The Tortoise or the Hare?

September 9, 2009 by Rich Benci.

September 9, 2009

 

As you review the progress of your business so far this year, how would you characterize the implementation of your strategy?

 

Is your company a Tortoise? Did you set achievable goals at the beginning of the year, provide instructions to the team on how to work and have everybody methodically work against those goals without veering off target? Were there new opportunities that popped up like a bright shiny strobe light but your team kept their head down, plodding across the previously laid out route?

 

Or is your company a Hare? Were you not quite sure what the next 12 months would look like? Did you keep a nimble team that could chase down that bright shiny strobe light — and the 50 other enticing strobe lights — to determine which opportunity could bring the quickest rewards?

 

This is the classic tale and a major prioritization dilemma for many organizations: slow and steady? or fast and opportunistic? One of my favorite quotes from my former boss-lady Cathie Black (president, Hearst Magazines) answers the question:

 

“Slow and steady does NOT win the race anymore; you must be FAST and steady!”

 

It’s not the tortoise OR the hare that wins the corporate race — it’s the camel. The camel is fast, has the resources to last through its entire trek, and doesn’t change course unless the current route proves impassable. And at the end of a long journey the camel replenishes and is ready to continue on — fast and steady — much like a business has to continue on after achieving this year’s goals.

 

It is imperative to turn your business into one like a camel so you can meet your yearly objectives and continue to outpace your rivals in future years. If you are squeezing out your current goals by chasing opportunities in a hare-like frenzied manner, or plodding along the same course similar to a tortoise no matter what is happening in the environment around you, your company will be in danger come the new year.

 

The hare will not have a systematic approach to penetrating a market and will have to continuously chase disparate opportunities, eventually burning out from never-ending sprints. Meanwhile, the tortoise strategy conserves resources by being singularly focused, but will lose out on expanding its market share and be unable to fend off competition.

 

To create a corporation resembling the camel you need to have a strong Mission Statement. This will allow all opportunities to be viewed through a clear lens to determine whether it’s worth further investigation and eliminating irrelevant distractions from creeping into your project plans. Everyone on your executive team — and potentially every employee — needs to clearly understand the Mission so everyone can make these decisions within their scope of duties.

 

This will cascade throughout the corporation, making hiring decisions, resource investments, and project prioritization a constructive exercise — and keep your company running FAST and STEADY!

Please contact me to become more efficient and effective by validating your strategies and activities that relate to your corporate mission.

Rich Benci
Benci Consulting, LLC.
Rich@Benci.NET

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Posted in Leadership, Uncategorized | 1 Comment »

Managing is NOT the same as Leading

April 15, 2009 by Rich Benci.

I have witnessed firsthand the horror of having someone with a Sr. VP title be little more than a supervisor … as well as being delighted to have a first time manager show great leadership.

 

There are two distinct roles you should play if you have employees that report directly to you:  Manager and Leader.   No matter how high or low you are listed in the org chart, you have to display both characteristics.    (there are additional roles that will be discussed in future blogs that you will also have to demonstrate, including:  task master;  supervisor;  and administrator)

 

The key is to know what percentage of your energy should be dedicated to each role.  The higher in the organization, the more you should be embracing leadership characteristics.  But everyone in the organization should demonstrate leadership within their domain;  regardless of the title on your business card … or even if you don’t have a business card!

 

Managing is the act of providing guidance and resources so employees can achieve a project’s desired outcome.  Leading is the process of motivating employees to achieve their goals by articulating the vision of the company’s greater purpose.

 

These roles are not granted (or limited) by your functional title.   Managers owe more to their direct employees and their peers than just giving orders.  The collective team will be much more effective if they understand the “why” behind the orders and they need to be part of the decision-making process on “how” to achieve the goals.  When the employee is not allowed to enter into a dialogue with their manager on the “why” and “how” to achieve a goal, it becomes difficult for the employee to accept ownership of the outcome.

 

Leadership is a difficult role to pull off.  Allowing your team to vigorously debate the “why” and “how” does not necessarily mean you are out to build a consensus or take a vote.  Articulating the link between the project and the company’s mission allows the “why” and “how” discussion to take place in the proper  context.   This allows you to lead a vigorous debate without it becoming an argument because everyone will understand the common goal you are trying to attain.  As a leader, it is not your job to make everyone happy,  your job is to seek collaboration. 

 

It is the leader’s responsibility to listen to alternative methods and ideas until they fully understand the issues involved.  At this point, the leader can make a decision that best aligns the project’s outcome to the company’s mission, even if that isn’t the popular choice of the team.  However, if that manager is unwilling to modify their preconceived notion on how to implement the project even though there is overwhelming evidence from the team that there is a better way, well, then that manager is doing more damage going through the motions than if they just dictated the tasks from the get-go.  The true leader is willing to amend their plan based on input.

 

The team members also have the responsibility to listen and ask clarifying questions until they understand the link between the project and the company’s mission.  If the employee articulates their position — and is confident their manager understands that position – then the employee has to accept the manager’s decision even when it is contrary to the employee’s desired outcome.

