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StrategyDriven Insights Library Topical Areas and Forums
Entrepreneurship
Starting and running an entrepreneurial enterprise presents a unique set of uncertainties and challenges. As no one person can know all there is to know about your products and/or services; the marketplace; marketing, sales, and delivery of your product and/or services; your business operations, finances, and talent acquisition and management; and the regulatory environment; as well as your resource limitations and other constraints, you need direct sources of actionable insight to assist you in following the road to success and avoiding the paths of failure.
Entrepreneurship – The successful entrepreneur is a uniquely talented individual, motivated to move beyond the confines of corporate America to make an indelible impact on the world around them. They accept the risks and challenges involved with building an enterprise; believing in themselves, their team, and their ideas. This forum focuses on the personal qualities, characteristics, considerations, and actions embodied by the successful entrepreneur.
Starting Your Business – Particularly for first time entrepreneurs, starting a business presents many unknowns and uncertainties, any of which can significantly hamper sustainability and long-term growth. Some items, if missed, will not be readily apparent; only revealing themselves at the most inopportune times. Materials in this forum reflect the considerations, planning, and actions needed to minimize startup risk and accelerate the new business launch.
Managing Your Business – While often appearing mundane and bothersome, internal or back-office processes keep a company moving. Their health and efficiency is as important to the enterprise as acquiring new customers and fending off marketplace competitors. Indeed, these very processes may be the key to achieving success in both of these areas… they were for Walmart, Dell, Southwest Airlines and many others. Resources in this forum are dedicated to the programmatic enhancements to optimize business operations post startup; ensuring long-term success.
Managing Your People – Acquiring the right employees and inspiring them to commit the full measure of their intellectual, creative, and skill-based talents to the achievement of the business’ goals remains a central part of an entrepreneur’s role. Resources in this forum focus on the programs and practices enhancing overall workforce productivity, creativity, and engagement as well as how to acquire and retain top talent.
Managing Your Finances – Managing money on an enterprise scale requires a significantly different knowledge base and skillset than one’s personal finance management. Such management typically involves many more transactions, organizations, and institutes as well as governmental requirements. Materials in this forum are dedicated to the practices ensuring near and long-term financial stability, capital optimization, and overall company financial viability.
Online Marketing and Website Development – Gaining potential customer awareness amid the unending communications barrage has never been more difficult. Consequently, effective digital marketing practices fully integrated with a properly designed website is critical to gaining and retaining customers. Materials in this forum focus on the methods to brand, market, and sell products and services leveraging the power of the internet via social media, search engines, and the company’s website.
Strategy
A business’s overall strategy defines its purpose for being, what it will do to achieve that purpose, and how it will perform these tasks. The long-term strategy begins with the organization’s vision, mission, and goals as codified within a long-range (5 – 10 year) strategic plan. Annual business plans translate the long-term strategy into projects, initiatives, and milestone goals that are more tangible to employees and for which distinct daily activities can be planned.
Strategic Planning – This forum will focus on the principles, best practices, and warning flags associated with the leading practices of companies that successfully execute strategic planning processes to define objectives, drive alignment, and enhance performance.
Strategic Analysis – Materials in this forum are dedicated to discussing the leading practices of companies that successfully execute strategic analysis processes to support the ongoing strategic planning process.
Alternative Development – Resources in this forum are dedicated to discussing the key principles and practices of developing high quality business cases from which organizational investment decisions can be made.
Alternative Selection – Resources in this forum are dedicated to discussing the principles and practices enabling leaders to most effectively choose those options aligned with the organization’s values and goals while offering a maximum value return to the organization and its stakeholders.
Resource Management – Materials in this forum are dedicated to discussing the leading practices of companies successfully executing a resource management program in support of strategic planning and tactical business execution.
Resource Projection – Materials in this forum are dedicated to discussing the leading practices of companies successfully executing a resource projection program in support of strategic planning.
