Talk – Action = 0

Here’s a formula for you. It’s the motto of D.O.A., a hardcore/punk band: Talk – Action = 0. If you talk about something but don’t take action then it means nothing.

Like the strategic planning charade. All strategy but no execution equals zero results. (It’s actually worse as you’ve squandered time, money and effort.)

This is the touchstone for evaluating every strategy, every project and every initiative: What did I do versus what I said I was going to do? Hold yourself to this exacting standard and you will find that, like all of us, you commit too much in too little time. Your ambitions overtake reality.

Commit to less but do more. Under-promise and over-deliver. It enhances your credibility. D.O.A. has figured this out. Will you?

Your thoughts?

Michael

Ruthlessly Consistent and Consistently Irrelevant

It’s one thing to be ruthlessly consistent and another to be consistently relevant. Aligning people, processes, structure and infrastructure with the wrong focus can be very effective … at leading you to failure.

Stuffing your products with even more features doesn’t make sense if what your customers really want is simple (ever see an 80-year-old struggling with a cell phone?). Cutting people to cut costs can be self-defeating if exceptional service is growing your customer base (think Zappos).

So where does the right focus come from? A well-designed strategic management process. Once you’ve got a handle on the competitive landscape, your internal situation, and the larger societal factors that are impacting your business, you can establish your focus. Then align your people, processes, structure and infrastructure.

First comes focus, then consistency. Now you’re relevant … and winning.

Your thoughts?

Michael 

Yes Silly, Fun IS a Business Strategy

Fortune Magazine, among others, publishes an annual list of the best companies to work for. A characteristic common to many of these companies? Fun. They’re fun places to work, they have fun activities. (Like sumo-wrestling contests where everyone from the CEO to the service rep can be found crashing into each other in their plastic sumo suits!)

But wait a minute. Isn’t business about making money? Well, it turns out that the best companies to work for typically outperform their competitors financially. Why? Because fun helps employees feel good about their workplace. So they go above-and-beyond. They take initiative. And that’s what leads to better performance and results.

Think Southwest Airlines. Their former CEO, Herb Kelleher, was known to attend company parties dressed in drag. Ever flown Southwest? Unsurprisingly, their flight attendants are fun. But how do they do financially? Very, very well compared to their competitors.

Fun and business results aren’t incompatible. In fact, fun can help you achieve business results. So go back to the office, identify the people who are fun, form a Fun Committee and get out of the way!

Now, where did I put those panty hose?

Your thoughts?

Michael

What I Look For In a CEO

I’ve consulted with hundreds of CEOs and executives. And I’ve learned to be selective on the front end to maximize the opportunity for success on the back end. So what do I look for in a CEO? The 3 C’s.

Committed

If there’s no will there’s no way. If you’re a CEO, I’m looking for evidence of commitment not just in words but in action. Have you made personal sacrifices in order to win? Have you changed your behavior in some significant way? Have you taken decisive action that was unpopular or uncomfortable?

Capable

As a CEO, you need to possess at least sufficient capabilities in all areas critical to your job. That generally means some combination of traits and skills ranging from the analytical and technical to the creative to the interpersonal and intrapersonal.

Controlled Ego

The acid test. Are you in control of your ego or is your ego in control of you? If you’re unable to acknowledge your limitations, unwilling to accept responsibility for outcomes, or reluctant to share credit for successes then, ultimately, you can’t win.

That’s what I look for in a CEO. And that’s what you should look for in any executive.

Your thoughts?

Michael

Consistency 101

They might listen to what you say but they hear what you do. Make no mistake, you are constantly on stage. Your people are watching and judging everything you do. Everything you don’t do. Everything. So how consistent are you?

If you expect your people to change, then role-model that change. If conditions force your organization to sacrifice, then be seen as the first to sacrifice. If you want to bring attention to a cultural norm, then be an exemplar of that norm.

If you’re not consistent, you can’t be credible. But you have to be credible for your people to follow you. And as I once read, if you think you’re a leader yet no one is following you, then you’re just going for a walk.

Your thoughts?

Michael

Two Sides of Implementation

Your organizational change effort has failed. Why? Did it have more to do with the technical side or the people side of the implementation? The people side, right? Yet, what did you spend most of your time planning for? Of course, the technical side. I’ve heard the same from hundreds of executives. We plan for the technical side but fail on the people side.

So what’s the solution? Total Project Management. Plan for the people side as rigorously as you do the technical side. That means making sure your people understand and buy into the what, why and how of change. Ensuring they are equipped, coached and supported to make the change happen. And that they feel valued – respected and understood.

Technical and people. Both are necessary. Neither is sufficient. Total Project Management. 

Your thoughts?

Michael

The Paradox of Leadership

If you want to be an effective leader then you have to act like one. Yet that’s not as straightforward as it might seem. Here are a few counter-intuitive examples:

1) Admitting Mistakes Enhances Your Credibility

If you try to justify or defend your mistakes people will think you’re a weasel. Taking responsibility enhances your credibility because they see you’re not just acting in self-interest. The next time you make a mistake, ask yourself two questions: What did I learn? What would I do differently next time? Asking these same questions when your people make mistakes promotes a culture of learning, not blame.

2) Recognizing Your Weaknesses Can Make You Stronger

News flash: You’re not perfect. Not a big deal but ignoring your weaknesses could be. Unearth your weaknesses, acknowledge them and take action to address the ones that are holding you back. It doesn’t mean you have to be great at everything. But make sure your weaknesses aren’t self-defeating and surround yourself with people whose greatness complements you.

