Business and Finance

There are three ways to react to an organizational crisis. One way is to turn your head to ignore the situation and hope that it will fix itself (best of luck!). Another way is to run around in a panic-induced cost-cutting frenzy that could seriously impair the organization’s long-term growth potential and future state. The third and, of course, smartest method is to recognize the impending threat to both your top and bottom line, and quickly adapt the organization’s strategic outlook and business model to the new environmental conditions. So, the question to answer is this: “what are the decision makers within your organization currently doing? Are they connecting the organization’s strategy with its innovative approach to meet a successful Future Picture?” But what if you, as the leader, are having a difficult struggle to influence others to your point of view and get them to rethinking and reinventing the organization’s strategy forward as circumstances and economics rapidly change. If you are experiencing this challenge, here’s some advice to help your people to win the battlefield of transition.

I have continued to state enthusiastically over the last few years that, in a world where the pace of change has gone hypercritical, today’s most important race is the race for transformational leadership and organizational renewal. It is the race to change as fast as the environment is changing around you; the race to influence positive organizational behaviors and the race to reinvent your strategy and your business model before they become obsolete. When the economy is in a state in flux, most organizations tend to postpone their professional development efforts and favor cost cutting as the strategy that will preserve the future. This is a grave mistake that will affect the future of the organization in ways that will likely kill the very spirit the leadership teams are hoping to preserve. Their efforts during the challenging times will only prolong the inevitable; ultimate demise once the current crisis is diminished. The lesson here is this; a successful business model will break almost overnight when the waves of the ocean start crashing against the pillars of the pier if leadership does not remain on a continuous, yet discontinuous approach to train the organization’s greatest asset – the people.

Continue reading ‘The “war Room” – When Innovation Intersects Strategy’ »

The key to life is to be around the people who will empower you to reach the next level in life! In order to exceed your present reach, you need to be around people who will help you stretch a little farther. The secret to a productive mastermind team is for you to surround yourself with people who you can always learn from. A sign of a very intelligent person is to be smart enough to realize that you need to learn from others who can contribute to your WHY in life.

As you know, my ultimate outcome is to develop the #1 personal development company in the world. Each and every day I strive to immerse myself in material and people who will enable me to achieve our corporate mission.

As you look at your own mission in life, you need to ask yourself a very honest/straightforward question ….“Is my personal development engine in Forward, Neutral or Reverse?” The answer is very simple. All that you need to do is to write down the top 10 people you regularly associate with. As you review the list, realize that you will become an exact duplicate of those 10 people –?nancially, spiritually, physically and psychologically. Once again, be honest with yourself. If you are not 110% happy about what you see yourself becoming due to your present relationships, you need to take ACTION immediately! Make a decision to develop a mastermind TEAM! Seek out like-minded individuals, in person or through books CD’s and DVD’s.

Continue reading ‘Mastermind Team: Do You Have One?’ »

Strategy is a strange word. It is treated like a gospel. Once it is put on paper, it needs to be revered, etched in stone.

Strategy may be all that. But that does not make it sustainable?

Most strategists usually jump headlong into full throttle execution, assuming that the gospel will lead to the holy trail. They do not feel the need to test it. Extensive rollout is planned without doing a pilot. And lessons in execution are learnt in ‘hindsight’ rather than during the process of execution.

Strategy is never ‘sustainable strategy’ unless it is backed by successful execution. Lessons learnt during the initial stages of execution should be used as inputs to alter/modify/overhaul strategy . Closing this loop is the only way for generating sustainable strategy which delivers long lasting business results.

Continue reading ‘Closing the Loop Between Strategy & Execution – Lessons From the Indian Retail Story’ »

No Uppercut, No Hook.

A simple message, communicated across the ranks; from the streets of Bhiwani, to the boxing rings of Mumbai. This simple message is the single most important reason for Indian boxers coming to fore in the Beijing Olympics.

The shortest distance to land a punch is to go straight. It is also the easiest way to score a clear punch & register a point. When the Indian Boxing Federation realized that, they executed this strategy ruthlessly by banning uppercuts & hooks. A penalty was imposed on any boxer who tried an uppercut or a hook.

