Many responsibilities of the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) are exclusive. Superior financial and competitive performing businesses understand these responsibilities.
Some dreams are just too good to pass upJerry Hartman
1) Michael, a contractor with 40 years of experience, is contemplating starting a new business to mentor others after past failures. He is meeting with a friend Jay who wants to start his own business.
2) Michael is unsure how to apply modern management techniques as a small business owner. He realizes the high failure rate of remodeling businesses and wants to learn from past mistakes.
3) The document discusses that having a written business plan is essential to avoid common small business pitfalls. It provides an overview of the necessary components of an effective business plan, including market research, financial projections, and clearly defining the business concept.
The document summarizes the findings of a survey and interviews with managing partners from 32 private equity firms about how they hire CEOs for portfolio companies. The researchers identified 5 key conclusions:
1. PE firms have moved away from only considering candidates with prior CEO experience and industry experience, finding those criteria too narrow. They now consider "nontraditional" candidates.
2. A candidate's ability to build a high-performing team is the most important attribute, as PE CEOs must often completely rebuild management teams.
3. PE firms prioritize urgency over empathy, requiring CEOs to move quickly on cost cuts and growth given strict 5-year investment timelines.
4. Resilience
Why do companies lose their best talents?CelexProject
I often say that no company is bigger or better than the people who work there, employees give it a damned hard every day. So why do companies lose their best talent all the time?
The document provides advice from over 50 CEOs for new CEOs taking on their first CEO role. The key pieces of advice are to:
1) Move quickly to establish a narrow set of high-impact priorities and drive them relentlessly with a sense of urgency in the first 6-9 months.
2) Make fast decisions around talent, even if difficult, and remove underperforming people from key roles.
3) Stop doing your old job and establish a new identity as the leader, delegating tasks even if you think you can do them better.
4) Admit your weaknesses and seek help from other talented leaders to complement your skills and focus on areas of maximum impact.
Slide share Strategic Customer Relationship Management & The 7 Sins - compl...Dr. Ted Marra
This document provides an introduction and overview of a forthcoming book on strategic customer relationship management and the seven deadly sins that undermine effective customer relationships. It discusses the importance of customer focus for organizations and outlines some of the key requirements for senior leadership to exhibit customer-focused behaviors and ensure the organization has the right values, culture, processes, and systems to prioritize customers. The document then introduces and elaborates on the "seven deadly sins," including a failure to understand customer needs at a deep level, not having defined relationship strategies tailored to different customer segments, and not answering the question of "what's in it for the customer?" for key business objectives. It poses a series of questions to prompt reflection on how well an organization measures up in
This document discusses engaging employees, especially those in pivotal roles that are important to business performance. It argues that companies should focus on understanding what motivates different types of employees, especially those in pivotal roles, and using both financial and non-financial incentives. Engaging pivotal employees can improve business outcomes like retention, customer satisfaction, and financial performance. The document provides examples of how companies have identified pivotal roles, learned what motivates those employees, and improved engagement and business results.
1) A study found that agency employees receive little training, around 16 hours per year on average, and over 30% plan to leave their jobs within a year as employee satisfaction and loyalty have declined.
2) Good agency employees value intellectual challenge, growth opportunities, varied work, and feeling respected for their ideas rather than being viewed as interchangeable production tools.
3) If agencies do not focus on attracting and retaining top talent through leadership, mentoring, training, and engaging employees intellectually, they risk high employee turnover that could damage the agency long term.
This white paper discusses the importance of employee engagement for business success. It summarizes research showing that only 30% of American workers are engaged, while 52% are not engaged and 18% are actively disengaged. This high level of disengagement costs American businesses an estimated $450 billion to $550 billion annually in lost productivity. The paper advocates for adopting a "People First" approach to create a highly engaged workforce, where employees are passionately committed to the organization's mission and values. It promotes specific strategies like defining what engagement means, establishing engagement metrics, and implementing the "10 Rules for Creating Outrageous Engagement" to close the engagement gap in organizations.
Some dreams are just too good to pass upJerry Hartman
1) Michael, a contractor with 40 years of experience, is contemplating starting a new business to mentor others after past failures. He is meeting with a friend Jay who wants to start his own business.
2) Michael is unsure how to apply modern management techniques as a small business owner. He realizes the high failure rate of remodeling businesses and wants to learn from past mistakes.
3) The document discusses that having a written business plan is essential to avoid common small business pitfalls. It provides an overview of the necessary components of an effective business plan, including market research, financial projections, and clearly defining the business concept.
The document summarizes the findings of a survey and interviews with managing partners from 32 private equity firms about how they hire CEOs for portfolio companies. The researchers identified 5 key conclusions:
1. PE firms have moved away from only considering candidates with prior CEO experience and industry experience, finding those criteria too narrow. They now consider "nontraditional" candidates.
2. A candidate's ability to build a high-performing team is the most important attribute, as PE CEOs must often completely rebuild management teams.
3. PE firms prioritize urgency over empathy, requiring CEOs to move quickly on cost cuts and growth given strict 5-year investment timelines.
4. Resilience
Why do companies lose their best talents?CelexProject
I often say that no company is bigger or better than the people who work there, employees give it a damned hard every day. So why do companies lose their best talent all the time?
The document provides advice from over 50 CEOs for new CEOs taking on their first CEO role. The key pieces of advice are to:
1) Move quickly to establish a narrow set of high-impact priorities and drive them relentlessly with a sense of urgency in the first 6-9 months.
2) Make fast decisions around talent, even if difficult, and remove underperforming people from key roles.
3) Stop doing your old job and establish a new identity as the leader, delegating tasks even if you think you can do them better.
4) Admit your weaknesses and seek help from other talented leaders to complement your skills and focus on areas of maximum impact.
