DASHBOARD GROUP

Archive for April, 2011|Monthly archive page

A Leader Worth Following

In Leadership on April 25, 2011 at 7:33 am

This weekend, millions of people celebrated Easter.  They went to church to worship Jesus and celebrate the good news of His resurrection.  They proclaimed him as Lord and pledged their allegiance as followers.

To millions, He is a leader worth following.

So, how about you?  Are you a leader worth following?

Leaders, by definition, have followers.  The question for you to consider is why they are following.

Are they following because they have to?  After all, you’re the boss.

Or, are they following because they want to.  Because they believe in you and your vision.  Because they believe that your strategy is the right one.  Because they believe that you know the way.

So, perhaps it is time for a long, hard look in the mirror.  Ask yourself, “Am I a leader worth following?”

The Shift Points blog is designed for Fast Lane leaders who want to leave their competitors in the dust. 

Shift Your Thinking … Accelerate Your Results.

The $1 Million Question

In Strategy, Vision on April 18, 2011 at 8:18 am

When meeting with CEOs to discuss identifying their organization’s One Thing, we like to ask one simple question:

“If we gave you $1 million to invest in your business with only one condition – that you invest all of the money in just one area – where would you invest it?”

You’d be surprised how many people can’t answer this question.  They often reply by saying that they would invest it in three different places.

“No, you can’t have the money unless you invest all of it in just one area.  I don’t care what it is, but you are not allowed to dribble it out into three things … or twenty seven things.  Just One Thing.”

The point of the question is to reinforce the idea that you can’t be differentiatingly great at lots of things.  In fact, it will take intense effort just to be really good at One Thing.  But high-performance organizations have the discipline to identify their One Thing and then “double-down” their investment in that one area.  It takes awhile, but eventually these organizations go from really good … to great … to differentiatingly great at their One Thing.

And that’s why they win.

The Shift Points blog is designed for Fast Lane leaders who want to leave their competitors in the dust.

Shift Your Thinking … Accelerate Your Results.

Differentiatingly Great

In Strategy on April 11, 2011 at 7:53 am

Shrinking your world is an essential component of identifying your One Thing.  This is one of the most counter-intuitive elements of building a high-performance organization.  Rather than chase every possible opportunity, high-performers have the discipline to chase only the best ones.

As we often say, it is better to dominate one market than dabble in a dozen of them.

Dominating a market requires you to become great at something.  Not just great, but differentiatingly great. 

Becoming differentiatingly great requires relentless focus and uncommon discipline.  It will require you to invest disproportionately in one main area of your business model.  You will have to say no to lots of good ideas in order to say yes to the best ones. 

Because it is better to be differentiatingly great at One Thing than be disappointingly mediocre at dozens of things.

The Shift Points blog is designed for Fast Lane leaders who want to leave their competitors in the dust. 

Shift Your Thinking … Accelerate Your Results.

Make Your World Smaller

In Strategy on April 4, 2011 at 8:39 am

In Good to Great, Jim Collins challenged leaders to identify something that you can be the best in the world at.

Many organizations “confronted the brutal facts” and came to the demoralizing conclusion that they could not be the best in the world at anything.

The Decide One Thing process takes a different approach.

First, we analyze the market and help our clients narrow their focus to a tightly defined target market … what we call our One Core Market.  By narrowing the focus, we make the world smaller.  

This unlocks the possibilities of becoming the best in your world.

For example, you may never be the best dry cleaner in the world … but perhaps you could become the best dry cleaner in the 22066 area code. 

The Shift Points blog is designed for Fast Lane leaders who want to leave their competitors in the dust. 

Shift Your Thinking … Accelerate Your Results.

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