A radio program on NPR intrigued me recently when a guest was being interviewed on his opinion regarding Obama’s display of leadership and follow-through.  Motivating this and other discussions across the airways is disappointment by some democrats regarding Obama’s “soft style” and/or inability to take a firm stand on strongly-held democratic positions, arguing his actions do not line up with rhetoric used during his election and inaugural address. Similarly, Wisconsin Public Radio aired a discussion recently about the likelihood Obama can be reelected if unemployment remains high and his public approval ratings continue to decline.  In other words, if his leadership brand continues to sour.

All of this has me thinking about “walking the talk” and the importance that walking the talk plays in leadership branding.  Not only for the President of the United States, but also for the Presidents of High Technology Companies.  How we brand ourselves as leaders to our people is directly proportional to getting positive results.

Here’s what we can learn about corporate and personal leadership branding from Mr. President:

Principle #1: Be (and appear to be) fearless in times of difficult decision-making

Middle of the road is the road to nowhere. When we make “middle ground” decisions in an attempt to satisfy all people in our organization, we end up looking like losers (not leaders) to everyone in the company. Finding the middle ground in a difficult situation feels safe, but it will come back to haunt you as your once biggest fans (or loyal employees and customers) gradually turn against you.

Principle #2: It’s a wonderful thing to be loved by many and hated by many

To be loved AND hated is a solid indication you are living by your core values. If you are a great leader, it’s likely your core values lifted you to your position to begin with.  If you are not a great leader, your leadership brand is revealing your true colors to your employees and customers.  Check yourself before you wreck yourself

Principle #3: Give your customers what they want

By giving our customers what they want we can get what we want – loyalty. If you are not capable of giving your internal and external customers what they want, you should not be President or CEO or Mr. Executive.  You’d be a greater contributor doing something you’re good at.  Fearless, values-driven leadership gets results even amongst the strongest resistance and greatest challenges.  This is what your company wants!

So… how to appear and be fearless? How to be loved and hated by many?  Know your values and live by them always.  This is your leadership brand! Easier said than done?  Yes…if you are not a leader.

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Goal Setting.  Did I just hear you roll your eyes?  Yes, I believe I did

I can understand why some people moan at the thought of goal setting.  Whether we realize it or not, it’s usually tied to memories of failure or disappointment to achieve something important to us, or to someone else (our company, manager, CEO, spouse, etc…).  Some of us even convince ourselves that goal setting is a waste of time and, as I’ve heard it stated,  “actually limits me in achieving more than that stated in my goal” (what a joke!)

I’m convinced that it’s not necessarily goal-setting itself that is painful, as much as it is HOW one goes about it.  If done properly, goal setting will actually stimulate new ideas, solutions, and aspirations.  And this makes it (dare I say) fun!  Creating goals to achieve your dreams is exciting stuff.  No question.

So that you can successfully revel in goal achievement, here are 7 traps to avoid when setting your personal and professional goals:

Trap 1: Failing to dream

When I’ve asked clients, family, and friends to create a list of at least 50 dreams (things they want to do, become, achieve or attain), I often get a ‘deer in the headlights’ look followed by a list of about 5 things.  Why is that?  Why is it so hard for many us to dream?  Dreaming is not only healthy; it is a necessary first step for setting goals.  Here is a tool that can help you think about the things you want to do/become/achieve/attain: Dream Inventory

Trap 2: Overlooking your starting point

With your dreams in hand, you’ve got to assess where you stand in key areas of your career and life.  Simply doing a personal/organizational S.L.O.T. (Strengths, Limitations, Opportunities, Threats) analysis can help you understand your starting point.  Clearly knowing your starting point helps in identifying the key areas you want to create goals.

Trap 3: “Storing” your goals in your brain

This simply is not going to work for you.  We have got to write our goals down onto a piece of paper.  I, too, have tried storing goals in my head only to forget, specifically, what the goal was until it morphed into something completely other than I originally intended.  This practice further allowed me to make excuses for why I didn’t get something done right, or not at all.  Sound familiar? Sorry…goals aren’t concrete unless they are written.

