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  • Leader Imperative #3. Talent: Four Best Practices for Sustainable Success

    “Mastering the New Normal” – A Continuing Series

    “My main job was developing talent. I was a gardener providing water and other nourishment to our top 750 people.”
    – Jack Welch, Former CEO, General Electric

    The best leaders make a priority of talent grooming in good times and bad because the alternatives- just-in-time recruitment or premature promotion- are too risky.

    They proactively guard against Talent Risks that can compromise top- and bottom-line performance.

  • Performance Tip: Prep for Annual Reviews

    As if there isn’t enough on everyone’s plates, December kicks off the annual employee performance and compensation review season.

    Many managers nowadays have ten or more direct reports. Even with assistance from HR and Finance, delivering accurate, balanced and impactful performance reviews to subordinates takes skill and preparation.

    Begin your preparation with my pointers here:
    How to Master the Annual Performance Review: Five Winning Tactics

  • Leader Imperative #2. Customers: The Promise and the Love

    Customer small_39572418_OK“Mastering the New Normal” – A Continuing Series

    “There is only one boss. The customer. And he can fire everybody in the company from the chairman on down, simply by spending his money somewhere else.”
    – Sam Walton, Founder of Wal-Mart

    A key challenge for leaders in mastering the New Normal involves executing brilliantly in a customer-centric world.

    “Customers” exist as consumers, clients, sponsors and shareholders. Whether you provide products, services or intellectual property, you have customers whose satisfaction and loyalty are mission critical.

    Here’s the New Normal reality: A focus on customer satisfaction is a doomed strategy.

  • Leader Imperative #1. Culture: Your Enduring Competitive Advantage

    NumberOne small_18681809_OK“Your business plan is what you are, but Culture is who you are.”
    – Gary Kelly, Chairman and CEO, Southwest Airlines

    Every organization has a culture, sometimes referred to as its personality or organizational DNA. An organization’s culture grows out of the values, behaviors and norms that its top management encourages, rewards or – in some cases – simply allows to exist.

    Key Point. Research has long shown that organizational culture has a significant impact on bottom-line performance.

    For instance, a comparative study of high versus low-performance corporate cultures by John Kotter and James Hesket in 1992 found revenue growth of 682 percent versus 166 percent, stock price increases of 901 percent versus 74 percent, and job growth of 282 percent versus 36 percent.

    Do I have your attention now?

  • Mastering the New Normal: Five Leader Imperatives

    “Good counselors lack no clients.” – William Shakespeare

    Good counselors can stay relevant for 400 years too, if your name is William Shakespeare. I’m inspired here to quote the Bard’s wisdom in introducing my five key leader sustainability areas for mastering the New Normal. They are culture, customers, talent, reputation and risk management.