Turnaround management and growth strategies December 5, 2009
Posted by petemcd in Business, Culture, Leadership.add a comment
A couple of articles grabbed my attention in the Wall Street Journal this past Thursday. One was the story about General Motors sacking its CEO, Fritz Henderson; the other a story about Comcast’s pursuit of General Electric’s NBC-Universal division.
According to the article, the GM’s decision was centered on accelerating the company’s turnaround through market share gain and having a more aggressive and less hidebound culture. Chairman, Ed Whitaker aims to have his executives devise a much more aggressive business plan. He’s looking for a new team filled with non-traditional ‘car guys’ who think outside the box and think big, not safe. The company’s culture has been slow, risk averse and full of silo protecting bureaucrats and meaningless committees.
Is it any wonder that GM lost its way? The company needs a radical transformation through the development of a vision focused and performance centered culture.
Think that’s just a problem for GM? Think again. You can find companies of all sizes who face the same challenge. Companies as small as $1 million (revenues) often have the ‘not invented here’ and “we don’t do it that way’ syndromes. These are symptoms of cultures that discourage new thinking and protection of the status quo. Is yours one of them?
The Comcast article was interesting. The strategy was to acquire a company that vastly increase the revenue and profit pipeline for as little cash as possible. That is, leveraging your current and new assets to create a new model for sustained growth. Comcast had been surveying the landscape and determined they needed to have a new playing field. They are looking to change the model for delivery of movies, and that will most likely involve bucking the status quo with Hollywood. This is just the opposite of the play it safe thinking at GM.
Chairman Brian Roberts also made sure that he solicited feedback from his team on worst case scenarios should they be successful in the acquisition of NBC-Universal. Sensing that they could cover these and still come out ahead on the deal they went ahead.
Of course, it remains to be seen whether the Justice Department will allow the acquisition and whether the deal will be as fruitful as envisioned. For me, and I hope you, the difference in thinking for the two businesses is clear. Risk averse vs. new playing field. Protective silo vs. team input. Which organization would you rather be in? As a business development and team development proponent and expert, I have my pick.
©2009 Peter E. McDowell
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Businesses on edge December 4, 2009
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Every business is on edge- every year, every month, every week, every day, and every minute. Things can change in a heartbeat. Things that may be in your control (you think) or totally out of your control can disrupt your business. A business best practice is always to be flexible and adaptable in your strategy and tactics.
I was in my Mastermind group this morning and we talked about how interwoven everything is. We got to talking about authors of books, articles, columns, blogs and the like. Usually, the writer is writing about things from a certain viewpoint and comes to a certain conclusion or perhaps, a number of conclusions. Often, with authors who write a book, there is a tendency to state that something has happened or will happen because of a set of events or circumstances that drive an eventual outcome. These authors are quite sure that their research and interpretations are spot on. They may be. And, they may not be.
The problem is that events and things in this world are not so neatly aligned or tied up in a package or happening in a linear causative fashion. Consider all of the different opinions on what caused the Great Depression of the 1930’s or the recent and current recession. There is no one or two or three things that caused these. Some authors would like you think they have a handle on the reason and therefore there is a predictability to the future. “Since this has happened, it’s because of these reasons and these are the steps you need to take to avoid a similar situation.” Or, take a look at all the books that have been written about companies like IBM, Apple, Microsoft and others. “This company did it in this way and that is why they are successful. You’ll be smart to emulate them.” Is the author’s conclusion about what made the company successful or unsuccessful really the right one?
Things happen because of a multi-channeled, multi-layered confluence of events that continually shape the environment. So, think of events, circumstances, outcomes, consequences and such as a 3D mix. The world is not a 2D world. The world is a giant Mix-Master with new ingredients being thrown into the bowl every day. There are things happening right now that you don’t even have a clue about that will affect your business (this falls into the You Don’t Know What You Don’t Know category).
And so, businesses are on edge because there is so much that is not controllable or predictable. Andy Grove’s book Only the Paranoid Survive is right on. Obviously, that doesn’t mean that you just pack up your tent, worry a lot become a victim. You need to always be looking over your shoulder and not at just your competitors. Be looking also at the government and politics, the weather, the earth’s environment, your people/ your team and other influences that can disrupt your business quickly.
Being on edge and knowing that things are constantly changing and might be threatening to your business demands that you have a flexible strategy and tactics to adapt quickly, overcome the challenges and win. Regularly taking stock of the world around you and adjusting your strategy and tactics makes more sense than ever.
