26 November 2023 Newsletter
“Be a doer not a talker. You have these people who want to dabble in a wide range of different projects, but are never all in on one. I think that’s bad, because history belongs to the doers.” Sam Altman, Open AI CEO
Hope you’re Thriving!
It’s been a productive week with three workshop days, many meetings and a lot happening – love it!
Of course, whilst I’ve had a lot happening, I’ve had nowhere near as much happening as the team at Read More...
26 November 2023 Newsletter
“Be a doer not a talker. You have these people who want to dabble in a wide range of different projects, but are never all in on one. I think that’s bad, because history belongs to the doers.” Sam Altman, Open AI CEO
Hope you’re Thriving!
It’s been a productive week with three workshop days, many meetings and a lot happening – love it!
Of course, whilst I’ve had a lot happening, I’ve had nowhere near as much happening as the team at Read More...
20 August 2023 Newsletter
“Winning has a Price. Leadership has a Price. Are you willing to pay that Price?” – Michael Jordan
Hope you’re Thriving!
I’ve enjoyed a great week as we’ve held our own team annual retreat.
Yes, we eat our own dog food!
Our team went a few hours from town and worked through strategy, priorities and different team exercises.
It’s exciting to see how far we’ve come since I started writing this newsletter eight years ago, and looking forward to Read More...
20 August 2023 Newsletter
“Winning has a Price. Leadership has a Price. Are you willing to pay that Price?” – Michael Jordan
Hope you’re Thriving!
I’ve enjoyed a great week as we’ve held our own team annual retreat.
Yes, we eat our own dog food!
Our team went a few hours from town and worked through strategy, priorities and different team exercises.
It’s exciting to see how far we’ve come since I started writing this newsletter eight years ago, and looking forward to Read More...
30 July 2023 Newsletter
“The ability to make good decisions about people represents one of the last reliable sources of competitive advantage, since very few organisations are very good at it.” – Peter Drucker
Hope you’re Thriving!
It’s been a productive week! It began with a CEO who, after a few years, gained absolute clarity on their BHAG and became passionate about its execution, then helping a founder to hire a CEO with a fantastic interview.
Next was cleaning up the mess Read More...
30 July 2023 Newsletter
“The ability to make good decisions about people represents one of the last reliable sources of competitive advantage, since very few organisations are very good at it.” – Peter Drucker
Hope you’re Thriving!
It’s been a productive week! It began with a CEO who, after a few years, gained absolute clarity on their BHAG and became passionate about its execution, then helping a founder to hire a CEO with a fantastic interview.
Next was cleaning up the mess Read More...
9 July 2023 Newsletter
“The greatest threat to success is not failure but boredom”
James Clear – Atomic habits
Hope you’re Thriving!
It’s been a productive week working on the new Onboarded for Managers book and being a guest on a podcast. In Australia, we also entered a new financial year; I hope yours is highly profitable!
Let’s begin.
Meta Swings Again
A couple of days ago, Meta, the owner of Facebook and Instagram, released a new social networking app called Read More...
9 July 2023 Newsletter
“The greatest threat to success is not failure but boredom”
James Clear – Atomic habits
Hope you’re Thriving!
It’s been a productive week working on the new Onboarded for Managers book and being a guest on a podcast. In Australia, we also entered a new financial year; I hope yours is highly profitable!
Let’s begin.
Meta Swings Again
A couple of days ago, Meta, the owner of Facebook and Instagram, released a new social networking app called Read More...
25 June 2023 Newsletter
“My drive in life comes from a fear of being mediocre…because even though I have become somebody, I still have to prove that I am somebody. My struggle has never ended and I guess it never will.” – Madonna
Hope you’re Thriving!
It’s been a productive week with some deep dives with teams on Profit per X, and how that changed the structure of an org chart for one team. We also delved into three different ways to connect strategy with execution Read More...
25 June 2023 Newsletter
“My drive in life comes from a fear of being mediocre…because even though I have become somebody, I still have to prove that I am somebody. My struggle has never ended and I guess it never will.” – Madonna
Hope you’re Thriving!
It’s been a productive week with some deep dives with teams on Profit per X, and how that changed the structure of an org chart for one team. We also delved into three different ways to connect strategy with execution Read More...
Effective execution of strategic objectives is a common challenge faced by many leaders I work with.
A McKinsey global survey indicated that 60% of respondents thought they were not effective at translating strategic priorities into action, highlighting issues with unclear accountability among other reasons.