Trap 4: Adopting someone else’s goals as your own

If you did not create the goal you’re trying to achieve personally, you will not feel inspired toward achievement, nor will you likely achieve.  For example, your director may say to you “We need you performing in the top 15% of the company” (of course they do).  Your goal, in turn, should not be “I will perform in the top 15% of the company by Q1”.  You should have several personal goals that, once achieved, have you exceeding 15% naturally.

Trap 5: Blowing off S.M.A.R.T. Criteria

You’ve heard of SMART goals: Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistically High, Trackable (time bound).  A goal missing any one of these criteria will lack direction.  The purpose of a goal is to provide direction so achievement can be realized. Ask yourself, is my goal specific or is it vague?  Is it attainable or is it out of reach for me? Is it high enough and/or am I pushing myself enough? And finally, by what month, day, and year will I have achieved my goal?  Be real with yourself.

Trap 6: Not planning for obstacles

Obstacles are inevitable.  Whatever your SMART goal, there will be at a minimum one or two obstacles for which you must acknowledge as real, and 100% coming for you.  What are they?  Brainstorm all the possible obstacles that will destroy your goal achievement.  Then ask yourself, what action steps do I need to take to overcome these obstacles when and as they occur?  You may even find your action step becomes a goal in and of itself.

Trap 7: Failing to implement your action steps

Just like we need to write our SMART goals down on paper, we need to implement our actions steps toward achieving our goals and overcoming our obstacles.  I keep my action steps on my Astrid TO/DO Application on my smart phone.  You may have some other way.  Whatever it is, keep track of your action steps.  Prioritize them; give them deadlines.

We are often so busy we want to bypass writing down goals, thinking about goals, etc…the anxiety of today’s chaotic business environment provides a nice adrenaline rush, amongst other things. Remember to slow down for a few moments each day and remember your dreams, what you want, and why.

I love the phrase, “just do it!”  But first we must ask ourselves, “just do what?”  What is my aim?  How long will it take me?  How will I get there?  Where will I start?  When will I start?  When will I finish?  Why do I want to do this?  Then…just do it!

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Lately I find myself telling people I care about to be prepared.

Prepared for what?  Oh…just a few critical circumstances.

How about losing your job when you least expect it?  You thought it would never happen to you…

How about the special moment in time when you’re courageous enough to walk out on your job because, quite frankly, you can’t take it (or your manager/director/company culture) anymore?  It happens.

How about the time you admit to yourself you want to do something different, but you can’t quite put a finger on what it is?  It nags at you every day and you learn to live with it.  Or do you?

Or, how about living the rest of your entire life doing what you don’t love to do just so you can feel “secure”?

Ugh.

The following 3 steps are for you if you’re:

1) A CEO who doesn’t want to spend the rest of your career working for the company you’re working for right now.

2) An employee who is a leader, and you’re yearning for something more in your career and life.

3) A human being who wants to do more to achieve your full potential before you make your exit in this world.

Step 1: Discover your passion

I know…I make it sound like it’s easy.  What I’ve learned is that it’s our selves who make discovering our passion difficult.  All we need to do is observe.  Consider these 3 questions based on observing your behaviors:

1) In the last 1-2 years, what is it that you’ve been doing such that while you were doing it, the time seemed to fly by?

2) In the last 1-2 years, what was it you were doing such that afterward, you found yourself smiling?

3) In all of your lifetime, what are the top 3 things that, while you were doing it, you absolutely kicked ass?  And still do?  Of those three, which do you love?

Note: Questions 1 and 2 I give props to Robert K. Cooper, Author of The Other 90%.  These two questions literally woke me up in my late 20’s and helped prepare me for the rest of my life.  Thank you Mr. Cooper!

These are not easy questions for everyone (I’m still going over these questions with my mother of 56 years!).  I suggest thinking about it over the next week or so.  Do not force your answers (you’re only reporting to yourself on this one!)

Step 2: Create a powerful web presence based on your passion

This step involves reserving your own domain name (your name) at GoDaddy or some other web hosting platform, then selecting a blog platform such as Quansite, Weebly or blogger and creating articles, podcasts, or video posts about intel and topics involving your passion, followed by driving traffic to your blog via social networking.