Continue reading ‘Simple Message Drive Great Strategy Execution – Example of India's Lone Boxing Medal’ »

Often during the process of strategy execution, the implementers start getting early feedback that the strategy is way off the mark. This feedback comes from the front lines : from employees, customers, suppliers, associates.

Given a bad strategy, a great execution will only speed up a business failure. What the implementers need is a mandate or a license to kill bad strategy without wasting precious resources and time. However there are reasons why a bad strategy is never shot down before it is too late .

1. Implementation is done by the lowly grunts or junior level managers and there is no process through which the ‘grunts’ or ‘hands and legs’ can communicate their feedback. Even if there are means to relay feedback , the feedback does not have the necessary credibility.

Continue reading ‘The Licence to to Kill a Bad Strategy’ »

Introduction

With the increase of on line buying and sourcing of goods and services, educators, consultants, writers, and industry leaders have spent a great deal of time and resources attempting to improve the identification and selection of suppliers and the associated purchasing processes. Today, some of the most commonly heard terms for buying include: Sourcing, Strategic Sourcing, e-Sourcing, Purchasing, Procurement, e-Procurement, Supplier Management, Supplier Relationship Management, and Supply Base Management.

The outsourcing decisions are with regard to whether product should be made internally or whether they should be bought externally. Making the product internally gives better control over the supply where as buying option gives the opportunity to get specialist service probably with economies of scale. Current global outsourcing is based on this thinking.

Continue reading ‘A Report on Out Sourcing’ »

In today’s times, use of Internet is widespread and many people find Internet as a handy tool for marketing with great success and ease. People start Internet marketing trying to make financial killings as early as possible. However, many of them fail to get the desired results mainly because they simply jump onto the bandwagon with doing any research, without the basic knowledge of the techniques or methods Internet.

It’s the same as starting any marketing conventionally. For more details:www.impacts-popup.com. One needs to research the needs of the customers, availability of the same in the market, the cost and other factors. Most importantly the target customers you are looking for.

Continue reading ‘Internet Marketing: Starting’ »

Stepping into a manufacturing business is different from starting any other business. If you have decided that a manufacturing business is what you want to land into, you have to be confident and strategic in your approach.

The pre-requisite before starting or even planning to start a manufacturing business is to perceive the business skills in you. If you think you have a forte in ‘pushing’ a product to its sale, and can find a niche market for your products, you can safely launch into a manufacturing business. Everything else then becomes secondary!

The first step towards Manufacturing Business is Manufacturing Strategy. It is necessary to think about it that “which business” you would be into, what would be your long-term and short-term business goals, your course of action, and last but not to say the least- your target audience. For theoretical purposes, (It is the theory that decides what can be observed) this strategy can be categorized into three parts- Corporate Strategy, business Strategy and Functional Strategy.

Continue reading ‘Tips to Start a Successful Manufacturing Business’ »

Akbar was a really powerful king.

He had an empire that extended from the mountains of Hindu-Kush to the Bay of Bengal. As an emperor he had the sheer might to crush his opponents, to smash their kingdom into rubble. Like they do ‘a hostile’ (takeover) these days.

Akbar, however, preferred to integrate. He married into the Rajputs , his fiercest & most tenacious opponents. His favoured queen was a Rajput queen Jodhabai. He gave Rajputs a lot of respect, important jobs in the army and bestowed on them a lot of honours.

It was a wise thing to do. While Akbar was an uncontested Emperor, the Rajputs remained kings of their small kingdoms. So while Akbar had a vast empire he saved a lot of his time from martial pursuits. Instead he worked on pursuits of a different kind like ideating about a new religion.

Continue reading ‘Integrating an Acquired Company – Lessons From an Indian Emperor Called Akbar’ »

It is something that I spend a lot of time on; convincing the CEO to think from the customer standpoint, talking to the department head about what will deliver results at the frontlines.

It requires a lot of thinking to make something ‘dumb’ and it is never simple to make anything ‘simple’. Companies are often caught in a situation where they are terribly excited about a slew of product launches or service upgrades which they think is going to be terribly exciting to the customer. The customer may indeed be excited, only if somebody told him about it or better still answered all his queries.

Continue reading ‘Make it Dumb and Simple. or Forget About Scaling a Business Idea’ »