Trust Yourself before Trusting Employees

We all know that being a business leader in the VUCA world of 2016 and beyond is a difficult and challenging job.  Over the past few weeks I have been working with a number of organizations in different industries in the area of Business Leadership skill development and one theme that continues to be a significant challenge for all of them is managing a diverse and virtual workforce.  It is a complex business leadership challenge because of many factors involved including, but not limited to, time zones, language, matrixed organizations, multiple reporting structures, communication skills, mergers & acquisitions, and spin-offs.

Even if you had Nothing to Sell

I received a LinkedIn personal message from a former Advantexe Strategic Business Selling™ participant last week.  We have remained in touch since the live training a few years ago and as part of my contract with her organization I personally provided her with coaching and Account Planning advice.

Developing leadership skills should be a never-ending process.  The most experienced, reasonable, and productive leaders I have had the chance to work with during more than 25 years of designing and delivering Business Leadership skill development solutions have always said something similar and fascinating that I agree with; “Just when you think you have seen it all, something happens to make you shake your head and realize that the learning never stops.”

I was recently interviewing a senior executive as part of the design of our new Business Simulation, Leading Strategic Execution™.  During our hour-long dialogue the executive shared several interesting observations about the behaviors he sees people exhibiting in today’s evolving work environment.

Most business leaders experience unique moments of success or failure at least two or three times a week.  It is in these moments of decision making that a company culture is created and the course of your business – and perhaps your career as a leader – is defined.

Last week I was facilitating a follow-up training session for a client who is in the process of implementing a sales leadership and sales training engagement focused on transforming the sales team from a function that is experiencing declining sales to a modern function that is agile, social, and achieving its sales targets.  We have been working on this engagement for several months and are making steady process.

Three Business Acumen Tips to Execute Strategy and Make the Customers Happy

In the first two hours of a typical Advantexe Business Acumen learning solution, we present to participants several different strategic thinking frameworks and tools that help them either choose the strategies of their organizations, or better execute the strategies of the organization that they lead.  Most of the popular strategic frameworks suggest that the core elements of a business strategy start with differentiation.  Amazon chooses to differentiate by being the biggest in the world and driving revenues through volume of products sold.  Emirates Airlines chooses to differentiate by offering incredible service and a deep understanding of the needs of their exclusive customers.  Tesla chooses to be different by innovating the automobile manufacturing process and creating a new market by designing and selling battery powered cars.