Fear
i have never begun any business strategy without some measure of apprehension -- almost fear
the questions that spawn the apprehension are many;
who is this client -- really?
how does the company function in reality; not how the org chart says it should
how do they think?
what are their foregone conclusions?
where is there ego
what data/facts will be open and what will take extra work to discover?
you would think that after 30 years of in-depth and ever changing, cross-industry strategy experience the fear would go away -- but it doesn't
so what is the message -- it's that fear doesn't go away, we must just face it and move forward
the second message is to have an "empty mind", no foregone conclusions, and to let the data speak.
if you don't know the answer yet; that means that you don't have enough input -- dig more, ask more questions -- probe client minds
when you have the input (data), just read and study it, listen and think. let the data speak and the answer will become visible
Sunday, August 3, 2014
Saturday, July 26, 2014
It's The Process
most companies that i see either have a business strategy built by consensus or don't have a strategy and want to build one, again by consensus without going through a comprehensive strategy building process.
the often avoided process takes time (often 3 to 4 months) and energy (3 to 4 of your best young professionals and an experienced leader).
the issue is that the product you are seeking is the process itself, not the resulting strategy document.
the process is the goal and is more than worth the effort.
Thursday, July 24, 2014
Dinosaurs and Other Fossils
businesses are too comfortable today. the internet has changed society and people; they are more informed and more demanding, they want information, transparency, and a cause to believe in. they want to deal only with companies that can fulfill their needs quickly and conveniently
if your company is fat and happy today with a relative monopoly in your area of the business world, you had better take the blinders off because the earthquake is coming. if you still have a monopoly in your market segment -- it's just an artifact of history and will soon go away. the New York Times was pushed out of the Fortune 500 by Netflix; others will soon fall
this is not the age of patch, repair and evolve -- especially when we are speaking of our information technology systems -- the foundations of our businesses. this is the age of separate, incubate, innovate and experiment; building new core I/T infrastructures from scratch around customers, needs, and information as a product. we are in an information driven revolution and that information can become as valuable as any other product or service that you provide
many people believe that the information driven companies like Google, Facebook, and Amazon are aliens who live in another world and are of no threat to "my" industry. but the truth is that these companies are information black holes and they will go where the information is; banking, transportation, medicine, etc. the threat is there whether you see it or not
the customers are there (4.7 billion cell phone users in the world), the competition is moving powered by an information engine -- are you going to survive
what is your vision and strategy. can every one of your professional employees see, live and feel that vision and strategy every day. is experimentation the norm and do you provide a world where no experiment is a failure as long as we learn from it
today customers want convenience, price, transparency, personal tailoring, and a mission to believe in; are you there or at least moving rapidly to "there" -- if not, good night sweet Charlotte.
Saturday, June 28, 2014
Thoughts on Great Company
Management
the word
"sell" is a bad word -- have you ever met a salesman that you trusted
work to become a
trusted partner/counselor of your customer’s management, then all good things,
including sales, will follow.
target and serve the top 2
to 3 companies in an industry
make your work
transformative and high impact
compensate staff based upon
performance, not for hours or sales
set a true north
around customer impact -- obsess over delivering measurable impact
ask "so what value
did we add this month?"
always forward think
about what value you can add to a customer's business
with a history of
value, you are unlikely to be displaced
cross pollinate team
thinking
have something
thoughtful to say in every customer meeting -- never go to a meeting without an
agenda or unprepared
if you don't make the
customer uncomfortable sometimes, you are not pushing the thinking enough
technology is not the
vision or the answer, business/technology seamless integration is
make an investment in
understanding the challenges your customer is facing and is likely to face in the
future
tell your customer something that makes them think differently about her/his business
understand your
company's values and share them with the customer
be honest with the
customer even to the point of dissent; it’s your duty as a partner
seek out opportunities
to help your customers outside of your defined duties -- what about her important
upcoming meeting, how can you help her excel
Monday, June 9, 2014
Change Is The Norm
we live in a world not of calmness and stability, but one of chaos and change. change is not the exception today, it is the norm.
change is precipitated every day by people and events in the news and in our circles of friends. take the news around Edward Snowden for example. who would have thought that a CIA analyst could impact the structure of the internet and the business opportunities available to the technology companies of the world -- but he has.
as a result of his releases, the internet is actually being modified or segmented into country controlled units. Britain and Germany among others are building their own internal to country loops that will feed the larger internet when necessary and keep all other locally sourced and destined traffic within the country. that way then can control the encryption and the snooping by the U.S., China, Russia and others. in the future you will have to picture the internet in your mind as a series of interconnected rings, much like the symbol of the olympics.
even individual companies are taking these steps by strengthening their intra-company networks, providing electronic and physical isolation from the internet and removing their intellectual capital and r&d machines from networks all together. these types of changes will precipitate down to companies of all sizes and disciplines over the next decade.
