Having just taken part in the EMC Leadership 2020 study it was been interesting to see that many of my concerns regarding business leadership were borne out by its findings.
Key findings were:
– Leaders agree market disruption is near universal
– Change is a constant, yet hard to manage
– Technology is the primary driver of change, closely followed by regulation.
However, the report revealed that leaders are not yet rising to deal with these challenges.
“Cash is king” – We’ve all heard the phrase many times, and there is
no doubt that it’s a great maxim to adhere to in any business.
Lack of cash is pretty much the primary cause of complete failure for a business,
but 0n the opposite side, what is the primary cause of success? There are myriad books
expounding the secrets of business success – they cover topics such as leadership;
client focus; quality control; innovation – an almost never ending list that purports
to holding the key.
There are business students struggling through challenging MBA courses
trying to master all of the disciplines it takes to run a successful business.
Yet many businesses are still just struggling along. It seems that business
leaders are more stressed and confused than at any point in the preceding 100 years.
There are many excellent coaches in the business world and a great deal of progress is made every day in coaching sessions. The stark truth is that many coaching relationships last far too long. It is my belief (and practice) that within 5 sessions, the issue at hand, the issue for which the coaching relationship was started, can be resolved.
There are 86 separate activities that your organisation will need to complete in order to become world class at sales. Seriously. 86. That’s the magic number. These activities fit within 8 categories that will elevate you through the 5 levels of sales success. Sounds complicated, doesn’t it? Well, the good news is that you’ll only need to establish competence in small number of these activities to raise your organisation well above the average. That’s no excuse not to do all 86 by the way.