Having facilitated several quarterly strategic workshops with leadership teams, most leaders seem to have a 1-year (and some of them even have a 3-year) Revenue target. However, there is Read More...
Effective execution of strategic objectives is a common challenge faced by many leaders I work with.
A McKinsey global survey indicated that 60% of respondents thought they were not effective at translating strategic priorities into action, highlighting issues with unclear accountability among other reasons.
Having facilitated several quarterly strategic workshops with leadership teams, most leaders seem to have a 1-year (and some of them even have a 3-year) Revenue target. However, there is Read More...
Determine Your Economic Engine With 2 Metrics
In our work with leadership teams, we use proven frameworks to consistently build, validate and evolve strategic plans. The Hedgehog concept from Jim Collins is one of them, helping our clients explore their strategic core, acting as a guardrail as they climb their growth mountain towards the summit, or as Jim Collins calls it, the BHAG.
In his book “Good to Great”, Jim Collins explains the Hedgehog as a concept to focus an organisation’s Read More...
Determine Your Economic Engine With 2 Metrics
In our work with leadership teams, we use proven frameworks to consistently build, validate and evolve strategic plans. The Hedgehog concept from Jim Collins is one of them, helping our clients explore their strategic core, acting as a guardrail as they climb their growth mountain towards the summit, or as Jim Collins calls it, the BHAG.
In his book “Good to Great”, Jim Collins explains the Hedgehog as a concept to focus an organisation’s Read More...
19 March 2023 Newsletter
If you want the most make it easy. If you want the best make it hard
– US Marine Slogan
Hope you’re Thriving!
Some weeks very little changes, and other weeks a lot changes.
This week a lot has changed. Before we get into it, I’d like to complain about the way we’ve come to rely on software for more and more necessary operations almost every day, and yet it’s hard to get through a day without software failing – or engineers making confusing structural Read More...
19 March 2023 Newsletter
If you want the most make it easy. If you want the best make it hard
– US Marine Slogan
Hope you’re Thriving!
Some weeks very little changes, and other weeks a lot changes.
This week a lot has changed. Before we get into it, I’d like to complain about the way we’ve come to rely on software for more and more necessary operations almost every day, and yet it’s hard to get through a day without software failing – or engineers making confusing structural Read More...
As a business owner or leader there is a seemingly never ending list of advice about how to rapidly scale or growth hack your way to nirvana. But what if it’s mostly bulldust?
Do these transformative programs or this growth hacking actually work?
It’s a complex question, and it depends what you are trying to achieve, but for me, as a person who has worked with hundreds of leadership teams and CEO’s building plans that deliver meaningful results, I think it’s important Read More...
As a business owner or leader there is a seemingly never ending list of advice about how to rapidly scale or growth hack your way to nirvana. But what if it’s mostly bulldust?
Do these transformative programs or this growth hacking actually work?
It’s a complex question, and it depends what you are trying to achieve, but for me, as a person who has worked with hundreds of leadership teams and CEO’s building plans that deliver meaningful results, I think it’s important Read More...
In this video we look at an example of execution mastery and when a sinkhole appears on a Japanese street, and how it is repaired in 48 hours.
[creativ_media type=”youtube” url=”https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=weHfawYvrSc”]
Read More...
In this video we look at an example of execution mastery and when a sinkhole appears on a Japanese street, and how it is repaired in 48 hours.
[creativ_media type=”youtube” url=”https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=weHfawYvrSc”]
Read More...
What is Mastery in Execution? We take a look at 2 examples from car racing and ask which does the execution in your company more closely resemble?
[creativ_media type=”youtube” url=”https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E8wBaQeNUQk&”]
Read More...
What is Mastery in Execution? We take a look at 2 examples from car racing and ask which does the execution in your company more closely resemble?
[creativ_media type=”youtube” url=”https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E8wBaQeNUQk&”]
Read More...
The objective of execution in a business wide context is ensuring your team is efficient as possible, with the result being that the profit generated during the sale, is carried through the organisation and is not lost via poor efficiency. Another way to look at it is that the profit transitions all the way down the Profit and Loss report from revenue through to the bottom line and the minimal amount is lost.
A great analogy for outstanding execution is to view a Formula 1 pitstop and Read More...
The objective of execution in a business wide context is ensuring your team is efficient as possible, with the result being that the profit generated during the sale, is carried through the organisation and is not lost via poor efficiency. Another way to look at it is that the profit transitions all the way down the Profit and Loss report from revenue through to the bottom line and the minimal amount is lost.
A great analogy for outstanding execution is to view a Formula 1 pitstop and Read More...
