It’s what makes you unique and gives you advantage : Strategy
Strategy is not aspiration, action, deals, importance, vision, mission, learning, values, change, agility, growth, price, best practices, operations, acquisitions, or structure.
Strategy is what makes you unique, gives you a distinct competitive advantage, provides direction, builds brand reputation, sets the right goals, add superior performance, defines a market position and creates a unique value proposition. In formulating strategy, you have to choose what to do (and what not to do), what customers to serve, and what needs to meet at what price. Strategy often requires a different value chain with reinforcing structure and sustaining systems.
Barriers to strategy include capital markets with the prevailing emphasis on shareholder value, growth goals, development deals, wrong goals, wrong performance metrics, and cost accounting. Develop strategy to establish a unique market position and gain a competitive advantage.
Strategic growth is about becoming more distinctive, expanding geography, hiring the right people, and heading in the right direction.
Sunday, August 1, 2010
Friday, July 2, 2010
2010: What will be the patterns and their implications ?
Do you have the Courage to Ask ? Ask, “ What needs to be done?”
Peter Drucker onced Remarked, “ The leader of the past knew how to tell; the leader of the future will know how to ask.”
Why is asking so important ? Today all leaders manage knowledge workers. It is hard to tell people what to do and how to do it when they already know more than we do! Today, we need to ask, “ What needs to be done?” listen, and learn from everyone.
Leaders who ask co-workers for suggestions, listen to them, learn from them, and consistently follow-up, are seen as more effective. Similarly, customer satisfaction goes up when service reps ask, listen, learn, and follow-up. When people ask us for input, listen to us, learn from us, and follow-up, our relationship with them improves. If this is so obvious, why don’t we do it ?
As a rule, leaders don’t ask ! One reason is an inflated ego. When I ask leaders to rate themselves relative to their peers, about 85 percent of them rank themselves in the top 20 percent ! And the performance of the company has little to do with their assessment.
When we succeed, we tend to attribute good results to our own motivation and ability and attribute poor results to environmental factors bad luck, or random chance.
When we over-rate our own performance and knowledge, we easily justify not asking others for their input.
However, the main reason why we don’t ask is fear. I once asked a VP of Customer Satisfaction, “ Should your employees be asking their key customers for feedback- and then listening, learning, and following-up to ensure service keeps getting better?”
“Of Course!” he exclaimed.
“If you believe in asking so much, why don’t you do it?” I inquired.
“ Because I am afraid of the answers, “ he ruefully admitted.
We don’t ask because, deep down inside, we are afraid of the answers.
My Suggestions:
As a leader, start asking key co-workers for their ideas on what needs to be done. Thank them for their input, listen to them, learn as much as you can, incorporate the ideas that make the most sense and follow-up.
As a Coach, encourage the people that you are coaching to ask, listen and learn from everyone around them. Be a great role model, then ask the people you coach to learn in the same way.
Improving interpersonal relationships doesn’t have to take a lot of your time. It does require having the courage to ask for people’s opinions and the discipline to follow-up and do something about what you learn. Who do you need to ask, “ What needs to be done?” When are you going to start asking?
Peter Drucker onced Remarked, “ The leader of the past knew how to tell; the leader of the future will know how to ask.”
Why is asking so important ? Today all leaders manage knowledge workers. It is hard to tell people what to do and how to do it when they already know more than we do! Today, we need to ask, “ What needs to be done?” listen, and learn from everyone.
Leaders who ask co-workers for suggestions, listen to them, learn from them, and consistently follow-up, are seen as more effective. Similarly, customer satisfaction goes up when service reps ask, listen, learn, and follow-up. When people ask us for input, listen to us, learn from us, and follow-up, our relationship with them improves. If this is so obvious, why don’t we do it ?
As a rule, leaders don’t ask ! One reason is an inflated ego. When I ask leaders to rate themselves relative to their peers, about 85 percent of them rank themselves in the top 20 percent ! And the performance of the company has little to do with their assessment.
