Taking Responsibility For Success
It sounds a bit weird when you hear, “taking responsibility for success”. It’s probably because we naturally associate responsibility with things that are stressful, thankless and generally not fun. Think back through your life and remember how it felt every time you were told to “be more responsible” and “it’s time for you to take on more responsibility”, or the dreaded, “you’re responsible for this”! Not good. Although you might have learned important lessons, I guarantee you that none of those moments made you feel very enlightened.
Now channel the feeling you had when you were told, “great job” and “we couldn’t have done it without you”, or the ever exhilarating, “you rock”! Oh yeah; much, much better. Unfortunately, we don’t connect these successful moments with responsibility, but that’s exactly what they are…examples of how we’ve taken responsibility for success.
The Idea Napkin
It’s got a couple of lopsided circles, a squiggly diagram, looping arrows, a few descriptive words and an oversized exclamation mark! It could change your company. It might even change the world. And it’s right there in your hands… sketched out on a coffee stained napkin made of 100% recycled materials.
It doesn’t really matter where great ideas come from but it absolutely matters that you create the conditions in your company for ideas to emerge. Aside from all the business books that encourage idea generation as a proven business strategy there are some very basic, very compelling reasons why your company should be cultured to breed ideas and structured to bring them to realization.
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The Quest For Lionhearted Loyalty
Back in 2003 I wrote an article discussing brand loyalty that introduced a different conceptualization of what brand loyalty was all about, or more accurately, what it should be about. Today’s release of a study by the CMO Council and Pointer Media Network reminded me that brand marketers still haven’t done much to change their loyalty building model. They’re still caught in a price game.
According to the study which used “Loyalty Card” data from 25,000 stores tracking 32 million customers, 52% of highly loyal customers in 2007 either reduced their loyalty or completely defected from the brand in 2008. Of course, it’s the recession. Consumers are making choices based on price because for many, price has become more important than brand. As long as the cheaper product is pretty good, and frankly it often is, the brand loses out.
I thought I’d go back to that article I wrote, pull it apart and update it for today’s market to see if the model I proposed still creates the conditions for a more loyal customer relationship. You decide.
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Overcoming The 7 Choke Points of Strategy Implementation
A company is an organism. It lives and grows. Introducing new strategy into the organism can rejuvenate and strengthen the entire system. It can also choke the system at different points, preventing the organism from thriving. I’ll spare you the sickness and death metaphors. I’m sure you get the idea.
There are 7 Choke Points of Strategy Implementation. When you first read the list you’ll think, “that’s pretty obvious.” Good. If you know they’re out there you have a fighting chance to avoid them. However, unless you specifically address these points when developing your strategy it’s very likely you’ll create the choke points before you get to implementation stage. Yes, you create the problems, just like you create the conditions for success.
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Trading Up For Sales Stars
Even with massive layoffs, record bankruptcies, reduced work weeks, forced time off and dire forecasts, there is a renewed and thriving trade in star sales performers. Sure, some are already on the market. Those are easy finds. The real big wins come from poaching competitors and apparently, this has become big business for specialized recruiters.
The tough economy has forced executives to take a hard look at all aspects of their company in search of cost savings and efficiencies. Cut, cut, cut. Consolidate. Divest. Reduce. Except in one area… sales. Well, sales departments are suffering too but as bad as things are, you don’t want to obliterate your “life-blood” department. This is an opportunity to dramatically improve your team and position the company to dominate your playing field when wallets start loosening up. You may not even have to spend more money if you’re willing to make some trades.
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