The CEO Insomnia Factor
You Don’t Have to Swim Upstream
Salmon are destined to die after swimming upstream. Downturns can make businesses feel like they’re nearing the end too. But companies and their CEOs have the potential to re-invent themselves, depending on their environment. Here are five forces that determine whether your environment is “structurally favorable.”
Encouraging Hidden Leaders
Hidden leaders can appear anywhere in your life, whether business or personal. Here’s a story of one person who might have been low on the social ladder, but who touched people’s hearts in a big way.
Balancing Sales with Marketing
The market and your competition are changing all the time. Similarly, the sales and marketing function of your business needs tending all the time. But which principles apply to business aspects that are 80% science and 20% art?
Rejuvenating Fatigued Leadership Teams
Team fatigue doesn’t just happen in economic downturns. Many businesses face this even in good times. When objectives are missed and the going becomes tough and slow, how do we get our team to charge ahead?
Powerfully Executing for the Upturn
Any business cycle downturn produces unique opportunities for the CEO who is prepared to take advantage. What systems and people should you have in place, and when should you strike?
Unrewarded Heroic Efforts in Adverse Markets
In the adverse conditions that exist in today’s economy, CEOs must be realistic about achievable objectives, not over-spending or panicking in futile attempts to grow revenues or profits. What’s your call: do you change direction or continue to buck the headwinds?
Customer Betrayal and the CEO’s Reaction
Adverse customer decisions impact much more than our financial statements. They affect CEO values. This is a consequence that all of us as chief executives must think deeply about.
Curve Ahead
It’s time for all us CEOs to begin practicing the skills of managing in a rebounding economy. Not that all of us are out of practice; companies rebound in all sorts of economic conditions. And companies go through their own personal “downturns” all the time–even in a strong economy.
Communicating like a Composer
As leaders, we get our most important work done through others. The executive composer is writing the music for many compositions simultaneously, and watching them play out every day. Here are seven commonalities that can help the executive communicator get better results in all areas.
Prepare for Bad Behavior
When times are tough, people and businesses act badly. But we can insulate ourselves from bad behavior by being essential. People and companies in collaborative agreements where there is mutual dependence will act kindly toward each other. But don’t EVER let the balance slip.
Robert Sher is founding principal of CEO to CEO, a consulting firm of former chief executives that improves the leadership infrastructure of midsized companies seeking to accelerate their performance. He was chief executive of Bentley Publishing Group from 1984 to 2006 and steered the firm to become a leading player in its industry (decorative art publishing).