For example, I have a friend who’s passionate about relationship building.  I have another friend who’s passionate about DIY home projects for women.  I know a CPA who wishes he were involved with the Theater!  All of these people are less than happy in their “other” careers right now, and would be ill prepared for a job loss or transition to boot.

It is a new day and the Internet is your tool for YOU, Inc.  Go there!

Step 3: Enjoy the ride

When you brand yourself on the internet by blogging about your passion and/or passionate cause, people will take notice of you before they even consider asking you for a resume. This is how opportunities – in tune with who you are – find you and ask you for a meeting, offer partnerships, new roles, etc…

When you do steps 1 and 2 you’ll be delighted to find that you’ve never been happier in your entire life, followed by only a brief moment of anger that you didn’t do this years ago.

This step is where you get the satisfaction of being prepared for an unexpected job loss, career transition, or other life-changing event involving your career and job security.

Why?  Because your brand has provided you credibility, thought leadership, and confidence.

You’re prepared for anything, AND you’re happy!  Fearless leadership at its finest.

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“We’ve been in sales a long time, so we don’t really need any help with sales.”

This is what I heard from a member of a sales team I was hired to help develop sales knowledge and skills.  This team of 7 had never had any formal sales training at this particular company, they didn’t operate under an incentive program, and most of them really didn’t care about growth  (What was in it for them, anyway?)  What some of them had grown was comfortable with their less than mediocre performance and never wanting to change.

So I began by creating an incentive structure to help motivate the sales team toward caring about their sales performance (step 1).  Then I had to convince their sales manager why incentive pay is a basic tenet to sales performance (true story and sadly this felt like pulling teeth!).  Once the incentive pay was negotiated it was time to role this puppy out to the sales team (I was starting to feel the love…more money if we do well?!  Imagine that.) Finally I scheduled our team meeting for Q&A.

If you were sitting next to me in that meeting room you would’ve heard a mixture of fear, frustration, and excitement.  Some people were already anticipating their future performance and felt uneasy about tracking their sales results. 

“So we’re going to compare our sales results to that of our previous month’s performance and with those on our team?”

“Yes”, I replied. 

“What if my territory has more Medicaid payers than anyone else on the team, is that really fair?”

“Fair or not, you will need to create a unique strategy plan – you all will”, I told them.  Then followed numerous hypothetical scenarios about performance and the bonus plan.

Can you hear the cogs of this business starting to turn? There is movement and change on the horizon.  Measurable results!

Suddenly spreadsheets were being created and the team began analyzing their performance through numbers.  We had weekly meetings where they shared case studies and participated in problem solving with one another.  They wanted to know how other people were being successful (or not).  They were talking about sales.  They wanted to be better.

Whether you are a seasoned sales professional or a complete newbie, the road to excellence is always under construction. This means that successful sales professionals expect more from life and more from themselves.  Always.

Some of the people on this sales team I told you about wanted to be better.  They looked forward to learning new information they could apply to their daily performance.  But a few others initially didn’t like the idea of learning something new.  They preferred to think they “had arrived”; that they “knew sales” and their was nothing more to learn.  Really?

Reflection: How much do you want to succeed?  Do you expect to get from life without giving of your self?  Or, do you excel simply for the excitement of being better than you, and naturally reap rewards along the way?

If you are the sort who is interested in improving your personal sales performance, download this sales performance checklist and rate your self accordingly on a scale of 1-10.  Consider making copies for your sales team or share with your manager to show him or her where you are great and where/how you plan on improving.  Talk about being proactive and in control of your situation.  A leader!

I suggest picking no more than 3 things to improve at a time.  Give yourself 2-6 weeks to fully develop your new and improved selling skill!  Reward yourself when you’ve achieved success and then pick your next three areas.

As a sales professional you can readily guess the benefits for taking this advice: increased sales, bonus, recognition, confidence.  What can you lose if you don’t?  Sales, bonus, recognition, confidence.  Got that? 

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Do you know the very first place to begin earning customer loyalty?

