The Genesis of Trust

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We know that trust is the basis for enduring customer relationships.  The depth of that trust goes well beyond the reliability of your offerings, or even the fulfillment of your promises. It largely depends on how well your people create a human connection with your customer’s people, enabling a personal touch when it’s most needed, i.e. to resolve a problem.  So before there can be trust, there must be a personal connection. Connections develop when people share stories, discovering …

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Do You Value Innovation?

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If your business is customer-centric, then you appreciate that your growth is linked to how well and consistently your products, services and people create strategic value for your customers – generating quantifiable benefits, strengthening their competitive advantage and accelerating their progress. Creating that value transcends the fulfillment of an immediate customer need, to ensuring that your solution also contributes to their future, to the achievement of their goals. This is only possible if you’ve discovered what …

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3 Keys to Evaluating Culture and Value Creation

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Multiple studies agree that value creation is more dependent on successful culture integration than on any other factor; they cite poor cultural compatibility as the root cause for the high rate of acquisition failure. Without a timely and extensive integration of cultures, creating value will not be possible.  The traditional due diligence process evaluates multiple quantifiable parameters to validate the intuitive sense that a specific deal will create value, but often, the least attention is paid …

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Your Business Lives on the Street

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The primary challenge for every new business is to win that first customer. Your product or service may be exceptional, but if its value proposition fails to attract customers, then there is no business.  Once you’ve earned a customer’s trust, the challenge shifts to retaining it. Your customer evaluates your relationship by asking: does your offering deliver the promised value? Is your quality reliable and your service personal? Are innovation and improvement, guided by their input, key components of your …

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Overcoming the Fear of Change

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The market is littered with once great companies that could not change as needed to meet new business realities. With the pace of change accelerating, leaders seek to direct it rather than just adapt to it. But change raises fear and anxiety, which is why leading others effectively through the journey of transformation is one of the most challenging, and necessary, leadership responsibilities. The fear of change grows as people consider the risks of the unknown, questioning …

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Speed versus Bottlenecks

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The pursuit of speed and agility is constrained by bottlenecks.  Bottlenecks arise as a consequence of striving for functional efficiency. The premise is that maximizing profit requires that we optimize the use of resources. Since people tend to be the most expensive resource, being efficient demands that everyone be kept busy all the time.  It’s easier to measure efficiency by focusing on narrow, functional processes, without regard to cross-functional work flow and resulting outcomes. In pursuit of efficiency, …

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What Advantage Do You Own?

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What’s your competitive advantage in the market? Why do you own it?  Once you know the answers, invest your heart, mind and energy on leveraging your advantage to create value for your customers, dominate your competitors and grow your business.  If your advantage is trust, always deliver more than what was promised.  If your advantage is knowledge, collect it and share what you’ve learned with your customers and employees.  If your advantage is relationships, build enduring ones by partnering with …

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The Dialogue of Change

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No one can be compelled to change, so no change initiative can succeed without dialogue between the advocates and those impacted by the change.  Beginning this discussion before the initiative is launched provides the opportunity for people to exchange conflicting opinions, explore possibilities and discuss obstacles as a precursor for committing to support the change. For the advocates, the launch dialogue is an exercise in persuasion, intended to start an open, productive conversation with those impacted, aimed at …

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The Journey Matters

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In the classic story, “The Wizard of Oz,” the four key players are each searching for something they lack. When challenged by the Wizard to steal the Witch’s broomstick, Dorothy, the Scarecrow, the Lion and the Tinman begin a quest during which each discovers that hidden within them is what they seek. By sharing the journey, they help each other realize this insight.  All journeys can be transformational, from those that traverse space to others that navigate through ideas. Sharing …

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Cultivating Breakthroughs

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When heads are down, focused on getting things done, people can get stuck. Looking around, they often find that they are surrounded by people who are just as stuck as they are, so progress slows to a crawl.  That’s because one of the first questions we are taught to ask at work is: “What’s required here?” By meeting the spec, we get evaluated as being diligent, reliable and loyal.  But then, someone sees a different …

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