Leaders take no prisoners, work more ON than IN the business and are effecient with their time. INVERSION respects this and this Newsletter for Leaders, pulls no punches and is straight to the point. It's directness is by intent as are the strong messages. We welcome your feedback.
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INVERSION 0006In this Issue:__________________ | Random acts of Leadership - Aldo GrechProtecting jobs by forcing government or any other bodies for that matter to contract local resources that are more expensive than imported ones creates serious medium to long term negative impacts on employment. read on .... Know but don't tell - Aldo GrechOne of my best sales executives during my stint in New Zealand once said to me...... "there is a reason we have two ears and one mouth, I keep reminding myself to shut-up". read on .... Sales-driven Marketing - Aldo GrechSmaller marketing budgets are quickly becoming the norm and for good reason, and as a leader of your area, you could do worse than being proactive about re-cutting your budget. read on .... Has China missed the Opportunity? - Aldo GrechFor decades, we have been forecasting China becoming the leading state a super power, super economy and as a result the leader of the world surpassing the USA. read on .... iPhone; today's PC? - Aldo GrechRobert Murray, chief executive of mobile games development studio Firemint, says the iPhone and App Store also helped save the company after the downturn showed them their model wasn't working. read on .... The Tribal Organisation - Aldo GrechIn the early noughties, silos and the destruction of these was all the talk in management consulting circles; get rid of the silos; flat structures are more efficient; silos are insular and should be dismantled........ I know, I was there actively participating in the destruction! read on .... An Act of Trust creates a Legend - Jill SweatmanAt the age of 18, an unknown burst onto the Ballroom dance scene by making the Final of the keenly watched Amateur event at the most prestigious ballroom competition in the world.The following year he did not even make the semi-final of Blackpool. The next year he won the Final of the coveted Adult event! read on .... Tasks are for Computers! - Aldo GrechHow do you best leave your competition in the dust, when you are in the same industry, more-or-less offering the same products. read on .... Our Inevitable Doom! - Aldo GrechThe truth is that in every crises there is always a handful of Leaders that understand this and operate outside the norm (effectively listening to and trusting their essence, their purpose, the intuitive voice inside) and create something new, sustainable and initially apparently unorthodox. read on .... Open, Closed or Effective? - Bruce LeavittOne of the first things many sales professionals are taught is the distinction between asking open versus closed questions. Closed questions are "generally" considered "bad", because they prompt yes or no answers. Open questions on the other hand are "generally" considered "good" because they require the other person to talk, to explain, to elaborate on something in order to answer the question. read on .... Susan Boyle; just as you are - Jill SweatmanHer extraordinary beauty lay not in her remarkable talent but in her essence. Here stood a woman in her rawness, her unadulterated image-free presence that could only be admired with gut wrenching respect. read on .... CEOing - Tom VoccolaThere are so many details to starting and running a business, but the key responsibility of a leader is to remember that business, at its core, is about people, working with people, doing stuff, for people. Eighty to ninety percent of every issue you face as the CEO of a highly successful company will be about the people. Business is about people, working with people, doing stuff, for people. The stuff, while important, is always secondary. read on .... Do not engage recruitment firms that drop their prices to get your work! - Aldo GrechInstead, engage those that charge the higher fees!.... and only once you have seen (not just been presented) their recruitment process. Now that sounds counter-intuitive especially in these times of belt-tightening. read on .... Is your Sales Team asking the Hard Questions? - Bruce LeavittIf we are only asking the easy questions, then we probably have a closing ratio of 30% or less. We know the easy questions, the are ones that essentially ask the prospect what they want, like; "How can I help you?" or; "Tell me what you are looking for?"; etc..... A sale process is easily managed, gauged and closed by a series of appropriate "hard questions", intermingled in the sales pitch. read on .... Change of Command - Tom VoccolaAs business leaders, we have much to learn from how the President not only ran his campaign, but how he is Creating a Game worth Playing. read on .... Exemplary Manners Maketh the Leader- Jill SweatmanNew Year Resolutions may have already lost their punch or be considered passe by others. Yet one could imagine that the desire to achieve and succeed in 2009 is still top of mind for each of us, especially in these troubled times. We may also choose to work in an environment that abounds with pleasant, energised and appreciative people. read on .... Bona Fibe Branding - Hana GuenzlPersonal and/or company Branding is the vehicle which offers a powerful two-way communication toolkit for leaders, adapting new ways of meeting the needs of stakeholders and by operating with openness and Bona Fides, instigating a ‘ripple effect’. This is unites the company Brand culture and its employees, as well as attracting consumers to the company Brand values; instil Brand loyalty and a higher customer retention rate, thus contributing to company growth and profitability. read on .... The Journey to Sustainability and Operating Perpetually - Tracie ElvidgeThere is no shortcut to becoming a sustainable organisation, nor is it a good idea to emulate a strategy that is perceived to have worked in another organisation. read on .... A Younger Generation engaging their Essence, saving us from our Ego! - Jill SweatmanBe inspired by the genuine and profound learnings with which this selection has been written by these young students. Each piece is included with the kind permission of the author. read on .... |