© 2009 Peter E. McDowell
Pete’s View
Interim/Contract or Permanent Executive Management Services
Sales Focused Business Strategies – Business Strategic Planning – Business Best Practices
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Relationships Matter- Lesson Three is all about respect October 15, 2009
Posted by petemcd in Culture, Leadership, Personal Effectiveness.add a comment
This is the last installment of building a relationship. It’s about respect. So many people today don’t respect others. They put up with them, but they don’t respect them. In building a personal or business relationship with someone, my hierarchy is to first decide that you are going to like the person. Then, work to build trust. Finally, out of trust should come respect.
Again, because I like to be clear on the meaning of the words we use, here’s a definition for respect: esteem for or a sense of the worth or excellence of a person, a personal quality or ability, or something considered as a manifestation of a personal quality or ability. There, that’s easy to understand, isn’t it?
Esteem for someone, or looking at them as a person of excellence or worth starts with honoring them in your presence. As with liking someone, you have to be intentional in honoring another person. How do you do this? A few thoughts-
- When you greet someone, make sure that you are genuine in your appreciation of the time they are investing in being with you. If you inquire how they are doing, be sincere and mean it. A casual greeting is a reflection of a lack of respect. Here’s the casual encounter: “Hi Jim, how are you doing?” “Oh, just OK today, not great.” “Oh, bummer. Let’s take a look at the project we’re working on…” Nice way to show respect by being interested in the other person and actually hearing their response, right? NOT.
- When you meet with someone, make sure that the time you are spending meets their requirements. Don’t overstay your welcome- get their input on how long they have to spend with you. Keep to the alloted time.
- When you make an appointment for a meeting or phone call, don’t be late. Yes, that’s obvious, but we all know too many people who do not follow this simple rule. It’s best to be early for an appointment and right on time for a phone call. To be perfectly honest, I’m guilty from time to time and I’m not happy about it when I waste someone’s time. Whenever you are late, don’t use a flimsy excuse and be sure to contact the person while you’re in transit. On the flip side, others need to respect you also. We’re all busy but when someone jerks me around and I wait for more than 15 minutes, I’m out of there. My time is valuable too.
- When you make a commitment to complete a task, do it. People are expecting your follow through and it probably affects their world. Enough said.
- When you meet someone from a foreign culture, honor your differences and celebrate your similarities. Take time beforehand to learn about customs and mores of other cultures and do your best to act accordingly. Your relationship will be better for the effort.
- Don’t joke around with people in areas that might be offensive- sex, race, personal issues, country of origin. Even humor that might seem tame could be a sign of deep disrespect to the other person.
Like, Trust and Respect. Is there any reason why we all can’t develop meaningful and healthy relationships?
© 2009 Peter E. McDowell
PERFORMA Business Development
Different View/ Better Results
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Relationships Matter- Lesson Two with four elements of trust October 13, 2009
Posted by petemcd in Leadership, Personal Effectiveness.add a comment
“Trust is the lubrication that makes it possible for organizations to work. “
Warren G. Bennis
Trust makes relationships work, too. I was just talking this morning with two associates about trust. In the business I’m in, as a consultant, it’s important to have trust to make the relationship work. Some people shy away from using the word consultant and use trusted advisor. They’re very similar but different in meaning. However, in any relationship that has an expectation of mutual gain (however defined), some level of trust must exist…perhaps not in a criminal activity, but in the world most of us live in. Trust is a key part of the relationship and it follows likeability. If initially one or two people do not like each other, then trust is not possible.
Two weeks ago I presented a sales training seminar in which I outlined four components of trust, as follows:
- Character- your behaviors, including integrity, honesty, discipline, commitment; Do (or, will) you do what you say you’ll do and act the way you should? “Gee, he (or she or they) seem to be real experts, they have a terrific operation with plenty of capacity, they’ve been in business a long time and are solid financially, but I heard he screws people a lot with questionable charges and he’s been late every appointment with lame excuses…”
- Competency- your expertise, credentials, professional recognition, experience, etc.; Do you have what it takes to get the job done? “I don’t know…he is a great guy who is involved with a lot of things, they seem to have the capacity to handle our challenges and they’ve been around awhile…he just seems to not really know his industry or ours very well. I guess that’s because he’s so new to this business.”
