Archive for April, 2007
Leadership Self Examination
Friday, April 27th, 2007By Mike Myatt, Chief Strategy Officer, N2growth
So you think you’re a great leader? Let’s find out…I stumbled across a leadership self examination test a few years ago have found it to be fairly thorough. That being said, any self exam is only as good as the honesty of those taking the test. If you check your ego and pride at the door and give a thoughtful, introspective evaluation of your ability it is likely that you’ll learn something about your leadership abilities or lack thereof. Better yet, for those of you bold enough to place yourself under what might be the harsh scrutiny of others, give this test to your co-workers and see how they rate you as a leader. I have taken this examination quarterly for almost two years in order to chart my growth and progress and I suggest you do the same…
Read The Full PostCreating a Passionate Workplace
Thursday, April 26th, 2007By Mike Myatt, Chief Strategy Officer, N2growth
I’ve written often on the important role that passion plays in personal success and fulfillment (see “Passion equals Purpose“). However in today’s post I want to offer a bit of a different take on the value of passion…In the text that follows I’ll examine the impact of passion as a key success metric for the overall enterprise. Before you read the balance of today’s post I want you to stop and ask yourself the following question: How many of your employees are truly passionate about your company, its vision, its mission and the role that they play within the organization? Don’t fool yourself…conduct a harsh, critical analysis and come up with a true head count of the passionate employees within your organization.
Read The Full PostWhere Do You Seek Advice?
Tuesday, April 24th, 2007By Mike Myatt, Chief Strategy Officer, N2growth
I believe that most reasonable people will concur with the following statement: The quality of the professionals you choose to surround yourself with will have a direct impact on the level of success that you achieve. So my question is this: Why do so many people surround themselves with mediocre to low-end professionals? I followed an interesting thread the other day which was something of a bashing session on “twenty-something life coaches” which poked fun at the thought of being mentored by someone who has yet to really even begin to experience life. I’ve also witnessed the other end of the spectrum which is the devastation that can occur when you place your trust in someone solely based upon experience without consideration for talent. Today’s post will be rather short and I’ll ask more questions than I will proffer advice as I’m interested in getting you thinking about your choices with regard to hiring professional advisors…
Read The Full PostPush vs. Pull Marketing
Friday, April 20th, 2007By Mike Myatt, Chief Strategy Officer, N2growth
It is more important than ever to understand the differences in and relationships between “Push” and “Pull” marketing given continued advances in technology, the corresponding proliferation of mediums and the ever shrinking global marketplace. I’ll also apologize in advance as I’m using this post as yet another opportunity to rant on the damage caused by those would be subject matter experts who are anything but…The only thing worse than no information is misinformation and the sad fact is that when it comes to the topic of marketing it is all too common to view misinformation, flawed business logic, analysis gaps and a variety of other constructive misinterpretations being flaunted around in the media as gospel. As you might have guessed today’s blog post was inspired by misinformation I read in a trade magazine on the topic of “push” and “pull” marketing.
Read The Full PostDemocratic Entertainment
Thursday, April 19th, 2007By Mike Myatt, Chief Strategy Officer, N2growth
In a time when we should all take ourselves a bit less seriously I question whether a man who spends $400 dollars on a haircut and maybe one of the most vain individuals in recent history is Presidential material. You watch the video and draw your own conclusion (be sure to turn up your speakers…it is worth it).
Read The Full PostDazed and Confused…
Thursday, April 19th, 2007By Mike Myatt, Chief Strategy Officer, N2growth
You can run, but you cannot hide…as a C-level executive you can bob-and-weave, spin with the best of them, delude yourself by inhaling your own smoke or just hide out in the corner office. However it’s only a matter of time until your ruse is uncovered as you will eventually be held accountable for what you know and what you do (or perhaps what you don’t know and don’t do). I’m always amazed at the number of senior executives that are completely out of touch with what’s truly going on in their business. In today’s post I’ll examine what appears to be a trend of a growing number of disconnected and out of touch executives…
Read The Full PostTragedy and Business
Tuesday, April 17th, 2007By Mike Myatt, Chief Strategy Officer, N2growth
Regrettably we live in a time where tragedy strikes somewhere in the world on a daily basis. While certainly not to be minimized, most of us have developed the ability to come to grips with the earthquakes, tsunamis, hurricanes, floods and other natural disasters that impact our lives as we rightly categorize these events as circumstances beyond anyone’s control. When a soldier loses his life in combat we morn and grieve but it is still somehow easier to reconcile than an innocent civilian who is killed by an act of terror. As horrific as any loss of life is, crimes that are perpetrated by one civilian against another and include acts of violence (especially acts of violence committed against our youth) seem to fall into another category altogether. In today’s post I’ll share my thoughts and observations on the shooting at Virginia Tech and how tragedies impact our lives…
Read The Full PostMaking the Most of Talent
Friday, April 13th, 2007By Mike Myatt, Chief Strategy Officer, N2growth
I’ve written often on the subject of leadership development and talent management because very few things in business can catalyze change and create sustainable growth like leaders who understand how to leverage their talent and resources. It takes more than charisma and subject matter expertise to be a leader, it also takes a keen understanding of how to create organizational leverage. In today’s post I’ll share some thoughts on how to maximize your talent and resources…
Read The Full PostResearch & Benchmarking
Thursday, April 5th, 2007By Mike Myatt, Chief Strategy Officer, N2growth
I had an overwhelming positive response to my post the other day entitled “Identifying Competitive Threats.” In fact so much so that today’s post is somewhat of a follow-on piece based upon some of the questions that were submitted. As I read the comments and e-mails it became clear to me that while many of you understood that staying abreast of your competition is of critical importance, most of you just didn’t know how to go about getting the job done. So in today’s post I’ll provide the two key foundational elements of competitive assessments; research and benchmarking…
Read The Full PostMedia Gone Mad…
Sunday, April 1st, 2007By Mike Myatt, Chief Strategy Officer, N2growth
Since this blog frequently addresses the topics of accountability, leadership, media, and CEO practices I thought I’d take this opportunity to use recent events in the media to rant about all of the above. Does anyone remember the days when the media actually took responsibility for the content it chose to air to the public? Many would say the media has always pushed the envelope in terms of balancing what they could get away with and public outrage with the economic benefits associated with increased ratings and market share. While this is no doubt true to some extent, it is this author’s opinion that things have deteriorated so far in recent years that you have to really work hard to find good guys in the media these days. In today’s post I’ll share my perspective on what needs to happen to bring the media back to reality…
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