Recently I had lunch with Frank the President of a $100 million company. We have known each other since our University undergrad days and that is quite a few years! Over a sushi lunch, Frank was bemoaning his company's poor sales. Sales were down by over 20% in one year and his owners are pushing him to get sales back up. Frank, who has run larger companies in the past, said he did require better [...]

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As Nortel disappears, like the carcass of a stranded whale on shore being dismembered by a pre-historic tribe, a good book to review is Jim Collins recently released book. The book covers the five stages that a company will go through prior to dying. It appears that in recent times the speed that companies disappear is unprecedented as attested by the almost overnight bankruptcy of Lehman Brothers[...]

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For companies to grow it is important that all employees can work at the right stratum level for cognitive ability. Over fifty years of research by Dr. Elliott Jaques determined that there are eight levels of cognitive requirements. The highest level is the cognitive ability required by CEO of super sized companies such as IBM, GE, Exxon, Rio Tinto and H.P. These stratum eight super corporations [...]

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Introduction: Strategic planning and the execution of a plan actually originated thousands of years ago when army leaders came to the conclusion that winning armies required a strategy, a plan of execution and an organizational structure to win a war. If the war leader did not have an effective plan he mostly lost. If the war leader was not able not execute the plan properly he more than likely [...]

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Developing Your Talent Pool for Growth & Productivity Using the Apprenticeship Concept To be continuously successful in the long term whether you are a $1 million or a $50 billion company you need to develop a strong talent pool of good leaders and technically superior people. A company’s ability to grow and achieve ambitious performance targets rest largely on the quality of its people, [...]

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In a recently published book called "Organization Design, Levels of Work and Human Capability", one of the chapters describes how Inglis, the appliance company, grew by 33% in a flat market by implementing sound organizational design practices to achieve: The right organizational structure. The right people. The right accountabilities and authorities for your people. Organizations [...]

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A Live Case on Superb Strategy, Time Span and Leadership by David Magee How to Dominate an Industry by Focusing on the Long Term Everyone knows that Toyota has had an amazing twenty-five- year run, rising from a humble Japanese start-up to become a thriving global giant. But how did it pass Ford and GM en route to establishing itself as the world's largest auto manufacturer? The car sector is [...]

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How to develop a strategy to survive the recession To survive these difficult times please do not panic and make strategic decisions based on your competitive advantages. We are in very turbulent times when Nortel, one of Canada's most admired and largest cap companies, just 10 years ago, is now in bankruptcy protection. What is happening in the auto industry is another example. Both Toyota and [...]

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To be successful in life you have to be able to sell. This skill is of vital importance not only for sales and marketing people but also for all other professionals whether you are a Controller, a Vice President of Information Technology or R & D, an HR professional, a Plant Manager, a lawyer, a chiropractor or a parent. The late Ted Rogers, the mythical visionary for Rogers Communications, [...]

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In the November newsletter we discussed how to downsize your organization during difficult times. Unfortunately you can downsize your company to death.  Here are two books that demonstrate how you can grow sales through strategic innovation. 10 Rules for Strategic Innovators from Idea to Execution by Vijay Govindarajan & Chris Trimble.  ISBN 1-59139-758-8 This book shows you how to build a [...]

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