Margaret Reynolds Over twenty years ago, a mentor of mine, Irv Hockaday, former CEO at Hallmark Cards, Inc., once asked me, “Do you think that, or do you know that?” I have never forgotten the question. It is a game changer in my book. It is a question that stops a lot of leaders in their tracks. How much of what …
Often overlooked is the importance of effective decision making. Each day every organization collectively makes dozens, even hundreds of decisions. Each of these individual decisions can either push the organization further along the focused path of strategy or put the “Whac-A-Mole Management” game into play. How can organizations improve the consistency and alignment in decision making? By establishing decision criteria. For an …
Greetings! One of the things I have learned from you–my awesome clients–is that great leaders teach at every turn. They teach employees, they teach on the boards they serve, they teach at Church and even when they have a cup of coffee with colleagues. They impart things they have learned or read that they have …
The overwhelming majority of companies have a blind side. It is born from a history of how things have been done as well as a focus on where they are going. Major companies have been taken out due to their blind side. Blockbuster was certainly well aware of Netflix by the time it went bankrupt, …
Your organization is not functioning in isolation. It functions within an economy, industry, and geographical area that influence the opportunities and challenges it faces. To be effective, it is essential to be able to diagnose accurately the cause behind the symptoms of any hardship. Thus, it requires a macro or “big picture” perspective of the market served, as well as a …
Usually I am smart enough to refrain from commenting on local issues, particularly those with so much inflammatory potential, but this particular incident is so ripe with leadership wrongs I just couldn’t remain silent. My only disclaimer is I realize this is my opinion and I hope to spark a conversation, not a monologue. As …
Clearly the question is no longer, “Do we need to change?” It is: “How do we know when we need to change?” As challenging as it is to wrap our minds around all the moving parts of the market, technology, and the economy, the hardest part is to decide when to make dramatic changes to the business. Unfortunately, far too …
The Change Starts With You One of the powerful truths of leadership is that the leader has the ability to influence others that goes beyond their authoritative power. If the desired organizational behavior is not evident, the first place to look is in the mirror. What signals are you sending through your behaviors, the questions you ask, the expectations you …
The challenge in many industries is that there are many providers offering essentially the same solutions. Banks and law firms are often hard to differentiate—they tend to provide the same or similar services, target the same customers and industries, and compete based on the same strengths. Banks talk about customer service and lawyers focus on …
Economic cycles are just that—cycles. During a recent economic forecast presentation, Alan Beaulieu of ITR Economics, shared a chart that shows US Industry Production to Gross Domestic Product has dropped below zero four times in recent history: in 1982 (-7.1 percent), 1991 (-3.1 percent), 2001 (-5.3 percent) and 2009 (-14.6 percent). Certainly the challenges of 2009 have not been rivaled throughout …
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