Succession and Succession Planning – Materials in this forum are dedicated to discussing the leading practices of companies that successfully execute succession and succession planning processes; maximizing the new entrant’s probability of success and the organization’s operational continuity.
Execution
Operational execution represents the day-to-day realization of the organization’s business strategy; the physical manifestation of leadership’s decisions regarding what the organization will do and how those activities will be performed. To achieve real success, however, these activities must be implemented efficiently and effectively.
Tactical Execution – Materials in the Tactical Execution Forum are dedicated to discussing the leading practices of companies that effectively execute their business initiatives and operations to the fulfillment of the organization’s strategic vision.
Portfolio Management – Materials in the Portfolio Management Forum will focus on the underlying principles, best practices, and warning flags associated with maintaining effective activity portfolio alignment with mission goals while, at the same time, efficiently deploying the organization’s limited resources.
Project Management – Materials in the Project Management Forum are dedicated to discussing the leading practices of companies effectively managing projects for the efficient achievement of mission goals. Additionally, all project management information presented will be aligned with, compliment, and expound on the project management processes described by the Project Management Institute’s A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge.
Human Performance Management – Materials within the Human Performance Management Forum focus on those principles and best practices implemented at leading organizations to ensure consistent, high-quality human performance appropriately balanced with the need for cost-conscious efficiency.
Market
The shape, size, color, and texture of the market is continually changing. To be successful, leaders must understand the market, anticipate its changes, and respond accordingly.
Innovation – Today’s fast moving, highly competitive marketplace demands a relentless pursuit of innovative products, services, and operational advancements. What thrilled customers yesterday, becomes old and outdated tomorrow. What is low cost and efficient today becomes expensive and unwieldy tomorrow. This forum focuses on the creative practices, methods, and cultures successful organizations foster to keep and/or set the pace of advancement within their industry.
Marketing and Sales – Marketing and sales are two distinctly different yet tightly interwoven functions without which no business can survive. Through these functions, potential customers become aware and form an opinion of a product and/or service. From this understanding, they take action, desirable or not, regarding whether to seek an acquisition. If an acquisition is sought, then a sales transaction – an exchange of value – may occur. This forum focuses on the practices that transform potential customers into enthusiastic buyers. The materials within this forum provide how-to guidance to create product and/or service awareness and interest and facilitate a positive acquisition decision and action.
Customer Relationship Management – All businesses rely on a steady flow of customer purchases to remain in operation. Properly managed customer relationships build the loyalty necessary to sustain existing customer purchases and expanding the organization’s customer base; fueling growth and sustaining profitability. This forum focuses on the practices for establishing, nurturing, and maintaining strong customer relationships that continually engage the customer resulting in repeated sales, product and/or service endorsements, and family and friend patronage recommendations.
Monitoring
Surviving and thriving in today’s rapidly changing market requires organizational agility and the means to make rapid and sound decisions. Both of these activities require high quality and timely information on the performance of the internal organization and the many factors of its external market environment.
Evaluation and Control – Evaluation and control program components play a key role in an organization’s learning and growth efforts. They not only identify improvement opportunities, they also identify internal and external best practices that can be used to better existing processes. This continuous growth mechanism is critical to an organization seeking to maintain and advance its position in the marketplace. Materials in this forum are dedicated to discussing the leading practices of companies successfully executing an evaluation and control program in support of strategic business planning and tactical business execution.
Organizational Performance Measures – This forum focuses on the principles, best practices, and warning flags associated with the leading practices of companies that successfully use performance measures to drive organizational alignment, accountability, and operational performance.
Management Observation Program – Materials in this forum focus on the underlying principles, best practices, and warning flags associated with establishing and executing a management observation program aligned with organizational values and mission goals that effectively modifies personnel and organizational behaviors for the achievement of superior results.
Business Performance Assessment Program – An organization’s assessment program plays a key role in identifying the performance improvement opportunities that will propel it to the next level of performance. Materials in this forum are dedicated to discussing the leading practices of companies successfully executing an assessment program in support of strategic business planning and tactical business execution.
