As 2014 approaches, I thought I’d share the following “forecast” about what the upcoming year could hold. Dear Small and Mid-Market Executive –
“You don’t look like a chemical engineer,”another (male) chemical engineer said to me, upon being introduced as his new colleague, as if I was some strange aberration of the “species”. (Twenty years later, I still get a laugh remembering his reaction.) “What’s an engineer supposed to look like?”, I asked him with a smile. It wasn’t the first time that I had heard that type of comment from a man upon introducing myself (certainly not the last) and why get angry when humor can often be the best response?
Take this short quiz (courtesy of the speakers at the Fortune Leadership Summit in Orlando a week ago) and see!
Dave Power, of Power Strategy, a former CEO and private equity guy, loves to talk about Top Line Growth – and how to get more. Some of you may remember Dave from when he came to Philly last year to talk at our Growth Strategies Summit. He’s passionate about the subject of beating the “S” curve and I’ve learned a lot from him about staying on top of your market and NOT resting on your laurels.
Someplace between $5M and $25M, most companies hit "the wall", and executives feel like they’re running in place – no matter what they do to try and grow their businesses. Not a straightforward or simple task as many of you know. Predicting, delegating and managing effectively take more than having the right talent.
For the fourth year in a row, “Holding key people accountable” has been in the top 2 challenges that CEO’s have cited on our Growth Strategies Survey of small and mid-market businesses throughout the region. When one CEO in the audience, somewhat perplexed asked, “Why does that keep coming up? Aren’t you helping them to do something about it?” I was a bit stumped for a minute. The answer seemed obvious to me - but maybe not to him.
