Extraordinary Times, Phenomenial Opportunity

March 25, 2009 | Tagged 100 days in office, acquisition plan, disruptive innovation, profound change, sense of urgency | Comments Off

Not many would argue against the notion that United States of America is in a disruptive time. The shift of generational power, economic tumult all lead to phenominal opportunity for profound change – not the tweaks to which we’ve become accustomed, but genuine disruptive innovation. With that in mind, how do you capitalize on this under-current when those around you are concerned with maintaining status quo?

Be even bolder.

As you walk into your next post whether it be through promotion or acquisition, plan your first 100 days boldly.

1. Make sure your direct reports are the smartest fit for the organization you will create and balance longevity with trustworthy external hires. Move quickly. Instill a sense of urgency. The team should be in place before any public announcements – once you hit the WSJ, the clock is ticking.

2. Communicate your vision expounding on the core values and the framework from which decisions will be made. Set the stage for how and which behaviors you will reward. Be clear about the unacceptables.

3. Get dirty. Frontline sales staff are the fastest way to get your customers’ pulse. Open the chain of communication as you step in to reap the rewards of valuable information for years to come. Know your business inside-out.

4. Get the anecdotal information to flesh out your business trajectories by meeting with at least a handful of major customers. Pair up your senior staff with your customers’ senior staff and act on valuable ideas brought to light. Know your business from the outside-in.

5. Cash is still King. Stop discretionary spending until your business priorities are clear. Quickly get the information you need to determine why a business unit is not performing. Then make a clear, concise decision. NO waffles. Create a short list of priorities, make sure they are funded and carefully tracked.

6. Understand how your business creates profitability – develop simple reporting metrics to track the leverage points. The CEO must know first hand how the revenue side of the business works. You must be able to turn on the sales spigot when necessary, recognize short term upsides and hidden reserves. Find these profit engines and hit accelerate.

7. Understand and communicate the problems lingering on your balance sheet. You have one opportunity to erase the mistakes of your predecessors. Deal with the legacy issues immediately. Boldly.

8. Much akin to knowing the intricacies of your profit engines, develop the ability to detect hidden threats. Patch, fix and abandon as necessary. Avoid the trap of trying to fix every problem – you will get mired in the operational details losing site of the overall objective.

9. Manage your Board of Directors by setting expectations you can exceed. Be particularly conscious of informing them about the risks and what you are doing to avoid those risks. Make sure your entire management team speaks with one voice on the set of facts and conclusion.

10. Be aware that you are magnified to your staff, your vendors and your clients. That feeling that you are being watched? Dead on. You are. Set the tone for how people will interact, what takes priority and your level of commitment. Particularly in tough times, staff like to see a boss make sacrifices. Whether you give up your golf membership or not is not my concern, but do consider the signal you send with each of your actions.

Go. Be bold.

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