I’ve had the honor of mentoring many organizational leaders over my career, and one of the most rewarding categories I’ve found is the Growth Leader. By Growth Leaders, I mean the individuals who recognize opportunity, develop an investable plan and rally a team of people to capitalize on it. In mentoring these leaders, I have […]
I was having coffee with senior co-leads of a large growth effort, and the question they had for me was, “how do we know if we’ve assembled the right team?” When you get a question like that, you know the answer is yes, they have a problem. I asked them some questions, and it led […]
I have been working with a couple of clients who have re-organized from a founder owner structure into an ESOP structure. ESOP (Employee Stock Ownership Plans) have been around since the late 1950’s, but have recently taken on a much bigger role, as many founders of private firms are moving towards retirement and wish to […]
It happens every year: March Madness. Every year during this college basketball tournament, many of us enjoy watching the brackets, mascots and last-minute nail biting contests that lead the season’s best and most polished to the Final Four – and ultimately the championship. Just like in college basketball, there is no more fundamental key to […]
I was sitting with the team in a bar after a great workshop. You know the feeling: 100’s of Post-It notes, lots of flip charts, the frameworks click and you know you’ve identified the right project. The topic then turned to taking the next steps. Specifically, establishing the team and execution. I always wince when […]
I had a chance to speak with a growth leader at a mid-sized firm last week who was working on a cross business unit breakthrough program. He asked a great question: how do I know when a firm has chosen the wrong project? Here are five of the key indicators that you are on […]
Just as a golf course designer lays out a course that challenges the skill of the player to place the ball around sand traps, executives that undertake growth initiatives will have their skills challenged in predictable locations that require anticipation, preparation and skill to deliver results. These three common “sand traps” come to the growth […]
We have heard in the news recently that Yahoo is joining the list of firms that has lost momentum and is now reducing headcount in a big way. Many other firms are in this box as well, including names like IBM, HP and Cisco. The path to events like this is paved by organizations that […]
You know the feeling: you’ve started something big in your firm, with much promise of growth, and the ball is rolling well. You have the sponsorship, you’re working through the issues and then you hit the wall – the sales team refuses to give you the time of day. I have good news. While your […]
I flipped open a recent issue of Motorcyclist magazine and found a great piece about a new Kawasaki owner who was asked for an interview about his new Ninja H2 (a truly remarkable machine). To his surprise, the whole Japan-based Kawasaki design team then rolled up in a van to have an in-depth conversation with […]
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