Slide share Strategic Customer Relationship Management & The 7 Sins - compl...Dr. Ted Marra
This document provides an introduction and overview of a forthcoming book on strategic customer relationship management and the seven deadly sins that undermine effective customer relationships. It discusses the importance of customer focus for organizations and outlines some of the key requirements for senior leadership to exhibit customer-focused behaviors and ensure the organization has the right values, culture, processes, and systems to prioritize customers. The document then introduces and elaborates on the "seven deadly sins," including a failure to understand customer needs at a deep level, not having defined relationship strategies tailored to different customer segments, and not answering the question of "what's in it for the customer?" for key business objectives. It poses a series of questions to prompt reflection on how well an organization measures up in
This document discusses engaging employees, especially those in pivotal roles that are important to business performance. It argues that companies should focus on understanding what motivates different types of employees, especially those in pivotal roles, and using both financial and non-financial incentives. Engaging pivotal employees can improve business outcomes like retention, customer satisfaction, and financial performance. The document provides examples of how companies have identified pivotal roles, learned what motivates those employees, and improved engagement and business results.
1) A study found that agency employees receive little training, around 16 hours per year on average, and over 30% plan to leave their jobs within a year as employee satisfaction and loyalty have declined.
2) Good agency employees value intellectual challenge, growth opportunities, varied work, and feeling respected for their ideas rather than being viewed as interchangeable production tools.
3) If agencies do not focus on attracting and retaining top talent through leadership, mentoring, training, and engaging employees intellectually, they risk high employee turnover that could damage the agency long term.
This white paper discusses the importance of employee engagement for business success. It summarizes research showing that only 30% of American workers are engaged, while 52% are not engaged and 18% are actively disengaged. This high level of disengagement costs American businesses an estimated $450 billion to $550 billion annually in lost productivity. The paper advocates for adopting a "People First" approach to create a highly engaged workforce, where employees are passionately committed to the organization's mission and values. It promotes specific strategies like defining what engagement means, establishing engagement metrics, and implementing the "10 Rules for Creating Outrageous Engagement" to close the engagement gap in organizations.
With the intent of bringing some creative minds, who are transforming the status quo of various sectors, into limelight, Insights Success brings to you, “Top Creative Leaders Innovating in Business 2019”
The document provides guidance to business leaders on working for the business rather than in the business. It describes three CEOs who are immersed in operations and outlines three solutions: 1) decide if you are a leader or manager and focus on vision over control, 2) make timely strategic decisions by involving your team, and 3) hold employees accountable to improve performance rather than being liked. Following these steps will allow leaders to focus on vision, engage employees, and enhance company value.
Steve Denning: Radical Management Vortrag am Internet-Briefing Sep13-2011Walter Schärer
‘Radical Management’ is a set of 5 principles. There are only two types of organizations: The ones that love and delight their customers and the others. Amazon, Apple, Salesforce are organizations that have succeded despite fierce competition due to delighted customers.
What’s their management principles?
Speech by Stephen Denning at Reto Hartinger’s Internet Briefing in Zurich.
“What’s the problem”? You have assembled some of the best talent there is, a team chocked with talent and potential...yet every year the performance does not correlate to the talent hype. Right about this time senior management has become frustrated because of the investment made on constructing this world class talent, and begins pointing the crosshairs toward your direction as the leader of the team. Now, you have a decision to make “do I blame the performance solely on the team” or “do I take the blame and hope for the best” both decisions have consequences.
This whitepaper will walk you through the possible solutions to those decisions, and importantly help you lead your team/organization to a center of excellence level.
When stakes are high, Employees need something more than their salary and usual tea-snacks... they need Engagement and Motivation (read it as INSPIRATION)
Bellwether Magazine - Leadership Now - Second Quarter 2015Blytheco
This issue is focused around celebrating leadership. Both in ourselves, in those that lead us, and in those that we lead. Everyone at every level in your organization can be a leader. We are faced every day with the challenge of balancing our own anxiety, our personal goals and ego and the ability to lead others. When we are in times of stress and high pressure sometimes we allow our ability to lead turn into management by fire instead of becoming something inspiring.
7 underrated job skills that will get you a raiseFrank DiMichele
This article discusses 7 underrated job skills that can help one get a raise. The skills are: 1) concise communication, 2) high emotional quotient, 3) the ability to influence others, 4) positivity, 5) tracking accomplishments, 6) mindfulness, and 7) networking within one's own organization. Experts provide tips for developing each skill, such as reviewing messages to remove unnecessary words, identifying one's own emotions, volunteering for challenging tasks, creating a spreadsheet to track achievements, practicing meditation, and getting to know one's coworkers. Developing these lesser-known skills can help one's career advancement and salary negotiations.
Beating The Bear Market With Engaged EmployeesMark Hirschfeld
1. The document discusses how maintaining employee engagement can help companies beat a bear market. It provides strategies for keeping employees motivated and productive during an economic downturn.
2. Five key differentiators are identified that successful companies focus on: setting a clear direction, open communication, career development, recognition, and well-being.
3. Engaged employees are linked to better business outcomes like customer loyalty and retention, lower turnover, and higher productivity. Maintaining engagement can improve a company's bottom line during difficult economic times.
Employee engagement ideas and employee alignment best practicesJack Morton Worldwide
We live in a marketing world of explosive change: new channels, newly empowered consumers and a new commitment by brands to re-write old rules. So why is it so much still hasn’t changed about how brands engage their own employees?
But isn’t it all one brand? And isn’t it all dependent on creating a distinctive and great experience—with employees at the core? We think so. It’s time for new words to describe employee engagement—words that speak to a new approach to the field. Instead of employee engagement, how about Brand Experience Alignment?
White Paper Report - Technology Industry Draft (00000002)Tracey Kelly
This document discusses the top 10 human resource issues facing small to medium sized technology companies. It begins with an executive summary of the report and an overview of common people management challenges. It then lists and describes the top 10 issues: 1) retaining employees, especially talent, 2) attracting talent, 3) managing leadership, 4) leadership support and guidance, 5) the fast pace of work, 6) employee engagement, 7) productivity, 8) learning and development, 9) transitioning skills, and 10) rewards including compensation and benefits. The document concludes by explaining how an HR consulting firm called PCHR can help technology companies address these people management challenges.