The first place leadership and management can begin to earn customer loyalty is from within their own organizations – with their own people, or their “internal customers”.  You must be healthy inside, if you are to look exceptional on the outside.

Part 4 of this article series serves to provide an enhanced appreciation for the internal components that help drive and sustain customer loyalty externally: Being a visionary, Leading with personal power, and Praising your employees.

Be a Visionary

Have you ever worked for a company and asked yourself, “Doesn’t anybody know what in the he** is going on around here?”  Me too.

I have experience with an organization in which the president of the company (a holier than thou sort) changed the direction and focus of the company literally every 2 weeks!

If you could’ve witnessed the impact of that sort of leadership on the workforce, you would’ve seen some very talented employees feeling and behaving confused, frustrated, and fearful.  Confused because they didn’t know which way was up (at work), frustrated because they often felt like they were stupid, and fearful because they were consistently yelled at for the decisions of their inadequate leader.

Now let me ask you, what impact does such a lack of vision and focus have on an organization’s effectiveness for achieving company growth?  Customer Loyalty?

Executives, managers and leaders: If you haven’t yet provided your workforce/direct reports with a vision for success (where the company wants to go, be, etc.), you may want to consider taking some time and reflect on what that vision is, and then share it, many, many times!

If you provide your people with a vision, you’ve provided them with an inspirational purpose that will guide their daily activities for achieving company goals.

If you choose not to be a visionary, I guarantee a majority of your workforce/reports are confused and they don’t know what you want.  How does this look from the outside?  What will be your external customers’ experience?

Lead with Personal Power

Sometimes executives and managers believe if they yell or speak aggressively their employees will know what they want.  A few weeks ago I had the unexpected “pleasure” of overhearing a business owner yelling at one of his employees. It sounded like he was yelling at a misbehaving child or pet.  The employee stiffened up, zipped his lips, and took orders just as he was treated – an obedient child or scared puppy with his tail between his legs.

Why? – Probably because he was afraid of the consequences if he chose to behave otherwise.  Imagine, on a daily basis this employee performs out of fear, not inspiration, to achieve company goals (although this sort of leadership isn’t quite exemplary for goal setting).

What is your method of leading?  Do you lead others with personal power (others perform for you based on your personal leadership and the value you provide others), or, do you choose instead to lead with fear-based authority (you are insecure and misguided about how to get results)?

Sometime today, take a few moments to reflect on how you’ve been getting results from others at work.  On a scale of 1-5, 5 being high for personal power, note your score so you can either keep up the good work, or strive for improvement.

If you lead with personal power, people will do what you ask them to do because you’ve consistently shown them that you are a resource, you listen, empathize, inspire and understand them, and you take the time to help them with their problems.  People will respect you, and take pride in using the best of their abilities to meet your expectations.

If you lead with fear, your commands are a drone, and your results will reflect accordingly.  Again, how does this look from the outside?  What will be the customer’s experience upon interacting with your fearful employees?

Praise your employees (often!)

Your employees are internal “customers”!  Just as your external customers possess wants/needs/desires that they seek to have fulfilled (hopefully via your product/service), so to do your employees have wants/needs/desires they seek to have fulfilled by their employers. If your internal and external customers’ wants/needs aren’t being met, they will not be satisfied, and they will not be loyal to you or your organization.

What is it that you do to help keep your internal customers satisfied and loyal?

The almighty thing you can do better this week (and the many that follow) to boost employee satisfaction is to seek out opportunities to praise them often. Something to the degree of, “Hey…awesome job on that analysis yesterday.  You really have a keen ability for sifting through details.  Thank you so much!”

When you praise your employees, notice the emotion in their face, their sense of pride for pleasing you, and the increase in positive behaviors and performance.

How does THAT look from the outside?  What will be the customer’s experience?

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Because the growth potential and risk factors associated with your company are two key measures investors use to predict their profitability (and yours), the successful growth of your organization will absolutely hinge on your company’s organizational effectiveness – your company’s top-down ability to consistently achieve organizational goals!

