I have been schooled!

First – please forgive me for not posting this earlier. I wrote the bulk of it long ago but haven’t taken the time to finish it. So here it is.

Not since I lined up and got a rude introduction to the world of pro football from 6 and 7 year vets have I been reminded so blatantly of the simple lessons I have seemed to ventured away from. I had the pleasure of  attending the Fortune Sales and Marketing Summit in Vegas and let me tell you, there are guys out there doing it right, energized about the future, preparing their companies for massive growth and building something that people want to be a part of. The key to having this energy and excitement about the future?

STOP THINKING ABOUT YOURSELF.

Its almost too simple really.

The downturn and the fear that resulted had most people looking internally. Cutting costs, trying to create the next big thing and getting hyper sensitive about themselves – survival mode really.

The aftermath of this has been that processes and procedures focused outward have been hammered. Sales has become about listing benefits and highlights of products. Vendors have been jockying to show themselves as the next killer app or creative geniuses. All the while the needs, fears and issues of the buying public, business or personal, have changed.

Some of the best information from the conference in Tweetable bite sized chunks:

Jeff Thull on Mastering the Complex Sale:

“We are working too hard, over engineering our solutions.”

“If you’re feeling pressure you’re doing something wrong – be the expert.”

“If you can’t define the cost of a problem then there simply isn’t a problem.”

“Value only exists within the customer, never in the solution alone.”

Tony Hsieh of Zappos

“What do customers expect? What do they experience? What to customers feel? How do we create stories and memories?”

“The phone is still the best brand tool out there when you get the interaction right.”

“Be real and you have nothing to fear” Transparency with employees, vendors, distributors and even competitors.”

“Policy is for the sake of the 1% that don’t seem to get it. Deal with the 1% and allow the 99% to build the company.”

There were a lot of other great pieces of information in the conference – feel free to send me a note and I’ll gladly send you a breakdown of my key learnings with the hope that you can apply it to your company group or planning. But I really want to focus on how we can apply the concept of client focus into our businesses and lives in this post.

To take a second and ask someone what they want, and I mean listen to what they REALLY want, is a skill that has gone away in recent years. The success of mega brain corporations like Google and Apple that seem to build demand for things not yet conceived has made people lose sight that there is still a great business model in listening to what people want and delivering it with passion, excitement and an attitude that will let you win. Focusing on the client instead of ourselves is really the key to a business model that, when you look hard enough, is still the same model that Apple or Google use today.

When was the last time you asked a client “What can I do better?” and asked it without the canned response ready to deliver or your plans for the next big thing ready to spring? Taking the time to get personal with our customers and stop talking about ourselves is a business strategy that works. Just ask a customer, and listen to his answer.

I’ve been spending some good time reflecting lately,  on almost every level of business, partnerships, friendships, family and personally. I don’t know about you but I’m a big fan of finding soundtracks for those times in my life when a song better describes where I am than anything else. So today I’m sharing some very valid lessons for the day in Billy Joel’s You’re Only Human (Second Wind).

The business environment has taken it share of blows this year and whether you were an active planner or not, chances are really good you had to think on your feet, come up with some new ideas and dig deep to make some things happen. Chances are also very good that you felt some pain this year, maybe had to readjust expectations a little or traveled deep into the unknown. And, you may still be there.

So let’s dig into Bill’s lyrics for some ageless wisdom.

First, he makes us all feel as though we’re not alone in our worldly hurt as he let’s us know

“its all right, its ok, sometimes that’s what it takes, you’re only human you’re allowed to make your share of mistakes.”

I think this is something we have to remember. When things go bad or the environment around us seems to crumble, its very easy to bare all responsibility and carry the burden. And, in fact, I’d suggest that this sense of burden and accountability is an essential quality of lifting your situation to a new level. But let’s keep things in perspective.

We are not the first generation to see trouble, nor will we be the last. Our mistakes have been large but the future is ours to draft. Which leads to another critical line.

“you learn more from your accidents than anything that you could ever learn from school.”

