DASHBOARD GROUP

Archive for 2012|Yearly archive page

Accelerating Clarity

In Strategy on February 20, 2012 at 7:58 am

When you decide which One Thing will be your defining differentiation, it provides what we call “accelerating clarity.”

  • It provides accelerating clarity to your vision
  • It provides accelerating clarity to your strategy
  • It provides accelerating clarity for your people
  • It provides accelerating clarity about who to hire and who to fire
  • It provides accelerating clarity about where to invest, and where to prune
  • It provides accelerating clarity about how (and what) to manage
  • It provides accelerating clarity on what products and services to build
  • It provides accelerating clarity on what market to enter (and exit)
  • It provides accelerating clarity for customers … since they know exactly what to expect

And trust us, providing your organization with accelerating clarity is way better than providing “decelerating ambiguity.”

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 One Thing You Must Decide

In Alignment, Strategy on February 13, 2012 at 8:03 am

The One Thing you must decide is:  “What is your defining differentiation?”

Your One Thing defines you, since it reflects your values and worldview.  And it differentiates you, since it captures your uniqueness.

In our experience, in order for something to be an organization’s defining differentiation, it must be something that they can become truly great at delivering.

It is extremely difficult to become great at something.  But it is virtually impossible to become great at multiple things.  In fact, trying to be “all things to all people” is precisely the formula for organizational mediocrity.

Thus, for most organizations, their defining differentiation is indeed just One Thing!

Decide One Thing.  Then invest everything you have in becoming truly great at it.

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.

 

One Ad

In Strategy on February 6, 2012 at 8:02 am

One of my favorite places to go on vacation is Italy.  I love the Italian culture, food, and people.  They have a unique zest for life and a flair for design.

So, not surprisingly, my favorite ad from the Super Bowl was for an Italian car – the Fiat Abarth 500.  It is the only ad that I hit rewind on the DVR to watch a second (and third!) time.

The ad captured the essence of all things Italian.  It was fun, flirty, and zesty.  The model speaks in Italian, which had incredible stopping power.  The soundtrack was awesome.  The surprise ending was hilarious.

Most companies wallow in a sea of vanilla sameness.  Their vision and mission statements are boring.  Their logo is bland.  They use the same stock photos of happy people in conference rooms as everyone else.  They have no vibe, no style, no juice.

This is why the starting point for every Dashboard engagement is to help our clients “Decide One Thing.”  Your One Thing is your defining differentiation, and until you find it, you will continue to blend in.

Obviously, Fiat found theirs.

Arrivederci!

If you missed it, you can watch the ad here: http://www.fiatusa.com/en/#

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.

We Only Make One Thing

In Leadership, Strategy on January 30, 2012 at 7:58 am

Regular readers of this blog know that I am a big BMW fan, and that a core tenant of The Dashboard Way is that leaders must “Decide One Thing.”

So, it is blogger heaven to be able to combine those two ideas.

BMW began using the tagline, “The Ultimate Driving Machine” in 1975.  Recently, however, they moved in a different direction, with the ill-fated “JOY” campaign.

However, BMW is set to revive the Ultimate Driving Machine tagline with a new commercial.  Here is the text:

“We don’t make sports cars. We don’t make S.U.V.’s. We don’t make hybrids, and we don’t make luxury sedans. We only make one thing, the ultimate driving machine.”

For leaders, I think there are two lessons:

First, it is easy to abandon something just because it has been around awhile. In most cases, the company simply grows bored with a tagline (or gets a new marketing VP who wants to make their mark).

Second, it takes real discipline to “plant your flag” in a market and decide what your One Thing will be.  Kudos to BMW for reviving one of the greatest campaigns ever.

Here is a link to the commercial:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gMLjMTOs-Ok

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.

Job One

In Alignment on January 23, 2012 at 8:13 am

For 17 years, Ford used the tagline, “Quality is Job One.”

Like all great campaigns, this was designed to reach both consumers and employees.

Ford had the courage to admit that their cars did indeed have quality problems, and fixing them was Job One.

Ford also knew that they could not fix the quality problems without the help of their employees.  The advertising campaign was designed to help employees understand the magnitude of the problem, solicit their engagement in the process, and highlight those employees who had signed up to be part of the solution.

The campaign worked.  (Remember, Ford was the only American car manufacturer who did not need or take a bailout.)

The question for you to consider is this:  do your customers and employees know exactly what your Job One is?

Providing this kind of specificity requires what Jim Collins calls “piercing clarity.”

Obviously, only One Thing can be Job One.

#One or #Two

In Strategy on January 16, 2012 at 8:26 am

Jack Welch, the former CEO of General Electric, was famous for his view that GE should be number one or number two in every market they competed in.  Otherwise, they should exit the market altogether.

While this advice has been circulating in the business world for decades, it seemed timely to discuss it again.

At the heart of this sentiment is the idea that even GE, who competed in hundreds of markets, still had to choose.   And that there were markets that even GE, with its vast resources, could not be successful in.

In our experience, most organizations compete in too many markets.  But it takes incredible discipline not to chase every opportunity.

Our advice:  it is better to dominate One Market than dabble in a dozen of them.

Just because you can enter a market, doesn’t mean that you should.  Just because a market generates revenue, doesn’t mean that it generates profit.

Most organizations would be well served to re-examine the profitability of each market they compete in.  Prune the worst, and re-invest in growing the best.

Who knows, maybe you’ll become #One or #Two.

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.

One (BIG!!!) Play

In Leadership on January 9, 2012 at 7:58 am

I’m a huge Tim Tebow fan.

Last night, the Broncos stunned the Steelers, winning the game in overtime … in just One Play!

Tebow hit Denver receiver Demarylius Thomas for an 80 yard touchdown, ending the game after just 11 seconds.  There was pandemonium in the Denver stadium as fans celebrated perhaps the most stunning overtime win in NFL history.

Great leaders step up when it counts most.  In fact, that is exactly what makes them great.

For your organization to become great, you must also deliver when it counts most.  You must win the big proposal, land the big contract, or recruit the game-changing teammate.  You must overcome the big obstacles, lead the big change, and make the big decisions.

You must, like Tim Tebow and the Denver Broncos, deliver the win with One Big Play.

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.

Irrational Perseverance

In Execution, Leadership on January 2, 2012 at 8:12 am

When I started Dashboard, I got lots of great advice.  One of the most memorable was this:

“The defining trait of a successful entrepreneur is irrational perseverance.”

After 2011, I now fully understand the meaning of that statement. It means that you keep going after clients renege on contracts.  It means that you keep going after partners renege on agreements.  It means you keep going after hundreds of failures.  It means you simply keep going and going, even after the people closest to you give up on you.

In addition, I’ve come to see that irrational perseverance is also the defining trait of all successful people:

  • Successful leaders must have irrational perseverance to drive performance
  • Successful salespeople must have irrational perseverance to overcome objections
  • Successful change agents must have irrational perseverance to overcome organizational resistance
  • Successful athletes must have irrational perseverance to train beyond their limits

So, as we start a new year, full of hopes and dreams and ideas, remember the lesson of irrational perseverance.

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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