 |
| Even nature got a second wind! Spring is here...bunnies have been spotted on campus! |
Second Wind
After that very refreshing four-day break, it's back to the salt mines for all of us. In so many respects, I consider myself fortunate for deciding to stay on campus and getting so many things done. My colleagues who had family over and decided to go out of town, are tired from the travelling and are now trying to catch up and update themselves on their readings.
Mother nature has once again shown its perfect timing and sense of humor. As the students of the Advanced Management Program (AMP), came back from their second wind; so was nature. This bunny finally crawled out of its burrow and is foraging in campus. I suppose that officially means that spring is here!
Lessons
Marketing
- Companies make the mistake of "mis-defining" what business they are in or often ask the wrong question
- It is the role of the CEO to define business strategy and to broker conflicting or competing departments / functions
- When companies think customers, they usually have a long-term orientation or think strategically; when they think orders, it usually means they have a short-term orientation or think tactically
- There needs to be an alignment between the short-term and long-term; learn to think one and when to think the other
- Do not be "everything" to "everybody". Be courageous in saying "NO" to opportunities that are not within your strategy for it drains the organization of resource and focus and certain cases it can even lead to bankruptcy
Leading Organizations
- Always let people know where they stand, let every moment be a teaching moment
- When you assume a leadership role, it stops being about you. It starts becoming about others - celebrate their success and bask in the reflective glory of their success
- Top performing companies delivered twice the annual shareholder return compared to middle of the pack firms
- made effective use of performance reviews
- emphasized management development in staffing decisions
- encouraged candid feedback
Strategy
- The acid test of multi-brand or multi-business companies is whether the individual brands or companies add value to the whole
- Extend your customers willingness to pay line and your suppliers willingness to supply line in order to create better value for your firm
Operations
- An innovative product should have a responsive supply chain; a functional product should have an efficient supply chain
- 1/3 of customers entering a store leave without buying because they can't find what they came for
- Early sales is an accurate predictor of life cycle demand
- The role of intermediaries and how they are organized changes over time
- Attributes of a global leader
- views uncertainty and crisis as an opportunity
- demonstrates an ability to create value
- focuses on outcomes and results, not on processes
- wants to break the mold by
- challenging corporate orthodoxies
- embraces change
- constantly looking for innovation without fearing failure
- has developed a broad international business experience and is extremely sensitive to cultural differences
- Business cycles demand either a visionary or operational CEO, finding leaders who can do both is very rare