If you take us back almost a year ago you’ll recall that many of the experts were commenting on the fact that the global recession is a scenario that business people and economists around the world have no academic point of reference for. It was unique and therefore, frightening. Well now that we’ve come through what many call the bottom and whether the signs of recovery are truly that or the bouncing ball of the new economic reality, we’ve learned some great lessons. The question is:

“How will you apply your personal lessons to the next chapter?”

Bill paints a picture of reality that all of us can relate to as we analyze our own impact from the last year,

“Just like a boxer in a title fight, you’ve got to walk in that ring all alone … you’re not the only one who’s made mistakes but they’re the only thing that you can truly call your own!“

Although we’ve all lived examples of how building out strong and proactive partnerships, alliances, friendships and business interests in order to not deal with the challenges of this year alone, we are all, ultimately accountable to ourselves to make it happen! So when push comes to shove, have you looked at this year and accepted the ultimate accountability for where you are and, more importantly, what are you doing about it?

So as we come around the corner for the last quarter of the year take some initiative to learn from the year and put those lessons to great use in your plan for the upcoming year.

Whether personally or in your business, use the tools that are available to take a critical eye to where you are and where you want to be. You will increase your probability of success in the back end of 2009 and into 2010 by leaps and bounds if you give yourself the time to look at the past twelve months and adjust accordingly.

STRiDE is a process that forces you to look strategically at your business (our at your life if you utilize the MySTRiDE program) and build a plan for success. You may have to adjust some of your thinking, look more closely at the playground you’re playing in and realize the rules have changed a little. You may have to focus your attentions more heavily on your RISK strategy than you have in the past. But bottom line is, take the time to build out your one-page plan and make it work this year!

Just remember,

“Don’t forget your second wind, sooner or later, you’ll feel that momentum kick in!“

Here’s to finding your STRiDE in the last part of 2009 and an even stronger 2010!

Chris

“The difference between a Designer and Developer … is the difference between shooting a bullet and throwing it.”

- Scott Hanselman

Close your eyes at the end of this sentence and visualize the word PLAN.

How did that go for you?

Chances are you experienced a touch of anxiety, maybe visualized a sterile room, with white boards everywhere and IBM like men in suits sitting around. If you think in music it was a movie track from the early 80’s say Chariots of Fire. This is the kind of association most of us make with the word “PLAN”.

Now, to try something different, close your eyes again and think of the word DESIGN.

The thoughts of brilliant colors, funky architecture and new and exciting concepts most likely filled your mind. The music is upbeat and modern like The Exterminator Beat from the Wanted Soundtrack or maybe some smooth jazz like Nemesis by Aaron Parks. The artistic mind associates with the word design, and its fun to dream in color.

So the question I have to ask, is that if you’re starting, building or running a small or medium sized company wouldn’t you want your future to be colourful, fun and successful?

If the answer is yes, then continue reading, because this a strategy you don’t want to miss.

In my last post I pushed you to look at your organization and ask the hard questions. Questions like:

What customers should I fire?

What 20% of employees are doing 80% of the valuable work?

Are you dealing with partners or vendors?

Are you trying to please everyone?

Do you understand your cash flow?

Have you peeked under the kimono lately? (Don`t do this one in public)

The answers to these questions are the foundation for the strategic design process. This foundation is critical to eliminating the 3 ring binder paper weight that most strategic plans become. The big question is, however, what to do about it?

I like design, I like color and I like making something simple enough so that everyone can participate in both the design, and more importantly, the execution of results!

To understand the difference between design and planning I’ll compare the 3 major starting points of each:

Planning:

            Vision

            Mission

            Values

Design:

            Purpose

            A Story

            Multiple Points of View

In today’s world, with ground breaking marketing and networking technology (are you on Twitter yet), a necessity to stay in front of the competition, opportunity to be truly global from your lap top and product and service offerings being judged more by the user experience than by the price of the ad, wouldn’t you rather be a designer of the future? Ask these questions:

What do we stand for as an organization?

What does good really look like in five years?

Who cares and who matters about our existence?

What do they have to say?

