Strategy – Page 30 – thoughtLEADERS, LLC: Leadership Training for the Real World

Trust Isn’t the Key to Business Partnerships

September 8, 2009/6 Comments/in Communications, Strategy /by Mike Figliuolo

Recently a question was posed to me: what’s the most critical element of business partnerships?

It’s not trust. That’s an overly simplistic answer. Is trust important? Sure it is. But it’s not the most critical element of a business partnership.

Look, I trust my local police force but the Dublin PD is not listed on the business partners page of my website. I trust my physician but we’re not jointly marketing our services. “Trust” is the easy answer to give to this question but that’s not particularly insightful.

The most important element of a business partnership is a shared purpose. That purpose is something that aligns all the efforts of each organization. That purpose creates momentum and energy around every undertaking between the parties. Without a shared purpose, your partnership is more like The Odd Couple than it is a joint venture.

So if a shared purpose is the most important element of a business partnership, how do you identify it and harvest it?

A shared purpose is nothing more than both organizations seek to change a specific part of the world in a particular way. The strength of that sharing comes out in the organizations’ complementary skills.

Please Don’t – A Great Tactic For Successful Strategy

August 17, 2009/2 Comments/in Leadership, Strategy, Training /by Mike Figliuolo

High-falootin’ strategery sounds awesome. Unfortunately the best strategic plan in the world can come crashing down if you don’t have tactics in place to support it. And these tactics have to occur on a daily basis.

This is where, as a manager, you’re probably missing the boat. I know your intentions are good but your dysfunctional behaviors are the root of strategic destruction (how’s that for being provocative?).

I’ve mentioned before that strategy is about saying “no” and I’m unwavering on that point. The organization has to know where it’s going and pursue a balanced set of initiatives to get there. It has to be a mix of building your core business so it can spin off the cash required to invest in new ventures. It’s about hitting the sweet spot on balancing between growing the core or expanding beyond it. Let’s assume you’re already doing those things.

The Leader’s Balance Dilemma: Grow the Core or Expand Beyond It

July 27, 2009/1 Comment/in Entrepreneur, Leadership, Strategy /by Mike Figliuolo

Growth is the lifeblood of your business. A leader’s job is to take that business to bigger and better places. The dilemma lies in how to get there.

You’re often faced with a simple choice: keep growing your core or expand into new arenas. It’s a challenge of balance.

By growing your core, you’re building what you’re already successful at. Customers have validated that product or service. It’s likely very profitable. And as you’ve heard me pontificate on before, strategy is inherently about saying “no.”

On the flip side, your core can only get you so far. The ideas behind it might get stale or run their logical lifespan. Cool new opportunities and ideas spring up all the time. Many of those new opportunities are untested and unproven though therefore they’re riskier.

Your job as a leader is to balance between strengthening and growing what you already do well while simultaneously finding new growth opportunities for your business. It’s challenging because you have resource constraints and can only invest so much time, effort, and money into building the core and expanding beyond it. You have to make this tradeoff effectively. This applies to you whether you’re a small business or a monolithic one.

So how can you strike that balance?

How To Reduce The Risk of Reliance on Your Key Players

July 20, 2009/2 Comments/in Business Toolkit, Career, Leadership, Strategy /by Mike Figliuolo

Every team has key players . They take us to new highs. Innovate constantly. Bring powerful personalities to the game every day (why do you think they called Gretzky “The Great One” huh?).

At some point, though, they become such a huge asset that they’re a liability. If you’re not careful, you put all your proverbial eggs in their basket. Without some deliberate planning, you’re going to end up with a big scrambled mess.

Why is reliance on these luminaries dangerous? Aren’t they the ones who got you there? Absolutely! However, over time their personality takes over the company or organization. The halo effect of that founder or “hi po” associate becomes a burning flame that, if and when it goes out, the whole organization could go dark.

This dynamic happens in both large and small companies. In large companies, these are the rising stars we come to depend on and build teams around. In smaller ventures, they’re typically the founders.

What happens though when these people quit, retire or move on to another organization? If you haven’t planned for this event, you’re in trouble. The good news is there are a few things you can do to avoid a calamity (That is such a cool word – I’m thrilled I got to use it today. Related: I’m a geek).

How can you reduce these risks? Here goes:

Three Keys to Getting CASH for Your Project or Business

July 13, 2009/3 Comments/in Business Toolkit, Communications, Entrepreneur, Project Management, Strategy /by Mike Figliuolo

Money is tight these days. Whether you’re an entrepreneur seeking capital to grow your business or you work at a major corporation and you’re looking for capital to fund your project, you have a big challenge in front of you: how do you get someone to give you their money?

