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Beyond the Buzzwords: How CEOs Can Build a Truly Resilient Business
In every keynote, article, and boardroom conversation, “resilience” gets tossed around as the Holy Grail of leadership virtue. But resilience is more than just surviving economic turbulence—it’s about turning disruption into a competitive edge.
Too many CEOs treat resilience as a slogan rather than a strategy. Real resilience is built in advance, not claimed during a downturn. It starts with clarity regarding where you are in the economic cycle, where you’re headed, and how to align your people and resources accordingly.
Beyond the Mirage: How to Ensure Your 2020 Gains are Real and Lasting
Fri, Mar 19, 2021 — Blog 1: Reality Testing Your Sales Growth By Paul Sparrow and Adriana Lynch We are well into 2021 – for many businesses, optimism has been renewed, plans have been made, and in a review of 2020, things weren’t quite as “off” as expected. A recent proprietary study of small business (SMB) CEOs seem to confirm this prognosis: 45 percent of respondents indicated that their business has grown in the past 24 months, and 27 percent have seen flat results over that time – meaning, by our math, that more than two-thirds of businesses have the impression they’ve dodged the proverbial COVID bullet.
Positioning for Explosive Growth: A CEO’s Guide To Enthusiastic Leadership - Part Seven
Mon, Mar 15, 2021 — Measure, Measure, Measure There are many things in our life that would fall flat if we opted not to use measurements: Everything from home construction to a load of laundry would be a bit off kilter if not for the rulers, cups, and spoons that allow us to be precise with our intentions. Strange that for several generations, then, that in the advertising and marketing arena, the only measurement used was in dollars and cents. Along the way, there would be creative campaigns, print ads, billboards, and radio commercials, with no means to really measure whether they were hitting the mark.
Positioning for Explosive Growth: A CEO’s Guide To Enthusiastic Leadership - Part Eight
Thu, Mar 4, 2021 — Celebrating Success At a time when it seems that employee pay has been increasingly in the spotlight, there lies an interesting conundrum that might be just as shocking as it is contrarian. Money, it turns out, for today’s employee, isn’t everything. Though our present-day landscape is dotted with discussions about a K-shaped economic recovery from COVID-19, and the push for a $15 federally mandated minimum wage, it just so happens that there’s a lot more that motivates today’s employees besides the bi-weekly take-home check.
The Value of an Old Scotch
Tue, Mar 2, 2021 — This is a love story with a business point. Around twenty five years ago Gordon, the whisky-loving half of a couple in Glencoe, Scotland, bought a limited production bottle of Macallan 1961. It was pricey, so he put it away in a cabinet in its original packaging to await a suitable occasion. Then he pretty much forgot about it. He found it in 2019 and thought, "Wow, we really do need to find an occasion to drink this." A few weeks later, an old friend came to town. Gordon and the pal opened the bottle and did a few pours. The whisky’s color, nose, and taste were superb, and they savored it greatly.
The SaaS Marketing Playbook Part 1 | Positioning: Finding Your Purple Cow in the Herd
Mon, Feb 22, 2021 — Most marketers may not think they have anything in common with cattle ranchers, but it requires a trip to the Old West to fully understand the history of branding – a term which has significance for both. The National Cowboy Museum explains that branding, in the old days, “provided a way for ranchers to stake their claim on cattle and other livestock, while deterring theft from rustlers.”
Consumers Want Control of their Healthcare Creating Exceptional Growth for In-Home Diagnostics
Wed, Feb 17, 2021 — The in-home testing market that largely began with pregnancy tests back in the 70’s has been exploding for several years. New tests for health conditions we would have never imagined now serve as tools to empower consumers. Thus, companies that position products to leverage the in-home diagnostics boom drive revenue growth while improving consumer health.
Cookies Are Crumbling: Is Your Business Prepared?
Wed, Feb 10, 2021 — There are massive changes on the horizon for cookies – and, with apologies to Mrs. Fields and Famous Amos, the new recipe might leave a bad taste in your mouth – if you don’t prepare now. Of course, we’re talking about digital, third-party cookies – those tiny blobs of data that a website deposits onto your computer when you visit. And though consumers haven’t always been fans of this exchange of data, companies of all sizes rely on them to help us digitally target consumers with more relevant and focused ads.
Innovation, Part 2: Finding the Discipline Needed to Reinvent and Reinvest
Thu, Jan 28, 2021 — What does it take to be a change agent in a world that doesn’t stop changing? My last blog on change and innovation referenced Billy Joel, and you may recall his song, “We Didn’t Start the Fire,” essentially a history lesson of the 1940s through 1980s in three minutes. If we asked The Piano Man to write a tune forecasting the 2020s, it would likely last an hour – and still not cover everything.
Innovation, With a Purpose: Use 2020 as a Springboard for Change
Fri, Jan 22, 2021 — Alas, it was many moons ago that one of my favorite musical artists, Billy Joel, sang those insightful words: “Don’t go changing to try and please me.” No matter how eloquent or visionary he might be, the “Bard of Brooklyn” couldn’t have foreseen that a pandemic would all but mandate change as a means of business survival. Now we must all go changing, to try and please EVERYONE. Fueled by the ongoing digital revolution, lockdowns, economic turmoil, and a global financial shakeout, we can generally agree that the tried and true has given way to the untried, and new.