It’s critical to always be assessing, developing, and measuring your organization’s effectiveness at achieving organizational goals in five core areas:

1. Management
2. Marketing
3. Sales
4. ‘Customer’ Experience
5. Executive Leadership

Part 1 of this article focuses on managerial effectiveness.

Demonstrate Organizational Effectiveness with your Management Team!

Although important, go beyond the track records and professional experiences of your management team and closely examine their managerial talent: their proven ability to increase the amount of profitable behaviors in your company.   Right now, can you make a list of all the profitable behaviors that take place in your company?

If you are a manager, ask yourself these additional questions:

• How am I effective at increasing the amount of results-driven behavior within my company, team or department?
• How have I been able to achieve and show measurable results that directly impact the strategic direction of my organization?
• What is the strategic direction of my company?
• When have I provided clear, strategic direction for my department?

One of the biggest challenges your management team will face is creating an environment where people are excited to perform for the results of the organization!  Managerial talent is proven through effectively…

• Leading in response to a variety of situations
• Setting goals to establish direction, define actions, and measure results
• Turning solutions into goals, and goals into actions
• Achieving Production, People, and Time Management Goals
• Planning with a clear and communicated purpose
• Making decisions employees can become committed to achieving
• Getting desired results from people
• Communicating in a way that cultivates knowledge and acceptance
• Dealing with negative behavior vs ignoring it or upholding its root cause

So how does your management team rate in managerial talent and effectiveness?

If there’s room for improvement, consider adding these concepts to your annual or quarterly performance appraisals, OR ask your management team to rate themselves in each of the above competencies prior to their reviews.  Follow-through with setting goals to improve and develop your team.

Sound like a lot of work?  It is!  That’s why the best companies are the best.  They’ve earned it.  Again…we have choices!

Only talented managers can create a profitable environment that demonstrates organizational effectiveness, and thus presents less risk to investors!

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Time is the substance I am made of.
Time is a river that sweeps me along, but I am the river;
Time is a tiger that can rip me apart, but I am the tiger;
Time is a fire that can consume me, but I am the fire.
~Jorge Luis Borges

I don’t believe there is any one secret system for everyone to effectively manage all the activities that make up our day.  But I do believe if there is one “secret” to effectively managing our time, it’s the fact that we are time itself.  What we choose to do every minute of the day is a product of ourselves, and hence, a direct reflection of our person and performance.

The quote above serves as an excellent reminder that it is ourselves who can overwhelm our “self” with activities, or streamline production.  In essence, Time Management is Self Management. 

To be successful, we need to get a lot of things done, fast.  Furthermore, the things that we “do” need to be done right (the first time)!  That’s why we need time/self management!  No one is exempt.

Here are a few suggestions to begin developing your unique system to effectively manage yourself:

• Make a list of your biggest dreams:

Seriously, what do you want to do in your lifetime personally and professionally?  Think in terms of life categories: social, physical, mental, career/financial, and spiritual.  Prioritize these “wants” and set S.M.A.R.T (specific, measurable, attainable, realistically high, and trackable) goals to track and measure your progress toward achieving your dreams.

If we don’t spend the time in our life reaching for our dreams, we will be unhappy, guaranteed.  To manage yourself and your time around your goals and dreams is step 1 in effectively managing your time.  To not do so, limits your potential for results.  What is your opportunity cost if you ignore your dreams?

Remember, someone is always willing to tell you what to do with your time.  Make your time yours; helping others with your unique skills and abilities in alignment with your passions and dreams is your time well spent, while serving those around you.

• Include your goal-oriented activities in your daily task list:

First, start using a daily task list.  If you think you’re too busy or important to keep a task list, you are probably feeling overwhelmed, disorganized or are oblivious to the inconvenience you cause others with your mismanagement of time and resources.  Good luck to you!

If you are one of those who is using a daily task list, save a line item for a task that will help you achieve a personal and professional goal everyday.  Do this, and you will undoubtedly achieve your goals.

Take a glance at your task list right now.  Is there anything on there today that serves you and your company in aspiring towards greatness?

