Often when we develop strategy and business plans, we create priorities and align them with how we are organized. In other words, finance has their priorities, sales has theirs, the P&L s have theirs. While this is necessary to assign accountability, make sure you recognize that some priorities can’t be started until others have been
We like to solve things and in order to solve things we have to be able to define the problem. Often, in our haste to solve, we will categorize problems or issues into neat little boxes that we can address and put away. After all, small, simple problems means small, simple solutions, right? Take the
perseverance Definition: diligence, hard work Synonyms: backbone*, constancy, continuance, dedication, determination, doggedness, drive, endurance, grit, guts*, immovability, indefatigability, persistence, pertinacity, pluck,purposefulness, pursuance, resolution,stamina, steadfastness, stick-to-itiveness, tenacity Make perseverance an important part of your vocabulary. The alternative is no fun: apathy, idleness, indolence, laziness, lethargy
Think of your business, your business plan, as the sandbox that you have decided to play in. You are not in the business of offering everything to everyone. Good business plans provide focus and direction to the organization. They define the sandbox in which your business will play.This does not mean that your business plan
I moderated a panel with Latin America CEOs exploring how businesses are leveraging shared value models. How CEOs must prepare for a new world. How the bottom of the pyramid needs to be solved; that shared value models of applying your core business capabilities to solving the BOP poverty dilemma are an absolute priority. It
Working with entrepreneurs and startups brings some strong perspectives that big business can leverage: 1. Cash is king. Many businesses have failed because they ran out of cash, not because they were losing money. In big business we look at ratios – % outstanding receivables over 30,60,90 days, SGA as a % of revenue etc
LinkedIn CEO, Jeff Weiner in an interview defined his top 10 leadership lessons. One was “Understand what makes you happy”. His 5 keys to happiness: Stay in the moment. Step back and become a spectator to your own thoughts. It’s more important to be loving than to be right. Go out of your way to
I read a great Harvard Business Review Piece called “The Making of a Corporate Athlete”. (see my reading list) The article talks to the success criteria of athletes and how many of those criteria can apply to us as we manage our business and personal priorities. One of the premises it makes is that athletes
The founder of my boarding school, John Corlette, has this to say on the goals of education Whilst we agree that the ability to earn a good living is a necessary and important accomplishment we do not regard this as the goal of education but as a by-product of it. We believe that the goal
Developing a strategic plan is part art, part science. Dot every i, cross every t, and you’ve likely created a prescriptive set of tactics that have boxed out all the flexibility and potential that comes with responding to opportunity and the inevitable change that gets thrown our way. This approach reminds me of Rennaissance landscapes;