Sometimes it’s the simplest actions we take that deliver the most amazing results. One of these actions is – to Ask.

As an entrepreneur, small business owner or employee in an organization– asking is powerful. So, why don’t more people do it, more often? Fear, and more specifically, fear in 5 forms

• Fear of Failure
• Fear of Rejection
• Fear of Appearing Foolish
• Fear of Appearing Greedy or Selfish
• Fear of Criticism (don’t want to make waves or rock the boat…)

We don’t ask because one or more of these fears is clandestinely playing havoc within our mind, and with what we believe is possible. We unconsciously and unintendedly feed the fear creature, and what’s worse, because we literally feed it through rumination or passive behavior (that is, doing nothing differently to stop it), we set ourselves up for failure, or at the very least, limitation: A self-filling prophecy. It does not have to be that way.

Check point: Have you ever experienced any of these situations?

• You make what you believe is a great sales presentation, but don’t make the specific ask for the business
• You’ve written an article that you believe represents important marketing initiative to grow your business, but you are afraid to ask an editor to publish it
• You want advice on how to grow your business and there is a person in your community who is a national expert, but you are afraid that you are not worthy of her time, so you don’t ask
• You missed a deadline to submit a paper for a presentation and instead of calling and asking if the deadline could be extended or if there are other venues you can present in, you let it go and don’t ask.

What is the outcome that each of the above people achieved (and each is a real example from our interviews and research on self-sabotaging behavior)? If you said nothing, you are right. They achieved nothing: no sale, no article published, no advice received, no presentation given and no repute gained. What did they start with – nothing; what did they end with – nothing.

The Power of Asking is simple: No ask equals no option(s).  Why would you not embrace such a great opportunity?

Stay tuned for Thursday’s Quick Tips where we will provide some ideas to help you overcome the challenges of asking and increase your chance of getting a yes when you do.

Copyright 2010 Kubica and LaForest

There is a debate about what qualities/qualifications a CEO should have. Should they be marketers, financial experts, people experts? This is an irrelevant and useless argument. In today’s economy you need to be a great strategist, financially savvy, have strong marketing acumen, understand logistics and be able to work with people. And as long as the discussion is focused on one person possessing all these skills, or on which of these skills is most important, the critical task of running a successful business will be missed. And the selection process will fail far more often than it succeeds.

France Telecom has been plagued by a spate of suicides as the company reduces its workforce and cuts other costs as growth slows. Toyota is faced with a crisis of confidence as the once icon of quality faces major quality issues. So what kind of skills do you need as a CEO to deal with these issues? They are multi-dimensional and complex.

Trying to address complex and multi-dimensional business challenges with a uni-dimensional hiring strategy is nonsense. France Telecom says they are going through  “one of the most difficult social and financial moments of its history” (WSJ 2/4/10). Toyota has the challenging task of regaining consumer and investor confidence, while maintaining the morale of its staff.

Even small businesses face similar issues as they begin to grow. A solo entrepreneur may do literally everything in the business, but as the business grows, what was once a strength (i.e. doing everything) now becomes a major impediment to growth, if not the survival of the business.

A CEO is like a conductor of an orchestra. Does anyone seriously care if the conductor has a piano background or a violin background? It doesn’t matter. What matters is can the conductor get the various instruments, which have major and minor roles depending on the piece being played, to play their parts exceedingly well? That’s the job of the conductor; that’s the job of the CEO.

One of the most important decisions a Board can make is to hire a CEO that is capable of building and working with a strong team. If you do not have a Board and run a small company, one of the most important decisions you will make is to hire a strong and complimentary team. And it’s just not the executive team that’s important; the department heads and key managers and supervisors are also important. Executives set strategy; middle managers execute strategy.

Business success never has and never will depend soley on one person with one skill set for its success.

Copyright 2010 Kubica and LaForest

Would your employees characterize you as Quincy Magoo? You know, the very nearsighted cartoon character that stubbornly refused to admit there was a problem. Let’s hope not.

We find, however, that this is a serious affliction in some business leaders. Whether it’s referred to as hubris, arrogance, cluelessness or suffering from the dietary excess of “drinking your own kool-aide”, it doesn’t matter. These are the people who are bright and talented; yet who are satisfied and comfortable with things working as they are. Who believe that what has worked in the past will continue to work in the future. These are people who can, by virtue of their beliefs, be their own worst enemy.

What matters, however, is whether you as the leader are willing to keep an open and inquiring mind about where your business is today, what can impact it, and how you can respond. In other words – being a good and effective leader.

It is quickly becoming an aphorism that the Great Recession has changed the business landscape. True, but within the noise of the economic downturn is a change in the way companies are starting to reach their customers and grow. The marketing and business development landscape is changing. Traditional customer acquisition techniques are being supplanted by what is known as viral marketing. If you are a small to medium size business, even if you are a big business, this is a change you cannot afford (both literally and figuratively) to miss.

For example, David Meerrman Scott tells the story about how Cindy Gordon, Vice President of New Media and Marketing Partnerships for Universal Orlando Resorts, got the word out on Universal’s The Wizarding World of Harry Potter: she told 7 people and within 24 hours word spread to an estimated 350 million people world-wide. Who were the seven people? – the top Harry Potter bloggers in the world.