Corrective Action Program – An organization’s corrective action program plays a key role in identifying the corrective actions to day-to-day issues and requests needed to support continued operations and improve performance. Materials in this forum are dedicated to discussing the leading practices of companies successfully executing a corrective action program in support of strategic and tactical business operations.
Management
The terms management and leadership are often used interchangeably and managers are frequently assumed to be leaders. Nothing could be further from the truth. The function of the manager, and therefore the definition of management, is to direct or supervise the resources under his or her charge to the accomplishment of managed group’s assigned work. Leaders are individuals of impeccable character, unquestioned integrity, and unwavering selflessness that endear followers and inspire trust. Therefore, while a manager can also be a leader, a manager is not necessarily a leader. Likewise, leaders do not necessarily hold management positions.
Risk Management – Materials within the risk management forum focus on those principles, best practices, and warning flags associated with the effective monitoring, mitigation, and response to both identified and unidentified – Black Swan – risks.
Change Management – Materials contained within the Change Management Forum provide insight to the principles of change management as well as the best practices of those leaders recognized as top performers in this area. Each article is tailored to help readers improve their organization’s change management policies and practices so to achieve superior results and move ahead of the competition.
Business Communications – Materials within the Communications Forum focus on those principles and best practices implemented at leading organizations to ensure consistent, fluid transfer of information between individuals.
Decision-Making – Decision-making is a complex process that when done well enhances both strategic planning and tactical business execution. Materials within this forum explore the four categories of decision-making, underlying concepts, and performance best practices and warning flags.
Standards & Expectations – A high quality, effectively implemented set of standards and expectations are a critical component of the strategy driven organization. The combination of mission aligned task assignments, performance standards, and results goals establishes what is expected of strategy driven organization members. Documents in this area are dedicated to discussing the leading practices of companies that develop and implement performance standards that shape behaviors to the effective, efficient achievement of mission goals and organizational values.
Values
Organizational values establish the boundaries of decision-making and the norms of individual behavior; profoundly impacting the way an organization conducts business. When admirable and commonly shared, values bind together the organization’s executives, managers, and employees; creating an engaging environment that outsiders will seek to join.
Organizational Accountability – Materials in this forum explore the key attributes of accountable organizations and why many executives and managers intentionally or unconsciously avoid raising their organization’s accountability. We identify the programs, processes, and actions that can be taken to help promote increased accountability. Finally, we examine the many benefits that accompany higher levels of organizational accountability and why accountable organizations realize them while others don’t.
Corporate Cultures – Materials within this forum will address the methods to identify the organization’s values and the various value sets, their benefits and their drawbacks.
Diversity and Inclusion – While there exists a natural association between diversity and inclusion and organizational accountability, this forum will focus on the principles, best practices, and warning flags associated with establishing and maintaining a workplace environment that respects and values individual differences in order to earn full employee engagement and commitment to the achievement of the organization’s goals.
Talent
When highly skilled and knowledgeable people give the full measure of their creativity, intellect, and effort to achieving the organization’s goals, truly remarkable organizational performance results. Thus, talented personnel are the lifeblood of every organization and it becomes imperative that these individuals be valued and respected, inspired and motivated while at the same time being managed effectively and efficiently.
Resource Management – Materials in this forum are dedicated to discussing the leading practices of companies successfully executing a resource management program in support of strategic planning and tactical business execution.
Resource Projection – Materials in this forum are dedicated to discussing the leading practices of companies successfully executing a resource projection program in support of strategic planning.
Succession and Succession Planning – Materials in this forum are dedicated to discussing the leading practices of companies that successfully execute succession and succession planning processes; maximizing the new entrant’s probability of success and the organization’s operational continuity.
Talent Management – The Talent Management Forum’s collection of articles podcasts, and tools represents those principles, best practices, and warning flags associated with the establishment and ongoing maintenance of a highly effective talent acquisition, development, and retention programs.
