After 100 years, the original 12 Dow Jones members from 1896 have had name changes, consolidation, booms, and busts. (Source: Forbes) American Cotton Oil – Ancestor of Best Foods, now part of Unilever. American Sugar – Became Amstar in 1970 and subsequently Domino Foods. American Tobacco – Broke up into separate businesses in 1911,…
A.G. Lafley, former CEO of Proctor & Gamble, wrote a book called “Playing to Win,” when sales doubled, profits quadrupled, and market value increased by $100 Billion. In summary: Too many firms confuse strategy with vision/plan, instead of identifying choices to win Strategy guides and enables execution by allocating capital and people (i.e. where…
One of an executive’s primary team responsibilities is the decision regarding where to allocate scare resources. If no uncertainty, then no need for decisions. If no decisions, then no need for leaders. When allocating capital, they are deciding between: investing in existing operations, a merger/acquisition, dividend payment, debt reduction, or share buyback. The last…
Jim Collins’ book looks into the decline of great, even invincible companies. By learning from mistakes that took these companies from iconic to irrelevant, today’s leaders can avoid others’ tragic fate. Focus on good questions instead of right answers Institutional decline is a disease: harder to detect but easier to cure in the early…
A while back, in France for work, the hotel TV did not have many English speaking languages. One of the channels: Euro News, had a 1-minute video that came on periodically called “No Comment.” There was no voice over, just a recent video somewhere in the world – and you were left to interpret it…
More and more is written about the need to overhaul performance management, the process companies use to determine who gets more money, who gets promoted, and who is let go. A colleague of mine at one of the top companies recently said his group was looking at throwing out most established and mature talent…
David Farr, CEO of Emerson Electric, asks every employee he encounters four questions: How do you make a difference? What improvement idea are you working on? When did you last get coaching from your boss? Who is the enemy? The first question seeks individual alignment with corporate strategy. The second emphasizes continuous and constant…
In our research, we defined self-awareness as “The ability to have self-confidence, reliance, and insight, as well as social and cultural awareness.” Another way to look at it is the difference between how people actually behave (revealed preferences) and how they say they behave (declared preferences). Receiving data that supports one’s view may create a confidence…
GE invests $1 Billion a year in corporate training and education. Wow. However, along with that investment comes an expectation for performance. Before that, there is rigor in selecting great people for the company. CEO Jeff Immelt said that he is paranoid about keeping up-to-date with attracting and retaining great leaders around the world….
On a recent trip to Toronto, I drove 2 hours to see the iconic Niagara Falls. I learned that the erosion rate is 1 foot every 10 years; however, it used to be 3 feet each year. They have diverted water to power generation stations, without impeding the majestic wonder of the volume of water…