Yes, it’s their money. For entrepreneurs, you’re trying to pry it away from banks, angel investors, and venture capitalists. For corporate types, you’re asking for it from shareholders, senior executives, and profit-generating business units (for the purposes of this post, I’ll refer to all of these groups as “investors” for the balance of the article).

But gone are the days of easy money based on loosey goosey “business plans.” In this environment it’s much harder to get that check written.

So how can you pry open the pocketbook, get the capital you need, and grow your business or fund your project? You have to be sure to tell the people with the cash three key things before they’ll even consider giving you a dime.

Stop Isolating Your Business: Two Ways You’re Ruining Opportunities

July 6, 2009/3 Comments/in Business Toolkit, Communications, Entrepreneur, Sales, Strategy /by Mike Figliuolo

This post is dedicated to all the paranoid businesspeople out there who are terrified of their competitors. You know, the people who run businesses centered around “consulting” who view any other “consulting” firm as a competitor. You can insert whatever industry you like in the quotes and this perspective will apply.

Knock it off – you’re limiting your business and isolating yourself from opportunities to grow. You’re effectively placing yourself on a deserted island in the ocean of business opportunities.

Not only are you limiting opportunities, you’re building a brand of naivete, immaturity and narrow thinking. The following also applies whether you’re a one-person shop or a multimillion dollar firm. Unless you’re Coke & Pepsi or some other similar truly competitive pairing of companies, you need to pay attention.

Those of you who know me know I network. A lot. That networking gets me in front of many other business owners and executives who play in a space similar to my firm.

I run a leadership development training firm. We have a specific business model. We focus on a few key knowledge areas where we have deep expertise. We deliver that knowledge through one-day training sessions with some focused coaching support afterward.

Networking gets “interesting” when I meet others who work in the leadership development coaching and training arena. During those meetings I’ve seen two destructive dynamics play out on occasion.

How The Wrong Pricing Approach Is Killing Your Business

June 25, 2009/4 Comments/in Business Toolkit, Entrepreneur, Sales, Strategy /by Mike Figliuolo

Bob Barker used to point out when the price was right but what happens to your business when the price is wrong? Getting pricing wrong is one of the biggest and costliest mistakes you can make and that applies whether you’re a sole proprietor or a Fortune 500 company.

First, a little pricing math. Let’s say you sell a widget for $100 and your gross profit on said widget is $30. After taking out overhead, you’re down to $10. Then the tax man comes along and takes $4 of that leaving you with a whopping $6 on your $100 sale.

Here’s the critical part – imagine you want to win a new customer over with a teensy weensy little $1 discount. Sure it’s a 1% discount to him but you just blew a 10% hole in your overall profitability (changing pricing doesn’t change your cost of goods or your overhead and, after tax effects, the majority of that price decrease hits your bottom line like a sledge hammer).

Conversely, if you’re in a position where you can increase pricing by $1, you’ve just increased your profits by 10% (and in this economy, that’s huge). Pricing matters. Bigtime.

The mistake we often make is in thinking it’s only a 1% price change. You have to look at it from a profitability standpoint. Knowing how hard it is to keep your pricing intact, here are two thoughts on how to get the pricing right regardless of the business you’re in:

Advance Your Career With Strategic Planning

June 8, 2009/3 Comments/in Career, Strategy /by Mike Figliuolo

Every day organizations spend time refining and rewriting their strategic plans. It’s part of the rhythm of business. But how often have you applied the basic principles of strategic planning to your career? Say what? You haven’t? You’re missing out on one of the most powerful tools out there.

Don’t worry – this isn’t some high falootin’ strategery post. I’m not caffeinated enough to write something like that. It’s a simple approach you can apply to your career in an hour or so and have much greater clarity on where you’re headed and what kinds of opportunities you need to be looking for.

To keep it simple, I’m going to relate a conversation I had recently on the topic. The individual was doing some great introspection about where they are and where they’re headed but couldn’t find a clear path from where they stood.

I said “forget about where you are.” The discussion got interesting from there.

“Let’s apply strategy to your career planning.”

“Okay. Go.”

6 Critical Steps to Preventing Failure During Organizational Transformation

May 13, 2009/2 Comments/in Guest Blogger, Leadership, Project Management, Strategy /by Mike Figliuolo

I’m excited to bring you some thoughts from Maureen Metcalf today. I’m shutting up now. Here’s Maureen:

For anyone who has led an organizational change, we know it can be complicated at best and at worst; it can limit your career and have a significant adverse impact on your business. In 2008, a McKinsey survey of 3,199 executives around the world found, as Kotter did in 1998, that only one transformation in three succeeds. Other studies over the past ten years reveal remarkably similar results.

So, in times of profound change, where business success hinges on the leader and the organization being able to change quickly and effectively, what should we be doing to increase our likelihood of success?

