-
Archives
- November 2014
- October 2014
- September 2014
- August 2014
- July 2014
- June 2014
- May 2014
- April 2014
- March 2014
- February 2014
- January 2014
- December 2013
- November 2013
- October 2013
- September 2013
- August 2013
- July 2013
- June 2013
- May 2013
- April 2013
- March 2013
- February 2013
- January 2013
- December 2012
- November 2012
- October 2012
- September 2012
- August 2012
- July 2012
- June 2012
- May 2012
- April 2012
- March 2012
- February 2012
- January 2012
- December 2011
- November 2011
- October 2011
- September 2011
- August 2011
- July 2011
- June 2011
- May 2011
- April 2011
- March 2011
- February 2011
- January 2011
- December 2010
- November 2010
- October 2010
- September 2010
- August 2010
- July 2010
- June 2010
- May 2010
- April 2010
- March 2010
- February 2010
- January 2010
- December 2009
- November 2009
- October 2009
- September 2009
- August 2009
- July 2009
- June 2009
- May 2009
- April 2009
- March 2009
-
Meta
Category Archives: Leadership
6 ingredients for SME success
The post on the 2 tools SME’s need in early August led to a comment that, whilst the headlines of focus and discipline made sense, the challenge is in implementation. Fair comment. So, how do you build the needed focus … Continue reading
Posted in Governance, Innovation, Leadership, Small business, Strategy
Tagged change management, competitive strategy, customer, Governance, Innovation, Leadership, Operations, performance assessment, SME, Strategy
2 Comments
12 key success factors for SME’s
Small businesses make up the vast majority of business numbers, make a huge contribution to economic activity and health, but most do not last 5 years. Over 20 years of observing small businesses as a contractor and consultant, I have … Continue reading
Contrarian strategy
The complexity of the world these days demands an approach to strategy that is counter intuitive, perhaps even a contrarian approach to the accepted best practice. For decades managers have sweated and planned, and set out to execute, just to … Continue reading
Posted in Leadership, Small business, Strategy
Tagged competitive strategy, Entrepreneur, Governance, SME, Strategy
1 Comment
10 questions for a Customer Value Audit.
Customer Value has almost become a cliché, often trotted out to cover the lack of real marketing insight. Effective articulation of customer value, and the business model and processes to deliver it remains at the core of those businesses that … Continue reading
Posted in Customers, Leadership, Strategy
Tagged communication, competitive strategy, customer, Governance, SME, Strategy
Leave a comment
Another bloody meeting
Meetings are supposed to be a place where work gets done, accountabilities exercised options articulated and examined, decisions made, and outcomes reported. However, often they become just a reason to have another meeting. Whilst the public sector comes in … Continue reading
Posted in Governance, Leadership, Management
Tagged communication, Governance, lean, Management, performance assessment
2 Comments
7 ways to argue constructively
Debate and argument fills a vital role in all parts of our lives, it is what makes us human, this capacity to be able to think and communicate, rather than just react. For an extended period with two different … Continue reading
Posted in Branding, Collaboration, Leadership, Marketing
Tagged Branding, category management, communication, Entrepreneur, Governance, Innovation, Leadership, Marketing, Risk, Strategy
Leave a comment
Sporting analogies don’t always work.
Tonight is the first Origin game of 2014, and so I expect to hear lots of people using sporting analogies over the next few weeks, particularly football. Sporting analogies abound in business, “A team of champions does not make a … Continue reading
Sometimes, it is just a cigar
The photo of Joe Hockey and Mathias Cormann smoking a cigar just before the budget has raised temperatures in all sorts of places. I wonder why? After all, it is just a cigar. Some are annoyed that they seem to … Continue reading
Posted in Governance, Leadership
Tagged communication, Governance, great management, managing yourself, Politics
2 Comments
FMCG conga line rides again
Years ago I worked as a junior marketing bloke for Allied Mills, which became Meadow Lea Foods, then Goodman Fielder. I returned 25 years later as a contractor running a specialist unit of the ingredients division in a pre-sale “polish-up” … Continue reading
Posted in Change, Governance, Leadership, Strategy
Tagged Change, change management, Governance, Leadership, Marketing, performance assessment, Strategy
2 Comments
6 Steps in Managing Serendipity
“Serendipity” . Luck that takes the form of finding valuable or pleasant things that are not looked for. Websters Dictionary. My old Dad used to say “Son, the harder I work, the luckier I get” and it has usually worked … Continue reading
Data, context and lies
As great an advocate of analytics as I am, it remains a truth that data without a context is useless. It is in the articulation of the context that data is given meaning, and it is at this point that … Continue reading
Posted in Governance, Leadership, Personal Rant
Tagged communication, Governance, Leadership, Politics
Leave a comment
8 ways to build a hypothesis testing mind set.
The most successful people I have seen over 40 years of business share one crucial characteristic. Curiosity. The successful are insatiably curious, it spans all aspects of their lives, not just the parts that are spent working at what pays … Continue reading
Posted in Change, Collaboration, Innovation, Leadership, Marketing
Tagged Change, change management, collaboration, Governance, Innovation, Leadership, performance assessment, SME, Strategy
1 Comment
How to build a personal brand
Personal branding seems to be a popular topic around the pub, even the brickie who lives a few streets away, and is not known for his new age sensitivities, has got a hold of it. It is not new, Julius … Continue reading
Posted in Branding, Leadership
Tagged Branding, communication, managing yourself, performance assessment
Leave a comment
3 core questions of strategy.
Often I find myself engaged in conversations with those running small businesses who believe they have discovered the next big thing, the idea that will change the world, or at least their business. It can be as simple as a … Continue reading
Posted in Leadership, Marketing, Strategy
Tagged competitive strategy, customer, Innovation, Leadership, Marketing, SME, Strategy
Leave a comment
Managements single greatest failure
Many years ago, pre-digital, I gave time to a sales rep who rang up and promised to bring in some samples of brand new products from Europe that had changed the dynamics of the market segments they were in. I … Continue reading
Have we lost it?
Until I was about 10 years old, I lived in a little cottage at North Avalon, and used to walk to primary school through the sandhills, along the beach, then to school, and back. It sometimes took longer than it … Continue reading
Posted in Change, Leadership, Personal Rant, Strategy
Tagged Agriculture, category management, climate change, Politics, supply chain
2 Comments
Where is the ‘Why”
For 35 years as a corporate manager and consultant I have been an advocate of, amongst other things, personal accountability, marketing ROI, extensive use of data in decision-making but without eliminating the wisdom of individuals who have “been there, done … Continue reading
Posted in Governance, Leadership, Strategy
Tagged communication, Governance, Leadership, performance assessment
Leave a comment
Perspective driven management
Everyone knows the optimist sees the glass half full, and the pessimist sees it as half empty, but few see the other options. The technologist sees the shape as sub-optimal The engineer sees the variation of material in the glass … Continue reading
Posted in Governance, Leadership
Tagged Change, change management, communication, Governance
Leave a comment
Unpredictable is not random.
Some things we can predict with great accuracy, simply because we can quantify almost all the variables that come into play. The path a bullet will follow when fired, how long it will take a brick to hit the ground … Continue reading
Posted in Leadership, Management, Strategy
Tagged change management, Governance, performance assessment, Strategy
Leave a comment
One final test.
“If this was your money, would you invest it this way”. This question worked well for many years as a corporate executive, asking the question of those who reported to me about the projects for which they were seeking support. … Continue reading
Posted in Governance, Leadership, Management
Tagged communication, customer, Governance, managing yourself, Marketing, Risk
Leave a comment
StrategyAudit 