The Case Against Incremental Improvements In A Business World Turn Upside Down

I hear this from executives and workers all the time: "I understand that we need to innovate, but why now? I'm just trying to make it to the next quarter. This is the time to get back to basics." In theory, I don't object to getting back to basics. Every company has to grow revenue, raise prices (if it can), and cut costs. That simple arithmetic never changes.

But here is the shared dilemma: Most companies today can't grow revenue by force feeding the same old stuff to the same old customers through the same old channels in the same old way. People may already be eating as many hamburgers as they are ever going to eat, drinking as much beer as they are ever going to drink, even buying as many plain vanilla personal computers as they are ever going to buy.

You just can't grow revenue significantly -- unless you bring jaw-dropping new products and services to customers. And surprise surprise….your customers are internal (employee partners) and external. Unless employee partners are working in a state of discovery and awe, rather than archaic feardoms, remarkable competitive products leaving competitors whimpering, “What the heck” on Monday mornings won’t occur.

The choice for business is really quite simple. Get busy doing the things you know to do.

 

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Jim Woods is principal and founder of InnoThink Group. Jim is a business turnaround expert and personal coach. His story is riveting. He has worked with government, U.S. Army, MITRE Corporation, Pitney Bowes, Whirlpool, and 3M. Jim W experiences, extensive research on competitive strategy and innovation have given him a fresh perspective on improving individual and organizational performance. Jim is a prolific speaker on strategic innovation, creative leadership, uncertainty and competitive strategy. Speak with us for consulting or speaking engagements call 719-266-6703 or click here for more information. Follow Jim on Twitter. Follow Jim on Facebook.  

 

Be a Leader of People, Not Numbers | Ram Charan

Question: How can business leaders foster a sense of trust among staff who may be in different buildings or indeed different countries?

Ram Charan: If you’re in a leadership position, remind yourself every day: you’re a leader of people first, not a leader of numbers. In a global game, you’re going to have by definition, people working with you and for you that are in different cultures, different languages as mother tongues, that do work in different government environments, and their image of social systems are different. You need to be successful to know these about your people. You need to have patience to learn about them. You need to earn their respect; you need to earn their trust.

In the virtual global game, do not confuse communications with emails. Communication is a human touch, emails is not a human touch. So you need to figure out a way to have the human touch with the people you are working with.

In a company like 3M, some 55% of their revenues come from the non-North American geography. And there are fantastic leaders there who are technology companies, CEOs locally, but they have the human touch. They have Chinese working with them, Indians working with them, the Europeans working with them, the Brazilians working with them. But the first rule is the people side.

Recorded January 4, 2011
Interviewed by Max Miller
Directed by Jonathan Fowler
Produced by Elizabeth Rodd

via bigthink.com

 

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