In this age of the entrepreneur and “self-made businessperson,” it can be easy to forget that all professional careers eventually come to an end. More than once I have seen a successful, visionary leader without a succession plan: a family successor or business plan for post-retirement have to shut down their business, or have it shut down, because they did not have a plan or process to sustain the business after they move on. This situation is a shame- to see all of that value created over years of commitment and hard work evaporate due to the lack of a plan.

Exit and Transition planning is an important part of their responsibility. They owe it to their family, their employees and themselves. Many owners are “battle weary” in this continuing, tough economy, but it’s tough to retire or “semi-retire” absent confidence in the next wave of company leadership. (more…)

When I was a general manager of a leading consumer business in the mid-90’s, one of my managers came to me one day and challenged me with the statement: “We are over-emphasizing leadership and under-emphasizing management.” I pondered that, not understanding his point initially, and subsequently concluded that he was right and went about changing my leadership approach to bring management and leadership into right balance. Since that time, however, whether in my role as a business executive or presently as a consultant, I continue to see the “over-led and under-managed syndrome” regularly, even in (more…)

In the “new normal” organizations have to do with the resources they have or trade them out. As companies have slimmed down to the best performers, they are still faced with the prospect of growing them to become the future leaders of the company. Learning Maps and Knowledge Management are critical elements of successfully management companies. Growth is a basic imperative for companies today. One is to grow sales. That one is easy to identify and requires a concerted effort by an organization to focus and communicate effectively, while keeping their eye on the marketplace. If you don’t have 100% market share, growth is very possible, but every function must have the skills to support that objective through more highly skilled teams in sales, engineering, customer service, supply chain and marketing. But how do you grow organizations and create its new leaders? Learning Maps provide and Individual Development Plans (IDP) are another key element in the development of an organization. With the addition of online education and a carefully crafted learning and development map, it is possible to identify and grow near term leaders. (more…)

I am convinced that nothing we do is more important than hiring and developing people. At the end of the day you bet on people, not on strategies.