Bob Schultek

Bob has more than 30 years of service as a senior sales and business development executive, CEO and business owner. His expertise includes customer-partnered business development, strategic planning, sales management, customer service, operational alignment, lean process analysis and improvement, quality assurance, and performance management. He has worked in the energy, medical device, bioscience & pharmaceutical, discrete and process manufacturing, packaging and distribution, communications and information technology, and business-to-business service industries.

Discovery Makes a Difference

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Solving problems involves two steps…a diagnostic assessment, followed by the application of a remedy. Earning a customer’s trust relies on the same formula. If the growth of your business depends on building and sustaining relationships, versus increasing the number of transactions, then conducting a rigorous diagnostic, or discovery, process is essential when a new opportunity arises. In a market that cultivates commoditization, where needed information is readily available and simplistic assessments are used to hastily …

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Change Asks What’s Possible, Not What’s Wrong

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The need for change conveys urgency, but preparing for it takes time. The ground must be tilled before the seeds can be sowed. It takes time to build the trust, to develop the relationships, and to foster the shared interest of the stakeholders involved. This is the work of leadership and it relies on empathy. Empathy is not a tactic; it’s a core principle of leadership. To lead is to make a genuine emotional connection …

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The Improvement Journey

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Every innovation or improvement effort begins by defining the problem. In addition to describing it, this definition should answer a few questions: How serious is it? How urgent is it? How costly will it be to resolve? While soliciting stakeholders to collaborate in resolving the problem, it’s important to confirm that everyone agrees that there is a problem, and that it’s solvable. Some may see the problem as a condition that cannot be resolved, that …

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Strengthening Cultural Capital

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Businesses are living entities, communities with cultures built and nurtured by all those whose energy and commitment have produced your company’s progress. Culture binds your employees to one another, and to the company. It enables the execution of strategy in pursuit of shared goals, and the creation of value for customers, the business and each other. Culture is how things get done. Increasingly, culture is recognized as a primary source of competitive advantage and business …

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Assessing Value Creation Posture

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Creating value is the work of leaders. After multiple years of adapting to relentless economic disruption, considering questions like these can help assess the qualitative aspect of your efforts, your value creation posture? • What do we own in the marketplace? What is our most sustainable competitive advantage and how do we preserve it? • How can we more quickly and accurately interpret and adapt to changing customer or market needs? Do customers value what …

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Cultivating Shared Accountability

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High performing teams exhibit a shared commitment and accountability to achieve their goals. This outcome is the result of their leader linking individual team member accountability with the team’s responsibility to hold one another accountable for the fulfillment of their commitment. It’s a culture in which the team, not the leader, serves as the ultimate arbiter of its performance. It’s a culture grounded in team dialogue, nurtured by the leader, who establishes ground rules to …

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Nurturing Trust

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We know that trust is the basis for all enduring relationships. Trust is personal and intimate. It’s fragile and requires nurturing. For your customers, the depth of that trust is dependent on more than the reliability of your offerings, or even the fulfillment of your promises. It fundamentally depends on how well your people create a human connection with your customer’s people, providing a personal touch that becomes a vital differentiator when your customer has …

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Taking Ownership

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For customers, it’s the first person they contact who creates that critical first impression of your business. If that person listens more than talks, probes to learn more about what the customer needs,and takes ownership for resolving that need, then it is likely that the customer will welcome the opportunity to build a trust relationship with your company. Recognizing that trust can only take root once your promise to the customer is realized, taking ownership …

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5 Strategy Execution Attributes

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Executing a new strategy involves acting in a new or different way; it’s a change process. Because the strategy is a change, there will likely be some resistance to it. Those who will implement the strategy, and those impacted by it, want to understand its objective and why this is the best way to achieve it. They will assess how well the strategy aligns with company culture, and how they will personally be affected by …

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Problems Shape Leaders

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Leaders grow stronger, becoming more effective, as they collaborate with their teams to overcome obstacles and solve problems that improve results. As Warren Bennis once stated: “Leaders learn bestby leading in the face of obstacles. As weather shapes mountains, problems shape leaders.”Leaders develop their teams to meet the required challenges, and deepen their own competency, by: Earning the trust of their teams. They walk the talk, keep promises and lead from the front, engaging with …

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