kinds of contexts – personally, I don’t have much time for academic cleverness, I do admire those everyday people who invent fascinating things in their garages, or who grow large businesses from small beginnings and survive all means of hurdles – now that’s clever. Such people humble me, and it is why I really enjoy living in New Zealand. The population at large may not be that sophisticated on an international scale – but overall, they are clever. They are innovative, adaptable and will keep at a problem until they resolve it.

Thank goodness it takes all types – I would be exhausted dealing with a whole world like me!!

Aberdeen Research Reports Available on Kindle

Iv’e been a little slow on picking up on this one, but good news for busy executives who need to keep up with the latest research. Aberdeen Research Reports are now available on Kindle. Aberdeen is the leader amongst research firms to take advantage of the Kindle device, and with over 2.5 million readers in over 40 countries Aberdeen reports have become valued tools in strategic decision making.

The first report to make it to the Kindle screen is the “2009 State of the Market: Mid Year Insights”. Dubbed in the Aberdeen press release [August as the “2009 Business Leaders Guide” the report highlights data from 1,607 executives in 36 different countries it provides insight into:

  • What is driving buyer decisions today
  • How competition is responding to the marketplace; and
  • Changes to business process are likely to yield the greatest return.

The report aims to assist business leaders in comparing goals, strategies, tactics, and investment priorities to improve their own business.

The importance of release of this report on Kindle is its signal to the market that in such volatile economic decisions, business executives need to keep up with fact-based research, and with even less time than ever to do so, using portable, digital media is an accessible tool for this purpose.

Find out more about: Aberdeen Research Reports for KindleAberdeen Reports on Kindle

Find out more about: Kindle Wireless Reading Device
Kindle Reading Device

Corporate Boards Rethinking Their Capability

The recent economic slump has got many BODs rethinking their capability in overseeing their enterprises. Since many were caught short on insight to predict the full extent of their actions over the past few years, and even more lacking the enterprise agility to respond with sufficient speed and magnitude, it is not without justification that many Boards are re-evaluating their membership.

This McKinsey article sums up the current conversations around the board tables of America

Kelly Amongst Women Making Their Mark

Forbes recently released the list of the 100 most powerful women in the world, and although NZ didn’t make the cut, our closet ally [and rival] Australia proudly laid claim to CEO of Westpac Trust Gail Kelly. At #18, Ms Kelly ranked higher than US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, talk show host Oprah Winfrey and the Queen, according to Forbes magazine.

The Top 10 include:

  1. Angela Merkel, Chancellor, Germany 
  2. Sheila Bair, chairman, Federal Deposit Insurance Corp,  US 
  3. Indra Nooyi, chief executive, PepsiCo,  US 
  4. Cynthia Carroll, chief executive, Anglo American, UK 
  5. Ho Ching, chief executive, Temasek,  Singapore 
  6. Irene Rosenfeld, chief executive, Kraft Foods,  US 
  7. Ellen Kullman, chief executive, DuPont,  US 
  8. Angela Braly, chief executive, WellPoint,  US 
  9. Anne Lauvergeon, chief executive, Areva, France 
  10. Lynn Elsenhans Chief executive, Sunoco  US

The three criteria used to assess each candidate were ”public profile through worldwide media mentions, professional accomplishments and economic influence”.

For the full article and list

Board Members Find Taste of Ethical Responsibility Bitter

The Supreme Court’s decision to ban 10 former directors of James Hardie symbolically tightens the vice or board members, executives and non-executive directors.

Dishing out bans and fines at the “upper end of expectations” has sent a loud and clear reminder to all those in senior corporate positions that activities viewed as “serious and flagrant breaches of duty as directors” will not be tolerated. The James Hardie Group were found to have negligently made misleading statements in a deliberate attempt to influence the market in respect to attendant asbestos claims. The Judge said the if the Directors did not support a draft press release that contained details of a new compensation trust would be ”fully funded” and offered ”certainty” to claimants suffering from asbestos diseases, then they should have complained about such statements. During the proceedings the directors claimed they had either not read the release or had no recollection of reading, the press release. Such collective denial of recollection was not accepted as genuine by the Courts.

However, the Australian Institute of Company Directors does not believe the decision and the penalties attached will make it more difficult for companies to attract top level board candidates., claiming that existing law already provides for the duty to act honestly and disclose material information to the market. The judgment is seen simply as upholding existing law, rather than setting the foundation for new ones.

Barak Obama – Marketer of the Year?

For an impressive case study on how social media has been used to drive a full marketing campaign – check out this presentation on Barak Obamas presidential campaign.

This 2 hour presentation was made by Igor Beuker, to 150 marketers at the SRM Guru meeting 2009 in Amsterdam. Obama “brand interaction strategy” was a masterpiece of integrating old school semantics with new world technology.

Credit must also go to Paul van Veenendaal who compiled the research for this huge slide deck and of course to Barack Obama and his campaign team.

Segmentation Strategy Lagging Corporate Strategy

It interest me how many companies claim to have the ‘customer’ as the centre of their business strategy, then still retain outdated revenue focused segmentation. Most businesses segment their base by Consumer, SME and Corporate. Some may go as far as segementing their Consumer base down to High/Medium/Low revenue potential, and measuring customer value in terms of Average Revenue Per Unit [ARPU].

Yet both this segmentation and performance reporting are revenue rather than customer focused. One of the best ways to drive more insight into your customers, and the potential your business has to engage with them in more meaningful [and more profitable] ways is to change both the segmentation and the performance reporting.

For example, consider all the different types of users for your product. They will typically fall into groups such as:

  • Innovation leaders
  • Fashion followers
  • Basic or Advanced Users in terms of the depth of features they use
  • Trade workers
  • Office workers
  • Executive
  • Travelling businessmen
  • Sports players and outdoors enthusiasts

and so on

Each of these groups will likely use your technology in different ways. Instead of just focusing on how new technology allows you to advance the feature set of your products, consider the specific needs of each user group. Getting ahead of their game, helps you get ahead of yours. And in turn, the more you meet the future needs of your customers, the more likely they are to be in meeting your future needs of a lifetime profitable relationship.

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