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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

“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.

• Fantastic clients, whose challenges inspired us to bring our “A-Game” every day
• A fantastic board, who were a constant source of encouragement and support
• A fantastic team, who worked tirelessly to build the company
• A growing list of Shift Points readers, now dispersed all over the world
• A growing list of Dashboard partners and affiliates, who have helped us accomplish incredible things

We want to extend a big, heartfelt thank you to everyone.  You were a great gift this year.

As we look forward to 2012, we are more bullish than ever.  We look forward to working with all of you.

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.

Why?  Because you are related … but different.

You are related, which means that your DNA has some familial markers.  You have common experiences.

But, you are different.  In most cases, very different!  You grew up in the same environment, but now have totally different values.  You have the same parents, but now have opposing worldviews.  You used to be inseparable, but now barely speak.

For the next week or so, everyone will have to put aside their differences, and come together as a family.  Everyone must put “we before me.”

Now, if this is hard for families to do for one week, imagine just how absurd it is to ask unrelated … and very different people to come together to build an organization.

To do this, leaders must find common ground with such force, clarity, and intensity that it unifies unrelated people.

That is why we use the word “One” over and over again.  We advise clients to develop One Strategy, One Vision, One Defining Differentiation, One Destination, One DNA, One Dashboard, One Culture, One Playbook, (and more).  We have found that this level of clarity and precision is essential to bringing people together.

So they can work as One Team!

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.

However, last night I hit two potholes on the way home.  It was dark, and I never even saw them coming.  The force was enough to make me check to see if any of my teeth had been jarred loose!  And it was enough to knock my car out of alignment.

Organizations hit potholes too.  And just like my BMW, some of them are enough to knock the organization out of alignment.  Some of the most notable organizational potholes include:

• The unexpected loss of a key executive, especially the CEO
• The unexpected loss of a major account
• Hiring a senior executive who is competent, but does not share the organization’s values
• Re-organizations, especially ones that are not well planned
• Mergers, which fail to achieve their stated goals 75% of the time
• Failed new initiatives, especially ones that were sold as “essential to our future”

These potholes, while damaging, must be dealt with.  The organization has to go back to the foundational core and once again bring everything – and everyone – back into alignment with the vision, mission, values, and defining differentiation (the One Thing.)

Of course, it is a lot better if you just miss the potholes altogether.  This requires what we call “aligned agility.”

And excellent night vision!

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.

So poorly that performance reviews are a frequent subject of the Dilbert cartoon strip.  A few years ago, Scott Adams, Dilbert’s creator, wrote a strip called The Seven Stages of a Performance Review.  In it, the Pointy Haired Boss (who is never actually named) comes over to Alice’s cubicle and announces, “It’s Time.”  (Alice is the woman with the big pointy hair.)

What follows, in Alice’s words, is a far too common occurrence:

1. Denial – “What, these aren’t even my objectives!’
2. Anger – “Who said these things about me!”
3. Bargaining – “What if I make someone write a glowing e-mail about me?”
4. Depression – “Morale slipping away …”
5. Acceptance – “Whatever.  There’s no budget for raises anyway.”
6. Trash-Talking – “Wool-covered pile of ignorant monkey spit.”
7. Lunch

So, if you are a manager, and you are in the process of writing reviews, please go the extra mile.  Remember, managing people is a sacred trust.  Your people deserve more than a superficial and perfunctory performance review.

You can read the comic for yourself here: http://dilbert.com/strips/comic/2003-06-22/

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.