3) Putting Them First Helps Your Cause More Than Putting You First

People can sniff out a self-serving leader a mile away. When you strive to see through their eyes, understand their perspectives and feel with their hearts, you will be viewed as a leader who cares. People follow leaders who respect them, understand them and care about them.

4) Firing People Can Raise Morale

When you don’t hold accountable the person who isn’t meeting performance or conduct expectations, it demoralizes and demotivates everyone else. Yes, it’s your responsibility to give the person the opportunity, resources and support to succeed. But if they still don’t succeed, do what you know you need to do … and don’t be surprised when it boosts the morale of everyone else.

Your thoughts?

Michael

Beware The Big-Company Manager

You’re a growing small-to-mid sized business. You need to upgrade your management team. So you take the plunge and bring in a seasoned manager from a respected large company. Smart move, right?

Could be a big mistake. Here’s why:

1) Ivory Tower Management

Often, execs from big companies don’t do. They have teams of people who do. They direct. You can’t afford the luxury of a high-priced person who doesn’t do. When interviewing candidates from large companies be sure to ask what they personally accomplished and how, not just what their departments accomplished.

2) No Urgency

Bureaucracy seeps into the marrow of large companies. People come to expect that change is slow and painful. That attitude can kill a smaller company. Ask big-company candidates about their experience in overcoming the obstacles that slow change.

3) Runaway Resources

Larger companies have more resources, whether it’s people, materials, equipment or money. More than one small-to-mid sized company has suffered because their former-big-company manager pushed for infrastructure that simply wasn’t supportable in the smaller company. Make sure to identify what resources your big-company candidates required to achieve results.

Yes, a growing business needs to grow its management capabilities. But don’t be easily impressed with big-company experience. For a small-to-mid sized company, how things get done is often as important as what.

Your thoughts?

Michael

Complacency Kills

I find it amazing how many businesses use their past successes as justification to not change. As if past success reliably predicts future success.  As if competitive landscapes are static. As if the economic environment is stable.

Everyone repeat after me: “What made us successful in the past could kill us in the future.” Complacency kills. There is no guarantee of success, no entitlement. How many examples do we need? Aloha Airlines. Bombay Company. Borders. Crabtree & Evelyn. Mervyns. Nortel. Ritz Cameras. Sharper Image. Ultimate Electronics. Wachovia. And that’s just the past few years.

(See: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_business_failures for a historical listing.)

Organizations that continually thrive maintain a healthy dissatisfaction with the status quo. A healthy paranoia about their prospects. They ask, “what if”, trying to anticipate the worst. They question their assumptions about themselves, their customers and their competitors.

Sure, it’s great to recognize and celebrate your successes. Just don’t stay too late at the party.

Your thoughts?

Michael 

Competitive Intel

It doesn’t matter how good your products and services are.

It doesn’t matter how good your customers think your products and services are.

What ultimately matters is how good your customers think your products and services are versus how good they think your competitors’ products and services are. It’s all about competition.

Yet I find that many mid-sized companies know next to nothing about their competitors. How can you continually compete and win if you don’t know who you’re competing with, their relative advantages and disadvantages, and how those are perceived in the marketplace?

You can’t.

Solution: Competitive intelligence. Identify, investigate and track your competitors. Do the searches. Ask your vendors. Ask your customers, former customers, and future customers. Ask your sales reps. Ask your employees who have come from the competition. Keep a database and assign responsibilities for updating and monitoring it. And, as an executive team, insist on a summarized review each quarter. 

You might have a customer who is reasonably happy with your products and services today …  and who might fire you tomorrow. Compete.

Your thoughts?

Michael

 

Stop Strategic Planning

Stop strategic planning.  Strategic planning is an event and events don’t produce results. Processes do.  Think of strategy as a process to be managed – a Strategic Management Process.

A robust Strategic Management Process should be linked to your organization’s fiscal year and cycle through four phases:

  1. Assessment – determining the forces and trends impacting your organization and what is driving you to change
  2. Positioning – establishing a clear and concise identity and ambition
  3. Planning – outlining how success will be achieved
  4. Implementation – instituting the mechanisms to build commitment, align the organization and manage execution

When strategic planning ends, people go back to work and the plan collects dust. With Strategic Management there is no end.  Strategic execution is emphasized just as much as day-to-day operational execution.

Put an end to the strategic planning charade.  If you’re serious about establishing and sustaining the right focus, then commit to an annual process of strategy development and execution. Commit to Strategic Management.

Your thoughts?

Michael

Ruthless Consistency: A Philosophy for Winning

Inconsistency kills.  When you as a leader act inconsistently you kill your credibility. You demotivate your people. And you undermine your ability to win.

What does inconsistency look like?  When you say one thing but do another. When your work environment sets up your people to fail.  When you put the wrong people in the wrong positions.  When your strategy is out of touch with market realities.  Every example of organizational failure I have come across is a result of inconsistency.

What’s the solution?  Ruthless Consistency.  If you are truly committed to winning – however you define it – then that commitment must be consistently reflected in what you say and what you do.  In what you don’t say and don’t do. The decisions you make, the actions you take.  All the time.  Every time.  Ruthless Consistency.

It means developing and sustaining the right focus for your organization.  It means getting the right people in the right positions.  And it means creating the right environment so your people can and will do what it takes to win.

Do you have the right commitment to make this happen?

Michael