How to get what you want (and move -- fast -- when you don't)Leslie S. Pratch
Not everyone is equally good at all parts of the "private equity person" role – some investors are better at sourcing deals, buying companies, or raising money than at being director or leading the Board. To be great at guiding portfolio companies, you need to know when and how to work with a CEO who will not always (or maybe ever) be pleased with the Board. Getting each party to do their part in achieving the aims of the investors – a job they must do together – benefits from planning, skills, and knowledge.
How to Attract Top Talent: Transforming Your Startup Into a Talent MagnetDavid Ehrenberg
Your talent is a key driver for the long-term success of your company. If you don’t have cash, you need to use the tools of stock options, benefits, and payroll to attract top talent. This deck looks at the current marketplace, stock options vs restricted stock, using 409a valuations to set the strike price for employee stock options, PEO or open market for benefits, payroll options, employment law considerations, and more.
The document discusses the challenges facing advertising agencies from changes in the industry and recommends strategic alliances as a solution. Specifically, it notes that (1) clients' needs are increasingly diverse but economies of scale are difficult, (2) ways to reach consumers are growing exponentially, and (3) no agency can be an expert in every tool, while (4) clients are moving to project engagements. This challenges the traditional full-time staffing model. However, a large pool of contingent talent now exists and strategic alliances can leverage this talent on an as-needed basis to provide comprehensive solutions while reducing costs. The document recommends a three-tier staffing structure and ongoing efforts to develop strategic talent alliances through a Chief
The competition for bright young agency talent is fierce. Yet many of the mentors that historically helped young talent are now gone. And if talent development is diminished, the future looks bleak.
Here are some thoughts on mentoring that may help your agency.
Unlocking Workforce Engagement: The Critical Business Issue of the Decade James Sillery
Presented at Workforce Engagement, September 18, 2013
With today’s global economy dependent on people and their knowledge, skills and commitment, companies need to fully engage their workforce to be successful. The challenge is enormous. Demographics suggest critical talent shortages across industries and geographies. At the same time, we are experiencing record levels of employee disengagement. It has become the critical business issue of the decade. The company can effectively engage its workforce can create a significant competitive advantage going forward.
Human Resource professionals are positioned to play a key role in workforce engagement. In this presentation, you’ll hear specific strategies and tools for developing human capital solutions that are needed to unlock workforce engagement. We will provide participants with an understanding of concepts like behavioral economics, perceived values and amplified voices. As a result, participants will leave the presentation with specific actionable items that they can bring back to their workplace to immediately begin to drive cost effectiveness, improve productivity and increase company performance.
Transforming the workplace with radical management Steve DenningOpenKnowledge srl
1. The document discusses radical management and transforming the workplace by delighting customers.
2. Traditional management is criticized for prioritizing profits, bureaucracy, and top-down control, which kills innovation and motivation.
3. Radical management proposes a new ecosystem where the goal is delighting customers through self-organizing teams, transparency, and interactive communication instead of commands.
Highly recommended course for everybody who seeks to find himself at dynamic 21st century environment! https://lnkd.in/eHabDGj
You'll find it @ https://www.coursera.org/learn/leadership-21st-century
Creating A Sustainable Employee Engagement CultureDavid Perry
The document discusses 10 keys to creating a sustainable employee engagement culture through common cause. The keys are grouped under the principles of challenge, communication, and compensation. Under challenge are: setting vision and goals, expecting executive excellence, and allowing creative license. Communication keys include: dialogue with a positive attitude, positive reinforcement, allowing no-fault adaptation, and involving employees in decision making. Compensation keys are: exceeding industry norms for pay, long-term financial ties to the company, and over-the-top rewards for top performance.
With the intent of bringing some creative minds, who are transforming the status quo of various sectors, into limelight, Insights Success brings to you, “Top Creative Leaders Innovating in Business 2019”
The document provides guidance to business leaders on working for the business rather than in the business. It describes three CEOs who are immersed in operations and outlines three solutions: 1) decide if you are a leader or manager and focus on vision over control, 2) make timely strategic decisions by involving your team, and 3) hold employees accountable to improve performance rather than being liked. Following these steps will allow leaders to focus on vision, engage employees, and enhance company value.
Steve Denning: Radical Management Vortrag am Internet-Briefing Sep13-2011Walter Schärer
‘Radical Management’ is a set of 5 principles. There are only two types of organizations: The ones that love and delight their customers and the others. Amazon, Apple, Salesforce are organizations that have succeded despite fierce competition due to delighted customers.
What’s their management principles?
Speech by Stephen Denning at Reto Hartinger’s Internet Briefing in Zurich.
“What’s the problem”? You have assembled some of the best talent there is, a team chocked with talent and potential...yet every year the performance does not correlate to the talent hype. Right about this time senior management has become frustrated because of the investment made on constructing this world class talent, and begins pointing the crosshairs toward your direction as the leader of the team. Now, you have a decision to make “do I blame the performance solely on the team” or “do I take the blame and hope for the best” both decisions have consequences.
This whitepaper will walk you through the possible solutions to those decisions, and importantly help you lead your team/organization to a center of excellence level.
When stakes are high, Employees need something more than their salary and usual tea-snacks... they need Engagement and Motivation (read it as INSPIRATION)
Bellwether Magazine - Leadership Now - Second Quarter 2015Blytheco
This issue is focused around celebrating leadership. Both in ourselves, in those that lead us, and in those that we lead. Everyone at every level in your organization can be a leader. We are faced every day with the challenge of balancing our own anxiety, our personal goals and ego and the ability to lead others. When we are in times of stress and high pressure sometimes we allow our ability to lead turn into management by fire instead of becoming something inspiring.
7 underrated job skills that will get you a raiseFrank DiMichele
This article discusses 7 underrated job skills that can help one get a raise. The skills are: 1) concise communication, 2) high emotional quotient, 3) the ability to influence others, 4) positivity, 5) tracking accomplishments, 6) mindfulness, and 7) networking within one's own organization. Experts provide tips for developing each skill, such as reviewing messages to remove unnecessary words, identifying one's own emotions, volunteering for challenging tasks, creating a spreadsheet to track achievements, practicing meditation, and getting to know one's coworkers. Developing these lesser-known skills can help one's career advancement and salary negotiations.