When we succeed, we tend to attribute good results to our own motivation and ability and attribute poor results to environmental factors bad luck, or random chance.
When we over-rate our own performance and knowledge, we easily justify not asking others for their input.
However, the main reason why we don’t ask is fear. I once asked a VP of Customer Satisfaction, “ Should your employees be asking their key customers for feedback- and then listening, learning, and following-up to ensure service keeps getting better?”
“Of Course!” he exclaimed.
“If you believe in asking so much, why don’t you do it?” I inquired.
“ Because I am afraid of the answers, “ he ruefully admitted.
We don’t ask because, deep down inside, we are afraid of the answers.
My Suggestions:
As a leader, start asking key co-workers for their ideas on what needs to be done. Thank them for their input, listen to them, learn as much as you can, incorporate the ideas that make the most sense and follow-up.
As a Coach, encourage the people that you are coaching to ask, listen and learn from everyone around them. Be a great role model, then ask the people you coach to learn in the same way.
Improving interpersonal relationships doesn’t have to take a lot of your time. It does require having the courage to ask for people’s opinions and the discipline to follow-up and do something about what you learn. Who do you need to ask, “ What needs to be done?” When are you going to start asking?
Monday, June 7, 2010
2010: What will be the Patterns and their Implications ?
Crisis Leadership : Seven Strategies of Strength
A Crisis is an extreme event that may threaten your very existence. At the very least, it causes substantial injuries, deaths and financial costs, as well as serious damage to your brand or reputation. Yet, those individuals and organizations that have successfully weathered major crises have learned the major lessons that crises have to teach, and they have emerged even stronger and better than they were before.
Unfortunately, most executives are prepared at best for limited crises, mainly fires and natural disasters. A few organizations may even be prepared for direct threats to their core business, such as food contamination or product tampering, but even this situation is not common. Furthermore, those businesses that do prepare for such crises are doing so mainly in their primary industries, as in the food and pharmaceutical industries.
In the book , why some companies Emerge Stronger and Better from a Crisis, Ian Mitroff presents seven essential challenges that all organizations need to face and overcome if they are to survive today’s threats. In meeting and overcoming these challenges, successful crisis leaders have learned, even if they have not completely mastered , seven essential lessons. Learning these lessons can help you to anticipate, plan for, and survive the crises that are an evitable part of life and business.
Seven Essential Lessons:
1.Right Heart.
2.Right Thinking.
3.Right Soul.
4.Right Social and Political Skills.
5.Right Technical Skills.
6.Right Integration.
7.Right Transfer.
Crisis leadership is not just good for business-the economic bottom line-it is also good for the existential, emotional, and spiritual bottom line. No person, business, organization, institution, or society can survive for long without crisis leadership.
A Crisis is an extreme event that may threaten your very existence. At the very least, it causes substantial injuries, deaths and financial costs, as well as serious damage to your brand or reputation. Yet, those individuals and organizations that have successfully weathered major crises have learned the major lessons that crises have to teach, and they have emerged even stronger and better than they were before.
Unfortunately, most executives are prepared at best for limited crises, mainly fires and natural disasters. A few organizations may even be prepared for direct threats to their core business, such as food contamination or product tampering, but even this situation is not common. Furthermore, those businesses that do prepare for such crises are doing so mainly in their primary industries, as in the food and pharmaceutical industries.
In the book , why some companies Emerge Stronger and Better from a Crisis, Ian Mitroff presents seven essential challenges that all organizations need to face and overcome if they are to survive today’s threats. In meeting and overcoming these challenges, successful crisis leaders have learned, even if they have not completely mastered , seven essential lessons. Learning these lessons can help you to anticipate, plan for, and survive the crises that are an evitable part of life and business.
Seven Essential Lessons:
1.Right Heart.
2.Right Thinking.
3.Right Soul.
4.Right Social and Political Skills.
5.Right Technical Skills.
