Focus
It is interesting to see how the complex system of consumer spending, retail and the general economy are playing against each other this holiday season. Helen Bulwik, our retail expert at Bedrock Dissero, was recently interviewed for an ABC-TV report on retail trends in 2009. In this she pointed out that in 2008, there were 70+ percent discounts on products prior to Christmas. This was necessary to get shoppers into stores and behind the scenes, there was a great amount of excess inventory that retailers knew needed to be reduced quickly in the face of weak consumer demand.
As we enter the normal stategic and business planning season it is clear that things are different this cycle. We are all being forced to ask tough questions about how we’ll invest, carefully, for 2010. I’ve been in several strategic planning sessions with both clients and in our own company where a single question is disturbing the status quo. The question boils down to asking, “is our current business model and approach over-engineered and over-built…and if so, how do we get it right for the coming years?” There is a fantastic Wired Magazine article you can use to spark the right conversation within your team that will help you target investments in the right areas.
Today I met with about 50 professionals with a variety of experiences with M&A integration at the Association for Corporate Growth. The topic of my presentation was to share the true keys to success that have made the difference in companies who successfuly create shareholder value through business combinations. Several people were interested in getting a copy of the slides so I’m trying out an online publishing tool called DoXtop to easily share these.
In addition to the presentation, I’ve also included a link to a companion article to go with the presentation for those who are interested.
Generating innovations for future growth while the economy is down, capital sources are scarce, and the markets continue to evolve quickly is a challenge facing many organizations today. Given the breadth of companies facing this challenge, I wanted to share some best practices from our experience that are practical and systemic answers to this challenge. (more…)
A Checklist and Process for Conducting Rapid Due Diligence on Your Own Company
By: Michael Kanazawa
When economic storms strike businesses, often the first move is to quickly reorganize to reduce costs. This is often a necessary move to reduce the fixed cost structure of the business. However, if done without a sense of strategy and priorities, it can damage healthy parts of the business and miss the opportunity for even deeper reductions in ailing parts of the business. The ability to conduct a rapid and sound strategic assessment can create an important distinction between flailing and decisive action. Conducting a form of due diligence on your own company can provide a fast way to set direction and priorities without just relying on gut feel, politics, and outdated assumptions to make the changes. In this post we share a specific checklist and process to get through an assessment fast. (more…)
By: Michael Kanazawa
One of the concepts from our book that has truly struck a chord with people is the concept of doing “More ON Less.” People seem worn out with the old and tired saying and approach of trying to do “more with less, ” which does little to drive great execution or to get the best from people in challenging times. On the other hand, doing More on Less drives focus, concentration of resources, and can generate breakthrough results.
Just recently I spoke at a LeaveSmarter conference and the sponsor posted a video cut of that presentation on YouTube. They selected the section about doing more on less so I thought I’d share it here on the blog. It is a great explanation of what we mean and the challenges that arise when you go with the common phrase and idea of doing more with less, versus doing More on Less. (more…)
By: Michael Kanazawa
Sometimes the greatest and most expansive innovations come through projects with the greatest constraints. For some, there is a belief that brainstorming on breakthrough innovations must be done without boundaries. However, these exercises often result in unconstrained outputs that are scattered, unfocused, and impractical.
In contrast, putting significant constraints on an outcome forces more structured thinking and often a need for breakthrough ideas to achieve the results despite the constraints. This month Raj Setty shares in his ChangeThis manifesto a form called “mini sagas” as a way to force yourself to think more clearly. He challenges us to write a full story in exactly 50 words. It’s tough and it takes a creative mind to tell a full story that in that few words and in an exact number of words. Mainly these are fun examples of creative writing, but there is a very practical application to setting growth strategies and running effective strategic brainstorming work. (more…)
By: Michael Kanazawa
Earlier this week my eBook “People Don’t Hate Change, They Hate How You’re Trying to Change Them” was posted on the Change This! site. Change This! is a site with free, downloadable essays and mini-books. It was conceived by Seth Godin and is now run by 800 CEO Read. If you haven’t been there yet, it is worth a good look.
This eBook is a great, and free, way to sample what we have to say if you haven’t read the book yet, and a fantastic way to share our message with others who would benefit from it. Anybody who is challenged with implementing a strategy or major initiative, looking to accelerate their results, and fully engage their organization would benefit from the ideas and tips. If the concepts make sense to you, please help us spread the word by forwarding or sharing the link to the eBook.
Michael Fitzgerald who writes for BNET, The New York Times and Fast Company and many other top publications calls the essay a “fun and mind-turning essay” that provides “an excellent synopsis of the book ‘Big Ideas to Big Results.’” Hope you enjoy and find value in this latest piece.
Listen as Mike talks with Lisa Haneberg author of the Management Craft blog during one of her fireside chat sessions.
Lisa has a very unique perspective in the interview in that she focused on the challenges of middle managers and she has been a manager herself facing many of the challenges we talk about in the book. It was a fun and lively conversation and one of my favorite interviews to date. Hope you’ll enjoy it and find good value in it as well. This is a second post, but people had asked to have the MP3 file available here. My Podcast Alley feed! {pca-b720560dbb15c2bd3b4fc510cc1d2c27}
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In this Quick Start Tip we talk about one of the biggest impediments to business growth, which is a lack of focus that goes far enough to create task overload, organizational gridlock that feels to employees like corporate attention deficit disorder. We discuss specific ways to get your organization more focused to gain the ability to take your big ideas to big results.
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Michael Kanazawa shares recent insights and tips about the no-nonsense, results-driven approach to driving business breakthroughs found in his new book Big Ideas to Big Results.