Strategy
Only 1 in 11 companies achieve profitable, sustainable growth. While you don’t have to be the leader in scale to be the leader in your industry, you do need speed, frontline ownership of your strategy, an ‘insurgent’s mission’ and efficient execution. Having a leadership team who are capable of leading with these attributes is crucial.
James Allen from Bain and Co – The Founders Mentality Blog – has written an excellent article that explores this topic and more. It provides great insight for board members and CEOs of private companies. Once you have read the article, ask yourself the following two questions rating them 0 -10
Key messages:
Only 1 in 11 companies achieve profitable sustainable growth. You do not have to be the leader in scale to be the leader in an industry. But.. you do need speed, frontline ownership of your strategy, an ‘insurgents mission’ and fast efficient execution with a leadership team capable to lead in that environment. Lots of other great content in the article, a recommended read. Then ask yourself the following two questions rating them 0–10:
How does our strategy compare?
Is our board / leadership team appropriately skilled and resourced to manage execution?
If you are not entirely satisfied with the answers to both questions, the obvious question is what will you do about it now and where will you go for help? Lead Your Industry can help you re-evaluate and redefine your business strategy
Leadership Defined
Is it time to redefine the meaning of leadership? Creating a fresh and integrated definition can give businesses a more focussed, wholistic approach and the edge they need to lead in their environment.
Common themes of leadership include words like ‘Aspiration’, ‘Inspiration’, ‘ Imagination’, ‘Creativity’, ‘Authenticity’ and ‘ Integrity’. Complimenting to the above article on Strategy, is another recent McKinsky article, in which the authors suggest a new definition of leadership that is contextual. The new definition is as follows: Leadership is a set of behaviours that, in a given context, align an organisation, foster execution and ensure organisational renewal. They are enabled by relevant skills and mindsets. Their suggested definition is more outcome focused; perhaps both definitions are still relevant. Read the full article for their logic, whilst keeping in mind the old adage “all models are flawed but some are useful….”
Marketing Automation
Closing deals requires an alignment between marketing and sales. Implementing a solid marketing automation strategy can provide massive leverage for your sales team with effective collaboration across departments.
In case you missed it, you can find out more about this topic in this article from Jeff Cooper (Founding Partner of Step Change) and I, discussing the effects of implementing marketing automation tools on your sales team.
Global Advisory Board
And finally, a tool to help you with both Strategy and Leadership; The Global Advisory Board