Preparation is one of the keys to a successful planning session. One of best things you can do to ensure that you’ll have a solid plan at the end of your session is to get your teams’ brains working before they even enter the room. Assigning some homework for your team to complete prior to the session will help them come prepared to make the best use of the time you’ve carved out for your session. You are making a big investment by pulling your top people out of their day jobs and into Read More...
Preparation is one of the keys to a successful planning session. One of best things you can do to ensure that you’ll have a solid plan at the end of your session is to get your teams’ brains working before they even enter the room. Assigning some homework for your team to complete prior to the session will help them come prepared to make the best use of the time you’ve carved out for your session. You are making a big investment by pulling your top people out of their day jobs and into Read More...
I always ask the same question, and no matter where I am I always get the same answer, silence. An uncomfortable look across the room accompanied by some fidgeting. Blank faces and biting lips. Some times I get the answer “Not many”.
The question? “How many consecutive months have you achieved revenue and profit goals?”.
Of course the people in the room are the leaders and owners of the businesses, the place where the buck stops as it were. So the logical next question Read More...
I always ask the same question, and no matter where I am I always get the same answer, silence. An uncomfortable look across the room accompanied by some fidgeting. Blank faces and biting lips. Some times I get the answer “Not many”.
The question? “How many consecutive months have you achieved revenue and profit goals?”.
Of course the people in the room are the leaders and owners of the businesses, the place where the buck stops as it were. So the logical next question Read More...
If you are familiar with Mastering the Rockefeller Habits and Scaling Up you are most likely familiar with the Rockefeller Habits Checklist, the 40 items identified in the book Mastering the Rockefeller Habits by Verne Harnish that John D Rockefeller used to grow his business Standard Oil.
In this online webinar you can listen to Gazelles experts answering questions about the Rockefeller Habits checklist and how to implement the Rockefeller Habits into your company.
Looking for Read More...
If you are familiar with Mastering the Rockefeller Habits and Scaling Up you are most likely familiar with the Rockefeller Habits Checklist, the 40 items identified in the book Mastering the Rockefeller Habits by Verne Harnish that John D Rockefeller used to grow his business Standard Oil.
In this online webinar you can listen to Gazelles experts answering questions about the Rockefeller Habits checklist and how to implement the Rockefeller Habits into your company.
Looking for Read More...
You start to experience your own “Ground Hog Day” movie moments, where it feels like you’re reliving the same frustrating day, day in and day out.
“We are one of the fastest growing franchises among 39 countries,” notes Niiraj Shah, National Director of BNI-India. “And yes, our 3 hour monthly management meeting involving my four senior managers and nine Regional Directors, our middle managers, has allowed us to be more strategic and work on the business Read More...
You start to experience your own “Ground Hog Day” movie moments, where it feels like you’re reliving the same frustrating day, day in and day out.
“We are one of the fastest growing franchises among 39 countries,” notes Niiraj Shah, National Director of BNI-India. “And yes, our 3 hour monthly management meeting involving my four senior managers and nine Regional Directors, our middle managers, has allowed us to be more strategic and work on the business Read More...
First to appear are the shade-intolerant, rapidgrowth species like fireweed – which are the plant world’s equivalent of entrepreneurs. Without these pioneers, the rebirth of a healthy boreal forest is impossible.
If entrepreneurs are the answer, then what is the question? In Jeopardy-like style, pick any problem presently facing the global community – from terrorism to world hunger to massive unemployment – and the solution keeps pointing to the entrepreneur.
The timing of this Read More...
First to appear are the shade-intolerant, rapidgrowth species like fireweed – which are the plant world’s equivalent of entrepreneurs. Without these pioneers, the rebirth of a healthy boreal forest is impossible.
If entrepreneurs are the answer, then what is the question? In Jeopardy-like style, pick any problem presently facing the global community – from terrorism to world hunger to massive unemployment – and the solution keeps pointing to the entrepreneur.
The timing of this Read More...
As you prepare for summer, it’s time to clean your company’s proverbial hallway closets and garages.
Like the classic movie “Ground Hog Day,” many employees experience work as one recurring nightmare after another – same old stuff , just a different day! And recurrent mistakes and problems eat up over 40% of your people’s time and effort – time better spent proactively selling and servicing customers – not to mention what it does to morale. Like water on a Read More...
As you prepare for summer, it’s time to clean your company’s proverbial hallway closets and garages.
