As usual, Jack and Suzy Welch are on target with their latest BW column, critizing the new Administration for various leadership "shortcomings". The valuable insight for business leaders is that "you gain nothing by showing uncertainty and indecision". In short, get your act together, probe the issues, work them to…
<A recent WSJ story about cost-cutting focuses on measures taken to reduce the costs for current employees to forestall personnel cuts that business leaders fear will hurt their ultimate competitiveness. There are some interesting twists on several ideas. Agilent Technologies tried a novel approach by tying a portion of all…
<The WSJ offers an inside look at how open book management and financial transparency have been used as valuable tools to help companies cope with the economic downturn. It may be more challenging to start this now, but the rewards can be plentiful and unexpected. More than anything, it enables…
“This is a nightmare, which will pass away with the morning. For the resources of nature and man’s devices are just as fertile and productive as they ever were. The rate of our progress toward solving the material problems of life is not less rapid. We are as capable as…
Finding Your Inner Courage is another Welchway gem from Business Week. This time, Jack and Suzy Welch focus on us - how do leaders motivate themselves? When times are bleak and business challenges sap much of our energy, how can we renew our own commitment to success and find the…
The NY Times recently published an interview with Bob Seiwert, a senior vice president for the Center for Commercial Lending and Business Banking at the American Bankers Association, a trade group in Washington. Transparency. Full Disclosure. Risk Management. These are a few of the items on his checklist of key…
Fortune magazine recently interviewed Jim Collins, whose popular book, Good to Great, took the business community by storm a few years ago. He talks about the current turbulence and some of the variables uncovered in his research about companies that prevail during difficult times.Being securely moored in powerful values and…
The NY Times carried an article about the Crane & Company, the venerable producer of fine stationery and exclusive maker of U.S. currency with more than a 200 year lineage. They recently sold a minority position in their company to an outside investor group . . . because they face…
The North Bay Business Journal, a publication of the New York Times, is a weekly business newspaper which covers the North Bay area of San Francisco – from the Golden Gate bridge north, including the Wine Country of Sonoma and Napa counties.
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Article published – February 9, 2009
Simply signing the payables, ‘walking around’ can reveal savings, innovations
“Never neglect details. When everyone’s mind is dulled or distracted the leader must be doubly vigilant.” – Colin Powell
It’s a phrase we’ve all heard ad nauseum, but yes, the devil’s still in the details. How does a business leader retain perspective on the more strategic elements of his company while capturing and controlling sufficient details to calibrate and validate the execution of that strategy?
Here are a few proven methods to uncover and gain insight into some of these intricate details. (more…)