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.

The Inspiration Equation

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Bob Schultek Author of The Gauntlet Every change initiative is met with resistance is met with resistance from critics, skeptics and hold outs. And since change requires an investment of additional time and energy, above and beyond specific functional duties, people cannot be compelled to change; they must be inspired to accept the challenge of what must be done. John Maxwell, in his book  “Everyone Communicates, Few Connect,” describes how this inspiration depends first on communicating a message that connects with those …

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Are You Preparing for the “Age of Agility?”

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Bob Schultek Author of The Gauntlet In their book, “The Age of Agility,” authors Jason Gaulden and Alan Gottlieb describe how “we are in the early stages of a rapidly accelerating revolution that will bring automation and artificial intelligence into sectors of the workforce that have, until now, been spared this latest wave of disruptive change.” Corporate executives, academics, technologists, and economists agree that this disruption “will rival any technological upheaval in history in both scope and impact.” …

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3 Factors for Mastering Inspiration

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Bob Schultek Author of The Gauntlet To drive change, leaders inspire those they lead to invest extra time and energy in making a difference for themselves and their organization. They realize that mastering inspiration requires the synchronization of 3 factors: Their people trust that the leader has their back – that he or she understands what motivates and concerns them, is focused on them, and has high, but realistic, expectations of them. The leader is perceived as genuine and credible, consistently …

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Connecting

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Bob Schultek Author of The Gauntlet You may be trying to start a relationship, or a debate. It’s important that your message be received. To succeed, a connection must first be created, and that involves much more than your spoken words. Just 7% of what is stated is heard and believed; how your message is communicated, and what others see while you’re delivering it, conveys over 90% of your message, 38% and 55% respectively. Consider this the …

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The One Thing a Business Leader Must Do

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  Bob Schultek Author of  The Gauntlet When small and mid-size business leaders are polled about the key factors that impact their success and that of their business, the responses include: Ensuring customer satisfaction Building a strong leadership team Executing the plan Driving change Pursuing innovation Hiring the right people Creating value Each of these contributes to success, but studies cite that the most important thing that a leader should do is focus – it’s the single most critical …

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Sustaining Change

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Bob Schultek Author of The Gauntlet You successfully launched an organizational change initiative. You answered questions about what is changing, what will remain as is, and why. You helped people understand how the change will affect them. You collaborated with others to develop and implement a change action plan, and adapted as circumstances evolved. Now you must sustain change momentum. Sustaining change is about changing habits. Aristotle said it best: “We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, …

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Why Customers Buy More

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Bob Schultek Author of The Gauntlet The most productive way to grow sales is to increase orders from current customers. As a result, many organizations, seeing themselves as suppliers of products or services, consider how to sell more of their offerings to their customers. But every supplier is just a hired hand…employed to do a job that produces benefits for a customer who doesn’t care about their products or services. Discovering how these benefits contribute to the …

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Credibility

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Bob Schultek Author of The Gauntlet Credibility is the quality of being trusted and believed. It’s what motivates consideration of a supplier. It’s the primary reason that people choose to follow their leaders. Credibility is all about reliability, authenticity and accountability…walking the talk, keeping promises. Demonstrating credibility as an individual involves living in accordance with your personal core values. Doing so guides direction, decision-making and commitment. When obligations are honored, personal credibility is strengthened. The same is true for those who …

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Price vs. Value

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Bob Schultek Author of  The Gauntlet Price is obvious to all buyers. It’s clear, direct and easy to evaluate. In a retail environment, it’s the same for everyone. Value is different for every buyer. It is derived from the benefits or experience generated by the product or service purchased. Selling on the basis of price is easier than selling the value your product or service produces. But doing so makes you a commodity – discounting your expertise, diminishing your …

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Assessing Leadership Competency

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  Preparing for a business acquisition or transfer typically triggers a due diligence process that evaluates leadership competency. Here are the leadership behaviors we evaluate to determine how a leader contributes to the achievement of short-term and strategic goals, and enduring business sustainability: Acting with credibility: more than any other leadership attribute, employees choose to follow leaders who walk the talk, lead from the front and keep promises; they are seen as genuine and worthy of trust. Thinking strategically: despite the constant pressure …

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