the opportunity for technology companies is to excel in secure network building and encryption techniques, as well as leading edge information security. change your company to capture the opportunities not where the market is today, but where it is going to be tomorrow.
we live in a world not of calmness and stability, but one of chaos and change. change is not the exception today, it is the norm.
change is precipitated every day by people and events in the news and in our circles of friends. take the news around Edward Snowden for example. who would have thought that a CIA analyst could impact the structure of the internet and the business opportunities available to the technology companies of the world -- but he has.
as a result of his releases, the internet is actually being modified or segmented into country controlled units. Britain and Germany among others are building their own internal to country loops that will feed the larger internet when necessary and keep all other locally sourced and destined traffic within the country. that way then can control the encryption and the snooping by the U.S., China, Russia and others. in the future you will have to picture the internet in your mind as a series of interconnected rings, much like the symbol of the olympics.
even individual companies are taking these steps by strengthening their intra-company networks, providing electronic and physical isolation from the internet and removing their intellectual capital and r&d machines from networks all together. these types of changes will precipitate down to companies of all sizes and disciplines over the next decade.
the opportunity for technology companies is to excel in secure network building and encryption techniques, as well as leading edge information security. change your company to capture the opportunities not where the market is today, but where it is going to be tomorrow.
Sunday, June 8, 2014
Inflection Points
the trip through life is rough, bruising and offering its fair share of pain as well as joy. the truth is that we all get scarred by the trials and tribulations of life. but those of us who are inwardly focused and totally sure that our own opinions are the only correct ones and for sure the only ones that matter receive the most scars, mostly self inflicted.
we all build our individual belief structure as we go through life and that is a good thing because it teaches us not to touch the hot stove tops and to avoid many easily self-inflicted wounds. however our belief system can also be damaging when it becomes too rigid and is reinforced on a daily basis by our own network of like believers whom we chose to surround ourselves with. we end up in an ever-tighter spiral of our own beliefs, open to little else, especially critical thinking, which might violate our beliefs.
speaking of beliefs, i believe in inflection points. in life we find a trajectory that pleases us such as the process of climbing a corporate ladder or the process of starting and building our own company. normally once found we stay on that trajectory for a significant period of time, focused on the goals that appear on the horizon. this can be good as long as we aren't too tunnel visioned. no trajectory is perfect and as we all know, anything in our world that is too rigid is eventually broken.
inflection points are events that occur in our lives which cause us to change trajectory, slightly or significantly, based upon the interactions of that event. inflection points usually involve people, a person that you meet during each significant event (inflection point) of your life. for example below is an inflection point map of my life to date.
each of these events (shown by the circles) changed the trajectory of my life (for better or worse). why, because inside each of those events was a person who introduced me to new and different ways of thinking about work, life, relationships, and humanity in general. the trick was not having these events occur or meeting the people, but being open to new and different thinking and using that thinking to reevaluate my trajectory and belief system.
you can learn from everyone around you, no matter what their rank or circumstances in life. remember a stranger is just a person whose story you do not yet know. you just have to be mentally open and willing to listen.
want to succeed in business as well as life, just be open to continually obtain new input for your critical thinking, input that comes from these inflection points.
we all build our individual belief structure as we go through life and that is a good thing because it teaches us not to touch the hot stove tops and to avoid many easily self-inflicted wounds. however our belief system can also be damaging when it becomes too rigid and is reinforced on a daily basis by our own network of like believers whom we chose to surround ourselves with. we end up in an ever-tighter spiral of our own beliefs, open to little else, especially critical thinking, which might violate our beliefs.
speaking of beliefs, i believe in inflection points. in life we find a trajectory that pleases us such as the process of climbing a corporate ladder or the process of starting and building our own company. normally once found we stay on that trajectory for a significant period of time, focused on the goals that appear on the horizon. this can be good as long as we aren't too tunnel visioned. no trajectory is perfect and as we all know, anything in our world that is too rigid is eventually broken.
inflection points are events that occur in our lives which cause us to change trajectory, slightly or significantly, based upon the interactions of that event. inflection points usually involve people, a person that you meet during each significant event (inflection point) of your life. for example below is an inflection point map of my life to date.
each of these events (shown by the circles) changed the trajectory of my life (for better or worse). why, because inside each of those events was a person who introduced me to new and different ways of thinking about work, life, relationships, and humanity in general. the trick was not having these events occur or meeting the people, but being open to new and different thinking and using that thinking to reevaluate my trajectory and belief system.
you can learn from everyone around you, no matter what their rank or circumstances in life. remember a stranger is just a person whose story you do not yet know. you just have to be mentally open and willing to listen.
want to succeed in business as well as life, just be open to continually obtain new input for your critical thinking, input that comes from these inflection points.
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