By Mike Myatt, Chief Strategy Officer, N2growth
What drives your internet strategy? I’m always amazed that in today’s digital world where web based technologies reign supreme, at the number of companies that still don’t get it…It is not at all uncommon for me to find corporate internet strategies that are at best cobbled together if they exist at all. It is as if digital marketing and branding initiatives are the corporate version of the “hot potato,” such that everyone wants to have their say, but no one wants to take responsibility. Rarely do I come across corporate internet strategies that are aligned with the core business strategy. In an earlier post entitled “Who’s In Charge of Your Internet Strategy“ (dated but relevant), I address many of the typical mistakes made with regard to the management of corporate internet initiatives, but in today’s post I’ll focus on the benefits derived by engineering a well conceived internet strategy.
Accountability and transparency are hot topics today, and rightly so…Given this new found popularity, I felt that a piece delving into the topic of accountability would be both prudent and timely. Frankly, considering what the lack of accountability has done to our nation’s economy and political structure we should all be spending more time on the topic. However the truth is that few people really like to hear the “A” word applied to their individual circumstances, choices, decisions, and performance. Regrettably, this is precisely why we are embroiled with many of the daunting challenges facing our country today. Nothing keeps personal and corporate train wrecks from occurring more than a solid framework of accountability. In today’s post I’ll examine the many reasons for why accountability should matter to all of us…
What do I mean by “culturally savvy“? I am not addressing the topic of being politically correct, rather I want you to focus on the importance of simply being cognizant that there is a larger cultural impact on how business is conducted today than ever before. Cultural differences often exist within the same companies…they certainly exist between different companies. Without question there are different cultural business practices in different cities or regions within an individual country. These differences are almost exponentially complicated when you start doing business on a global basis. For purposes of this post we will address how to best blend and manage your internal cultural characteristics with those of your vendors, partners, suppliers, customers and investors who may be located in foreign countries.
Because risk management as it applies to executive decisioning is a subject that is not adequately addressed in the educational world, it is often left to lessons of experience. As such, learning how to recognize, understand, quantify and manage risk is one of those lessons that often comes at a very high price. While each individual has a different tolerance for risk, it is how a person chooses to manage risk that will have a direct correlation on their ability to succeed in the world of business. In today’s post I’ll examine the relationships between fear, risk, failure and success.
As a person who makes their living in the field of leadership, I can tell you without any doubt that “Leadership” is different than “Management.” While there seems to be a never ending stream of politically correct pontificating in corporate circles about the differences between managers and leaders, most of it misses the mark. Leaders and managers play different roles, and have different purposes. They both are unique in their value, and in their contribution. While most of the commentary I have read on Leadership vs. Management attempts to please all constituencies, those of you who have read my work in the past know that I am rarely politically correct, nor do I ever seek to try and please all the people all the time.
While my philosophy on valuations hasn’t changed in years, my feeling as to their importance has. Valuations are always a dicey proposition, but even more so given today’s business climate. I can’t think of a time in recent history where having third party validation for your valuation metrics has been more critical. Over the years I have particpated in the M&A process from virtually every angle possible. I have been a principal of a company being acquired, as well as a principal of a company conducting acquisitions. I have also served as an executive working on both acquisitions and dispositions teams, and as a professional advisor representing both the buy-side and the sell-side. Having sat on all sides of the acquisition table it has been my experience that regardless of approach, style, timing, culture, synergy, supply/demand drivers, or any other catalyzing factor, the transaction will eventually boil down to valuation metrics.
As the old saying goes, “The times they are a changing.” For those of you who are not regular readers of the Myatt on Mondays posts, Monday is the day that I often set aside to answer questions from readers. However in today’s post I’m going to switch things up a bit and ask you to answer a question posed by me. While I have given frequent counsel about how to successfully navigate the many challenges posed by these uncertain economic times, my question is this: “In the last 90 days what proactive changes have you made within your business which have placed you in a better position to survive the changing economic conditions that are presently vexing many a CEO?” In the text that follows I’ll give you a few places you might want to look at if you haven’t already…
Crisis management can in fact be a profitable endeavour when handled properly. If you are in business for any length of time you will at some point in time be party (willing or unwilling) to a major crisis that can affect not only the company you work for, but your career as well. A large portion of my practice deals with advising corporations and executives during a crisis to protect the corporate brand and the personal reputations of senior executives and board members. Given that in today’s business world, the likelihood of crisis is much greater than it was in times past, it never ceases to amaze me that corporations don’t have a crisis management team assembled and on hand ready to deal with trouble when it rears its head. The reality is that the proper handling of a crisis while never easy, can in fact be a very profitable endeavour. In today’s post I’ll discuss the upside of crisis management…
The need for a sound employment agreement is not something to be trivialized. I recently received an e-mail from a CEO who was unceremoniously “asked” to resign by his board of directors. He asked me to author a post on the value of employment agreements in hope of preventing other CEOs from unnecessarily subjecting themselves to a forced resignation scenario. So, in today’s post I’ll outline a few items meant to help you protect your career longevity… 
