A generation ago, people used to often sit around a table to eat, discuss, debate and solve problems. Today, we may sit together in the same room and people text each other. Is dialogue dead or just different today? What valuable role can disruptive dialogue play in growing your business? ….
The pressure is on. You have to turn it around to not only survive, but thrive. You cannot change the game by continuing to do what no longer works. So what do you do? How can you reinvent yourself? Where do you begin? How do you create business solutions that are sustainable? Change the game by changing your thinking.
Have you ever prepared a powerful presentation full of energy and your best sales points, only to be interrupted one minute into the presentation by an impatient executive who looks at his cell phone and asks, “So what’s the bottom line?” Presenting to an executive team has the potential to open tremendous doors of opportunity. However, in order to pass the glance test, keep their attention and reduce interruptions, senior executives have shared with us some things they wish you knew for a successful dialogue.
Advice is plentiful, but wisdom is hard to extract. Here are 15 bits of wisdom shared by successful business executives from a variety of industries
In the TV show “Who Wants to Be A Millionaire?” one of the fun parts is that a contestant can use a “lifeline. You can call a friend or ask the audience for help when you were stuck for an answer. In some ways, market segment positioning is a bit like that. It’s a way to get help with a pursuit when you need it to keep moving your Capture Plan forward. We often use the term “positioning” when we discuss gaining competitive advantage for a particular pursuit, but it also has a more general application that can accelerate the whole process for you. I’m referring here to market segment positioning. In short, segment positioning for us means being top of mind among thought leaders and critically influential players in a market segment. They know you, will recommend you to others, and will help you gain intelligence and make connections relative to clients you’re pursuing. The whole client pursuit process is much easier when you are well positioned in your key markets because you can get help from many powerful resources – like contestants on Millionaire reaching out for a lifeline. How do you gain advantageous segment positioning? In our opinion there are five aspects of segment positioning, and they are all interrelated.
As the speed of change continues to increase, change management is a fundamental competency needed by managers, supervisors, and organization leaders. As we coach owners, we find that you want help competing with other companies and customers as you can no longer rely on historical successes and processes. To be effective in today’s market, you need to repackage and gather client intelligence from your frontline technical and operations teams as well as leadership and sales & marketing teams . Avoid the temptation to jump to tactics immediately while trying to uncover solutions. Take time to examine the basics that your organization has to offer that is of value to clients. Follow these steps for success:
Part 2 of insights from the 7×24 Exchange Fall Conference comes from Larry Beasley, an experienced executive COO, business advisor and coach at Wayne O’Neill & Associates. Larry shares his observations from “Vision: From Idea to Impact, “at the 7X24 Exchange Fall Conference, with featured speakers from Google, Microsoft, Digital Realty Trust, RagingWire Enterprise Solutions and others. This conference was designed for anyone involved with 7×24 infrastructures, IT, data center, disaster recovery and network/telecommunication managers; computer technologists; facility or building managers, supervisors and engineers. 7×24 Exchange is the leading knowledge exchange for those who design, build, use and maintain mission critical enterprise information infrastructures.
“Vision: From Idea to Impact,” the theme of the 7X24 Exchange Fall Conference involving about 750 participants from mission critical facilities, featured speakers from Google, Microsoft, Digital Realty Trust, RagingWire Enterprise Solutions and others. Wayne O’Neill, business game changer and CEO of Wayne O’Neill & Associates, has three first-hand impactful observations from two presentations:
In working with leaders, we have discovered that many organizations have been frustrated that they cannot solve their problems by just handing leaders a new directive, a new book, or sending them to a new one-day management program at the Hilton. The truth is that each organization is uniquely complex, therefore no one has a “Cure-All” or special sauce that will solve all your problems. Even so, here are some tips from a recent issue of Fast Company magazine entitled “How to Lead in a Time of Chaos” by Roberta Mauson on how great leadership is created and a special sauce ingredient from Richard Branson, founder and chairman of Virgin Group of more than 400 companies and the fourth richest citizen of the United Kingdom, according to Forbes 2011 list of billionaires.
While safely guiding organizations through the turbulent seas of change and facilitating enhanced teamwork in organizations by helping them build ‘cultures of authenticity’, Jeff Salz, keynote speaker at the recent TCUF conference, encourages adventurous thinking in order to create a truly meaningful workplace and presents a unique perspective on taking risks while laying out a roadmap for change.