 

Everyone working together, not everyone agreeing with each other, is what allows organizations to achieve superior results.  You will also find employees more willing to follow their leaders instead of resenting their managers … even though the leader and manager may be the same person!

 

If you would like assistance to create a culture of open collaboration to achieve superior results, please contact me at:   Rich@Benci.NET

Rich Benci
www.Benci.NET

 

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Posted in Leadership, Uncategorized | 1 Comment »

iPhone vs. Blackberry vs. Treo

March 31, 2009 by Rich Benci.

 

Applying the right tools and resources at your company is one of the key challenges that executives face.  It is often difficult to determine if you’ll get a strong ROI when investing in people, computers, facilities, projects, etc.  But if you don’t make a needed investment, then you will not be prepared for growth because you’ll be inefficient. 

 

Oy vey!  (Hey, if this were easy, anyone could be an executive!)

 

This topic came to mind as I started having issues with my Palm Treo.  I loved my Treo, the Palm software was stable so I didn’t have the lock-up problems many of my associates had.  While at my former company, it did everything I ever needed (thanks to Tim, Christian and TJ).  But since I left the office to start my consulting practice, I no longer had a managed email server and back-up system being fully administered.

 

My Treo no longer was the right tool for me.  It broke my technology heart.  I first started using Palm back in the Palm Pilot days and I was a loyal advocate.  But this was business and I had to be more efficient to successfully run my company.

 

I started evaluating the production quality smart phones, and quickly narrowed down the list to the iPhone, Blackberry, and the Treo’s replacement by Palm (called the Pre, which isn’t yet available).  While I really wanted to join the in-crowd and get an iPhone, I just couldn’t successfully use its touch screen for texting and emails.  (I’ve had an iTouch for 6 months and was able to practice but STILL couldn’t get good at it)

 

I am now a satisfied Blackberry Curve user just when it seems like having a Blackberry is old-fashioned.  I’m very glad I didn’t let the emotion of wanting the iPhone get in the way for what was the right choice for my specific situation.  The Blackberry Curve and Verizon service provides me everything I need to be effective and efficient when I’m in my office or offsite at a client, even if it does nothing for my cool quotient.

 

When you are contemplating the next investment in tools and resources, make sure you are aligning your money, people and energy with the projects that provide the largest payoff.   Avoid making these decisions based on your gut feelings because that tends to lean towards what is cool — but not necessarily effective for your specific situation.

 

 

If you would like assistance validating that your projects relate directly back to your business goals for the highest ROI, please contact me at:  Rich@Benci.NET

 

Rich Benci
Benci Consulting, LLC.
www.Benci.NET

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Posted in Tools, Uncategorized | 2 Comments »

Not All PR is Good PR

March 27, 2009 by Rich Benci.

A wonderful event happened to my former company yesterday:  a front page story ran in the NY Times about the company.  Not only that, all local and regional papers who utilize the NY Times news service also ran the article on their front pages.

WOW, what wonderful PR!  A marketers dream come true, right? … not so fast.  This is a case of not all PR is good PR.

The NY Times reporter, Stephanie Clifford, was the one who initiated the article.  She obviously had a preconceived idea of the story’s headline before she even started her research.  Stephanie was not going to let the inconvenience of the truth get in her way.  And there’s the telltale warning sign.  If you did not initiate the PR campaign, be very wary of a reporter or analyst who calls you out of the blue.  It means they already have a story premise, and they need some good quotes to support their thesis.

Every company should have their three key PR points well prepared, even if you are not initiating a PR campaign.  It should be drilled into the mind of the public-facing executive.  Just like a politician during a campaign, no matter what the question is, you need to provide an answer that brings it back to one of your three key messages.  And, you NEED to have it in writing with supporting facts.  After EVERY interview, no matter how trivial it seems at the time, you should be sending the reporter a follow-up document to eliminate any confusion the reporter has.  After all, they spend all of 20 minutes talking to you — no way they can understand your business in that short amount of time!

Here are two examples of the same type of story.  The first is the example of a reactive interview, where Ms. Clifford already had her story and used the call to RealAge for filler.  The second is an example from 2005 where my team reached out to a reporter and helped the reporter craft the idea for the article.  This was part of our controlled PR strategy to show our success after the dot-com crash in order to attract new employees and give confidence to our clients.

Reactive example:
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/26/technology/internet/26privacy.html?scp=1&sq=realage&st=cse

(Note:  I am by no means implying RealAge was unprepared for yesterday’s story.  They have very capable and effective marketing and PR people.  This is a case where the reporter, Stephanie Clifford, did not do her job of balanced reporting.  Following the steps outlined here can minimize bad PR, but cannot prevent a reporter from ignoring basic investigative reporting protocols.)

Controlled example:
http://www.entrepreneur.com/tradejournals/article/130051629_2.html

(the RealAge portion starts about 1/3 down the page)

If you would like to comment on this, or would like assistance reviewing your key messages that relate to your business mission, please contact me at: Rich@Benci.NET

Rich Benci
Benci Consulting, LLC.
Rich@Benci.NET

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Posted in PR, Uncategorized | 1 Comment »