What themes show up that we can count on to build our future?

What are we going to do about it?

The STRiDE One-Page Design process puts Purpose, the Success Story and a concept called KAPOV front and center to make your design experience one filled with creativity, fun, color and amazing results!

If you’re new to designing your organizational future check out our one-pager, you’ll like it. If you’re already a seasoned planner in the organization, try a design approach and open the gates for the future!

Technorati Tags: Chris Lewis, Strategic Design, Stride, What Is Strategy

“However beautiful the strategy, you should occasionally look at the results.”

- Winston Churchill

You know, Churchill was a well known strategist, but the quote above really says it all. The bottom line in any strategy is the result, plain and simple. 

With large financial sector bonuses, a roller coaster stock market and the word ’stimulus’ becoming kitchen table talk, it begs the question – What Is Strategy?

As a word it is actually very easy to define – It’s a plan.

Simple, right?

Not really, defining your strategy must take into account a number of elements to turn it from a “beautiful” paper based plan into something that actually drives results! If you believe the news, it really doesn’t matter what our ’strategy’ or plan is, we’re all in deep, deep trouble. I don’t believe it. So, let’s look at this loaded concept a little more closely and have the guts to ask the hard questions.

Consider this, I thought strategy was simple enough when planning a great family vacation. To be successful you need only plan where we’re going, ensure we have good accommodations, an idea of what to do while we’re there and sufficient funds to make it happen. Easy.

But as my own experience taking my family to sunny Corpus Christi, TX will demonstrate, it’s not always that easy.

What if the condo you booked misrepresented itself? What if the pool at the location is closed for the two weeks you’re there? What if you didn’t do the research to find out that the Gulf actually has 49 species of shark and stinging jellyfish … need I say more? It ended up being a great vacation, but not without some serious stress and shooting from the hip to make things work.

If the strategy behind a simple family vacation can pose these kind of issues, building a strategy that positions your organization for success is much more complex. Or is it?

Business people everywhere have been brainwashed to building strategic plans that, when completed, are capable of being a Harvard text book! 300-400 pages of intensive theory. But that’s not the worst part.

These large strategic binders typically get a spot on the shelf beside all of the other plans that never get executed, making them an exercise in time wasting and executive self-stroking. So how to you overcome this?

To start, keep it simple! Ask the questions that matter, especially the hard ones. Then put them in a format that makes execution the priority.

 What is really happening, today?

Ask the questions that look realistically at where the company is today and what has already happened around it that will define the future. Many of these insights are available for anyone willing to look critically at what’s going on around you.

• What is really happening with my customers? Which ones can I count on and which ones should I fire? Not all business is good business.
• What is happening with my employees? Who will carry us to the next level and who is riding the coat tails? Think the 80/20 rule – 80% of the work from 20% of the team.
• What is happening with our suppliers? Are they strategic partners or profit taking vendors? Build a fortress of partners around you.
• What is the response to my products or services? Have we build the best possible offer in our market or diluted ourselves trying to be everything to everyone?
• What is our current financial reality? Are we managing cash flow with absolute certainty?
• What other risks are out there that we need to look closer at to see? Open the kimono and see the dirty little secrets that can kill the plan.

The answers to these questions will start to give you foundation and let you ask the next questions with a base of knowledge in what your current reality is.

Starting with a great foundation allows you to bring it all together with confidence and build the plan that enables the first steps to get done, today. This is the big difference between the big strategic binder and the plan that actually delivers results!

I like the one-page plan concept, because the bottom line is, when its more complex then a page how many people actually do it? You have to have the guts to put down the actual actions and the accountability to make it happen. This means detail. This means names of people who are responsible. And, it means that the plan becomes a part of you’re everyday.

 So let me ask you, what do you have in place for your organization? Let me know with comments to this post and I’ll work through the planning process in the next post.

STRIDE is a company committed to providing outstanding solutions for the dynamic era companies do business in. If your organization needs better alignment in strategic direction, corporate and employee focus, time pressure and work/life balance—STRIDE has a solution for your dynamic era!