6.Right Integration.
7.Right Transfer.
Crisis leadership is not just good for business-the economic bottom line-it is also good for the existential, emotional, and spiritual bottom line. No person, business, organization, institution, or society can survive for long without crisis leadership.
Saturday, May 1, 2010
2010: What will be the Patterns and their Implications ?
Bring Strategy to Life: Shift people’s mental model
Why is implementing strategy so difficult? How can leaders implement a new strategy more quickly and effectively? What does it take to make the strategy stick?
Strategy is about altering the future—putting the organization on a new trajectory. Why do so few strategic initiatives deliver? Excessive attention is focused on strategic decisions: What markets, investment, products, services, and business model? While initiating a strategy is based on such decisions of senior managers, the success of strategy depends on the daily actions of many people. So, the key to effective execution is having people internalize strategy as a new mental model of the business and then to change their daily thinking and actions, making decisions about priorities, consistent with the strategic direction.
Success depends on strategy taking on a life of its own with many people. Until strategy is enacted, it is just an idea. How can we enable people to internalize sensible ideas, stop taking old actions, and start taking new actions.
Six Elements of the Game :
1. The Game
2. Playing Field
3. Winning and keeping scores
4. Rules
5. Playbook
6. Players
When using the framework and language of The Game, people internalize what needs to be done to succeed with the new strategy, new ways of doing business, the new model. How decisions are made, and how the implementation of the new strategy will benefit all.
To realize its full potential, any strategy must take on a life of its own with all players. Contrasting the old strategy (old game) with the New Game enables people to internalize the shift. The new game requires an emerging environment, a new definition of winning and keeping score, new rules, new ways of doing business, new ways to succeed, and new opportunities.
Why is implementing strategy so difficult? How can leaders implement a new strategy more quickly and effectively? What does it take to make the strategy stick?
Strategy is about altering the future—putting the organization on a new trajectory. Why do so few strategic initiatives deliver? Excessive attention is focused on strategic decisions: What markets, investment, products, services, and business model? While initiating a strategy is based on such decisions of senior managers, the success of strategy depends on the daily actions of many people. So, the key to effective execution is having people internalize strategy as a new mental model of the business and then to change their daily thinking and actions, making decisions about priorities, consistent with the strategic direction.
Success depends on strategy taking on a life of its own with many people. Until strategy is enacted, it is just an idea. How can we enable people to internalize sensible ideas, stop taking old actions, and start taking new actions.
Six Elements of the Game :
1. The Game
2. Playing Field
3. Winning and keeping scores
4. Rules
5. Playbook
6. Players
When using the framework and language of The Game, people internalize what needs to be done to succeed with the new strategy, new ways of doing business, the new model. How decisions are made, and how the implementation of the new strategy will benefit all.
To realize its full potential, any strategy must take on a life of its own with all players. Contrasting the old strategy (old game) with the New Game enables people to internalize the shift. The new game requires an emerging environment, a new definition of winning and keeping score, new rules, new ways of doing business, new ways to succeed, and new opportunities.
Sunday, April 4, 2010
2010: What will be the Patterns and their Implications ?
Who will Lead Now ? Prepare to set up
CEO jobs are dramatically hard. Background, experience, education, and talent may not prepare you for the never-ending-on-public-display-globally-pressured-quaterly-earnings-report work that comes with leadership at the top.
About 40 percent of CEOs fail within 18 months. These odds, plus demands placed on leaders, have caused a downturn in senior executives who want the top position ( from 50 to 35 percent in the last four years). Moreover, CEO turnover is at a five-year high.
Who will lead companies in the future ? this question has caused a leadership succession and development frenzy. Boards are more anxious about finding executive talent whenever they can.
