ENCORE! 2.5 INSIGHTS

Few management practices have captured business attention more than the quest for operational efficiency. Indeed, over the years, businesses across a wide spectrum of industries have readily adopted practices such as Just-in-Time (JIT) and lean manufacturing, which drive efficiency across production and distribution processes. But is the zeal for efficiency really worth it?  Do firms stand only to gain from efficiency or are there downsides as well? During times as uncertain as these—with the Covid-19 pandemic and threats of economic recession—it is important to carefully weigh the obvious pros and not-so-obvious cons of focusing solely on keeping operations lean. Heavy reliance on efficient management processes is completely understandable. These practices greatly lower resource requirements and help reduce waste. Further, by streamlining the flow of materials across supply chains, ensuring availability of resources for just-in-time production, and optimizing manufacturing

By Steven K. Haught, MBA One of the biggest changes in sales over the years has nothing to do with the art selling itself. It has to do with the way the buyer has changed their ways of making decisions. The process of sales is evolving as technology, globalization and communication methods advance and progress. But the evolution of the buyer has been exponentially faster.  So what do you need to do to keep up with these changes?   Here are five up-to-date ways to sell to the modern-day buyer : 1) Be social-media savvy The new buyer knows what they want and has done a lot of research. Your ability to be at the forefront of their mind when they are looking for solutions is paramount. As time is progressing, we see social media in a business setting is becoming the main medium for finding information and evaluating choices. 2) Create value with ideas outside the range of money We often think value is linked to how much products and services cost.  The

If your mission is to get work done through and with others across your organization, you need to develop and apply influence. In this article, I share ideas and approaches you can use to engage and succeed in your organization's political environment without compromising your values. These "clean power" approaches are potentially powerful for leading and effecting change in many settings. However, they take a deliberate focus and ample effort. First, a few facts of organizational life There's no escaping organizational or workplace politics. In every setting where humans gather in pursuit of shared objectives, a political environment emerges. Whether you're striving to effect change in your local school's parent-teacher organization or a global business, there's a political environment where some individuals wield a disproportionate amount of decision-making authority. Effectively, they bring resources to opportunities and choose others for m

Presidents Dwight Eisenhower and John F. Kennedy were not friends, yet after the failure of the Bay of Pigs operation in early 1961, the two began to speak. Eisenhower's administration had planned the invasion, which was executed under Kennedy's watch. According to historian Jon Meacham’s account in "Songs of America ," Ike asked, "Mr. President, before you approved this [plan for the invasion], did you have everybody in front of you debating the thing so you got the pros and cons yourself and then made the decision, or did you see these people one at time." Kennedy demurred, saying he had just approved the plan, adding, "I just took their advice." Going forward, Kennedy asserted more control. He implemented ExComm (Executive Committee for the National Security Council) and was used to good effect during the Cuban missile crisis in October 1962.  Kennedy was able to neutralize the over-aggressive tendencies of some like Gen. Curtis

If there’s one thing many leaders have in common, it’s that they feel pressured to roll out new strategies more quickly, with more impact. Now, with coronavirus subsiding, new strategies must gather traction and momentum quickly, and the CEO is responsible for getting the troops on board. Leaders recognize the importance of communication — of getting the message out to employees about where the organization is headed and why. To do so, they often default to the “ cascade ” approach: holding high-energy town hall meetings, posting on internal social media, writing executive blog posts on intranet pages, hosting lunch-and-learn sessions. They work hard to craft a compelling message at the top and send it on its way. A cascade is similar to the waterfall model in software development, wherein customers provide detailed specifications at the beginning, and developers build in a linear sequence, which they hope will hit the target in the end.  A strategy cascade implies a on

By now the executive teams of companies of all sizes, know just how jumbled and messy the revenue forecasts are for the balance of 2020 and there’s an almost  panic-driven commitment to preserving cash and eliminating operating costs.   After three months of intense review and analysis of the structures of your company, you are wondering if certain things once thought to be essential, may not be so important, at least for the foreseeable future. It’s time to start over! It’s time to rethink every aspect of your company’s structure, all expenses, projects, marketing and revenue projections.  Start from ground ZERO.  You must now approach budgeting with the goal of starting with a clean slate, nothing is sacred, and build out and up the company structures sufficient to accomplish it’s mission. By definition, Zero-based budgeting, developed in the 1970s, is a proven, unique and compelling exercise, wherein executives use a re-start process to justify every department, st

By Steven K. Haught, MBA Two leaders recently took responsibility for their actions, with very different outcomes, but one thing in common… holding themselves accountable for their words and actions. . The first chief is Gen. Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Milley made an apology that was succinct and to the point as he gave a commencement address to the students at the National Defense Institute. "As many of you saw, the result of the photograph of me at Lafayette Square last week -- that sparked a national debate about the role of the military in civil society. I should not have been there. My presence in that moment and in that environment created a perception of the military is involved in domestic politics.” Milley was photographed in battle fatigues during President Donald Trump's stroll into Lafayette Park. Later, Milley was seen inspecting and chatting with National Guard troops called in to ensure order in the streets. Before

By LaRae Quy, Former Agent with the FBI When people meet me, they expect me to have the kind of bravado that is portrayed by FBI agents on TV and in movies -- confident, with no signs of weakness or vulnerability. Nothing could be further from the truth! It’s true that the most successful agents I worked alongside were brave, but it wasn’t the bluster that shoves people out of their way or abuses power. Nor was it the detachment that keeps emotions on a tight leash. The best leaders are those who have the courage to be themselves. They have the courage to be transparent and vulnerable. To many people, the idea of vulnerability sounds a bit touchy-feely. It’s been associated with those who are weak and submissive, but vulnerability is not for wimps because it requires us to move through our fears. I mean the big, scary fears that we’d rather avoid because they make us feel vulnerable! We are afraid of situations freighted with uncertainty, emotions we can’t control,