Business Communications – Materials within the Communications Forum focus on those principles and best practices implemented at leading organizations to ensure consistent, fluid transfer of information between individuals.
Diversity and Inclusion – While there exists a natural association between diversity and inclusion and organizational accountability, this forum will focus on the principles, best practices, and warning flags associated with establishing and maintaining a workplace environment that respects and values individual differences in order to earn full employee engagement and commitment to the achievement of the organization’s goals.
Career
Today’s highly competitive marketplace demands continued personal performance improvement in order for professionals to remain viable and accelerated improvement to move ahead. Add in the exponential growth in available data and the vast number of global newcomers and it becomes easy to understand why all professionals feel overwhelmed. StrategyDriven’s personal performance improvement materials help relieve some of this stress by providing field tested methods and hard won insights that are immediately actionable to help improve individual performance effectiveness.
Professional Development – Articles within the Professional Development Forum focus on the methods used by truly StrategyDriven Professionals in the selection and execution of their developmental activities. Additionally, because organizational characteristics greatly impact professional development, some articles within this forum are dedicated to evaluating this organizational impact on one’s development, growth, and advancement opportunities.
Leadership Lessons from the United States Naval Academy – The StrategyDriven Leadership Lessons from the United States Naval Academy Forum focuses on the timeliness practices of highly successful military and business leaders.
Practices for Professionals – Materials in this forum provide immediately implementable guidance supporting performance of routine functions and activities by all professionals. These practices serve to directly enhance personal effectiveness and efficiency.
Business Politics
More often than not, people rise to the top because they excel at business politics regardless of whether they are otherwise good at their jobs or not. These individuals possess a clear understanding of their environment and the power they can and cannot exert on that environment to achieve their desired ends… ends that always consider the individual’s best interest but may or may not be aligned with the organization’s best interests. In some instances, this use of personal power is ethical, professional, appropriate, and aligned with achieving the organizations goals; reflecting the practices espoused by StrategyDriven. We call this leadership. In the majority of cases, the political use of power is self-serving, organizationally destructive, and less than ethical. We call this business politics.
Business Politics Impacts – Those engaged in business politics do so to further their self-interests. Seldom, if ever, do these goals align with those of the organization or the best interests of other employees, customers, and vendors. Further, those interacting with the business politician find themselves on the defensive, constantly at odds with the partisan and fighting to protect their or the organization’s interests. Consequently, a politically charged environment yields diminished returns for all stakeholders. Articles in this forum focus on the impacts of business politics, its interplay within the organization and between people and businesses.
Business Politics Landscape – Truly political players always seek to advance their position and objectives through a corrupted use of personal power. That said, some leadership practices and organizational constructs – structures, policies and procedures, metrics systems, and rewards programs – create an environment and promote a culture within which detrimental business politics thrive. In fact, such environments may lead to the rise of a political leadership class who are less than effective in their roles other then they are great players of the game. This forum discusses the leadership and organizational enablers of a politically charged environment.
Business Politics Players – Political masters exert power to drive their organization to an end that satisfies their near-term goals and long-term ambitions. Unlike true leaders, politicians pursue their self-interests and not necessarily those of the organization. This forum presents political powers and the categories of people who wield it.
Business Politics Practices – Business politics is a game of strategy comprised of moves and countermoves within a competitive environment. Willingly or not, every organization member participates in the game to an extent that is both self and environmentally determined. Masters of the game understand it – the rules, players, and environment – and place their bets based on this knowledge and their individual style. While no one participant or random chance occurrence can determine an outcome, the skilled business politician successfully influences an organization’s course to most optimally achieve his or her desired ends. These articles cover the offensive and defensive behaviors of successful business politicians.