Beating The Bear Market With Engaged EmployeesMark Hirschfeld
1. The document discusses how maintaining employee engagement can help companies beat a bear market. It provides strategies for keeping employees motivated and productive during an economic downturn.
2. Five key differentiators are identified that successful companies focus on: setting a clear direction, open communication, career development, recognition, and well-being.
3. Engaged employees are linked to better business outcomes like customer loyalty and retention, lower turnover, and higher productivity. Maintaining engagement can improve a company's bottom line during difficult economic times.
Employee engagement ideas and employee alignment best practicesJack Morton Worldwide
We live in a marketing world of explosive change: new channels, newly empowered consumers and a new commitment by brands to re-write old rules. So why is it so much still hasn’t changed about how brands engage their own employees?
But isn’t it all one brand? And isn’t it all dependent on creating a distinctive and great experience—with employees at the core? We think so. It’s time for new words to describe employee engagement—words that speak to a new approach to the field. Instead of employee engagement, how about Brand Experience Alignment?
White Paper Report - Technology Industry Draft (00000002)Tracey Kelly
This document discusses the top 10 human resource issues facing small to medium sized technology companies. It begins with an executive summary of the report and an overview of common people management challenges. It then lists and describes the top 10 issues: 1) retaining employees, especially talent, 2) attracting talent, 3) managing leadership, 4) leadership support and guidance, 5) the fast pace of work, 6) employee engagement, 7) productivity, 8) learning and development, 9) transitioning skills, and 10) rewards including compensation and benefits. The document concludes by explaining how an HR consulting firm called PCHR can help technology companies address these people management challenges.
How to get what you want (and move -- fast -- when you don't)Leslie S. Pratch
Not everyone is equally good at all parts of the "private equity person" role – some investors are better at sourcing deals, buying companies, or raising money than at being director or leading the Board. To be great at guiding portfolio companies, you need to know when and how to work with a CEO who will not always (or maybe ever) be pleased with the Board. Getting each party to do their part in achieving the aims of the investors – a job they must do together – benefits from planning, skills, and knowledge.
How to Attract Top Talent: Transforming Your Startup Into a Talent MagnetDavid Ehrenberg
Your talent is a key driver for the long-term success of your company. If you don’t have cash, you need to use the tools of stock options, benefits, and payroll to attract top talent. This deck looks at the current marketplace, stock options vs restricted stock, using 409a valuations to set the strike price for employee stock options, PEO or open market for benefits, payroll options, employment law considerations, and more.
The document discusses the challenges facing advertising agencies from changes in the industry and recommends strategic alliances as a solution. Specifically, it notes that (1) clients' needs are increasingly diverse but economies of scale are difficult, (2) ways to reach consumers are growing exponentially, and (3) no agency can be an expert in every tool, while (4) clients are moving to project engagements. This challenges the traditional full-time staffing model. However, a large pool of contingent talent now exists and strategic alliances can leverage this talent on an as-needed basis to provide comprehensive solutions while reducing costs. The document recommends a three-tier staffing structure and ongoing efforts to develop strategic talent alliances through a Chief
The competition for bright young agency talent is fierce. Yet many of the mentors that historically helped young talent are now gone. And if talent development is diminished, the future looks bleak.
Here are some thoughts on mentoring that may help your agency.
Unlocking Workforce Engagement: The Critical Business Issue of the Decade James Sillery
Presented at Workforce Engagement, September 18, 2013
With today’s global economy dependent on people and their knowledge, skills and commitment, companies need to fully engage their workforce to be successful. The challenge is enormous. Demographics suggest critical talent shortages across industries and geographies. At the same time, we are experiencing record levels of employee disengagement. It has become the critical business issue of the decade. The company can effectively engage its workforce can create a significant competitive advantage going forward.
Human Resource professionals are positioned to play a key role in workforce engagement. In this presentation, you’ll hear specific strategies and tools for developing human capital solutions that are needed to unlock workforce engagement. We will provide participants with an understanding of concepts like behavioral economics, perceived values and amplified voices. As a result, participants will leave the presentation with specific actionable items that they can bring back to their workplace to immediately begin to drive cost effectiveness, improve productivity and increase company performance.
Transforming the workplace with radical management Steve DenningOpenKnowledge srl
1. The document discusses radical management and transforming the workplace by delighting customers.
2. Traditional management is criticized for prioritizing profits, bureaucracy, and top-down control, which kills innovation and motivation.
3. Radical management proposes a new ecosystem where the goal is delighting customers through self-organizing teams, transparency, and interactive communication instead of commands.
Highly recommended course for everybody who seeks to find himself at dynamic 21st century environment! https://lnkd.in/eHabDGj
You'll find it @ https://www.coursera.org/learn/leadership-21st-century
Creating A Sustainable Employee Engagement CultureDavid Perry
The document discusses 10 keys to creating a sustainable employee engagement culture through common cause. The keys are grouped under the principles of challenge, communication, and compensation. Under challenge are: setting vision and goals, expecting executive excellence, and allowing creative license. Communication keys include: dialogue with a positive attitude, positive reinforcement, allowing no-fault adaptation, and involving employees in decision making. Compensation keys are: exceeding industry norms for pay, long-term financial ties to the company, and over-the-top rewards for top performance.
This document provides 8 tips for hiring a CEO. The tips are to hire someone who is optimistic, a team leader, honest and trustworthy, fulfills the requirements, is willing to adapt to change, has excellent customer service skills, should not talk too much, and must be able to remain calm. Following these tips can help ensure the right person is selected for the CEO position.
The document discusses the roles of a leader and manager. It states that a leader's main role is to oversee what others are doing to accomplish the company's mission and goals. A good leader stays closely involved with employees, understands how each job is performed, and participates in company activities. The document also provides an example of a Toyota branch manager who ensures cars are sold by overseeing operations but also getting involved in each job. It emphasizes the importance of approachability, individual consideration, and supervising employees' work for effective leadership.
