How to generate successful change efforts
For a change effort to succeed, it must solve a problem people care about. The first challenge I have seen in many years of looking, is to find the few who care enough to get off their arses, and then make sure those few care about the same things for the same...
How to win the war on two fronts
History is littered with examples that convincingly make the case that a battle on two fronts can never be won. Our business literature is similarly littered with examples of business failure brought on by the competing demands of too many markets calling on a...
A marketer’s explanation of ‘Box Score’
To improve performance, the key challenge is to identify the drivers of outcomes in real time, and enable the changes to be made that will improve the performance. The 'Box score' is a term that has been hijacked from the recording of individual sporting...
How your data is giving you the wrong answers.
The old adage that you can find data to support any proposition, almost no matter how wild, has never been as prevalent as it is today. We have the sight of politicians on the one hand telling us the science is wrong as it reflects the looming catastrophe of...
The three accounting skills essential for success.
Not all accountants are created equal, and not all do the same job. All businesses have two types of information required, for which they need three types of accounting functionality. There is the regulatory and compliance accounting, which can be a simple as...
Two key questions to get stuff done.
Do you ever struggle to do something you know how to do, and should be easy, at least that is the way it seems, but never get past the first hurdle. I do. Disturbingly often. For some years I have toyed with writing a book, becoming one of those liberated by...
Does familiarity really breed contempt?
When you do something over and over, you get better at it, the actions become automatic. Remember the first time you drove to that new job? You looked up the route, probably put the address into the GPS (if you are under 30) and concentrated all the way,...
Technology Intensive Differentiation: The new marketing El Dorado.
There is a reallocation of capital from advertising to R&D evolving. Elon Musk may be the typifier. Tesla spends nothing on advertising, relying on Elon and social media, plus all the commentary he generates. Meanwhile, Tesla put $1.5 billion (in 2020) into...
The seven levers of management control.
Successful people will tell you to concentrate on the things you can control, be aware of, and prepared for those you cannot. Stressing about those you cannot control adds no value, the best you can do is anticipate the impact they may have, and shape your...
How will an inexperienced management respond to inflation?
The Reserve Bank released the latest inflation figures a week or so ago. The year-end number was 3.5%, significantly influenced by a few highly volatile items like petrol. Stripping those out, the underlaying rate was 2.6%. These numbers do not bode well for...