Focus Four™ covers a lot of ground, but its modular design offers a great deal of versatility. Here’s how to use a few of its tools during times of crisis: Do a short-term cash forecast. During times of crisis, cash becomes more valuable than gold. Use the Focus Four™...
“Ultimately, each of us must decide whether a task we are accountable for is urgent or important. This can be done by thinking about whether not doing something would place an active risk against long-term goals or strategy. If the answer is yes in this regard,...
“Surprisingly, 65 percent of these same owners do not know how much their business is worth and 85 percent do not have an exit plan. In essence they are relying on fate with a healthy dose of luck to ultimately secure a premium price for their company should...
“Effective measurement must be an integral part of the management process. The balanced scorecard, first proposed in the January-February 1992 issue of HBR (“The Balanced Scorecard—Measures that Drive Performance”), provides executives with a comprehensive...
“[It’s] the organization’s fundamental reason for being. An effective purpose reflects the importance people attach to the company’s work—it taps their idealistic motivations—and gets at the deeper reasons for an organization’s existence beyond just making...
“It takes courage, belief, commitment, and trust to discover and declare you are the best, and then guarantee your promise to your customers! That’s exactly what a Brand Promise is. Your Brand Promise and your Brand Promise Guarantee is your answer to the...
“In this article, we’ll synthesize lessons from our experience and from new research on the organizational practices of 30 top companies to highlight how businesses can best organize for the future. While no organization has yet cracked the code, the...
“No one said growth would come easily. In fact, there are some extraordinary roadblocks that need to be overcome if you’re going to grow successfully. Here are five of them, and strategies for addressing each successfully…”
“In a world in which knowledge is power, what you don’t know can hurt you. The good news: It’s not so hard to find out what your rivals are up to. Some savvy (and perfectly legal) snooping—otherwise known as competitive intelligence—can drive your...
“As everyone wishes 2020 to be done and 2021 budget planning ramps up, CFOs are prioritizing cash, sustainability and clairvoyance.”
“The study, which was recently published in the Proceedings of the National Academic of Sciences, identified ‘the strategic mindset’ as the key difference between those who succeed in reaching all their goals and those who fail.”
