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| 1. |
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One path leads to a dead end. The other toward a never-ending journey. Which will you take? |
Companies have always sought the biggest bang for their buck. The two questions which have become central to this issue in recent years are: 1) How do companies become more productive?; and 2) What should companies do with new efficiencies once they are found? The ways in which companies answer these two questions will go a long way toward deciding how competitive they will be in the new millennium. |
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| 2. |
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How do you know when things are going your way? What is worth counting and adding-up? |
With all of the ambition, energy and creativity we invest in our businesses, it is only natural that we should want some sort of progress indicator. Regardless of the nature of the journey, there is something in each of us that is comforted by the exact details of how far we have come, and how far we have yet to go. The issue here is which scale of measurement companies should use to gauge their performance. |
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| 3. |
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You have a choice to make -- diminishing returns or growing reputation. What suits you? |
Since the dawn of commerce, business people have been asking, "How do we compete?" The answers they came up with have varied widely, both in terms of approach and effectiveness. Needless to say, some approaches are more effective than others. To succeed, companies must understand more than just how to compete. They must also understand exactly where and when they should compete, and where and when they should not. |
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| 4. |
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How will you spend your time? How will you save it? When is each called for? |
If we mortals would think about it carefully for a moment, we would realize that time is the most precious resource we have. This is especially true for businesses, few of which will live even half as long as the average person. That is why it is vitally important that companies manage this precious resource effectively. |
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| 5. |
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If politics is between people, and people do politics, can you have people without politics? |
Can people recognize a good idea when they see one? The answer to this question is iffy. When a good idea arises in an organization, the answer is even less reliable. Why have so many companies had such a hard time generating, recognizing and acting on good ideas? The short answer is that many companies are crowded with people who are passive and even politicized. To a great extent, this is due to the ways in which new ideas are brought into the company’s "frame of reference". |
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| 6. |
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Knowledge is at once intangible and invaluable -- so how do you bank on it? |
Most of us know this is the information age. Many of us have also heard that this is the dawn of the knowledge economy. As the experts and academics debate what all this will come to mean, companies must develop their own understanding before the official verdict is out. How companies manage knowledge will decide whether they are a part of this bold new future, or merely one of its memories. |
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| 7. |
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Is a particular technology just a fashion or is it the future? How can you tell? |
Far too many companies have come to understand their technological change needs in terms explained to them by technology vendors. Often, technological change has been attempted simply for the sake of it. As can be expected in this situation, the results are frequently disappointing and usually expensive. For companies to get the most out of new technologies, not only must they understand how to apply them, but also when, where and why to apply them. |
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| 8. |
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Problems happen, so how will you handle them? |
Problems new and old, are problems none the less. This is why new glitches and inherent hitches both invite similar ire. Two important questions frame this dilemma. First; "What do we do when problems arise?" And second; "How can we avoid problems before it is too late?" How companies answer these two questions will determine how often they are faced with them. |
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| 9. |
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What is leadership really for? How do you lead? To where are you supposed to lead? |
The importance of good leadership has never been greater. In large measure, this is because the definition of good leadership has changed significantly. How companies define good leadership will go a long way in determining their success or failure in this new millennium. |
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| 10. |
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Who is on your side, and who is just along for the ride? |
Recently, much attention has been focussed on organizational learning. Companies are being urged to learn from their competitors and their customers. While many companies strive to learn all the lessons they can, many, many more fail to listen to the greatest source of insight available to them — their own employees. |
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| 11. |
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What is power for? Which is the greater power -- your own, or how you can empower others? |
Far too many trappings of career success are expressions of power. Hierarchies, chains of command and managerial rights all dictate their will in no uncertain terms. The members of such organizations know their place and observe their corporate caste. It is orderly, and it certainly suits the corporate elite. But we must ask ourselves: Should we work over and under each other, or with each other? |
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| 12. |
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How can you keep your people pushing behind you? Can you really push them to do it? |
In the commerce between employers and their employees, selected behaviours are traded for prizes of all sizes. Be it a pay cheque, a simple thank you, or a vice presidency, both parties want to get all they can from the deal. Often though, it is the deal itself that reduces the gains for all involved. Nurturing a mutually beneficial employment relationship will require the creative use of rewards, incentives and recognition, and the strategic use of promotions. To be effective and seize the benefits of maximum motivational power, organizations must understand where and when each kind of employment tactic is called for, and exactly how to execute it. |
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| 13. |
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If you could get everyone to work exactly as you would most want, how would they work together? |
Organizing activities and people to act on them is yet another major challenge that is increasing in complexity. Indeed, without keeping an eagle’s eye on operations, all kinds of "fires" may break out. If you are lucky, you will find out about your company’s problems before your customers do. But most of the time this is not the case. Why? Because employees are often part of the cover-up. This happens because the wrong demands have been placed on employees, who must then produce results under less than ideal circumstances. Getting all that your workforce can give is a matter of implementing the right organizational structures, and establishing the right environment in which to work. |
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| 14. |
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In business, is smooth running about stability or adaptability? How will you run your business? |
Leaders must work hard to bring all the right elements together to produce even a single success. Without order and movement, the people leaders rely upon may float away on waves of boredom, apathy or politics. In this relentless endeavour, leaders have had to respond to two questions. First; "How do we achieve order?" And second; "What are our goals?" Regrettably, these two questions are so elementary that they are often overlooked, with their answers taken for granted. Or should we say, the answers are mistaken? |
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| 15. |
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Does strategy come down to a plan, or does it rise-up from insights? |
In business, as in any complex human endeavour, people must work together effectively and with common purpose. Giving people in companies a clear understanding of their common purpose, and coordinating their individual activities is a major challenge. Two issues are key here. 1) How will companies develop a common purpose and instill every employee with it? 2) How will the work of individuals be coordinated in step with this common purpose? |
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| 16. |
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Is sourcing merely about acquiring what you need, or do you sometimes wish you could have it made especially for you? |
To succeed in the new millennium, companies must develop teamwork as a Core competency. First and foremost, people inside companies must work together as teammates. Yet this is merely the cost of entry. To compete, excel and win in tomorrow’s world, people at all levels in our organizations must work as intimately with outsiders as they do with their own colleagues inside the company. By leveraging the learning that can pass between business partners, win/win propositions blossom in the fields of competitive innovation. |
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| 17. |
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What constitutes "high quality"? Will you wait for your competitors to tell you? Or will you show them and your customers what it really means? |
As mentioned in section three, the word "Quality" actually has two component meanings. The first meaning addresses reliability. In this respect, products and services are deemed to be high quality if they reliably meet customer expectations. The second meaning pertains to the number of features that a product or service has. Here, high quality status is given to products and services that allow customers to do what they could not do with other, lesser products and services. However, the paramount question is not how much quality your company can design into your products and services. Rather, what matters is how your company defines quality. |
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| 18. |
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How can you speak to customers like you've heard them as individuals? |
The perceptions we hold direct the ways in which we act. Our actions in turn bring reactions, which further shape our perceptions. How companies perceive their markets and their mission within them, will therefore ultimately determine how they succeed, and how they fail in those markets. |
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| 19. |
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Which of your assets will you focus most of your attention on? What does managing things really mean? |
In its pure essence, a company is defined by its assets and its beliefs. Everything about what it does and how it does it, are expressions of the marriage between these two elements. The struggle companies must undertake, is to bring everything together in the right way. Most people readily agree that "right" is a matter of environment and mission. Others say it’s a matter of principle. To ask; "How do we manage our assets?" is to preempt the issue. To arrive at a worthwhile answer, we must first ask; "What are assets?" |
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