The document discusses challenges new CEOs face and how HR leaders can help support them. It notes that CEOs often feel unprepared for the demands of the role, which is different than expected. The role is lonely and requires navigating conflicting demands from various stakeholders. HR can help new CEOs prepare by understanding the unique challenges of the position and ensuring succession plans fully develop candidates so there is not a large gap between expectations and realities of the CEO role. Proper preparation, such as working with potential replacements, can help CEOs develop skills to lead through change and uncertainty.
The document outlines the top 10 qualities of a successful leader: 1) inspires and motivates others to achieve a compelling vision, 2) displays high integrity and honesty by following through on commitments, 3) solves problems and analyzes issues critically and with strong people skills, 4) drives for results with perseverance, 5) communicates powerfully and often through various channels, 6) builds relationships through trust and daily interactions, 7) displays technical or professional expertise and continuous learning, 8) takes a strategic long-term perspective while also addressing short-term needs, 9) develops others through training to become future leaders, and 10) innovates as a key skill for competitiveness.
summer internship report (qualities of a financial leader) - CopySandeep Nayak
This document discusses the skills and traits needed to become a successful financial market leader. It examines leadership qualities in general as well as those specific to the financial sector. Key points include: general leadership skills involve analytical abilities, convincing capabilities, social/emotional skills, and inspiration. Additionally, professional knowledge of the financial industry is critical for leaders to have vision and gain trust. While management is a profession, universal management across all industries is difficult; sector expertise is important. To be an effective leader, one must have legitimacy recognized by their team through both management and leadership abilities.
The nature of careers appears to be constantly changing. Waldemar Schmidt provides a unique take on your career reality.
This was first published in Business Strategy Review, Volume 25, Issue 1 - 2014. Subscribe today to receive your quarterly copy delivered to your home or work place. http://bit.ly/BSR-subscribe
This eBook Board Governance for Private Business is based on the most common corporate governance questions we receive from private business owners. Most private business and family business organizations have Boards of Directors. However, the majority of private business Boards do not focus on corporate governance. At some point - often in preparation for an exit - these Boards explore the benefits of a governance Board and how to implement it. This eBook is a short read. Every page is an answer.
The document discusses the roles and responsibilities of an effective manager. It defines management as the process of receiving output from a group, with good output indicating good management and bad output indicating bad management. It describes key roles of a manager, including being a role model through leading by example, providing training, giving feedback, making decisions, developing strategy, managing human resources, and actively managing projects. It emphasizes the importance of one-on-one meetings with direct reports and managing no more than 8 employees to allow for mentoring and development. Effective communication is also stressed.
I'm afraid to ask an executive to do a touchy feely management assessmentLeslie S. Pratch
Knowing before or shortly after you invest in a company whether management can do what you need done and can cope with unexpected change is important, especially in volatile industries. It makes sense to have management assessed with a method that informs you of what the managers can do and how best to work with them for all of you to be successful.
Some investors almost always do rigorous and informative management assessments. But others are very skittish about asking leaders of the companies in which they are investing to be assessed. They say they are worried about losing the deal by asking before it's closed or of straining relationships with management afterwards.
Happily, you can get you what you need – enough knowledge long enough in advance to be maximally useful – without risking the deal.
Welsh Consultants publishes- This article aims at setting out which mindsets and practices are proven to make CEOs most effective. The article is based on a study of performance data on thousands of CEOs and the efforts at helping them enhance their leadership approaches. The article provides a set of empirical, broadly applicable insights on how excellent CEOs think and act. It could help CEOs (and CEO watchers, such as boards of directors) determine how closely they adhere to the mindsets and practices that are closely associated with superior CEO performance. All CEOs, new or long-tenured, can use these tools to better apply their scarce time and energy.To answer the question, “What are the mindsets and practices of excellent CEOs?,” let’s first reflect upon the six main elements of the CEO’s job—elements touched on in virtually all literature about the role:
1. Setting the Hierarchy of Goals & the Strategy
2. Aligning the Organization
3. Leading the Top Team
4. Working with the Board
5. Being the Face of the Company to its External Stakeholders
6. Managing one’s own Time and Energy.
This article explores the subject in detail. Author, Founder- Manish P
Managing expectations is critical for business leaders and entrepreneurs. You must first manage your own expectations by setting realistic goals based on your skills, experience, and the typical timelines for building successful companies in your industry. When managing others' expectations, provide accurate information along with the risks and context so people understand the challenges. Examples show the consequences of overpromising or mismanaging expectations, like disappointing investors or losing key hires. Properly setting expectations sets the stage for addressing inevitable challenges without surprises.
IN THIS SUMMARY
CEOs face a life that not many people have the opportunity to experience. Not only are they in a position to effect great change, but as leaders of companies, they also have an incredible amount of responsibility and accountability on their shoulders. Adapting to change and navigating a company through both success and failure can be hugely challenging, yet there are CEOs who seem to do it with ease and confidence. What are their secrets? In The New Secrets of CEOs, authors Steve Tappin and Andrew Cave explore this very question and delve into the mindset of a CEO. After conducting hundreds of interviews with CEOs, Tappin and Cave present a broad spectrum of executive insights, thoughts on what drives them, and how they operate.
SUBSCRIBE TODAY
http://www.bizsum.com/summaries/new-secrets-ceos
The document discusses how many companies struggle to keep their commitments over time due to "commitment drift." Despite best intentions, businesses often forget or break promises under pressure to meet quotas or during periods of constant change. This can undermine trust with customers, employees and other stakeholders. The article provides seven strategies to help companies avoid commitment drift and reliably keep their promises: 1) Make fewer, better commitments; 2) Track key commitments; 3) Ask for commitment from others; 4) Connect groups to avoid contradictions; 5) Focus on processes, not heroics; 6) Understand prior commitments when taking new roles; 7) Continually check for internal contradictions. Reliable promises create value by building confidence, but many companies
Startup | the impact of CEOs achieving superstar status on the performance of...Massimiliano Caruso
If you're a Chief Executive Officer, your job is to execute. What does it mean, in terms of daily tasks, to be the company’s top “executer”?
