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Merger Reality-Trust Your Gut, Not the Press Release

Jan 9, 2008

If your company is involved in a merger, there is one certainty. Everything will change. Regardless of the carefully crafted words in the press release. (Unless of course your company is being purchased by Warren Buffett, who is famous for only buying well-running companies and leaving them alone to run well.)

During the past few days, I talked with two associates going through mergers in very different industries, and both were attempting to convince themselves that things would be fine following the merger. They both cited the “no expectations for layoffs” verbiage in the press releases announcing their deal, and both engaged in some self-rationalization about the importance and “safety” of their respective departments. My instinct was that neither individual truly believed what they were saying. They should trust their gut on this issue.

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Does the Lack of A Clear Vision Mean Your Firm Is Flying Blind?

Jan 8, 2008

s a strategy consultant, I see clients wrestle with the exercise of creation or articulation of a “Vision” for their business on a regular basis. In some environments, the exercise of clarifying or creating a vision is motivating and galvanizing, and for others it is futility personified. My question for the day: How important is it for an organization to have a shared vision–a view as to what the future desired state of the organization will look like?

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In support of the Product Manager as MVP

Jan 7, 2008

Few roles in B2B and technology organizations carry loftier expectations or face more challenging tasks than that of the Product Manager. This position tends to be backed by a job description with responsibilities that makes many executive roles look tame by comparison.

The right person in this important role can mean the difference between wild success and mediocre performance for the business. And while organizations commonly under-staff (both in number and in power/experience) and over-describe (expectations are excessive), it is a thing of beauty when you latch onto a professional Product Manager that understands how to build value through this role. This super-employee operating in this tough role consistently gets my vote for MVP.

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Marketing versus Sales and Corporate Tribalism

Jan 3, 2008

With apologies for doing a poor imitation of Jerry Seinfeld, “What is it about Sales and Marketing professionals that they just can’t seem to get along?” These two functions have battled for years and I fault the leaders of both functions as well as senior management for failing to create the conditions required for collaboration and success.

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Is Your Organization Strategy-Fueled or Strategy-Starved? Part One

Jan 1, 2008

While some organizations are consistently high performing, the gross majority of firms operate in phases ranging from excitement and growth to malaise and meandering. If you are growing and changing, that is good, but the trick is how to sustain and even improve. If you are meandering or worse, declining, the challenge is how to break out of a challenging slide.

Over the course of the next few weeks or months, I am going to develop the concept and benefits of what I describe as Strategy-Fueled Leadership. Step one in the introduction of this externally aware, results-focused approach to leading, winning in the market and developing others, is recognizing whether your own leadership style and culture are adversely impacting your organization’s performance.

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Seven Key Questions for the Ambitious Aspiring Leader

Dec 28, 2007

The Seven Key Questions for the Ambitious Aspiring Leader are powerful conversation starters to support a manager’s leadership development activities. They are not intended to be delivered in machine-gun style, but rather to be used in concert with an approach to helping individuals discover and explore the profession of leadership. Not everyone should lead, yet someone motivated by advancement might believe that leadership is the best or only way to achieve this goal. An effective mutual discovery process is the leader’s best friend in helping identify leadership talent and in helping individuals come to their own conclusion on whether leading is a good choice for their own careers.

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Our future leaders are at your kitchen table.

Dec 24, 2007

We all probably remember our teachers telling us at some point early in grade school that we are the future leaders of our country. I remember hearing those words and thinking of what it would be like to hold national office or serve as a judge on a high court. What I didn’t realize at the time was that the teachers held a broad view of leadership, knowing full well that most of their students may never hold national office, but that they will almost all have a leadership role to play in their communities, churches, charitable organizations, and of course with their families.

Great leadership habits are formed in youth through observation and participation. The next time you sit down to dinner with your family, take the time to offer encouragement to your future leaders. You might just have a prospective President or Supreme Court Justice asking you to pass the mashed potatoes.

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Leadership in Marketing Communications-In Search of the Relentless Promoter

Dec 13, 2007

There are many good B2B Marketing Communications professionals and teams, but a few individuals and teams stand-apart from the crowd as great. The truly great communications professionals are what I describe as Relentless Promoters. These rare and gifted professionals are the lifeblood a strong marketing communications team, and are visible by their singular focus on developing and refining programs and strategies that drive action or create visibility with their target audience. Here are a few suggestions for marketing leaders on finding and developing these valuable professionals.

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Leader, are you the problem with your team’s performance?

Dec 12, 2007

As a leader looking for ways to improve the performance of your team, it is important to spend some time examining the impact that you have on the working environment and productivity of your associates. Effective self-examination might just help identify some opportunities for your own development that will spur the performance of those around you.

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Marketing Leadership-An Oxymoron?

Dec 7, 2007

This is a return to one of my favorite rants-marketers giving marketing a bad name.  In my 2007 article, Marketing Misunderstood, I described the struggle that many top B2B executives have in trying to understand the value that marketing contributes to their business.  While there is ample blame to go around for why the nature, […]

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