DASHBOARD GROUP

Archive for the ‘Strategy’ Category

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.

#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.

The Winning Formula

In Strategy on September 19, 2011 at 7:56 am

Verizon is running a series of ads with the following headline:

“The business with the best technology rules.”

Catchy. But, is it universally true?

Is an organization’s technology really the thing that gives them a sustainable competitive advantage? Or is it their products? Or their service? Or their cost infrastructure? Or their brand? Or their supply chain?

The Dashboard Group starts with the premise that an organization must identify their “One Thing.” The basic idea is that you have to be good at lots of things, but that you must become differentiatingly great at One Thing.

To become differentiatingly great at something, you must invest a disproportionate share of the organization’s resources (money, people, and time) in it. Which means that you must invest less in other areas.

For some organizations, technological superiority may be their One Thing.

For most, however, they will identify something other than technology. Thus, they will have to prune their technology investment to “good enough” levels in order to be great at their One Thing.

Sorry Verizon. The organization who rules is the one who is differentiatingly great at their One Thing.

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.

Ultra Premium

In Leadership, Performance Management, Strategy on August 1, 2011 at 7:39 am

I pulled in to the neighborhood Sunoco to gas up the Porsche this weekend, and was faced with a decision.

Sunoco offers four choices, ranging from 87 octane at $3.80 / gallon to 93 octane at $4.04 / gallon.

My Porsche is a high-performance car, so spending the extra $3.36 on the fill-up was a no-brainer. I would never put low grade fuel in my Porsche. It would impact my ability to get maximum results from this finely tuned machine.

Leaders face this same decision every day.

Their employees “pull in to the station” on a regular basis to get refueled. They have been toiling in the marketplace to overcome obstacles, deliver results, and meet the ever-rising expectations set by their bosses.

Yet, far too often, when it comes to investing in their employees, leaders reach for the low grade fuel. They give the minimum raise that they can get away with. They promise bonuses, but then bicker and renege on paying them. They reward someone who has just delivered a multi-million dollar project with a $5.00 Starbucks card.

Leaders, if you want your people to perform at their best, treat them like Porsches. Fill them with high-octane fuel. Focus on how much you can give, not on how much you can get.

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 Tenth of One Percent

In Strategy on July 25, 2011 at 7:53 am

Recently, I’ve been doing some reading about DNA.

I learned (according to Wikipedia) that 99.9% of our DNA is common to all human beings. Thus, only .1% of the DNA sequence is unique.

And it seems that this is also true of organizations.

In our work, we strive to help our clients discover their “defining differentiation.” We call this their One Thing. This is about helping clients find the .1% that makes them unique.

  • Every organization has a mission, but only a few have one that is really differentiating.
  • Every organization has a brand promise, but only a few have one that is really differentiating.
  • Every organization has products and services, but only a few have ones that are really differentiating.
  • Every organization has a value proposition, but only a few have one that is really differentiating.

While discovering your defining differentiation can be difficult, it is essential to building a high-performance organization.

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 #One Priority

In Leadership, Performance Management, Strategy on July 5, 2011 at 7:53 am

It seems redundant to say, “One #One Priority,” but many organizations have so many priorities that everything is a priority. Some organizations even have competing, contradictory priorities.

Bill Pollard, the retired chairman of ServiceMaster, was talking with Peter Drucker about priorities in relationship to business. Peter said, “Bill, it wasn’t until the 20th century that we pluralized the word priority. For most of its history, the word has been singular.”

So, if you can only have One Priority, what should it be?

For some organizations, it will be making money. For others, it will be accelerating growth.

However, we advise our clients that their One Priority should focus on people. Perhaps something like, “attracting, developing, deploying, and unleashing the talents of exceptional people.”

In our experience, if you put people first, the profits will follow.

One of our clients has really taken this to heart. They describe this as “Developing Ultimate Teammates” and it has been inspiring to watch this unfold. Stay tuned for more on this exceptional organization.

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.

People-Driven

In Leadership, Performance Management, Strategy on June 27, 2011 at 6:52 am

As we wrote last week, there are many things that can (and do) drive organizations. Perhaps the most common thing we see is organizations that are money-driven. In fact, I know one CEO who literally wakes up in the middle of the night thinking about ways to make more money.

And don’t get me wrong, making money is a good thing. Profits are a good thing. Growth is a good thing.

But as one wise man said, “Money is a great servant, but a lousy master.”

In our experience, the real high-performance organizations are people-driven. They see their investments in recruiting, developing, deploying, and rewarding people as the drive train that creates long-term sustainable profitability.

Thus, profitability and growth are the result of being people-driven. And in virtually every case we have seen, growth plateaus are caused by under-investing in people, not by under-investing in sales and marketing.

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.

What Drives You?

In Strategy, Vision on June 20, 2011 at 6:42 am

Every organization (and every person) is driven by something.  Recently, I’ve come across lots of arguments for what it should be.  For example, organizations can be:

  • Vision-driven
  • Mission-driven
  • Purpose-driven
  • Profit-driven
  • Customer-driven
  • Employee-driven
  • Product-driven
  • Brand-driven
  • Growth-driven
  • Shareholder value-driven
  • Exit-driven
  • And more

While I think there are some drivers that are better than others, the critical thing is to clarify what it is that drives your organization.  So, try completing the following sentence:

We are a _____________-driven organization, therefore, ________________________.

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.

It is not where you start …

In Leadership, Strategy, Teamwork on May 23, 2011 at 7:18 am

This weekend was the qualifying for the Indianapolis 500, which is celebrating its 100th anniversary.

Congratulations to Alex Tagliani for capturing the coveted pole position. But as racers say, “It is not where you start, it is where you finish!”

Since 1910, only 20 of the winners have come from the pole position. 500 miles is a long way, and lots can happen. In fact, many cars don’t even make it through turn 1 of the first lap.

For several years back in the 1990s, Nortel sponsored an IndyCar team. Part of my responsibility was to manage the racing program. It was an incredible experience, and I learned lots of lessons about high-performance organizations and the importance of focus, efficiency, and resilience.

In 1997, Nortel / Treadway Racing swept the Indy 500, with Arie Luyendyk finishing just .570 seconds over Scott Goodyear. It was an amazing 1-2 finish for the team. (More on Scott Goodyear next week.)

Building a high-performance organization is a long-term effort. It takes months, even years, of relentless effort.

Just like winning the Indy 500.

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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