Business Politics Lessons Learned – Business politics play out in a series of moves and counter moves between a varying number of individuals. Consequently, patterns of behavior and their associated outcomes must be diligently observed and objectively analyzed typically over extended periods and sometimes across multiple organizations in order to identify actual cause and affect learning. In no other arena are lessons learned more hard won than in business politics. This forum provides seasoned professional insights into the affects of political behaviors yielding long-term impacts and how to recognize and respond to these patterns before they impact you.
Business Politics Resources – While StrategyDriven’s Business Politics forums provide actionable insights to help you with the business politics battle, we found other resources offering underlying principles and historic examples adaptable to the successful practice of business politics. Those references are cited within this forum.
Other Resources
Centers
StrategyDriven Centers of Excellence
StrategyDriven Centers of Excellence provide executives and managers with the multitude of tools, techniques, and insights needed to not only address but to excel in these cross-cutting areas. Each Center of Excellence contains a collection of real-world tested tools and hard-won leadership insights based on our contributors’ work with dozens of small, mid, and large size companies with both domestic and international operations across many industries. Collectively, these methods represent the hundreds of years of experience of today’s most sought after leaders.
StrategyDriven Knowledge Centers
StrategyDriven Knowledge Centers provide executives and managers with a focused, deep-dive examination of a critical business performance area by one of our expert contributors. Each Knowledge Center contains a collection of insightful perspectives and immediately implementable tools that can be used to improve performance in its respective mission critical area.
Podcasts
StrategyDriven Podcasts provide an indepth exploration of the principals and concepts presented on the StrategyDriven website. Each episode contains rich examples that not only bring these concepts to life but help the listener more fully understand how to implement the subject principle or best practice to improve their and their organization’s performance.
The StrategyDriven Podcast focuses on the tools and techniques executives and managers can use to improve their organization’s alignment and accountability to ultimately achieve superior results.
The StrategyDriven Podcast – Video Edition focuses on the further elaborate on the tools and techniques executives and managers can use to improve their organization’s alignment and accountability to ultimately achieve superior results.
The StrategyDriven Podcast – Special Edition series introduces listeners to today’s top business leaders. Through our special edition podcasts, these highly successful authors share their insights on management and leadership effectiveness and achieving increased levels of business success.
StrategyDriven Leadership Conversations focus on the values and behaviors characteristic of highly effective leaders.
The StrategyDriven Professional Podcast series focuses on the tools and techniques business professionals can use to accelerate their careers and personal goals achievement.
StrategyDriven Editorial Perspective podcasts examine the unnecessary marketplace uncertainty created by the dithering, favoritism and power grabs of lawmakers and corporate executives; providing listeners with a perspective on how they can deal with these conditions in a way that positions their organization for long-term success.
Online Training
Designing Your Digital Products Platform
Learn how to blueprint the critical constructs of a Digital Products Platform that automatically markets, sells, and delivers your digital products. By participating in this three part video tutorial, you’ll learn:
- How to identify your ideal customer and the optimal avenues through which to reach them,
- How to define your website needs based on your ideal customer and product types, and
- How to create an integrated blueprint that seamlessly links the online marketing, sales, and delivery of your digital product.
Maximizing the Value of Business Performance Assessments
In StrategyDriven’s FREE Maximizing the Value of Business Performance Assessments online training series, we’ll show you several of the principles behind our identification of $200 million in performance improvement opportunities – in 2014 alone – including:
- the structure of information from data to insight
- StrategyDriven’s yellow sticky analysis method transforming data to insight
- how to get to a three whys deep understanding of problem causes
- how to properly use experience when analyzing data, and
- other concepts and methods for maximizing assessment value
Preparing for the Black Swan
In StrategyDriven’s FREE Preparing for the Black Swan online training series, you’ll learn the effective methods of dealing with unexpected, catastrophic events – Black Swans – including:
- the warning flags of rising Black Swan risk
- how to develop a healthy safety culture to minimize the risk of a Black Swan event
- how to responsibly prepare for a Black Swan event, and
- how to effectively monitor for rising Black Swan event risk