Like the classic movie “Ground Hog Day,” many employees experience work as one recurring nightmare after another – same old stuff , just a different day! And recurrent mistakes and problems eat up over 40% of your people’s time and effort – time better spent proactively selling and servicing customers – not to mention what it does to morale. Like water on a Read More...
I made two critical decisions in my own business to help recession proof us moving forward.
Recession or not, during these volatile economic times it’s worth taking a look at the playbook of turnaround specialists. And for many growth firms, who face the normal challenges of managing constant change, it can feel like a perpetual turnaround situation even during boom times.
One of my favorite turnaround stars is Greg Brenneman, founder of Houston-based TurnWorks. Credited with the Read More...
I made two critical decisions in my own business to help recession proof us moving forward.
Recession or not, during these volatile economic times it’s worth taking a look at the playbook of turnaround specialists. And for many growth firms, who face the normal challenges of managing constant change, it can feel like a perpetual turnaround situation even during boom times.
One of my favorite turnaround stars is Greg Brenneman, founder of Houston-based TurnWorks. Credited with the Read More...
In visiting with some of the world’s top sales and marketing thought leaders, as well as CEOs whose firms are seeing dramatic increases in revenue during this downturn, several actionable ideas have emerged which you can act on immediately.
1.) Dramatically Reduce Sales Cycle Time
The first is from Dr. Victoria Medvec, negotiations expert from Northwestern University and author of the series Nothing improves cash flow (CFOs are fans) and revenue more than reducing your sales cycle Read More...
In visiting with some of the world’s top sales and marketing thought leaders, as well as CEOs whose firms are seeing dramatic increases in revenue during this downturn, several actionable ideas have emerged which you can act on immediately.
1.) Dramatically Reduce Sales Cycle Time
The first is from Dr. Victoria Medvec, negotiations expert from Northwestern University and author of the series Nothing improves cash flow (CFOs are fans) and revenue more than reducing your sales cycle Read More...
I made two critical decisions in my own business to help recession proof us moving forward.
Recession or not, during these volatile economic times it’s worth taking a look at the playbook of turnaround specialists. And for many growth firms, who face the normal challenges of managing constant change, it can feel like a perpetual turnaround situation even during boom times.
One of my favorite turnaround stars is Greg Brenneman, founder of Houston-based TurnWorks. Credited with the Read More...
I made two critical decisions in my own business to help recession proof us moving forward.
Recession or not, during these volatile economic times it’s worth taking a look at the playbook of turnaround specialists. And for many growth firms, who face the normal challenges of managing constant change, it can feel like a perpetual turnaround situation even during boom times.
One of my favorite turnaround stars is Greg Brenneman, founder of Houston-based TurnWorks. Credited with the Read More...
John Stepleton realized a 28% productivity improvement in his call centers within a week; Jeff Booth was able to dramatically speed up the time it takes to get a vendor up on his building materials website; Mike Jagger saved $60,000 in IT costs from his first session; and Ken Sims was able to handle a 100% increase in business in 2008 without adding any headquarters staff.
These CEOs and many other mid-market leaders are embracing the Toyota Production System referred to as LEAN. Often Read More...
John Stepleton realized a 28% productivity improvement in his call centers within a week; Jeff Booth was able to dramatically speed up the time it takes to get a vendor up on his building materials website; Mike Jagger saved $60,000 in IT costs from his first session; and Ken Sims was able to handle a 100% increase in business in 2008 without adding any headquarters staff.
These CEOs and many other mid-market leaders are embracing the Toyota Production System referred to as LEAN. Often Read More...
Less priorities – less people – less school – less customers. Less is more both in business and life!
“Smaller countries tend to be a little happier because there is a stronger sense of collectivism.”
Over the last few months a convergence of news, reading, and conversations have screamed the mantra “less is more.” It first grabbed me as I was watching an interview of China’s first track and field superstar Liu Xiang, who captured gold in the 110-meter Read More...
Less priorities – less people – less school – less customers. Less is more both in business and life!
“Smaller countries tend to be a little happier because there is a stronger sense of collectivism.”
Over the last few months a convergence of news, reading, and conversations have screamed the mantra “less is more.” It first grabbed me as I was watching an interview of China’s first track and field superstar Liu Xiang, who captured gold in the 110-meter Read More...
Yet, there’s a very simple technique that will keep these projects on track and prevent much of the psychic damage caused when they go astray.
“I don’t even like house projects and here I am threatening to hand my lawyer’s phone number and card to a young contractor we’ve hired to remodel our home,” notes an exasperated Patrick Thean, Charlotte-based serial entrepreneur and reluctant home project manager.
