Values

Evolving Values

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For numerous companies, this is the 2021 planning season. The widespread disruption to business during 2020 raised awareness about what can and cannot be managed when overwhelming, unexpected events occur. Uncertainty is no stranger to business leaders, but the profound, unprecedented impact of the Covid challenge caused many to reconsider their purpose, values, and vision before delving into goal setting, strategy development and action planning. Among the results of this foundational review is a refocusing …

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How Values Drive Strategy

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The planning season is upon us. Visions and missions are being reconsidered. New goals and objectives are being determined. Strategies and action plans are being developed to achieve those goals. When the planning turns to strategy execution, in addition to determining action steps, success metrics and the allocation of resources, it can be beneficial to consider the company’s commitment to executing a given strategy. Changing circumstances ensure that few strategies survive without adaptation and perseverance. …

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Inspiring Energy

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I recently met John O’Leary via one of his podcasts. With so many discouraging, angry and negative messages being relentlessly thrust upon us, it was refreshing to listen to John’s message.  John lived through a moment in hell. At age nine, a fire exploded in his garage and burned 100% of his my body. His probability of survival was 1%.  After 5 months in the hospital, and dozens of surgeries that cost him all of his fingers and much …

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Acting With Urgency

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Today’s business environment changes rapidly. Functioning successfully in it compels businesses to quickly make accurate decisions.  Each of these decisions is made within a specific context, and with a defined set of criteria, against which various options are evaluated. The context is the company’s culture as described in 3 foundational documents: Its Purpose – Why the business exists and how it makes a difference for customers; Its Values – The company’s core beliefs which define how it behaves and why; …

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Two Paths for Accountability

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The recent celebration of our nation’s birthday prompts reflection about our distinctive idea of individual freedom, and our persistent pursuit of the aspirational vision and values so perfectly expressed in our founding documents. During our journey, we’ve celebrated achievements and suffered failures, but we persevere, continuing to experiment, to learn, to evolve and to improve as we strive to fulfill the promises that sustain our unprecedented liberty.  Being a free people, we have the option of choosing, …

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Proposing Investments, not Transactions

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How you respond to a prospect’s inquiry determines their first impression about your company and how you do business. It’s your initial, perhaps only, opportunity to differentiate yourself in their eyes.  Reacting with urgency is essential, but promptly proposing a product or service to address their immediate pain, without first seeking to learn why resolving the problem is important, wastes an opportunity to reveal your organization’s experience and competency, and your genuine interest in their success. Your proposal will …

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Culture and Value Creation

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  The fundamental premise of any business acquisition is that the merged organizations will be more valuable together than they would be if they continued as separate entities. An acquisition is supposed to be an exercise in value creation. Yet, a KPMG study indicates that 83% of acquisitions fail to boost value, and often, value is actually destroyed. Something goes very wrong along the way. Of the five key due diligence parameters for acquisitions – risk, price, strategy, …

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Are Your Customer Service Reps Expendable?

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Your customer service reps have unlimited access to your customers, yet they are often considered to be expendable and typically treated as such. Are you managing your customer service function as a cost center or as a profit center?  How much of your customers’ satisfaction is impacted by your customer service reps? Exceptional customer service is a proven differentiator. When access to information is so effortless that many products are seen as commodities, when the …

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Authenticity and Challenge

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In 2013, the Edelman Trust Barometer documented that only 18% of people reported that they trusted business leaders to tell the truth. That same year, Gallop polled 180 million employees and reported that only 13% of them are engaged at work. With confidence and morale so low, one attribute is most often mentioned as the primary reason that employees respect their leader. Authenticity enables leadership. But it can also disable it. How is that possible? …

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The Most Important Principle Revealed

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Your Brand Is Your Promise My father grew up in Minnesota during the Great Depression.  His father and mother had farmed in Montana, persevering through locusts, droughts and troubles with local Native Americans; they went bankrupt twice. Finally, with a wife and now five children to feed, my grandfather relocated to the iron range in northern Minnesota where he could earn a living cleaning out railroad locomotive boilers. In Minnesota, Dad’s family built their house, …

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