Business development, marketing and PR is going viral. David Meerman Scott in his books The New Rules of Marketing and PR and World Wide Rave; Jonathan Fields in Career Renegade; and Seth Godin in Permission Marketing- to name just three authors – build a convincing case for the power of viral marketing.

And it doesn’t matter the size of your company, nor does it matter if you don’t have a large marketing budget. The David and Goliath story is alive and well in the viral marketing battlefield. It’s quite simply a game changer.

It’s too late for a business flu shot. Virus season is here – embrace it.

Copyright 2010 Kubica and LaForest

As follow up to our earlier Quick Tips Blog on Strategic Planning for Strategic Growth (1/21/10), following are tips to help you with the most challenging and usually the highest risk for failure in strategy work: implementation (also referred to as execution).
Strategic formulation, that is alignment and planning, is the starting point, and implementation (or execution) is where most good intending companies fail.
Once you are clear and aligned in your strategic direction (that is, have agreed upon your key strategic goals), you must identify what is the best way to get you there; in other words, what’s the plan? The plan should take into account what is already working, what is not, and what needs to be done to achieve the strategic goal(s).
We offer 9 activities to create an implementation plan:
 First, prioritize the strategic goals to drive focus and align efforts/energies
 Second, create an implementation plan for each of the strategic goals chosen for implementation. Implementation planning worksheets should be completed for each strategic goal, which establishes a common document for team awareness and monitoring and can ultimately be used as a frame-up for an annual work plan.
 Third, define specific tactics or actions that must be taken to achieve the strategic goal
 Fourth, assign accountability (i.e. a defined person as the lead who is responsible for insuring that the plan is implemented)
 Fifth, define success measures (metrics) for each tactic in the implementation plan
 Sixth, estimate the cost to achieve each specific tactic
 Seventh, assign a target date for completion of each tactic
 Eighth, meet regularly (at least quarterly) to review progress, celebrate success and determine necessary course correction (including opportunistic events that may have since emerged)
 Ninth, hold the person responsible accountable.
Implementation planning is critical to successfully achieving the goals, aspirations and growth strategies identified, and planned for, in the strategic process. Failing to implement is like buying and new car and losing the key. It’s nice to look at, but it doesn’t get you where you want to go.
Copyright 2010 Kubica and LaForest

Is strategic planning worth your time?

“No. Not now.” is becoming a common response, particularly in the last several years.

While there is consensus that the economy is improving, and we are part of the consensus group, we will see ups and downs in the recovery. The future looks brighter, but it is not clear yet.

Some businesses are waiting to see what Washington will do. Will it pass health care? If so, what impact will it have on businesses? Will there really be a three-year freeze on government spending? If so, what impact will it have on communities and hence on the businesses in those communities? Will there really be a tax break for small businesses? How will the consumers react?

There are many uncertainties and right now, perhaps more than ever in recent business history; businesses need a strategic direction.  Be clear that a strategic direction does not limit flexibility and assumes opportunistic quick decision-making.  Traditional strategic planning, on the other hand, defines and thereby can be construed to prescribe business focus and initiative, thus limiting opportunistic decision-making. Let’s expand that definition or past practice a bit to what we call, establishing a strategic framework. That is, aligning around the values and underlying principles that drive your business, and the best ways to move you forward to accomplish your goals.

A strategic direction results in the executives choosing a focused direction for the company. For example, Office Depot sells office supplies including pens and paper. As reported in the Wall Street Journal (January 25, 2010), the CEO, Mr. Odland, decided to review the budget monthly. During one of his reviews managers told him “cash strapped customers no longer wanted to buy pens or printer paper in bulk packages”. So what did they do, they sold single pens and a smaller quantity of printer paper per box. It was a success. Observation of trends-customer needs or demands-responded to.

Office Depot didn’t get out of the office supply business. It just modified how they did its business. Family Dollar Stores, Inc. is facing a different challenge as some customers are starting to move away from deep discounters as the economy is recovering (WSJ 1/27/10).

Using a compass analogy, creating a strategic plan is like setting a compass direction to North. A strategic direction is like setting the direction range from Northwest with flexibility to accommodate Northeast.

But unless the company is flexible and has the ability and willingness to make quick decisions, the difference between a strategic plan and a strategic direction is an academic and useless discussion.

Flexibility can be a cultural shift for some organizations; quick decision making, however, is a learned skill.

Remember, when making decisions rely on facts and evidence to the extent possible. Experiential based decision-making (long on experience and short on facts) is dangerous and reckless behavior.

When making decisions, remember to do the following:

• Gather the data
• Objectively analyze the data includingassessing market trends and influencing factors
• Identify the issues to be addressed based on the data
• Evaluate the alternatives for addressing the issues
  • Separate the musts from the wants and never sacrifice a must for a want
• Assess the risks and benefits for each alternative
• Decide – take action
• Implement – follow-through in a managed manner- that is, an accountable (by person and initiative and timetable) fashion to ensure progress. and monitor results.

Setting a strategic direction is valuable;and being flexible and making quick and informed decisions are how businesses will navigate successful through the economic recovery.

Copyright 2010 Kubica and LaForest