Archive
New Testimonial from Alan Weiss
Thankful to Alan Weiss for this new testimonial…
© 2-13 Dan Weedin. All Rights Reserved
Strategy is Like Eating an Elephant
Yesterday, I held my monthly executive group workshop and the topic was time management. Several of the group members want to make more time to strategize and are frustrated in not making that time. In talking with one member in a follow up this morning, she shared with me her dilemma. “Strategy” as a word can be very amorphous and overwhelming. In fact, in can be so overwhelming that it actually paralyzes you from doing it at all!
Strategy work for executives and business owners should be like eating an elephant. One bite at a time.
Bite # 1 – Define what you want to accomplish. Are you making short or long term goals? Do you need to contemplate sales or operations challenges? Are you formulating an exit strategy (regardless of how far in the future that might be)?
Bite # 2 – Once you’ve defined strategy, “unbundle” to make them more bite size. Take only one small bullet point of one of your categories and work on that. Maybe you schedule out your strategy sessions over the course of six months and attack only one piece at a time. This will keep you more focused and the sessions shorter.
Bite # 3 – Put your strategy time on the calendar and hold it sacrosanct. Treat your time like you are a client. As an executive or owner, you are doing the best for your company when you are engaging in strategy work.
Bite # 4 – Keep notes. They can be either electronic or paper. Always know what you accomplished and what the next steps are.
Bite # 5 – Be persistent. Don’t put so much pressure on yourself. Find the time, keep your commitments, follow through, and work one day at a time. This persistence in the end will pay off.
Whether it’s cleaning your garage; getting into shape; eating that proverbial elephant; or making time to strategize; you WILL eventually finish your task with a committed and consistent plan. Define, unbundle, commit, record, and persistence will finish off the elephant and your strategy work.
© 2012 Dan Weedin. All Rights Reserved
Extra Points – 35,000 Feet
35,000 feet.
Flying back to Seattle on Saturday held a unique joy for me. Not only was I coming home from several days in Providence, RI, but I was flying over the Rocky Mountains on a glorious day. It caused me to put down my book, turn on my iPod, and take in the Rockies to the tunes of Glen Campbell, Lynard Skynard, and Sinatra. As what often seems to happen in the inner solitude at 35,000 or so feet, you get thoughtful. In between the gazing out at the snow-capped peaks, I actually came up with some great ideas for my business (including this post) and my life. Sometimes you need to get to “35,000 feet” to be creative and strategic.
How many of us hang around 6 feet most of our days?
Think about it. The 6 foot and under level means we are dealing with things in the moment, emergencies and “fires” that arise, in crisis mode, or maybe even in the dreaded “same old, same old” mode. Stuck answering phone calls and responding to emails. Going home and feeling like nothing was accomplished. Sound familiar?
When I work with my coaching clients, I encourage them to find time to get to 35,000 feet to work on their business, rather than at their business. This is when you can become singularly focused on the future, on planning, on strategy, and most importantly, on being creative and having fun. Your “work” should be fin or else you might need to find another line of “work.” By the way, this goes for your personal life as well. Never forget you only have one life, not multiple lives.
Find sometime this week to get to 35,000 feet. You don’t need to board a plane to do it. Just find space and time and quiet and you will get there. And by the way, a little Sweet Home Alabama never hurts…
This week’s quote – “If one advances confidently in the direction of his dreams, and endeavors to live which he had imagined, he will meet with success unexpected in common hours.” Henry David Thoreau
Gest Post from Dave Gardner – Control
One of my colleagues who I really enjoy reading is Dave Gardner. Dave is a fantastic consultant from the Bay Area and specializes on strategy. His only drawback is that he’s a 49′ers fan, but these days that’s better than a Seahawks fan! He puts out a weekly memo that I religiously read and I wanted to share it from today with his permission…
Focus on the wrong things can be debilitating. Too many people are focused on matters they have no control over. If this was a good thing, I’d not be writing about it.
We don’t have control over the stock market, what then banks are doing, what the government is doing, what’s going on in the global economy, what our competitors are doing, etc.
What we do have control over is setting our own strategy and executing that strategy, irrespective of all the ambiguities that we are exposed to.
We have to manage our businesses. If that means we need to turn off the news so we can focus, then so be it.
We must set a certain course and follow it, not become a rudderless ship being tossed about in a turbulent sea. This is key to thriving.
Libby and Dan – Episode 3
The third of three in a series of Libby Wagner and Dan Weedin addressing the Greater Seattle Chamber of Commerce on going from “recession to recovery.” This segment includes the topics of leadership and attitude…
© 2010 Dan Weedin. All Rights Reserved
Patience
One of my hobbies is playing fantasy baseball. Baseball has always been all about statistics and for us baseball geeks, it’s a great way to add fun to watching a season. My team looked pretty good before the season started. I was ready to get off to a fast start. Well, as often is the case, my bats were silent and my pitchers got shelled. By the end of the first week, I found my wife and daughter both beating me in the standings.
However, in baseball there’s another great axiom. Patience. I tweaked my roster just a bit to catch hot players, but basically stayed the course. Now through 2 weeks I’ve gone from the bottom to the top of the standings. Of course, that will undoubtedly be a fluid situation for only the next 6 months, but that’s the fun of it.
The lessons to take from this are pretty simple:
- Patience and staying the course through rough waters generally pays off
- Making smart “tweaks” to your strategies, activities, attitude, and life provide much needed spark, positive energy, and results
- Just because your on the bottom now doesn’t mean you’ll stay there unless you want to. Likewise, being on top can also be temporary unless you diligently continue to work on improving yourself
If you believe in what you are doing, be patient and stay the course. If it makes sense to tweak things to test or gain better results, do it. But most of all, have confidence in yourself and your plan.
Batter up!
© 2010 Dan Weedin. All Rights Reserved
Need to Get Away? Not Good for Frontier Bank President
Frontier Bank’s president John Dickson was fired this week by CEO Pat Fahey because he went on vacation. Really.
The bank is in deep trouble and has until April 15th to get better or sell. CEO Fahey was angered that President Dickson took a planned vacation with his family to Hawaii when the bank was in such crisis. In his words, “it was not the appropriate time for either of the two leaders to be gone.” Dickson countered that he was always available by phone and e-mail. Dickson is actually the son of the founder of Frontier Bank.
Read the story from the Puget Sound Business Journal
Here are my thoughts:
- If Dickson was as accessible as he said he was by phone, internet connection, and being able to fly back for an investor, then what difference did it make? Business is now done globally, 24/7, wherever you are. Did he have to be physically in the bank? I don’t think he did.
- Fahey may argue that from a morale standpoint, he did. But, let’s be serious. The employees have nothing to do with this. It’s about investors. As long as he could do whatever it took to raise capital, who cares where he is?
- Does it look any better to investors or customers that the CEO fired the president two weeks before the deadline? Does that help morale? Does that get you closer to making a sale? My guess is no.
Certainly, in an era where bank executives are being scrutinized every which way, Dickson could have opted for a different time. Certainly, Fahey is hunkering down and wanted all hands on deck. He most assuredly requested Dickson not leave. Dickson defied that and it was his undoing. I’m thinking there has been more to this story than this one episode.
If you were the CEO, what would you have done?
© 2010 Dan Weedin. All Rights Reserved
