Fortunately, that is what we do best—make good leaders great, and great leaders exceptional. Reynolds Consulting, LLC is adding to its products and services by offering a new program for executives that will enable them to lead their organizations through a tough new climate, escape the gravitational pulls of the marketplace, and achieve growth rates that exceed the industry average.
WHY ME?
By the time executives reach the C-suite, most would think that great leadership has been learned—and it may well have been. However, in working with companies of all sizes, even those in the multi-billion-dollar range, I find there are at least three things that hold leaders back:
- They have often achieved success based on operational or functional expertise. That, in itself, creates competence and knowledge, but not necessarily leadership.
- External pressures of the marketplace and the immediacy placed on profitability often cause a short-term focus.
- Internal pressures of the organization, such as dealing with the most looming and urgent problems, often take precedence over the most meaningful issues. There is only so much time, and it is a delicate balance to manage between results today and growth tomorrow.
WHAT IS THE BENEFIT?
The well-kept secret is that strategic leadership does not require more time or energy than operational leadership and will relieve much of the pressures felt day-to-day in decision making. In fact, there are at least three distinct advantages, the sum of which helps organizations achieve growth rates 2-4 times that of the industry average!
- Focus means working on the right things and that creates a more powerful return on investment. Only 25% of key initiatives today end up adding measurable value after completion—because they weren’t the “right” things. This program will ensure leaders are focused on the right things, increasing that number substantially.
- It saves time. At least one-third of the ideas the organization is currently pursuing will come off of the C-suites’ desks due to clarity of mission. That valuable time can be re-deployed to the “right projects”.
- Finally, it aligns resources. As a result, there is greater synergy throughout the organization, and with the appropriate resources in the right places, milestones are accomplished faster.
WHAT DO THE EXPERTS SAY?
Strategic Leadership is cited time and again as the key to success. Michael Porter wrote in Harvard Business Review that “operational effectiveness is not strategy.” He went on to say while it is necessary, it is not sufficient to create sustainable growth. McKinsey Quarterly validated that point in an article by Philipp Nattermann that states that “best practice is not the same as best strategy.” The point is that operational focus doesn’t provide a sustainable competitive advantage, as most improvements can and will be copied.
Hambrick and Fredrickson wrote a defining article in the Academy of Management Executive, pointing out every company needs one overarching integrated externally-oriented concept of how they will do business and achieve their goals, instead of multiple strategies or fragments of strategies. And no, “our strategy is to provide unrivaled customer service” is not a strategy.
The message is that Strategic Leadership, or leadership founded in strong strategic thinking, is the approach that allows executives to lead their companies to excel at levels far exceeding industry averages.
HOW DOES THIS NEW PROGRAM WORK?
We have assembled a collection of services and tools to help you advance your strategic leadership skills. It is our premise that you wouldn’t be where you are if you weren’t practicing some or all of them, but we also believe you will achieve more of what you focus on, and so no matter what point you are starting from, you have the opportunity to achieve improved results.
This set of services, to be launched first quarter 2010, is comprised of the following:
- Strategic Leadership Blogs posted weekly; use the RSS feed or have posts sent to your email.
- CEO Interviews and Newsletters that include relevant insights from news-making CEO’s, more extensive articles, how-to’s, tips to implement immediately, guest authors and more. For this, you will need to subscribe, but there is no cost to you. In addition to the Strategic Leadership Blogs, these will be emailed directly to subscribers at least three times a month.
- Coming soon, Leadership Modules will be offered on four key topics of strategic leadership: Understanding and Defining the Marketplace, Creating and Leading a Dynamic Culture, Developing an Overarching Strategy, and Balancing the Present and the Future with Goals and Measures. Each of these topics is a 13-week module, with one assignment per week delivered to your inbox and a feedback mechanism that will allow you to track your progress and effectiveness. If you sign up for all four modules, you will receive the fourth module free.
WHAT WILL I LEARN?
- How to determine the best marketplace target for your company.
- How to clearly define your differentiated competitive advantage.
- How to define the overarching strategic concept that best fits your company and use it to maximize growth.
- How to manage resources more effectively, including reallocation to achieve more with less.
- How to streamline and align the work of the organization.
- How to create and lead a value-driven culture.
- How to motivate, communicate and measure to achieve success.
- And much more….
HOW DO I REGISTER?
To start, register for the subscription publications by clicking here, and share this with a friend or post on your favorite web/blog site by using the social media icons below. We look forward to welcoming you to the team!
{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
Sounds like a fabulous program Margaret. With great participation in 2010 there should be a whole lot more effective CEOs running companies in the future! All the best and look forward to hearing great testimonials from this program.
Deb
Looking forward to receiving your upcoming words of wisdom.