INVERSION 0002In this issue:__________________ | Call for Leaders - Aldo GrechThe lesson from Greg Mortenson is clear, take a compassionate approach to adversity. This takes true courage and comes from our Essence, which at its core is pure, exploratory, growth-attuned, astoundingly innovative, and frankly, exhilarating, for when things get to their worst and humankind seems to have lost everything, great Leaders seem to emerge and take humanity to its next stage of evolution. read on .... The Greatness of your organisation can be measured by the number of its Leaders! - Aldo GrechAs a Great Leader you know that whilst organisational structure is important and gives the organisation its Ego/Brand, it is what the individuals in those roles do that makes your organisation a GREAT organisation. Ensure that the role descriptions are just that and not somehow anchors and nooses around your employees necks, just in case they decide to operate slightly outside the square. Welcome their creativity. Engage them in discussions on subject matters that interest them to unleash the Leader in them, especially in these tough times. You might be surprised. They often have the answers! read on ... Customer Or Culture - What Comes First? - Jill SweatmanQuestion: How many of your employees are volunteers? We recycle so we are sustainable, aren't we? - Tracie ElvidgeDoes having environmentally sustainable practices in place within an organisation make it sustainable? Is your organisation environmentally aware? Will it stand the test of time to be truly sustainable? read on .... |
INVERSION 0001In this issue:__________________ | Transparency = Improved Bottom Line - Aldo GrechUnless you believe that people actually turn-up to work to contribute positively, and are able to manage those few that do not (read the following article “Team Player or Team Slayer”), you end-up being a policeman with a very depressed and unproductive non-transparent organisation. Where-as, the truth is that if your people are spending too much time on personal things like personal email and extensive coffee-breaks, then this tells us more about the organisation than about the people. And seeing we are at the helm of our organisation and Leading it, we need to take full responsibility. read on ..... Team Player or Team Slayer - Jill SweatmanRetaining a team slayer can have an immeasurable and devastating effect on your bottom-line. You must take action. Make a move and take no prisoners. An organisation can no longer afford the luxury of retaining an individual who is not at one with the purpose and values of the organisation. You have no time to lose. Damage has already been done. Ignore the temptation to retain this person because of any intelligence they may hold. Ask yourself a most important question: How much is it really costing me to keep this person? read on .... “Bad” News - Aldo GrechIt is our experience that GREAT companies treat Bad News like gold. They often have a specific role(s) in their organisations that analyse this feedback and work towards merging this with product and services roadmaps. We certainly agree with this approach. The best GAP analysis will find significant relevance in this Bad News. Often organisations ask their marketing teams to work through GAP analysis and struggle to find relevant information, or worst still, abdicate the role to an external organisation that goes-on to commit the organisation to lengthy and costly research programs that often give the wrong results. read on .... Tough Times....... Shrink your workforce! - Aldo GrechWe all know that a significant and quick cost-cut is always in the costs of staff. Over the years we have diligently outsourced non-core activities, lowered our operational costs, maybe moved into cheaper offices, replaced old costly technologies with new, efficient and cost effective ones and now, the one large cost line in our P&L is people! A few heads gone.... and we significantly improve our bottom-line, now able to report better news in worsening economic climates. There you go, we are now stars claiming better than industry average results and the board and shareholders are happy......... But beware! read on .... |
| This newsletter is a free service to readers. Every organisation is different, and while these concepts are valid, they are a subset of a complete set of tools custom-deployed to address specific organisational needs. We recommend specific tailoring and consultation before any of these concepts are adopted within your organisation. CxO Consulting takes no responsibility for outcomes resulting from the deployments of the above concepts in your organisation. The articles represent the opinions of the contributors and not necessarily those of CxO Consulting. |