We are swimming in a sea of Edsels, or at least with a mess of Edsel tadpoles. Things change. And during a major recession, things change more than usual. Add to that a health care crisis, an energy crisis, and an environmental crisis or two and if you think business as usual will return and continue as usual, you are probably trying to sell one of those Edsels. Here is one example: I met with two business women over coffee on a recent morning. The menu was loaded with Edsel tadpoles. Each of us struggled to order something to go with our coffee – it just seems the decent thing to do when occupying a table for a lengthy discussion.
Acquisition opportunities, like breakthrough product ideas, can capture one’s imagination and start a stampede. Occasionally, the stampede is appropriate. More often, it is not. So when does an acquisition make sense? The purpose of an acquisition is to gain access to business advantages important to your strategy*. Examples include: Ready access to markets via brand, shelf-space, relationships, sales methods, etc. A new product line that complements, protects, expands, or replaces existing products Intellectual property and licensing rights
It always makes sense to learn about your customers’ wants and needs. Great ideas for how to satisfy those wants and needs can come from up, down, and outside your organization and can become invaluable inputs to your strategic planning process. But a list of ideas, even a sorted and filtered list, is not a strategy. Too often organizations chase promising ideas rather than develop a strategy. This is like trying to acquire a team of top athletes without first deciding which sport you intend to play. You may be able to build a team around a top athlete, just as you may be able to build your business around one fabulous idea, but that is the exception, not the rule.
The “devil is in the details” resounds with foreboding at every turn. You must do your homework and dig into “the details” before leaping into a new project. You must follow up on “the details” to avoid dropping the ball. The quality of your product may depend entirely on “the details” that drive precise execution and precise tolerances. No one can argue with this. And yet, the world is awash in detail. With seemingly more detail every day. People often spend more time on unnecessary detail than on important detail. On unnecessary decisions. Unimportant decisions. Fixing problems that don’t need fixing. Tracking paperwork and information of no consequence. Choosing between virtually identical alternatives. Trying to control the uncontrollable. Knowing the unknowable. Preventing the unpreventable. So what’s to do? How do you tend to the right details and ignore the rest? The answer lies in good judgment.
PRESS RELEASE July 27, 2010 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact: Ann Latham 603-784-5727 Uncommon Clarity®, Inc. EASTHAMPTON, MA – Ann Latham has been invited by the UMass Family Business Center to present a morning workshop on September 10th entitled “Fair Process – What It Is and Why You Should Care.” This workshop is for executives, business owners, and managers who want decisions to be made with healthy debate followed by acceptance, and who may have wondered why some decisions, good or bad, big or little, cause startling levels of anger and revolt, while some bad decisions are accepted with nary a ruffled feather. For more information, contact Ann at 603-784-5727 or visit the UMass Family Business Center website.
Three CEOs have told me in the last few weeks that they are having trouble getting parts to fill orders. Suppliers, who cut back on staff and inventory, are either still too cautious or just too slow to ramp up. Part of it is understandable. From one end of the supply chain to the other, cautious forecasts beget cautious forecasts and suppliers play wait and see. Then, when an order comes in, the scrambling begins. Compromises are made, new suppliers are found, and old suppliers lose. Few win in such a scramble. It is time to anticipate your recovery and prepare for success. People who wait and blame factors beyond their control are not likely to come out on top, assuming they survive at all.
PRESS RELEASE July 16, 2010 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact: Ann Latham 603-784-5727 Uncommon Clarity®, Inc. EASTHAMPTON, MA – Ann Latham runs Uncommon Clarity off solar panels Two years after installing solar panels, Ann Latham, president of Uncommon Clarity, is happy to report another net positive year. “It has been interesting to watch the seasonal and weather-related variations in our solar generation, but even with a dismal month here and there, we are delighted again this year to see our production exceed our usage.” Latham, who drives a hybrid and has made decisions with the environmental impact in mind from the time she could finally reach a light switch, is quick to discuss the reasons she installed solar panels and to point out the business advantages of strong values.
I take exception to both “Pfeffer: Company Loyalty is Dead — Fend for Yourself!” http://blogs.bnet.com/harvard/?p=7563 and the referenced article. A business is a team sport. No one can win alone. If you help the business win and help those around you succeed, you are unlikely to be laid off or stabbed in the back. At the same time, you must don your own oxygen mask first. Toot your own horn when appropriate. Don’t expect others to intuit your willingness to step up, recognize capabilities you have yet to demonstrate, or identify opportunities to help you grow. Take responsibility for your own career and brand; neither is known to arrive on a silver platter for free.
Spending too much of your week in meetings? Tired of meetings that just lead to more meetings? Want to take back those meeting hours so you can do something else with your day or maybe even go home at a more reasonable hour? Then get this audio seminar, Meeting Mastery – How to Slash Meeting Times in Half and Get Better Results by master facilitator and performance improvement expert Ann Latham today! In this 45 minute audio seminar, you will learn: The six secrets to slashing meeting times in half and getting better results The three critical criteria for holding a meeting How to recognize meetings that should be eliminated Techniques that will make you a better meeting leader today How to recognize trouble on an agenda and intervene to minimize wasted time Available in both CD and MP3 download. Buy it today and start saving time and getting better results!
Org charts and goals can be extremely hazardous to profit margins. You may wonder how this can possibly be, especially after all the recent focus on cost cuts. The reason? Not all revenue dollars are created equal and not all cost cuts increase profits. With everyone responsible for something other than profits, profits suffer: The sales force is responsible for booking orders; big orders and lots of orders are what counts. They may not have any idea which customers and products are most profitable. The production people are responsible for shipping quality products on time. The more products that go out the door on time, the bigger their bonuses and raises. It doesn’t matter how many of those products have low or no margin.