Many of the companies that surmount the challenges of growth have maintained attitudes most commonly found in young companies. What is the “FOUNDER’S MENTALITY”?
In sports, the “Sports Illustrated Jinx” is believed to affect athletes who appear on the cover of Sports Illustrated and in the entertainment industry, the term “Sophomore Jinx” refers to successful new performers who do not live up to the quality of their debuts. What is the “CEO Disease” and how is it related to CEOs achieving the SUPERSTAR STATUS?
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1. There is constant pressure on every CEO to do a little bit of everything. That makes everybody happy but
guarantees that there are no results.
̶ Peter Drucker
The Chief Executive Officer
Chief Executive Officers are either envied or vilified. Many covet the title, few will achieve it. Fewer still
will lead extraordinary companies. Surprisingly, there is little agreement on what a CEO does. Trying to
describe the job of the CEO is daunting and an ideal target for diverging opinions. The prevalence of
mediocre or disappointing business performance suggests that the clear majority of CEOs need help.
Together with a few cups of coffee, my morning routine includes reading “news” articles posted on a
couple of news consolidators. Every day I see articles promising to unveil the hidden secrets of successful
leaders and more specifically, Chief Executive Officers. Each of these articles dutifully mentions the
personal predilections of one or two new-age business CEOs. For the most part these articles are benign
offering not much more than platitudes. Every time I read one of these articles I can’t help but ask the
question, to myself, has this author ever served as a CEO or even known one?
I’m going to avoid discussing the personality traits of a “successful” CEO. I know from experience that its
naive to think there’s a magic “CEO” personality type guarantying success; despite the hype perpetrated
in books and videos. That idea is poppycock. I really don’t care what they eat for breakfast, their exercise
routine, or favorite feng shui advisor. I do however believe understanding a select few CEO-exclusive
requirements is essential. How individual CEOs satisfy those job requirements will differ widely. The
difference is style verses substance.
Let me be clear, I don’t pretend to know the “secrets” of CEO leadership. I’ve served as a CEO multiple
times. I’ve advised CEO’s more times than I can remember. I’ve read a lot about executive leadership.
And I’ve reviewed financial performance of well over 5,000 businesses. Just because I don’t know the
“secrets” doesn’t mean I don’t have a point-of-view. My point-of-view can be summed up pretty-simply.
There is no secret. Leading a superior performing business takes hard work, humiliate, courage, and
confidence. CEO’s are people and like other people each brings their own unique signature to the job.
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My thoughts shouldn’t be followed blindly. Middle-market CEOs don’t need a dogmatic prescription of
“proper” behavior. Nevertheless, middle-market CEOs can benefit from a more penetrating description
of their job responsibilities.
The Chief Executive Officer is the business leader. This job means ensuring others work cooperatively and
cohesively to accomplish shared institutional goals. This only happens when the CEO can clearly see the
gap between what they’re doing and what they should be doing.
Extraordinary businesses provide their customers satisfaction superior to competitors and offer capital
providers better rewards than alternatives. Sound impossible? For most in the middle-market, sadly, the
numbers confirm that it’s pretty rare (only about 10% of middle-market businesses will significantly out
perform their peers).
Most written discussions focus on CEOs of very large companies. For example, in his Harvard Business
Review article, A.G. Lafley provides an excellent discussion but is written from the experienced
perspective of a CEO of one of the largest businesses in the world, Proctor & Gamble. My focus is limited
to the role of the CEO of a maturing middle-market business. It is certainly true that Lafley’s experiences
and Peter Drucker’s observations are valuable and deserve attention. There is however a difference.
Middle-market businesses (revenues between $10 million and $1 billion per year) rarely dominate
markets in the way P&G, General Electric, Microsoft, Google, and a few others do. The middle-market
CEO confronts different challenges than those confronted by the CEO of a Fortune 500 business.
Institutional Behemoths push the boundaries of advancing management science. Middle-market
business need to push the boundaries of applying management science.
Most Institutional Behemoths have mature business infrastructures and greater financial resources. The
clear majority of middle-market businesses (over 98% of the 200,000 middle-market businesses) confront
the need to advance institutional maturity. Mimicking the examples of a few Institutional Behemoth
CEOs neglects the differences in operating environments and available resources.
Maturing, middle-market businesses can rarely match the resources of Institutional Behemoths.
Additionally, middle-market CEOs are typically overwhelmed with urgent matters, perhaps better
managed as a routine. These two obstacles are insurmountable to all but the extraordinary. However,
extraordinary businesses, the ones that have overcome the obstacles of resource limitations and
complexity are rewarded with superior profitability, market dominance, and effective competitive
advantages. Ninety percent of middle-market businesses are not now or will be in the future
extraordinary.
It will be no surprise that many will reject (or ignore) much of my perspective. Doing so is to acknowledge
mediocracy as acceptable. Not to fear, those accepting mediocracy are in good company. A good CEO,
of which there are surprisingly few, requires the courage to reject placebic generalities.
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For the remaining few, I’ll offer a little guidance to the CEO determined to lead an extraordinary business.
I’m going to keep my discussion simple and focus on just two basic responsibilities that are unique to the
CEO and aren’t to be delegated.
Future Facing Decisions (Prospective not Retrospective)
Harmonize the Inside and the Outside
The CEO is positioned at the forefront of business change and is responsible for overall business
performance. CEOs are easy to spot, they’re the ones wearing a bull’s-eye. The CEO who feels compelled
to blame others for disappointing results is not long for that title. This means a CEO has two choices.
Either learn how to be effective or look for a new job.
FUTURE FACING DECISIONS
Leading is about what’s next not what’s been. The CEOs of extraordinary businesses lead by devoting
their attention to the future. Not that the past is unimportant. The past provides lessons that serve as
the foundation for future performance. The past also reveals obstacles to achieving future results. Simply
replicating the past, thinking that what worked previously will work in the future, produces only
disappointment.
