Archive for July, 2007.
By Mike Myatt, Chief Strategy Officer, N2growth
Today’s Myatt on Mondays question comes from the CEO of a consulting firm who asks: “My HR department isn’t producing the quality of applicants that we need Should I use outside recruiting firms?” Since N2growth has a talent management practice which includes a practice group that provides both contingent and retained search services, in order to be transparent I must disclose my bias before answering today’s question. While I clearly have a strong bias favoring an outsourced recruiting model, the question merits a bit of exploration in order to provide a fair answer. In the text that follows I’ll do my best to manage my bias and provide a transparent and authentic answer to a question I’m sure most of our readers have asked themselves at some point in time
Posted on July 26th, 2007 by admin in
Economics By Mike Myatt, Chief Strategy Officer, N2growth
With this week’s negative market activity I have had several inquiries asking for my opinion on the direction of the stock market. Let me begin by saying that I’m not a stock picker or market prognosticator, but rather I tend to look at macro and micro economic drivers to make general observations which some have found of benefit over the years. In today’s post I’ll note some of my recent observations which I hope will be of some use. That being said, it is my strongest recommendation that before making any changes in your portfolio that you seek the counsel of a qualified financial advisor. On with my thoughts…
By Mike Myatt, Chief Strategy Officer, N2growth
One of the most critical choices that an executive or entrepreneur can make is to determine which sales/revenue opportunities to pursue vs. which ones to pass on. How do you determine where you will allocate your time, your resources and your talent? Do you use a rational decisioning process to arrive at the right conclusion or are you the person that is often second guessed or proved wrong because your decision was made irrationally and you arrived at your conclusion by default, osmosis or some other unknown process?
By Mike Myatt, Chief Strategy Officer, N2growth
While the M&A space is very frothy with transactional volumes at record levels and premium valuations abounding, the risk associated with getting deals done might just also be at an all time high. Ideally selling a business should really be about taking what the CEO believes is the best deal, however lately it has become more about doing the deal that the CEO perceives as the most defensible transaction when evaluating the impact of the sale on a variety of constituencies. In today’s post I’ll share my thoughts on getting the right deal done with the least amount of litigation risk
By Mike Myatt, Chief Strategy Officer, N2growth
Okay, what’s so special about a business card? Much more than you might think In fact, I would be doing you a disservice if I didn’t tell you that a great business card is one of the most powerful pieces in your corporate identity arsenal. In today’s post I’ll share why I believe many professionals miss the opportunity to make a great first impression…
By Mike Myatt, Chief Strategy Officer, N2growth
You can either engineer your business by design or let it evolve by default. While the choice is clearly up to you I would strongly suggest the former over the latter. Creating a formulaic approach to business is not only logical, but it is without question the right approach to implement when desiring to create a thriving, sustainable enterprise.
By Mike Myatt, Chief Strategy Officer, N2growth
How many times have you watched a CEO give a favorable assessment of expected company performance to the board of directors, the bank, shareholders, analysts, employees, or the media only to be proven woefully incorrect? I’m always amazed at the number of CEOs who are out of touch with the operating realities of their company. In today’s post I’ll share why the view isn’t always better from the top…
So the question is this…how does a CEO get to the point of being so disconnected from operations that he or she just doesn’t have a clue? The reality is that there are any number of reasons why this can happen, a few of which I’ve noted below:
By Mike Myatt, Chief Strategy Officer, N2growth
There is nary a week that passes where I don’t receive at least one inquiry asking for my opinion as to the value of an MBA in the business world. Now if you’ve been in business for any length of time I’m sure you have heard more than a few humorous stories recounting the trials of young MBAs attempting to prove their value and failing miserably in their effort to do so. However the stereotypes about MBAs chronicled in these tales of corporate folklore don’t give justice to the majority of MBAs who make frequent and truly significant contributions to everything they touch. In today’s post I have the privilege of interviewing Sydney Finkelstein who without question is better positioned to provide expert commentary on the value of an MBA than anyone I know…
By Mike Myatt, Chief Strategy Officer, N2growth
Much has been written about the importance of innovation but there is very little information in circulation about how to actually stimulate innovation. While most executives and entrepreneurs have come to accept the concept of innovation management as a legitimate business practice in theory, I have found very few organizations that have effectively integrated innovation as a core discipline and focus area. In today’s blog post I’ll discuss how to actually implement a program to stimulate and manage innovation.
By Mike Myatt, Chief Strategy Officer, N2growth
As we approach the 4th of July I can’t help but think of our founding fathers and the sacrifices they made when they fought to establish our country’s freedom. Those thoughts of respect and admiration in turn led me to think about of our troops overseas currently fighting to protect our way of life and preserve our freedom. The more I began to ponder the heroism of our military (past and present) the more I began to consider the traits possessed by our nation’s warriors. I believe the same characteristics that are present in the heart of a warrior are also present in the most successful executives and entrepreneurs.
