[jit-post-filter]
Welcome to the N2Growth blog, a robust knowledge center of articles curated by our team of thought leaders. Our practice areas encompass a full range of knowledge and information that we regularly share with you to enable success and create positive impact in organizations. We invite you to comment, share, and be a part of the growing community of some of the most influential Executive Leaders in the world.
The Ultimate Executive Coaching Guide for CEOs
The role of a chief executive officer in any company or organization is an intimidating role to fill. While a position at the top is a desirable one, the regrettable assumption is that the CEO of a successful company is the person expected to have all the answers. It's true that executives typically rise to the C-suite based on their ability to make sound decisions, but they are only one person.…
Competitive Separation…
Competition is clearly part of any free-market economy, and quite frankly, a little competition is a very healthy thing. That being said, competition can quickly transition from serving as an incentive to stay on your game to an outright disaster if your company, product, service, brand, and talent are not up to par with others in your industry. As a CEO or entrepreneur, how you choose to…
Should I Use a Recruiter?
I recently received an email from a CEO asking the following question: "My HR department isn't producing the quality of applicants we need. Should I use outside recruiting firms?" Since N2Growth has a talent management practice which includes a practice group that provides retained search services, in order to be transparent I must disclose my bias before answering today's question. While I…
How’s Your Product Mix?
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…
Positioning Your Business for Sale
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…
Business Cards…
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... I know that in today's digital world many…
Is Business Formulaic?
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. Some would argue that business is very fluid and…
View from the Top
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…
Interview: Sydney Finkelstein
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…
Innovation Management
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…
A Warrior’s Heart
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)…
Talent Management
I receive at least 20 e-mails a week from executives and entrepreneurs asking "How do I recruit top talent?" I've adequately addressed my favorite boomerang question in many previous pieces including three of this blogs most-read posts: "How to Win the War for Talent" "Team Building" and "Who Should do the Hiring". So in today's post, I'm going to take a different approach to deal with the talent…
Seller Considerations
Let me begin with the disclaimer that there are many different types of exit strategies and many different reasons for exit. That being said, in the text that follows we will only focus on the entrepreneur who sells the business and stays on in an executive capacity for the new entity. Most entrepreneurs are taught to begin identifying their exit planning strategy as early into the lifecycle of a…
Executive Decisioning
Senior executives who rise to the C-suite do so largely based upon their ability to consistently make sound decisions. However, while it may take years of solid decision making to reach the boardroom it often times only takes one bad decision to fall from the ivory tower. The reality is that in today's competitive business world an executive is only as good as his/her last decision. In today's…
Brand Acquisitions
Real brands have real value...in fact recent studies confirm what many of us have known for quite some time, which is that brand equity can become one of the largest assets on a companies balance sheet and ultimately lead to increased valuations. While I have written often on the topic of branding in today's post I'm going to look at brands (as opposed to companies) as potential acquisition…
Say Yes to Corporate Alumni
No company is immune to the perils of employee turnover. But what if I told you that there was a way to recoup some of the investments made into former employees? While I'm sure each of us can easily recall those former employees that we were glad to part company with, it might not be so easy to recall those good employees that got away from us. Even the best of companies will from time-to-time…