• Spend most of your time in production (creating or providing your product/service), sales, and marketing:

I actually had a business owner tell me, “I have plans for marketing, but I’m just too busy to deal with that right now”.  Hold the phone!  None of us should ever be too busy to market our businesses, products and services or ideas on a daily basis!

A valuable insight I learned during a teleseminar hosted by Stephanie Frank, author of “The Accidental Millionaire”, is that 7-figure companies spend most of their time in sales & marketing-related activities, while 6-figure companies spend most of their time in production-related activities.  Those companies earning less than 6 figures were consumed with administration. This logic makes a lot of practical sense.

Take another look at your task list.  Which of your activities are indicative of someone operating or working for a 6- or 7-figure organization?  What is your Sales/Marketing : Production : Administration ratio?  What will your new ratio be?  Start your new activity ratio ASAP and reap improved results!

• When you fall off schedule or task, start over:

The beauty of creating a personalized self/time management system is that it is a “system”.  Systems can be modified, obliterated, and recreated according to need and circumstance.  And a good system can always be resorted to, even if you have a bad day.

I’ve fallen off schedule many times in a week as a result of a distraction or an emergency.  What saved me every time is having a system to go back to, and then picking up where I left off.  Without a system, an interruption or crisis can disrupt your productivity and results for weeks!

A good system consists of key categories according to days of the week, times of the day, etc.  Depending on your job functions, determine the appropriate categories for you, and segment your activities accordingly.  Don’t forget sales, marketing, and production should be integrated throughout!  Even if your role is administrative, you have ideas to sell and personalized products to create and produce.

What is at least one way you can improve your self-management today?

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1. Everybody possesses the ability to lead.  This means that every member of your workforce can develop his/her unique leadership skills and abilities to achieve improved results. It’s a common myth that a select number of us are “born” leaders.
2. Leadership is a journey.  Leadership characteristics are developed and improved over time. Consciously and consistently developing our leadership skills will accelerate our results.  Compare the skill sets you possess now to those of five years ago.  How are you doing?
3. Leadership is a personal choice.  If we don’t take the initiative to grow our leadership potential, we will achieve limited success.  We create our future, our companies and the world when we take responsibility for developing our leadership potential and the potential of our workforce.  On a scale of 1-10, how would you rate your initiative for developing your leadership potential?  How about that of your workforce?
4. People get results, not titles. We must first be effective leaders personally, before we can be effective leaders formally. Both formal and personal leadership require personal power – we get results from people because our behaviors are those that earn people’s trust and respect, thus people are eager to follow our lead.
5. Leaders face failure head-on.  When mistakes happen leaders act on courage and adhere to their values to keep leading.  Remember, it’s who we are in times of intense challenge that define our character. Which of your leadership characteristics are shining through at work and at home during this challenging time in our economy?  Are you a lighthouse or a weather-vane?
6. Leaders set goals.  Goals act as a compass for success.  If we don’t set written goals we are at high risk for losing sight of where we are going personally and professionally.  Leadership requires pointing everyone in the same direction.  Are you setting written goals?

What might you add to this list?

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Over the course of my career in biopharmaceutical sales, I’ve learned much about people, leadership, success, failure, sales, management, problem solving, teams, and growth!

To kick off my first post on the Roxx Consulting blog, I’d like to share a few of the many lessons I’ve learned about my passion, organizational effectiveness, during my tenure in the biotechnology industry. 

Business lessons I will not forget:

1.  Customer Loyalty: Customer loyalty is to your business what vitamin D is to your body: you have to go out of your way to get it, and without it you cannot survive.

The pivotal words here are “go out of your way”.  Maybe it’s just me, but I’m easily dazzled when a business goes out of their way for my convenience.  I tell everyone in my circle about the fantastic experience I had as I complement the management there. 

Many business owners will nod their heads in agreement regarding “focusing on the customer” and, “improving the customer experience”; yet, they take minimal to no action! This is a far cry from going out of their way. Think of the missed opportunity for free advertising and gaining an edge on your competition!

