Radically shifting markets, a plethora of market share challenging products

Typical SMB owners are at the center of operations and can’t imagine the business surviving without them.  All too often this becomes a sad reality.  The largest wealth transfer in history is about to occur.  Estimates suggest that there are ten million small to midsize businesses (less than 1000 employees) in the USA—not including mom and...

“The best laid plans of mice and men” The skepticism of Robert Burns

 Long range planning is at best a waste of time .  Visioning by contrast, has become essential to the process of creating plans that work.  Planning is like being a naval Admiral.  It is serious and control oriented—demanding  commitment and performance.  Visioning by contrast, feels more like being a pirate.  It’s about innovation, imagination...

As a parent, I know the agony of watching children leave the nest unprepared

—an  opinion they did not share at the time.  There are many pitfalls and traps along life’s way and I wanted to protect them from serious mistakes.  They wanted to leave before I felt they were ready and I tried to hang on long after they’d already gone.  There comes...

Uncertainty is the new normal in what futurist David Houle calls the “

shift-age.”  The world will continue to move under your feet.  Working harder will not assure survival. Unless you are in a recession proof industry such as healthcare or agriculture, odds are your company will continue to struggle with tight budgets, uncertain cash reserves...

LEARNING TO FACE THE  TIGERS IN YOUR LIFE IS A PRIMARY LEADERSHIP STRATEGY

When using the Baton Management System, Quick Response Teams meet to come up with ideas for solving specific problems. We us Dr. John Scherer’s STRIPES model. It builds on sage advise from India on what to do should you meet a tiger on the trail.  Sage advice:Run from a tiger and you are dead meet.Standing your ground increases the odds of survival...

In the shift-age, speed and flexibility are major success factors.  Should

the situation change, time spent developing a detailed strategic plan may be at best a waste of time, and at worst a performance inhibitor.  A less detailed forward thinking process held more frequently may be sufficient to keep people aligned but flexible should the need...

Blue Mountain Ski ResortIntrawest found themselves lagging behind the

competition in a new market.  Since acquiring the property, ski hills and facilities had been upgraded to world-class standards.  In spite of a  multimillion dollar investment, no significant gains were being made in their customer satisfaction metric.  Our bid to help them achieve...

“Those choosing to lead in the post industrial age must make a 180°

Transitioning your company from a dependence on personal authority (power, knowledge, and experience) to managing by process-discipline will be challenging because industrial age thinkers typically know—so they will have less compulsion to learn. Without continuous improvement, what your team knows will eventually start holding you back.  To grow...

The ground is shifting under our feetTo survive and prosper, CEOs must

Traditionally, organization planning was carried out once a year by the senior team through a strategic planning session where past performance was assessed and  long/short term targets were determined.  Once the annual goals and budgets were approved, operating plans for departmental; staffing, organizing, controlling, directing, and coordinating...

Just like “sales” and “marketing” are not the same, “recruitment

Banking customers make deposits and withdrawals.  Your organization should build a talent bank.  Recruitment is the process of making deposits and selection is the process of making withdrawals.  Similar to a bank account, you cannot withdraw something you have not deposited.  Accomplished sales executives work hard at maintaining a well-stocked...