Be Different or be dead

July 29, 2013

3 actions leaders can take when on the brink of a disaster

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3 actions leaders can take when on the brink of a disaster.

First what does it mean to be on the brink of disaster?

It’s not an operating margin problem, an inventory turn issue or the need to rationalize your product line.

The end is near when you are no longer relevant to your fans

CEO’s can be good denial artists. They suddenly turn into rationalizing speech makers who explain away the fact that the grim reaper is at their doorway and that they are becoming irrelevant.

Yellow Pages believed they could compete with Google; Blackberry believed they were not in a death spiral yet were never able to respond successfully to Apple and other smart phone suppliers.

Rhetoric rules the airwaves. Intent abounds. Aspirations are plentiful.

But no tangible counter play is offered.

Defensive retreat. Saving face. Appeasing the investment community.

The truth is, leadership does not want to believe they are on a path to irrelevance. That they no longer deliver the value they once did. They want to believe that somehow a miracle will happen and new relevance will be pulled from the hat.

Believing in something is a long way from doing it

Leaders need to recognize when the end is near.

They need to be honest enough to admit that they are going under unless a drastic intervention is done to re-create themselves.

That they need to start a revolution. Cast aside tradition.

It’s not about leveraging current strengths. It’s about building new capabilities that will create new relevance for people.

Create a new game not a new play

3 questions that leaders should ask themselves:

◾️ What would your weirdest fan suggest you do to save your business? Why do all CEO’s believe the big consulting companies know what you should do? They don’t have all the answers.

◾️ What if you went in the opposite direction to your competitors? What would a 180-degree plan look like?

◾️ What desperate things can you do right now? What, you don’t think you are desperate? You’re fooling yourself. Desperate times (like becoming irrelevant) demand desperate measures. And I don’t mean just cost cutting.

Execute 3 desperate acts over the next 24-hours even if you’re not in the middle of a storm.

Urgency is always the right thing to do.

Cheers,
Roy
Check out my BE DiFFERENT or be dead Book Series

• Posted 7.29.13 at 05:41 am by Roy Osing
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June 29, 2013

Why don’t organizations recruit and honour ‘weird’ people?

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Why don’t organizations recruit and honour ‘weird’ people?

✔️ You’re unreasonable;
✔️ You’re not normal;
✔️ You’re weird;
✔️ You’re crazy;
✔️ You’re off the wall:
✔️ You’re ridiculous;
✔️ You’re unpredictable.

These are common accusations made when someone doesn’t conform to someone else’s expectations:

— When someone stands-out from the commonplace crowd and is noticed;

— When someone makes another person feel uncomfortable;

— When a person casts ‘normal’ aside to be who they are, not what others expect them to be.

Innovation and creativity comes from weirdness. It doesn’t come from being like everyone else

Strong leadership comes from crazy notions of what people value and are prepared to pay for. It does not come from fitting-in and doing what everyone else does.

Great companies have a ‘ridiculous’ DNA structure, always searching for products and services that excite people’s emotions and make them happy.

They aren’t made great by following best of breed.

Traditional HR practices sorely lack the ability to attract weirdness because they don’t look for it.

Look for it.

Declare that it is a strategic imperative for you.

Include it in your statement of values.

“We treasure weirdness and ridiculousness”.

Cheers,
Roy
Check out my BE DiFFERENT or be dead Book Series

• Posted 6.29.13 at 08:44 am by Roy Osing
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June 24, 2013

Why people can be too focused on producing results

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Why people can be too focused on producing results.

Results focused—a characteristic of an effective person in an organization. Keeping your eye on the prize and pulling out all the stops to get it

Mindless pursuit of your target. is there anything wrong with this picture?

Don’t get me wrong. I am an absolute zealot of delivering results on time on expectations and on budget.

But there is a potential downside if the process of delivering the results is not done thoughtfully.

Delivering results without considering how they are delivered can leave road kill along the way

It can cause devastating collateral damage to bystanders and others who are involved in delivering the results.

Get your thinking around the long term impact of what you are delivering.

The long term lens will encourage you build relationships with people who will play an important role in delivery.

Take time to build trust between yourself and your stakeholders. Distance yourself from thinking about what you are delivering as a transaction.

What’s important is the longevity of what you are delivering. It is sustainability.

Short term transactions rarely yield long term value.

Results delivered through a process of trust, mutual respect and caring will deliver a quality result that will endure for a long time.

Cheers,
Roy
Check out my BE DiFFERENT or be dead Book Series

• Posted 6.24.13 at 05:03 am by Roy Osing
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April 29, 2013

6 proven ways to do a better job of innovating

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6 proven ways to do a better job of innovating.

Innovate! is critical to the success of any organization, and these innovation strategies have been proven to work

But the process must be guided by a strategy to be different from the competition and provide people reasons why they should buy from them and no one else.

These 6 actions will help you do a better job of innovation.

▪️Establish a context for Innovate! — Idea generation and brainstorming is a waste unless it is guided by strategic direction. Use your strategic business plan as the frame to drive your Innovate! activity.

▪️Develop specific objectives with accountability and time-frames assigned. — Establish specific Innovate! objectives in your game plan to focus on the specific elements which require you to create a “new box”.

▪️Target your Innovate! objectives around your ONLY Statement — It should be your beacon to follow because it establishes your unique position in the market.
Many organizations follow best practices. This works if you want to improve delivery of your core service but it’s NOT OK if you want to stand-out from the competition.

Copying a best practice is a catch-up game at best; it’s not strategic.

Innovate! rule — Consider best practices to deliver flawless core service and your ONLY statement to leave the herd.

▪️Develop your Human Resources plan — to acquire and develop the Innovate! skills and competencies you need as defined by your game plan?

▪️Design reward and recognition programs — around your Innovate! objectives. If you don’t, you will do nothing but encourage the status quo.

▪️Leverage your customer learning capabilities — to drive the Innovate! process. Use both analysis and observation to know everything there is to know about WHO you have chosen to serve. Follow their lead.

Cheers,
Roy
Check out my BE DiFFERENT or be dead Book Series

• Posted 4.29.13 at 06:53 am by Roy Osing
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