It is common for some entrepreneurs and directors to say “my company is small. We don’t have a lot of money. Isn’t strategic planning for bigger companies?” A strategic plan is like balanced diet to the human body. Both the young and the old need it. The baby may grow, but chances of being sickly are very high. If you have ever attempted to drive at night, you must put on driving lights. Otherwise, you will not go far. It is like driving while it is raining, if your car windshield wipers are inactive, you will lose visibility and stop.…
How to speak to influence and win deals
At 9:00am sharp, I was signaled by a smartly dressed lady in a blue dress, in her mid-30s to enter. I later learnt she is the Strategy& Innovations Manager at my prospective client, a Tier II financial institution. It was my turn to make a presentation of our strategic planning approach to the bank’s top management team. Standing in front of a full 15-seater boardroom can be worrying sometimes. With experience, I have now improvised to always take three deep breaths silently; and hope for the best and look people in the eyes. Jane, the smartly dressed leady that had…
To report early at work or not? becoming an outlier in office
It is easy to be recognized as exceptional performer. One of the middle managers at an international company in my private mentorship program called and said “I am concerned that my supervisor is trying to manage me as if we are still in the 1980’s”. This took me by surprise. I asked him to clarify to which he said that “my boss wants me to report to work earlier than 7:30am. He thinks that way I am very committed and working harder. Yet, my challenge is I love football. Whenever there is a late-night match, for which they have been…
How to evaluate the board’s effectiveness
To effectively evaluate the board, you must have set targets against which you are evaluating the board members. This calls for an effective governance structure and separation of powers. At the topmost, there must be the owner of the business. For publicly listed companies, these are shareholders with an equity certificate. The shareholders, at the AGM or annual general meeting, must elect the board members and set clear targets for the board so appointed. For emphasis, when the owner/ shareholders appoint the board, she/he must give them a score card or targets that are measurable. According to Kaplan and Norton,…
Where and how do you start life after campus?
Why do some students get great jobs before they live campus while others tend to linger for long on the street looking for some work, just any work and fail to even find it? The secret is not something you may think. Every year, leaders and top executives approach University lecturers for names of their top students in the class. If you are average, chances that your name could end up with the top bank’s top honcho are high if you just a great student that works closely with the lecturer! You must have a strategy for every situation you…
Without a responsive strategy, it is easy to fall flat
The website, https://www.toysrus.com/, might still be on, but Toys R Us filed for Chapter 11 Bankruptcy on 26th September 2017 in the US. In this brief, I explore how poor strategy led to the collapse of this once giant pacesetter in the retail space. When you are big, it is easy to get pre-occupied with the routine at the expense of strategic thinking which has a deadly end. Toys R Us was one of the leading companies in the toy market. The company that started 69 years ago, expanded steadily to over 1,600 stores globally, with annual revenues at US $13…