It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to see that customer satisfaction in the future will be different than
customer satisfaction in the past. Consider the recent prevalence of mobile devices, ride-sharing, or on-
demand services like grocery shopping. The world changes constantly and will continue to do so at an
ever-faster pace. It’s the CEO’s job to ensure that the business remains relevant and prevails. This
requires focusing on the future not the past. Failing to do so will lead you to look for another job.
There are certain future-facing decisions that can only be made by the CEO. The importance of these
decisions warrants special attention. There are four decisions that the CEO can’t delegate.
Establishing business intention. (What the business does, should it do, and for whom.)
Defining meaningful results.
Picking priorities.
Hiring key people and determining what the business needs from them.
Business Intentions
Businesses serve different intentions. Commonly, “Vision” is used as a proxy for “Intention.” A “Vision”
however, is too narrow. Establishing a solid business intention is exclusively the CEO’s responsibility.
Intention needs to be more than simply a vision statement, it includes both what the business does and
why. Obviously, CEOs can’t do this in isolation, though some try. Defining business intentions requires
harmonizing different and frequently competing factors. An Owner’s expectation of increased cash
distributions may conflict with the need to invest to satisfy changing customer expectations. Likewise,
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customer expectations, reflected in market research, don’t necessarily reflect emerging technology
capabilities. It’s the CEO who is responsible for harmonizing expectations.
Extraordinary business performance comes from businesses that deliver what they promise, make
promises to customers that matter, and reliably reward their capital providers. It’s the CEO’s job to ensure
the business has a laser-like focus on what it does and does not do.
It’s easy to say that the business is a leading manufacturer of widgets. Self-anointing the business as a
“Leader” is common but vacuous. What does that mean? Does it mean that it provides customers with
the satisfaction of the lowest price? Or does it mean that the manufacture produces the highest quality?
Maybe what’s meant is the best service or the most reliable product? All-in-all, proclamations of
leadership can be very confusing and not always reliable. Institutional clarity is the CEO’s job.
It’s the CEO’s job to decide what the company does; what’s the customer satisfaction promised. The
resulting business intention guides operating configuration and stakeholder expectations. This is no
academic exercise.
Meaningful Results
Business intentions need to be translated into results. The CEO promises specific results in the form of
execution milestones and financial outcomes. Regardless of how a CEO spins results at the end-of-the-
day results will be measured by financial performance. Either immediate or future cash flows. When
owners are disappointed, the CEO is usually at the top of their list for replacement. This requires the CEO
to do two things: 1) manage expectations; and 2) deliver. Delivering results means satisfying the
expectations promised. It’s the CEO who needs to decide and to express the business’s promises and
ensure stakeholders’ expectations are consistent with the business’s promises. The CEO’s job is to make
sure everyone is on the same page. It is not the CEO’s job to make everyone happy.
Priorities
Somethings are more important than others. It’s up to the CEO to make the decision about relative
importance -- Prioritizing. Middle-market businesses usually have a “To-Do List” that far exceeds available
resources (cash and time). This means someone needs to decide what will and will not be performed.
Only the CEO can make the decision about how to allocate limited resources.
Key People
I used to joke, when I was a CEO, that my responsibilities were two, make coffee in the morning and take
the trash out at night. This joke however, was funny only because I had a first-class executive team that
knew what needed to get done and how to do it. My responsibility, at the time (besides coffee and trash)
was ensuring that we hired the best people.
The CEO is personally responsible for building the executive team. Doing so, requires investing the time
to understand and articulate tangible expectations. It’s not enough to specify the job as for example, the
executive in-charge of global sales. The CEO needs to ensure that the right hire understands (or can help
define) the customer, realistic future sales, and the resources required, to produce those sales.
Additionally, the right candidate has a personality that is compatible with the businesses culture and
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values. It’s unrealistic to think that a CEO can be personally involved with every hiring decision. It is
however imperative that the CEO set the right example. When CEO’s hiring decisions are based only on
hiring cost (providing, at best, second-string players) ignoring superior skills, personality, and cultural
compatibility, that’s the standard everyone else is going to follow.
INSIDE AND OUTSIDE
Inside refers to the activities within the business. Outside refers to those business influences residing
external to the business. An Inside view includes the universe of activities necessary to ensure the
business provides the customer satisfaction and capital provider rewards promised. This Inside view also
includes behavioral traits such as culture and institutional values. Conversely, the Outside view focuses
on the external forces that will influence business performance in the future. Outside can include
economic and social conditions as well as competitors and emerging technologies. There is a never-
ending list of factors that can affect business performance. And it’s the CEO’s job to make decisions with
a reliable understanding of these factors.
Inside
Most businesses I’ve encountered suffer from HCS (Herding Cats Syndrome). Fortunately, there’s an HCS
cure -- Clarity of Purpose. Any business having employees, which all middle-market businesses have,
depend on people performing their jobs consistent with the business’s strategic objectives and
institutional values. The business depends on everyone doing their jobs correctly and effectively.
Doing so requires leadership. And that’s the CEO’s job -- to lead. Leadership attributes and skills are
discussed by many but ultimately left to the CEO to decide what to adopt. Despite the abundance of
opinions on business leadership, I’ll suggest CEOs use two objectives to guide their Inside responsibilities:
1) clarity of purpose; and 2) ensuring availability of necessary resources.
There’s no escaping that everyone has a point-of-view or an opinion. Moreover, everyone has individual
self-interests. The CEO harmonizes competing personal opinions and perceptions while simultaneously
channeling the collective energy of many to produce business outcomes.