In his book, Searching for a Corporate Savior, Rakesh Khurana, professor at Harvard University, suggests that looking outside for a CEO successor is part of a growing “ irrational quest for charismatic Chief executives” ( selection of outside CEO’s has gone from 6 to 50 percent in recent years). Fearing boards may be focusing on the qualities of presence, personality, and media appeal rather than character and competence, he gives seven guidelines for finding successors; abandon hope for a corporate savior; translate company strategy into operational terms; identify skills required for key activities (activity/competency mapping); assess internal candidates; test and choose from a short-list; and calibrate goals, milestones, and compensation to drivers to success. Khurana favors internal development of candidates, but acknowledges that developing home grown talent is not the only course.
After reviewing 276 companies that have good track records at developing home-grown talent, The Corporate Leadership Counsel defined seven Hallmarks of leadership Success:
1.)A Culture of Development.
2.)Enforcing Development.
3.)Recruiting Senior Executives.
4.)The Power of Meritocracy.
5.)Full Business exposure for rising executives.
6.)A Focus on leadership skills in successor identification.
7.)Succession Management.
Companies that are great at developing future leaders invest much time in cultivating a candidate pool. As managers gain the requisite training, coaching, on-the-job experience, they join an internal pool of high-potential candidates. But what separates the good processes from great ones is an emphasis on self-development.
All this leads me to conclude: Work harder on developing internal talent. You can improve your odds beyond 50-50 by doing the hard, but rewarding, work of developing more leaders internally. While I believe companies must regularly look outside for talent, having an effective process for developing leaders ensures that you will have great candidates when the time comes to add or replace executive talent.
CEO jobs are dramatically hard. Background, experience, education, and talent may not prepare you for the never-ending-on-public-display-globally-pressured-quaterly-earnings-report work that comes with leadership at the top.
About 40 percent of CEOs fail within 18 months. These odds, plus demands placed on leaders, have caused a downturn in senior executives who want the top position ( from 50 to 35 percent in the last four years). Moreover, CEO turnover is at a five-year high.
Who will lead companies in the future ? this question has caused a leadership succession and development frenzy. Boards are more anxious about finding executive talent whenever they can.
In his book, Searching for a Corporate Savior, Rakesh Khurana, professor at Harvard University, suggests that looking outside for a CEO successor is part of a growing “ irrational quest for charismatic Chief executives” ( selection of outside CEO’s has gone from 6 to 50 percent in recent years). Fearing boards may be focusing on the qualities of presence, personality, and media appeal rather than character and competence, he gives seven guidelines for finding successors; abandon hope for a corporate savior; translate company strategy into operational terms; identify skills required for key activities (activity/competency mapping); assess internal candidates; test and choose from a short-list; and calibrate goals, milestones, and compensation to drivers to success. Khurana favors internal development of candidates, but acknowledges that developing home grown talent is not the only course.
After reviewing 276 companies that have good track records at developing home-grown talent, The Corporate Leadership Counsel defined seven Hallmarks of leadership Success:
1.)A Culture of Development.
2.)Enforcing Development.
3.)Recruiting Senior Executives.
4.)The Power of Meritocracy.
5.)Full Business exposure for rising executives.
6.)A Focus on leadership skills in successor identification.
7.)Succession Management.
Companies that are great at developing future leaders invest much time in cultivating a candidate pool. As managers gain the requisite training, coaching, on-the-job experience, they join an internal pool of high-potential candidates. But what separates the good processes from great ones is an emphasis on self-development.
All this leads me to conclude: Work harder on developing internal talent. You can improve your odds beyond 50-50 by doing the hard, but rewarding, work of developing more leaders internally. While I believe companies must regularly look outside for talent, having an effective process for developing leaders ensures that you will have great candidates when the time comes to add or replace executive talent.
Monday, March 1, 2010
2010: What will be the Patterns and their Implications ?
Small Remedies Reap Big Rewards: Fix your Broken Windows
What prompted me to write this article was my recent very bad experience with a Health Insurance Company of repute in India, giving me excuses for their lack of customer back-up service and incompetence. And as a Customer, I am supposed to BUY that ?