Sadly, I know too many companies right now that are slowly dying because of their inability to implement effective customer management
systems. They are aware of the problem (poor customer service), they say they must do something (how about a new marketing campaign?), and then they do nothing to address the real issue. Big mistake. Eventually, their organizational ineffectiveness will consume them from the inside out (although it appears to be from the outside in).

2.  Time Strategies: Time strategies are the ultimate litmus test for top talent.

Time management is always a hot topic for discussion, as well as popular measure for performance. For as much attention as it gets, why is it not the star interview question or the first category on a performance appraisal?  It really should be. 

Effective time management reflects one’s ability for hardcore problem solving.  Because, as enjoyable as life is, each day presents it’s fair share of creative problem solving for our enhanced enjoyment. By now, we’ve all had the opportunity to “show our stuff” in this key area.           

So take a close look (and I mean a really close look; spend some time on this one) at that interviewee’s time strategies, or your
employees’ level of performance as it relates to navigating through daily problems.  I bet you’ll find that your top talent (you know, those who always seem to get results come hell or high-water) is a master time strategist aka problem solver.

If a position requires lifting heavy problems, hire a master time strategist!

3.  Sales and Marketing: It’s an entirely new ecosystem.  Adapt!

I come from the land of Sales Force Oz where big marketing budgets reign supreme and the sales force is treated like bronze (platinum in the earlier days) and handed expensive, yet typically ineffective, tools for sales conversion (although every now and then we would get a “winner” tool my teammates and I would jokingly ask, “Where’s the magic wand?  Can we expect that in our next quarterly shipment?)

It’s very different now. An expansive (and expensive!) sales force with elaborate brochures and a fancy pitch is no longer as effective as it once was more than a decade ago. Marketing and sales have officially converged online where information marketing – on the customer’s terms – is a basic requirement.

Here’s the good news: you can save sales and marketing dollars AND successfully grow your business!

4.  Team Leadership: Create many specialized “organelles” within your organization.

I think of teams much like the specialized organelles within a cell. Their job is to carry out advanced functions for the optimized performance of the whole (the organization and the cell, respectively).

What’s important to your organization?  Innovation?  Customer management? Fresh marketing content?  Put together a specialized team for each goal category verses suffering through organization-wide communication problems due to a lack of accountability. 

Create each team to function as an independent whole with a qualified leader, manager, and roles and responsibilities for each member as it pertains to that unit.  Measure performance and reap targeted results!

5.  Management:  Practice superior quality control by obliterating ineffective management early!

I’ve witnessed in awe how bad management slows results.  Awe because little-to-nothing is often done about it – bad managers are allowed to run rampant!  This is way too costly for an organization to tolerate.  Only the best people shouldbe managers.  “Best” meaning healthy-minded individuals with superior leadership ability.

If you know someone has an obnoxious ego or presents with a personality disorder, don’t promote him/her into management!  It will only get worse. You’ll reduce organizational effectiveness for achieving goals. 

Bad management is an insidious disease.  Cynicism is the side effect to look for in your people.  Identify and obliterate. The growth of your company depends on it!

6.  Leadership:  If leadership is results, then by all means…culture it!

Highly effective organizations ooze leadership.  It is developed from the top-down on an ongoing basis so that no matter what a person’s position or function, they can be depended upon as a leader in their unique role for producing results.

Some organizations take leadership development lightly or not at all.  Another mistake.  The truth is, leadership begins with the founding culture of the organization. That culture needs to be infused throughout the company through strategic development and used as a filter for hiring and retaining the right talent.

Continuously develop your people’s potential for leadership and you will optimize results and organizational growth!

7.  Executive Leadership: The marketplace has an affinity for effective organizations.

The more effective your company is at all the various business management functions, the more attractive you will be to the market. 

A top scientist seeking employment will experience an aversion to organizations known for high employee turnover.  Investors will be leery to invest in an organization with no real vision and true purpose to guide its people toward achieving critical milestones.  And no one will want to partner with a company that has bad managers chronically debilitating performance and results.

A word to the wise: your best marketing will not attract the market if your management is less than stellar.  Bad management will show up in you measure of customer loyalty and your slow demise will begin.

Improve effectiveness; increase attractiveness!

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