“A lot of you may love mankind, but you hate people.”A good understanding of the “human factor” behind great execution however is what’s missing in many companies. While the right tool kit can help make execution a lot less frustrating, as any good craftsman knows, you can’t just have the right tools for a job; you also need to know what material you’re working with. And in the case of business, that means people...
While duct tape may be the “survival tool” of choice for the guys from “Mythbusters” – unfortunately for most business leaders, duct tape won’t do it when it comes aligning your team and driving great Execution. Great execution certainly takes a lot of discipline but if you’ve got the right tool kit to leverage, it can be a lot less frustrating and significantly more rewarding.
Several years ago, James Fischer, had an ambitious goal. The co-Founder of the Origin Institute, a research and consulting company out of Boulder, Colorado, wanted to understand and decipher the patterns, behaviors and the characteristics in entrepreneurial enterprises - and - develop best practices to better navigate the trials and tribulations of business growth. Six years and over 700 CEO interviews later, Jim documented his findings in the book, “Navigating the Growth Curve: 9 Fundamentals that Build a Profit-driven, People-centered, Growth-smart Company”.
Last week I spent five wonderful days touring the Douro Valley in Portugal with my husband, my sister and brother-in-law. The spa/ hotel where we stayed had terrific service and accommodations; we ate fabulous Portuguese food and took several day trips to the visit the local wineries that are ubiquitous in this part of the world. The views were breathtakingly gorgeous as we wandered around impossibly high mountains in a tiny little Volvo, attempting to navigate unfamiliar roads in a foreign country.
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.