- Capability- your ability to produce and deliver whenever, wherever; Do you have the production capability and available time or bandwidth to get me what I need exactly when I need it? “OK, his reputation is stellar as a stand up guy, he has the credentials with a Harvard MBA, his business has been around a long time, but they only have one location and we have sixteen data centers in the country and around the world. How can they possibly service us?”
- Congruency- the longevity of your business; Is your longevity in business adequate to meet my needs or are you a risk because your and/or your business hasn’t been established in its field long enough? “Well, he sure seems to be a terrific guy, he has deep industry experience and they have a beautiful operation. It’s just that they’re a one year old business and from what I hear they’re already low on cash.”
Can you see how you need all four components at a high level? Now, be honest with yourself and with those you deal with. Do you and they exhibit high levels of the 4 C’s of trust? If not, what can you do about it? How can you take steps to be seen as trustworthy. What do others need to do to gain your trust?
I have a very simple chart that’s available for you to use in considering the trust component of a relationship. Email me at pete@performabusdev.com and I’ll send it off within 24 hours!
Likeability and trust lead to respect, my next topic in a few days.
© 2009 Peter E. McDowell
PERFORMA Business Development
Different View/ Better Results
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Business Best Practice: measure the right things September 21, 2009
Posted by petemcd in Goal Setting, Leadership, Strategy.3 comments
“Perhaps what you measure is what you get. More likely, what you measure is all you’ll get. What you don’t (or can’t) measure is lost.” – H. Thomas Johnson
“If You Can’t Measure It, You Can’t Manage It.” – Tony Robbins
I enjoy working with my clients. One thing that is a result of working with people in a presentation, Q&A, training or coaching environment is that the learning, relearning or awareness goes both ways. I’m competent in what I do. I’m knowledgeable and always act with my audience or client’s best interests at heart. I deliver high value for my clients- they get real world advice and ideas on how to make their business valuable. But, I also enjoy the opportunity to learn or relearn while I’m with clients and I’m aware of this in the moment.
One thing I relearned as I coached a client recently was the importance of measuring the right things. Not just measuring any things, but measuring the right things. Absolutely, a business best practice is to measure the right things. Too often, people and organizations measure the wrong things- they get lost or have little to show except a lot of meaningless charts or data. If you’re honest, you have been a part of these follies. You may have been a part of measuring and then analyzing and then preparing reports for managers or owners or investors that never get read. Geez, why did you get directed to do all the measuring in the first place? What was the point?
What are the right things for you to measure? It all depends on Business Strategic Planning and the Key Initiatives that you and your team develop to get results. There are many goals and objectives in business or in organizations and hopefully they’re all important and not a waste of energy and time.
The most important goals in any business are to drive (1) revenue growth, (2) cash flow, and (3) business value. How you get the best result for each is made up of many things. So, measure activities that affect each of those:
- Think about the activities or behaviors that drive revenue growth. You can probably list 8-10 easily between marketing and sales activities. Sales calls, opportunities and close ratios, sales conversation process, referrals, gross margin trends by sales rep/product/category, marketing campaigns with ROI measurements to indicate customer acquisition, measurements for customer retention, etc.
- Think about the activities that affect cash flow…I won’t get too technical accounting-wise because I’m not an accountant, but think of it in these terms: the net of revenues minus expenses or the net of money/cash coming in versus money/cash going out. P&L’s are great for analysis and review of operations, but real cash produced or thrown off by the business is where the rubber meets the road. Cash flow is affected by many things, including the cost of materials, the cost of financing on the business, the cost of production, the elimination of waste, etc. Again, you can probably list 8-10 activities.
- Think about the things that affect business value. What are these? Well, beside the rate of revenue and cash flow growth, which inherently can affect your business value, there are other areas to measure: human capital (expertise, knowledge and experience), patents, Research & Development initiatives and returns, Intellectual Property, brand reputation, customer growth, customer satisfaction ratings, etc.
Now, the business best practice: along with your team, look at the three areas above and think hard. Think really hard. What are three to five things in each area that will make a real difference in your business? What are the measurements that you know will bring results? These are the measurements that will definitely have an impact and if you ever have to write a report, someone will read it and say, “Wow, this is incredibly important stuff for us to know every day (or week/month).” If your measurements can’t be connected to the big picture and understood as critical to driving revenue, cash flow and value, rethink what you are measuring.
© 2009 Peter E. McDowell
PERFORMA Business Development
Different View/ Better Results
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