Running a company is easy compared to managing Read More...
Yet, there’s a very simple technique that will keep these projects on track and prevent much of the psychic damage caused when they go astray.
“I don’t even like house projects and here I am threatening to hand my lawyer’s phone number and card to a young contractor we’ve hired to remodel our home,” notes an exasperated Patrick Thean, Charlotte-based serial entrepreneur and reluctant home project manager.
Running a company is easy compared to managing Read More...
“If it’s good enough for Bill Gates, it’s good enough
for us.”
“The payback is two weeks and the ‘cool’ factor is immeasurable,” remarks Raymond Roberts, CEO of Chantilly, VA based Citizant (formerly Cairo Corporation), a government IT services firm focused on citizen-focused projects. “If it’s good enough for Bill Gates, it’s good enough for us.”
Roberts is referring to Bill Gates claim that he is more productive Read More...
“If it’s good enough for Bill Gates, it’s good enough
for us.”
“The payback is two weeks and the ‘cool’ factor is immeasurable,” remarks Raymond Roberts, CEO of Chantilly, VA based Citizant (formerly Cairo Corporation), a government IT services firm focused on citizen-focused projects. “If it’s good enough for Bill Gates, it’s good enough for us.”
Roberts is referring to Bill Gates claim that he is more productive Read More...
You need to launch initiatives to access the collective wisdom of your employees, customers, and the broader world around you.
What do Google, Facebook, MySpace, YouTube, eBay and Wikipedia have in common? Besides being six of the fastest growing organizations in history and making several of their founders billionaires in less than a decade, they all utilize a new reality of the information age – whoever leverages the most brains wins! Figure out how to do this better than your Read More...
You need to launch initiatives to access the collective wisdom of your employees, customers, and the broader world around you.
What do Google, Facebook, MySpace, YouTube, eBay and Wikipedia have in common? Besides being six of the fastest growing organizations in history and making several of their founders billionaires in less than a decade, they all utilize a new reality of the information age – whoever leverages the most brains wins! Figure out how to do this better than your Read More...
It’s poorly designed and executed processes that suck up large amounts of money, time, and energy – and ultimately lead to a frustrating employee and customer experience.
Customers experience your company’s processes, not its functions. Yet executives spend most of their time focused on making sure the functions of the firm i.e. sales, operations, finance, HR, IT, etc. are properly led, staffed, and driven by appropriate key performance indicators (KPIs).
For the sake of Read More...
It’s poorly designed and executed processes that suck up large amounts of money, time, and energy – and ultimately lead to a frustrating employee and customer experience.
Customers experience your company’s processes, not its functions. Yet executives spend most of their time focused on making sure the functions of the firm i.e. sales, operations, finance, HR, IT, etc. are properly led, staffed, and driven by appropriate key performance indicators (KPIs).
For the sake of Read More...
These books will help you rethink your approach toward people, strategy, execution, and cash.
The fourth Indiana Jones sequel gave movie director Stephen Spielberg his best global opening ever, raking in $311 million its first weekend. This past weekend, as I write my latest column, Toy Story 3 proved once again the power of sequels to dominate the box offi ce, giving Pixar records of its own.
Four equally powerful book sequels are a must-read this summer (winter for my friends down South). Read More...
These books will help you rethink your approach toward people, strategy, execution, and cash.
The fourth Indiana Jones sequel gave movie director Stephen Spielberg his best global opening ever, raking in $311 million its first weekend. This past weekend, as I write my latest column, Toy Story 3 proved once again the power of sequels to dominate the box offi ce, giving Pixar records of its own.
Four equally powerful book sequels are a must-read this summer (winter for my friends down South). Read More...
In a world where a Sri-Lankan based firm can provide unlimited tech support for $149 a year to a business owner in Sioux City, Iowa, no company can escape the new realities of global competition or hide in its local markets anymore.
Even the German Mittelstands (small to mid-size firms), those powerful “hidden champions” I’ve extolled in past columns, are succumbing to global pressure. In February concrete pump manufacturer Putzmeister was acquired by its Chinese rival Sany.
And the Read More...
In a world where a Sri-Lankan based firm can provide unlimited tech support for $149 a year to a business owner in Sioux City, Iowa, no company can escape the new realities of global competition or hide in its local markets anymore.
Even the German Mittelstands (small to mid-size firms), those powerful “hidden champions” I’ve extolled in past columns, are succumbing to global pressure. In February concrete pump manufacturer Putzmeister was acquired by its Chinese rival Sany.
And the Read More...
