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 Customer Service Dilemma

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If customer service impacts the value you create for your customers, then you’re confronted with the service investment dilemma. On one hand, if your judgement is that customer service is a necessity that creates little additional value, then you might structure your customer service operation as a cost center. Making cost control the highest priority often ensures that your customers speak with some of your lowest paid employees, who are not empowered to provide solutions or make …

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Finding the Space to React

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Urgent issues and changing priorities – these are the daily experiences of leadership. That’s why this insight from Viktor Frankl, offered by David Noble and Carol Kauffman in their book “Real Time Leadership,” is valuable: “Between stimulus and response there is a space. In that space is our power to choose our response. In our response lies our growth and our freedom.” This space between a stimulus and a response provides the time for leaders …

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Problems vs. Opportunities

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For leaders, there are always problems – a parade of challenges that command urgent attention, most with defined characteristics and threats. There are always opportunities – innovative ideas or new relationships that could create value or accelerate progress, waiting to be embraced, but needing clarity and appraisal. And there are always limits – limited time, energy, money and other resources. How you prioritize where to invest your limited resources directs your actions and shapes your …

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The Power of Promises

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In a market where customers have many options available to them, “promising” an outcome, and then delivering it, is a differentiator. A promise is more than a commitment to produce products or services. It’s intimate and specific to each customer. It conveys an obligation to put your customer’s needs and aspirations ahead of your own, based on an appreciation of their circumstances and what they value, as well as your probability of success. Fulfilling a …

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Culture Drives Performance

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Increasingly, the discussions I’m having with leaders focus on how to better leverage their culture to improve performance. We’ve experienced more change in the past few years than we’ve ever seen before. The work to be done is evolving, it’s different; so, the way we get it done must be different. Culture is how a business gets things done. It defines who you are as a company and what you believe. While your purpose or …

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It’s What’s Possible, Not What’s Wrong

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The work of leadership is to improve the business – its culture, its practices, and ultimately, its results – by transforming self-interest into shared commitment. To succeed, leaders must convince those they lead that they can make a difference, creating an environment that asks what’s possible, rather than what’s wrong. Before people will believe in a mission, they must believe in their leader. No one follows a leader from ‘me to we’ unless that leader is authentic. Trust grows …

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Why Shared Accountability

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Appreciating the significant impact of accountability on performance, many leaders seek to augment the individual accountability of each team member with an overall team, or shared accountability, in which all team members are responsible to one another, as well as to the leader, for achieving team goals. While the overall responsibility for an outcome is still the leader’s alone, establishing a culture of shared accountability places an expectation on a team that they are likewise …

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The Genesis of Trust

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Generosity is the genesis of trust. When enduring relationships drive your growth strategy, then earning trust is foundational. And often, the seed of that trust, the critical first impression of your company, is planted by those in your business who are your customer’s initial contacts. Your culture is revealed in these first connections. When generosity is a core value of your culture, your customer’s time has priority over yours. It’s more about listening than talking, …

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To Solve or To Sell

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Inflation and incremental supply chain issues continue to breed uncertainty for your customers, increasing their risk and their focus on price. If your strategy is to sell value creation rather than low price, then you’re likely finding that it’s more challenging to execute your strategy. Because increased volatility tends to shorten a customer’s planning horizon, each transaction is often assessed in isolation, for its short-term advantage. A price-first priority is helpful to customers since it …

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3 Questions People Ask About Their Leaders

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Leaders rely on feedback from those they lead as one metric to gauge their effectiveness. Whether this feedback is derived from an engagement survey, or via direct conversation, the responses fundamentally answer these three questions: 1. “Do you care about me?” There’s an old adage which states: “People don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care.” Inspiring hearts and minds to invest their talent and energy relies on your ability …

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