I focus on the impact of leadership as well as the systems and processes being used to implement the change. From Collins Good to Great and others we have learned that Level 5 Leaders are more likely to successfully create long term sustainable change that moves the company to “greatness.”

So, while there is certainly no one size fits all answer, there are six basic principles a leader embarking on change can consider.

As the Chili Peppers Say – Give It Away Now!

April 20, 2009/15 Comments/in Business Toolkit, Career, Entrepreneur, Sales, Strategy /by Mike Figliuolo

I love the Red Hot Chili Peppers. Great tunes especially at 3AM on a Friday night. They’ve also got an incredibly relevant message for how you can grow your business: Give it away, give it away, give it away now! (I’ll spare you the repeats).

Want to grow your business? Give it away.

No. I haven’t fallen and hit my head again. I routinely give away our stuff. Our services. Our content (ummm… yeah, you’re reading a FREE blog full of our intellectual property and the only price I ask is comments and telling your friends – you are telling your friends, right?). But I give it away deliberately and with purpose.

Have you ever been in that “free seminar” that was nothing more than a disguised sales pitch? Infuriating, huh? Did you buy the speaker’s stuff? Didn’t it grate on you when they’d say “so those are the first two steps in our secret ten step process. Buy the other eight steps for just $999.99!”

Those folks aren’t successful long term. They need to learn how to give it away. So do you. Allow me to explain.

Take A Dollar Today, Lose Ten Tomorrow – Negotiating 101

February 16, 2009/4 Comments/in Business Toolkit, Career, Leadership, Strategy /by Mike Figliuolo

I read a great article in Fortune a while back. Joanna Shields of Bebo.com quoted her dad: “Your career is long and the business world is small. Always act with integrity. Never take the last dollar off the table.”

Fantastic advice. Unfortunately many of us never heed it. We get wrapped up in near term numbers, performance bonuses, and, yeah, I’m gonna say it, greed. In economic times like the present, these pressures are amplified.

Many folks look at business as a competition. In many cases it is (duh, hence the term “competitors”). Sadly we sometimes extend the definition of competitor to include anyone sitting across the table from us. Quite often, that person across the table is supposed to be our partner but we engage in completely dysfunctional competitive or territorial behaviors. Then bad things happen. What kinds of bad things? You know I’m going to tell you.

Shields’ father continues: “You can always do a slightly better deal, but that incremental dollar or windfall is not worth creating an imbalance that affects the relationship. You have to have the intuition to know when to say, ‘I’m going to make sure that we walk away feeling like we’ve both done well.'”

Competing Through Service Differentiation

November 12, 2008/0 Comments/in Customer Service, Strategy /by Mike Figliuolo

I recently had the extreme pleasure of being a speaker at the W.P. Carey School’s Compete Through Services Symposium. Some fantastic lessons came out of the sessions that were delivered by some phenomenal speakers. I count myself fortunate to have been part of such incredible company.

The W.P. Carey School at Arizona State University has distinctive offerings in the arena of business services and they’ve truly become thoughtLEADERS on the topic (according to my definition of someone who agitates for change in order to drive business impact).

The symposium, led by Dr. Stephen Brown, Dr. Mary Jo Bittner, and Alicia Holder drew phenomenal speakers from around the world. Those individuals covered some great topics and leave us with some pointed lessons on differentiating in the new service-based economy. The leaders of the symposium describe the program as follows:

“In business, there is one decisive moment when the choice to separate and set one’s self apart becomes evident. The “Compete Through Service” Symposium is the premier executive education event that helps you seize that opportunity by showing you how to:

– Design and deliver “out of the box” customer service
– Create and promote new, innovative services
– Construct value-added, revenue-producing services
– Establish a service culture that differentiates
– Instill an unrelenting focus on the customer”

They’re lofty goals but the event absolutely delivered on them. I’d like to share a few thoughts from some of the other speakers at the event (there’s no way I could ever cover all the great stuff that was presented there):

Hanging light bulbs with glowing one isolated on dark blue background

Executive Communications

Structured Problem Solving

Creating Leadership Maxims

Leading inside the Box

Deliberate Decision Making

Simple Strategic Planning

Storytelling for Leaders

Storytelling for Sales

Executive Presence

Principles of Chart Design

Time Management Mastery

Breakthrough Innovation

Leadership Resilience

Conflict Resolution

Leading through Change

Project Management Reality

Coaching for Impact

High Performing Teams

Everything is Negotiable

Leading with Influence

Building Personal Resilience

thoughtLEADERSHIP

Engagement Management

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Structured Thought: Problem Solving

Structured Thought: Problem Solving

Clearly define a problem, scope all issues related to the problem, generate potential solutions, then analyze and select the best solution by using time-tested critical thinking methods and tools.

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