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.

Accelerating Team Commitment

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To build a culture of shared accountability, a team must be capable of constructively debating conflicting perspectives about an issue that requires action. There can be no team commitment to a decision without resolving these differences. Mastering this conflict management process is a vital leadership skill.  Productive conflict dialogue identifies gaps in team members’ positions on the target topic based on their individual experiences and expectations. The skillful use of questions and related discussion are used to explore …

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The Work of Leaders

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Creating value is the work of leaders.  It’s a perpetual challenge, involving the preservation of key customer relationships, the constant quest for innovations, and the relentless pursuit of quality, productivity and sustainability, all simultaneously occurring in accordance with the company’s culture.  Preserving proactive, strategic customer relationships yields insights about evolving aspirations, goals and needs, which enable adaptations to ensure that these valuable relationships endure.  Observing and assessing trends from industry or market engagements encourages the curiosity and anticipation …

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Two Languages of Business

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Business discussions regarding value creation or the utilization of resources employ two languages.  Those who work within the operation most often speak in terms of things – units, hours, etc. Senior leadership speaks in the language of money – dollars earned or saved.  To attract senior leadership attention, middle managers in these businesses are required to translate the language of things into the language of dollars. Decisions are always made using the language of money.  The same translation …

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Controlling the Price Discussion

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Price is obvious to all customers. It’s clear, direct and easy to evaluate. It simplifies, and so expedites, their buying decision with minimal consideration. It’s why they like to hear the numbers as early in your discussion as possible.  But talking price too early, without first learning more about the customer’s need and why its resolution is important, just confirms their initial perception of your offering as a commodity. And like every other commodity supplier, …

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The Impact of Observation

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Having signed 52 baseball prospects who would later become major league players, Tony Lucadello is known as baseball’s greatest scout. His discoveries included Hall of Famers Ferguson Jenkins and Mike Schmidt.  The number of his signees making it to the big leagues is far greater than any other scout. And he accomplished this with a territory that included Ohio, Indiana and Michigan, rather than the good weather states of Florida, Texas or California where more opportunities to …

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Practicing Productive Conflict

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The quest for improved results dictates the need for change. It’s a journey filled with conflicting opinions that require resolution before commitment to the change can be secured.  In his latest book, “Thriving in Conflict,” Doug Johnston presents his definition of conflict as “a gap between what we expect and what we experience that leads to deeper understanding and better results.  The “deeper understanding” described in Doug’s definition is enabled by ensuring that the exchange of differing opinions remains …

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3 Team Characteristics That Drive Change

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Successfully tackling change initiatives is most often due to these team characteristics than it is to the types of individuals on the team: Accountability: Team members are comfortable taking risks; the team relies on its leader for support and on each other to act with urgency, commitment and thoroughness.  Clarity: Team roles, goals, and implementation plans are clearly documented and understood.  Impact: The project goals are personally important for each team member; they feel valued and believe that their efforts will make a difference for customers …

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Investing Your Irreplaceable Time

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With the holidays behind us, the routine of our life returns, bringing its heightened awareness of time. The digits we use to measure it will dominate once again, and since time is irreplaceable, the choices we make about investing it will dictate results. Before your routine reasserts its impact on your life, consider how you invested your valuable time last year. What did you accomplish? What worked, and what didn’t? Why is that? Did your accomplishments fulfill your purpose as a business? What unmet goals or objectives …

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What Are You Missing?

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There are 8 folks behind me in the checkout queue. All are talking on or looking at their phones. None are observing their surroundings or engaging with others nearby. In response to my conversational probe, I receive a grunt in reply…the person never looks up from his device. Our culture presents us with many distractions. When eyes are focused only on screens, we become oblivious to the people nearby us and to the places we share.  This failure …

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The Core of Emotional Intelligence

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Leaders with high emotional intelligence (EI) understand their own emotional state, enabling them to more accurately gauge the emotions of others, and to exercise empathy to better understand the genesis of these emotions. Employing empathy stimulates more thoughtful and productive dialogue, accelerating conflict resolution and producing more deliberate decisions. It’s the core ingredient of strong emotional intelligence. Leaders driving change appreciate the role that emotions play in motivating people to invest in change initiatives. Those who master the use of empathy, appreciate …

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