Archive for February 2009
February 23, 2009
After a recent session that I presented on success measures, I was asked by one of the participants about the fiscal crisis plaguing our three major United States automakers, Ford, General Motors and Chrysler. The person was wondered why these three manufacturers, with all of the many intelligent and professional leaders in their employ, continued [...]
Categories: Crisis Management, Hiring, Leadership, Sales, Strategic Plans, Strategy
Tags: automoniles, bailout, cars, Chrysler, Congress, False kindness, Ford, General Motors, GM, manufacturers, Obama, President Obama, Wall Street Journal
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February 20, 2009
There are three types of measures: 1. Activity measures 2. Output measures 3. Impact measures Activity measures tells us how efficiently something was done. It answers questions such as: How long does it take? How productive is the department? How many resources were used? It focuses us on internal tasks, timing and resources but it [...]
Categories: Hiring, Leadership, Sales, Strategic Plans, Strategy, Visioning
Tags: activity, Barack Obama, Congress, costs, Customer, customer satisfaction, effective, efficiency, external, feedback, Goals, impact, internal, Leadership, Management, Mmeasures, operations, output, processes, Productivity, quality, resources, results, revenue, Standards, Strategy, value
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February 18, 2009
One of the more pressing questions asked of President Obama recently was how the American people could tell if the stimulus package was effective. What he was actually being asked to address was the concept of success measures. In the business world, success measures are what we call “goals.” Here’s why goals are so important. [...]
Categories: Leadership, Sales, Strategic Plans, Strategy, Visioning
Tags: Alice in Wonderland, Cheshire Cat, Goals, Leadership, Measures, Objectives, President, President Obama, stimulus, Strategy, Success Measures
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February 16, 2009
As I mentioned in an earlier post, it appears that President Obama is getting quite an education from both the Democrats and the Republicans. This type of education will hopefully result in the President learning how to keep his balance. The life of a leader is always a balancing act but never more so than [...]
Categories: Crisis Management, Hiring, Leadership, Sales, Strategic Plans, Strategy
Tags: accountability, balance, Barack Obama, Boundaries, coalitions, Democrats, Leadership, Management, Michael Watkins, networks, opponents, political network, politics, Priorities, Republicans, Strategy, Transition Team, Vision
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February 11, 2009
Anyone who has been observing the stimulus bill negotiations surely has become much more cognizant of President Obama’s need to build coalitions and the early lessons he is learning. To paraphrase his comments last evening, “old habits die hard.” In order to exert influence without authority to require that people take certain actions, one needs [...]
Categories: Crisis Management, Leadership, Sales, Strategic Plans, Strategy, Visioning
Tags: accountability, alignment triangle, Barack Obama, coalitions, former employees, influences, Leadership, Management, Michael Watkins, networks, opponents, Priorities, sequencing, Strategy, Transition Team, Vision
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February 8, 2009
Much appropriate discussion has taken place regarding President Obama’s vetting process in selecting his team. It remains unclear whether his appointees witheld information or that the process was flawed. For the most part, though, the people that he has chosen have been hailed as competent choices. In implementing every strategy, finding the right people is [...]
Categories: Hiring, Leadership, Strategic Plans, Strategy
Tags: Barack Obama, Compensation, firing, group executives, Hiring, Leadership, leadership development system, Management, Michael Watkins, Skills, Strategy, Team, training, Transition Team
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February 4, 2009
The higher one climbs in an organization, the greater the need to emphasize the role of organizational architect. Strategy, structure, systems, skills, management approaches, and compensation / rewards programs must be in alignment. Otherwise the leader will feel like s/he is pushing a boulder uphill every day. Planning to assess these areas should be in [...]
Categories: Hiring, Leadership, Strategic Plans, Strategy
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