When is a DIRTY bathroom a broken window? This question could determine your success or failure. Answer that question correctly-and use that answer as a beacon-and your business could dominate its competition indefinitely. Ignore the answer, and you will soon condemn your business to failure.
The “broken windows” theory was first put forth by criminologists James Q. Wilson
And George L. Kelling, concentrating on petty criminal acts like graffiti, purse snatching, or jay walking, and how they can lead to bigger crimes such as murder. Something as small as a broken window sends a signal to those who pass by every day. That means more serious infractions – theft, defacement, violent crime- might be condoned in this area.
If a window in a building is broken and left un-repaired, all other windows will soon be broken because people perceive that the owner of this building and community around it don’t care if this window is broken: They have given up; anarchy reigns here. Do as you will, because nobody cares.
Broken Windows in Business:
That same theory applies to the world of business. If the restroom is out of toilet paper, it signals that management isn’t paying attention to the needs of its people. Perceptions are a vital part of every business, and if a retailer, service provider, or company sends signals that its approach is lackadaisical, its methods halfhearted, and its execution indifferent, the business could suffer severe- and in some cases, irreparable- losses.
When broken windows are ignored, fatal consequences can result. Small things
make a huge difference. We all bear some responsibility to stand up for what we want and have every right to expect from a company to which we give our hard-earned money.
In a Capitalist Society, we assume that a company will do its best to fulfill the desires of its customers. If the company sees sales slipping but doesn’t have data from consumers as to what made them decrease their spending, the company will not know what to fix. Still, businesses that don’t notice and repair their broken windows should not simply be forgiven because their consumers don’t make a fuss. Leaders are responsible to tend their own house- and the time to repair broken windows is the minute they occur.
Prevent Broken Windows: Broken Windows are everywhere, except at the best businesses. I invite you take the Broken Windows for Business Pledge. It’s a serious statement outlining the tenets of the broken windows for business theory:
I hereby pledge that:
•I will pay attention to every detail.
•I will correct any broken windows I find in my business, and I will do so
immediately, with no hesitation.
•I will screen, hire, train and supervise my people to notice and correct broken
windows as soon as possible.
•I will treat each customer like the only customer my business has. I will be on
constant vigil for signs of Broken Windows Hubris and never assume my business is
invulnerable.
•I will mystery shop my own business to discover broken windows.
•I will make sure every customer who encounters my business is met with courtesy,
efficiency and a smile.
•I will exceed customer expectations.
•I will make a positive first impression and assume that every impression is a first
impression.
•I will make sure that my online and telephone customer service reps solve a
customer’s problem perfectly the first time.
•I will be obsessive and compulsive when it comes to my business.
If you live up to the promises in the pledge and make them second nature, you will discover your business- and your life-running more smoothly than ever before. You will never look at a broken window-or an unbroken one-the same way again.
What prompted me to write this article was my recent very bad experience with a Health Insurance Company of repute in India, giving me excuses for their lack of customer back-up service and incompetence. And as a Customer, I am supposed to BUY that ?
When is a DIRTY bathroom a broken window? This question could determine your success or failure. Answer that question correctly-and use that answer as a beacon-and your business could dominate its competition indefinitely. Ignore the answer, and you will soon condemn your business to failure.
The “broken windows” theory was first put forth by criminologists James Q. Wilson
And George L. Kelling, concentrating on petty criminal acts like graffiti, purse snatching, or jay walking, and how they can lead to bigger crimes such as murder. Something as small as a broken window sends a signal to those who pass by every day. That means more serious infractions – theft, defacement, violent crime- might be condoned in this area.
If a window in a building is broken and left un-repaired, all other windows will soon be broken because people perceive that the owner of this building and community around it don’t care if this window is broken: They have given up; anarchy reigns here. Do as you will, because nobody cares.
