Liquidity versus Financing: How are they different, how are they related, why do you care? A simple way to think about liquidity and financing is to consider the difference between opportunity and obligation. That is, liquidity creates opportunity; financing creates obligation.
In my last blog, I related a story about a great breakthrough win for a firm in a new market. (See WOA blog: Positioning to Succeed – A True Story.) Today I want to tell you that it didn’t just happen by itself. In fact the pursuit was over an extended period of time as implied by the tale of how our winner gained credibility and positioning to overcome considerable obstacles to success. Our hero and his teammates needed a plan, and they needed to execute the plan in a timely manner. An effective execution plan has several critical characteristics…
When it comes to executing your plan, have you ever felt like you are trying to drive forward by watching your rear view mirror? We know you want to see progress, but are your time and energy being devoured in the whirlwind of urgent activities to maintain day to day operations that you run yourself ragged trying to measure everything and wonder if you are even moving forward? If most of your numbers are lag measures (after the fact), it does not mean that you are a poor leader, it means that the game has changed and you need help executing a winning strategy. In these changing times, you may relate to Mickey Mantle when he said, “It’s amazing how much you don’t know about a game…you’ve played all your life.” At a time when companies and organizations are discovering that they must do more with less, we have found important lessons for the world of business in the book/movie Moneyball.
Senior decision makers are struggling with how to get their arms around big data and determining a clear strategy that ties data and analytics to improved performance. Companies deciding to embrace big data do so because decisions based on data-driven evidence rather than intuition transform business with remarkable outcomes. With big data, leaders can measure more accurately, make better predictions, then manage more precisely. More effective interventions can be targeted. Decisions are smarter and produce better results. According to Harvard Business Review, big data has the potential to revolutionize management.
Successful leaders behave differently! During chaos, effective city/county managers thrive! Why do people choose to follow them? Essentials to successfully leading and building communities.
Big data and high performance analytics (HPA) are changing the game and sweeping the world in terms of competitive differentiation. According to IBM, “Every day, we create 2.5 quintillion bytes of data — so much that 90% of the data in the world has been created in the least two years alone.” Harvard Business Review says “As of 2012, about 2.5 exabytes of data are created each day and that number is doubling every 40 months or so.” Where does all this data come from? How is it used? How can it be of benefit? How can organizations overcome the challenges and build strategies to gain better insights into markets…
Part of day-to-day life here at WOA involves us having the ear of top executives, and while you may think that their only focus surrounds numbers (number one in the marketplace, number of dollars at the close of fiscal year, number of corporate golf outings), the message our practice hears is actually becoming quite different. The focus is more and more on people. It seems competitive leaders of today are honing in on the fact that the talent which shapes their firms is what provides the greatest opportunity for growth; and yes, the kind of legitimate growth that impacts the numbers we all know they so love to talk about. Executives are actively asking WOA, how can we change the way we approach our teams so that everyone can reap the benefits?
The health of a culture can make or break an organization. In “The Biggest Companies of the Inc. 5000” and in Fortune magazine’s “100 Best Companies to Work For” there are consistent themes. These companies: 1. Consistently outperform their competitors, 2. Invest in leadership development, 3. Prosper through a healthy workplace culture. In this blog, we will focus on developing a healthy workplace culture. As Ken Blanchard, a best selling author including the One-Minute Manager, said, “Organizational culture is simply ‘the way we get things done around here.’ The organization’s culture can help or hinder the success of an organization.” Peter Drucker once expressed that “culture eats strategy for breakfast.” You can have a fantastic vision or brilliant strategy, but successful execution rests on a supportive culture…
Priorities are changing in higher education, government and business. This week, U.S. Secretary of Labor Hilda L. Solis announced, “More than $500 million in grant money has been allocated to approximately 300 community colleges and universities in the United States of America for job training.” This grant reflects a “needed shift in priorities in community […]
Winning projects these days has changed. Here’s a true story of what it takes to position yourself to win projects today…
