"Bringing Out the Best in People"
There are some interesting insights about strategy development we can glean from the world of software development. Recently, a friend of mine (the manager of some software development teams) told me he was called to the CEO’s office so the CEO could share an observation and a concern he had about the development teams. He […]
Often, an executive team will create a great strategy, only to find that their strategy has created more problems than it’ resolved. Instead of catapulting a company to new heights of success, the strategy causes the company to get mired down in a cascade of new, unforeseen challenges. Sometimes a misguided strategy can even cause […]
I’ve seen this scenario over and over again. Companies looking to increase profits develop a strategy to bring them closer to where they want to be. Except that the so-called strategy they develop isn’t really a strategy at all. It’s just a goal. Or sometimes it’s simply a platitude – a nice-sounding, but meaningless statement. […]
All businesses strive to grow and improve profits, but there is almost always at least one more company competing for market share. One philosophy is to try and put the competition out of business – in other words defeat the competition. It’s an approach that is usually difficult to do and in fact, can turn […]
Established companies differ from startups in many ways. Established businesses tend to be large and slow-moving. Startups are small and agile. Established businesses are structured, while startups are free form in their nature. Each side has its advantages and disadvantages. But there are a number of practices that startups use to great advantage which larger […]
There are a lot of smart people in the business world and they come up with plenty of good strategies to grow revenues, to gain market share, to increase productivity and to improve profitability. And most executives also create a plan which details the tactics that need to be executed in order to achieve that […]
I recently read an article discussing how bakery chains were steadily putting small local bakers out of business. It explained how large chains can offer comparable products at lower prices and promote with large marketing budgets. Of course, this scenario isn’t just confined to the bakery sector. Pretty much every retail sector has experienced the […]
As an executive coach and strategist, I’ve come to understand that if a business truly wants to develop a strategy—something that makes a real difference to its growth, its profitability and its future—it first needs to gain clarity regarding one of two things. Either it needs to fully understand the main challenge it’s presently facing, or… Read […]
This past weekend I was in Phoenix, AZ attending the wedding of one of my daughters. It was a wonderful occasion and needless to say, the bride was beautiful! One evening I was outside enjoying a cigar on the patio of the resort hotel. The weather was beautiful and the atmosphere was vibrant with relaxed […]
You hear about it wherever you go these days – how poor the economy is. People talk about how no one is spending any money. About how no one is buying anything. About how people aren’t making decisions. About how everyone has cut back. And yet… The first class section of a flight is always […]