Broken Windows in Business:
That same theory applies to the world of business. If the restroom is out of toilet paper, it signals that management isn’t paying attention to the needs of its people. Perceptions are a vital part of every business, and if a retailer, service provider, or company sends signals that its approach is lackadaisical, its methods halfhearted, and its execution indifferent, the business could suffer severe- and in some cases, irreparable- losses.
When broken windows are ignored, fatal consequences can result. Small things
make a huge difference. We all bear some responsibility to stand up for what we want and have every right to expect from a company to which we give our hard-earned money.
In a Capitalist Society, we assume that a company will do its best to fulfill the desires of its customers. If the company sees sales slipping but doesn’t have data from consumers as to what made them decrease their spending, the company will not know what to fix. Still, businesses that don’t notice and repair their broken windows should not simply be forgiven because their consumers don’t make a fuss. Leaders are responsible to tend their own house- and the time to repair broken windows is the minute they occur.
Prevent Broken Windows: Broken Windows are everywhere, except at the best businesses. I invite you take the Broken Windows for Business Pledge. It’s a serious statement outlining the tenets of the broken windows for business theory:
I hereby pledge that:
•I will pay attention to every detail.
•I will correct any broken windows I find in my business, and I will do so
immediately, with no hesitation.
•I will screen, hire, train and supervise my people to notice and correct broken
windows as soon as possible.
•I will treat each customer like the only customer my business has. I will be on
constant vigil for signs of Broken Windows Hubris and never assume my business is
invulnerable.
•I will mystery shop my own business to discover broken windows.
•I will make sure every customer who encounters my business is met with courtesy,
efficiency and a smile.
•I will exceed customer expectations.
•I will make a positive first impression and assume that every impression is a first
impression.
•I will make sure that my online and telephone customer service reps solve a
customer’s problem perfectly the first time.
•I will be obsessive and compulsive when it comes to my business.
If you live up to the promises in the pledge and make them second nature, you will discover your business- and your life-running more smoothly than ever before. You will never look at a broken window-or an unbroken one-the same way again.
Monday, February 1, 2010
2010: What will be the Patterns and their implications ?
Beyond Business As Usual : Do you have the Guts to Brand the Culture ?
Gutsy Leaders reject the mercenary notion that their employees are nothing more than human resources, akin to capital, fuel, oil, or machine tools that can be allocated or discarded at will. Instead, they see their people as individuals with unique gifts and talents, eager to realize their potential. Gutsy leaders aren’t afraid of being criticized or even mocked by their competitors. With bravery and vision, they dismantle fear-based management and replace it with heart, soul, discipline, loyalty, humor-and long-term profits.
Here are three ways that gutsy leaders blow the doors off business as usual:
1.Gutsy leaders brand their culture: A branded culture separates an organization from its competition. It attracts the “right” talent – people who are drawn to the culture as well as to the work. Since it establishes its own reputation, recruitment is easier because potential hires know more about the company than just what it produces. Companies with branded cultures-employers of choice –aren’t filled with merely “satisfied ”employees. Their employees are enthusiastic about the company. Are merely satisfied employees likely to go beyond what’s required to serve customers? Are they likely to strive to drive down costs without compromising quality, service or safety? Are they likely to be great ambassadors for your company and brand? The objective here is to create a culture that motivates people to become fully engaged in growing the business.
Dr. Jim Goodnight, co-founder and CEO of SAS Institute, the world leader in intelligence-software services, believes that the more you help employees focus on their work, the more amazing results they achieve for the organization.
Goodnight has built the largest private software company in the world, with 9,000 employees, offices in 53 countries, and revenues of more than $1Billion. The turnover at SAS has never exceeded 5 percent. The company estimates that it
saves between $60 million and $80 million annually by avoiding the costly headache of recruiting, training and assimilating new hires.
2.Gutsy leaders create a sense of ownership: Ownership recognizes that the organization’s experts are the people closet to the point of action, and trusts them to operate with the organization’s best interests in mind. The more people know about your business, the more they will care. Morale and productivity suffer. How can we expect people to think for themselves and build a profitable enterprise if they have no idea what goes into creating the bottom line?
