Holly Green
One of the biggest dangers in business is MSU, or making stuff up, especially when we don’t realize we are doing it. I see leaders and managers do it all the time, and the consequences to people and profits can be horrific. With the newly passed health care bill, our entire nation is about to…
People ask me all the time what I consider to be the biggest challenge facing today’s business leaders. I don’t even hesitate on this one. It’s the automatic assumption by most business leaders that we still live in a fairly predictable world. Think about it. Six months ago, who would have thought that Toyota would…
When I speak to CEO groups, trade associations, and industry conventions, this is one of my favorite questions to ask. Why? Because I love the reaction from the audience. They look at me like I’m nuts! Questioning the sanctity of best practices in a roomful of corporate leaders and managers is like walking into a…
In my last blog, I talked about the importance of communicating your strategic planning framework to employees at all levels of the organization. And not just once, but over and over again so that people never lose sight of the goals. I also noted that most employees prefer to hear this information directly from their…
Wow, what a year! 2009 has come and gone, and many of us are taking a huge sigh of relief. Going through one of the worst recessions in U.S. history will certainly take the wind out of your sails. But we appear to have weathered the worst of the storm. And while the economy might…
Which is more important for a business to engage in – strategic planning or strategic thinking? If you answered “both,” you win the prize. What’s the difference between the two? Typically, strategic planning involves a formal process whereby company leaders and senior managers gather for a day or two and peer into the future to…
Wait your turn. No pushing in line. Yield to pedestrians. Treat others the way you would like to be treated. Certain timeless rules are better obeyed than broken. But in today’s topsy-turvy business world, many of the rules that informed and guided previous generations of business leaders no longer apply. If you’re not breaking rules…
Strategic planning methodologies are like shoes – one size does not fit all. Some companies use a top-down, autocratic approach, where the plan gets created by a small group of senior managers and handed down to the rest of the organization. Some prefer a more democratic approach, with employees at all levels contributing their ideas…
Creating Your Destination Statement: How to Get From Here to Where You Want to Go When Roger Bannister was attempting to become the first athlete to break the four-minute mile, all the “experts” told him it was impossible. Some even suggested he risked death by pushing his body beyond human limits. Of course, we now…
I just spent four days in Shanghai, China working with one of my global clients. We were focused on supporting a group of key leaders and managers in thinking differently – to try new approaches to cut fixed costs from their multibillion dollar organization. I have now worked with this client in numerous locations around…
Focus on continual learning and unlearning. There are almost no jobs left that will remain the same over time and the demands of leaders and managers are continuing to evolve. Pause and think about the changes in the past year alone. Leaders and managers that are successful today are constantly learning and developing themselves. The…
What Great Leaders and Managers DO There are many books about strategy and in recent years there have been some about execution. After all, CEOs globally are incredibly concerned about being able to execute within their organization. In tough times, it becomes even more critical to get the right things done within your organization. Leaders…
