For many of the over 4,000 readers of this blog who are former participants of one or more of my Business Acumen or Business Leadership learning journeys, you know that I typically ask a new group of participants on the first day of session how well they think they know their own company’s business strategy. As you may recall, the answer is typically the same no matter what company or industry; a small group of participants raise their hands (that they know their strategy) and then some brave soul inevitably says; “Well, I know what they say the strategy is, but in reality, I’m not really sure what they say is really what we are trying to execute…”
Robert Brodo
Recent Posts
If your approach to Sales Training hasn’t evolved over the past 24 months, then your business may have already been disrupted without you realizing it. The traditional models of “pain” selling or other product-focused, manipulative sales models are not going to work much longer. The cold call is dead and so is the cold email. In their place is something more important and more valuable to customers; a sales process that integrates Business Acumen so that Sales Professionals can position the value of their solutions through the lens of the customers’ business, as opposed to pushing products to hit an arbitrary quota.
Read More >
Every business leader knows that execution is the hardest part of any business strategy.
As part of my role as the lead Consultant on the design, development, and delivery of leadership development learning journeys I often also provide Coaching services to executive clients and senior leaders who participate in our programs.
Last week I had a very interesting and dynamic session with one of my participants who is struggling with creating a collaboration-based work environment with his team that is focused on execution. He shared with me a story of one of his direct reports who was consistently displaying dysfunctional behaviors and always making excuses for why things were poorly executed. And unfortunately, after a while, other direct reports came to resent the poor effort and were openly wondering why there wasn’t more accountability. Things came to a head when my “Coachee” confronted his direct report and in a very uncomfortable conversation finally said “What is with you? Is your objective to get the job done, or is your objective to be a dysfunctional jerk?”
Developing and executing a strong value proposition that is understood by your employees and your customers is the hardest challenge every business leader faces. All stakeholders in the business ecosystem such as suppliers, employees, partners, and customers will always have their own interpretation of the strategy and what it means to them.
I recently had the opportunity of listening to a fascinating presentation on business strategy led by a founder of one of the most successful electronics manufacturers in Asia. This organization’s business model and strategic approach is simple; design, develop, and deliver as many different competitive forms products to existing competitors as possible and do it at a fraction of the cost of the branded market leader. To date, they have more than 10,000 products in the market including Smartphones, controllers, battery packs, and even robot vacuum cleaners that clean apartments while their “owners” are at work. Sounds like there is a vision that is understood and clear with great alignment, right?