If you want your people to think and act like owners, you must share financial information and explain what the numbers mean and how the information can be applied. Employees must know how economic value is created, how revenues and expenses translate into profit, how they create financial security for themselves and the organization, and what investors contribute and want in return.
3.Gutsy leaders lead with love: What does it take to be gutsy leader?What does it take to be gutsy leader? You have to be gutsy enough to stand up to those who stand in your way. You have to be big enough to admit your mistakes. You have to be vulnerable and say, “I don’t know.” You have to care enough to lead with love and trust rather than power and fear. You have to be humble enough to surround yourself with people smarter and more capable than you-and then have the faith to get out of their way. You have to be open and flexible enough to adjust to circumstances. You have to do what’s right, even when it’s not politically correct. You have to blow the doors off business-as –usual!
Ask yourself “If I were going to be brave today, what would I change if I walk beyond my fear of making a mistake, being rejected, looking foolish or being alone ?”
Action : Be Brave in making change.
Gutsy Leaders reject the mercenary notion that their employees are nothing more than human resources, akin to capital, fuel, oil, or machine tools that can be allocated or discarded at will. Instead, they see their people as individuals with unique gifts and talents, eager to realize their potential. Gutsy leaders aren’t afraid of being criticized or even mocked by their competitors. With bravery and vision, they dismantle fear-based management and replace it with heart, soul, discipline, loyalty, humor-and long-term profits.
Here are three ways that gutsy leaders blow the doors off business as usual:
1.Gutsy leaders brand their culture: A branded culture separates an organization from its competition. It attracts the “right” talent – people who are drawn to the culture as well as to the work. Since it establishes its own reputation, recruitment is easier because potential hires know more about the company than just what it produces. Companies with branded cultures-employers of choice –aren’t filled with merely “satisfied ”employees. Their employees are enthusiastic about the company. Are merely satisfied employees likely to go beyond what’s required to serve customers? Are they likely to strive to drive down costs without compromising quality, service or safety? Are they likely to be great ambassadors for your company and brand? The objective here is to create a culture that motivates people to become fully engaged in growing the business.
Dr. Jim Goodnight, co-founder and CEO of SAS Institute, the world leader in intelligence-software services, believes that the more you help employees focus on their work, the more amazing results they achieve for the organization.
Goodnight has built the largest private software company in the world, with 9,000 employees, offices in 53 countries, and revenues of more than $1Billion. The turnover at SAS has never exceeded 5 percent. The company estimates that it
saves between $60 million and $80 million annually by avoiding the costly headache of recruiting, training and assimilating new hires.
2.Gutsy leaders create a sense of ownership: Ownership recognizes that the organization’s experts are the people closet to the point of action, and trusts them to operate with the organization’s best interests in mind. The more people know about your business, the more they will care. Morale and productivity suffer. How can we expect people to think for themselves and build a profitable enterprise if they have no idea what goes into creating the bottom line?
If you want your people to think and act like owners, you must share financial information and explain what the numbers mean and how the information can be applied. Employees must know how economic value is created, how revenues and expenses translate into profit, how they create financial security for themselves and the organization, and what investors contribute and want in return.
3.Gutsy leaders lead with love: What does it take to be gutsy leader?What does it take to be gutsy leader? You have to be gutsy enough to stand up to those who stand in your way. You have to be big enough to admit your mistakes. You have to be vulnerable and say, “I don’t know.” You have to care enough to lead with love and trust rather than power and fear. You have to be humble enough to surround yourself with people smarter and more capable than you-and then have the faith to get out of their way. You have to be open and flexible enough to adjust to circumstances. You have to do what’s right, even when it’s not politically correct. You have to blow the doors off business-as –usual!
Ask yourself “If I were going to be brave today, what would I change if I walk beyond my fear of making a mistake, being rejected, looking foolish or being alone ?”
Action : Be Brave in making change.
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