It helps to starts by addressing the uncertainty and ambiguity encountered when blithely assuming
everyone understands goals in a consistent way. If you’re tempted to assume this is trivial, try this simple
experiment (I’ve used this often and the results are pretty consistent). Ask three or four people, it doesn’t
take very many, to describe their understanding of the business’s value proposition and their
understanding of their contribution. My guess, most, if not all, will reply with an answer that is almost
correct but different than your understanding. It’s kind of silly to expect that people will deliver what’s
expected if their idea of the purpose or goal is different than yours. Employees (executives, managers, or
worker-bees) all make countless little choices every day to satisfy “their” understanding of their job
responsibilities. It’s the CEO responsibility to ensure that everyone’s understanding is consistent with the
goals and objectives established for the business. Otherwise, you’ll end up with something more
comparable to a house full of cats -- all doing their own thing.
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Outside
There’s a big world residing outside the business’s front door. It’s up to the CEO to figure out the relevant
“Outside” and what information about the outside is germane. This idea of the Outside is often confusing
and easily overlooked. My discussion is brief and admittedly barely scratches the surface. My goal is
modest, to raise the issue and encourage thinking.
The “Outside” (a concept I’m borrowing from Peter Drucker) are the important external factors that
influence business performance. The most common factor would be economic conditions. In my
experience however, economic conditions are used more often as an excuse for poor performance than
it is as a target of proactive action. But I’ll leave for another day a more detailed discussion of economic
conditions.
So, who is the Outside? The list is endless. It’s the CEO’s job to decide what’s relevant. I’ll offer a few
suggestions: customers, competitors, alternatives, influencers, and decision makers. Competitors offer
products (or services) that may be perceived by customers as interchangeable. The CEO shouldn’t be
misled to think that just because the business thinks its offerings are unique or better doesn’t mean
customers think so. Thus, a relevant Outsider would be any business offering something a customer may
perceive as interchangeable. Differentiation, what makes a customer perceive a difference, is a matter of
strategy. Customers usually have a choice, they can buy your product, someone else’s similar product, or
do nothing. Customers can also satisfy their expectations with something entirely different. Imagine for
a moment that your business is a movie theater. Your “customer” expecting to be entertained, may
decide to forego a movie in favor of a restaurant. The restaurant isn’t really a direct competitor it is
however a very real customer alternative.
Many customer decisions to buy is predicated on the opinions of others -- influencers. Influencers may
be more informal, typical with many consumer purchases or very formal, typically encountered with
commercial customers. And buyers are not always decision-makers. Selling a building to a business may
require convincing the real estate person on its merits but the CEO or CFO will decide to spend the money.
On the consumer side, I may be responsible for making dinner reservations but my hypothetical wife (I’m
presently single) is probably going to make the decision.
It’s the CEO’s job to define the relevant Outside and what information about the Outside is required and
how it’s to be used. For example, the CEO may decide that competitor intelligence is critically important.
But that starting point will lead to identifying what specific intelligence is necessary. Product offerings
and comparisons are obvious. Additional relevant information may include the competitor’s size, financial
condition, investors, and suppliers. And of course, a natural extension is the intelligence necessary to
determine what the competitor’s customers perceive as the value that they’re buying.
Harmonizing the Inside and the Outside
There is one critical (frequently neglected) CEO responsibility that can’t be delegated. The CEO is the only
person within a business required to harmonize an Inside and Outside focus. Extraordinary businesses
use the intelligence coming from both the Inside and the Outside to produce customer satisfaction and
capital provider rewards. These businesses do so by adapting operating practices and attention to
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relevant Outside intelligence. As maturity advances the CEO of extraordinary businesses replace
monitoring with influencing the Outside.
THE CEO AND ADVISORS
There’s a popular cliché describing the CEO’s job as the loneliest job on the planet. It’s a cliché because
it’s true. The CEO probably spends better-part of everyday consulting with all different kinds of people.
But all that information, provided by others, is unavoidably tainted with self-interest. Sometimes self-
interest is obvious other times it’s hidden. The CEO needs to make decisions that best serve the business
not individuals (including their own). Not easy when everyone has a personal agenda.
Complicating the CEO’s job is the need to navigate uncertainty. Everyone looks to the CEO for decisions
despite uncertainty. The CEO needs to make decisions in an environment that doesn’t accommodate
complete or perfect information. This sounds like an impossible situation. But it doesn’t need to be.
Advisors, whether board members, senior consultants, or qualified friends can offer a CEO with a
perspective not available from employees.
Advising a CEO is different than providing consulting services. CEOs deal with issues that are often difficult
to define or arise unexpectedly. Conventional consulting focuses on performing a specific scope of work,
this is different than helping a CEO navigate the unfamiliar or resolving important choices. Meaningful
perspective and objectivity allows a CEO to separate self-interest from institutional interest and to
broaden their access to the experience of others. The CEO’s job is to combine experience, knowledge,
and good judgement to make choices that affect the business. Top performing CEOs take this
responsibility serious and recognize that their job is to apply wisdom not perpetrate an image of
infallibility. The best CEO’s use outside advisors; either senior consultants, board members, coaches, or
qualified friends. What they don’t do is pretend that they can do the job alone.
Trusted advisors can be indispensable in helping a CEO navigate the uncertainty surrounding imperfect
information. A good advisor, using good questions, can narrow the consequences of imperfect
information by identifying what’s meaningful and what’s not.
Perhaps the most precious asset a CEO can acquire are a few trusted advisors. These are the folks a CEO
can talk to about business issues that are capable of providing a sober and unvarnished perspective. I’ve
encountered two different CEO approaches: “Lone Cowboy” or “Maestro”. The Lone Cowboy seeks no
help and heeds no one’s advice. The Maestro uses the talents of others to produce good outcomes. I’ve
tried both approaches and recommend the later.
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The Author
Andy Harvey is the Managing Partner of Fisher Cut Bait a boutique management consulting firm.
He specializes in working with the senior executives of middle-market businesses. His book, The
Business Odyssey, The Journey a Business Takes to Grow-Up, is scheduled to be published the
summer of 2017.
Andrew C. Harvey
Managing Partner
(213) 703-6662
aharvey@fishercutbait.com
The Firm
Fisher Cut Bait is a management consulting firm guiding select middle-market executives. We
navigate the unfamiliar and the uncertain to make the smart business choices necessary to
produce superior performance.
www.fishercutbait.com