Leaders are Paid to Make Hard Decisions Henry Kissinger said, “To plan policy on the assumption of the equal possibility of all contingencies is to confuse statesmanship with mathematics.” Let’s change three words to make this a brilliant statement regarding business strategy. “To craft strategy on the assumption of the equal possibility of all contingencies […]
A good friend of mine is the CEO of an early-stage company. After his arrival, he boosted sales to a profitable level and made many business improvements. He’s now looking for a round of financing to grow the organization and make some of the investment their operations require. The founder — someone who birthed several […]
My mother was overweight all of her life. She was, for the most part, a determined woman, but she couldn’t make herself eat right and exercise. However, that didn’t stop her from buying numerous pieces of exercise equipment (or trying to tell me how to eat). There was the treadmill, the NordicTrack® ski machine, some […]
As a strategy consultant, I can tell you that most projects result in incremental change. That is perfectly acceptable as long as those changes will allow you to get where you want to go. Radical change just for the fun of it is sadistic! If you are successful now and project success (however you define […]
Over a beer recently, a friend recounted putting together a new grill that he described as large enough to have a sleeping cabin. He said he had his head down focusing on the details only to realize when he stood back that he’d put the shelves on backward. I appreciate his experience because numerous times […]
I discuss strategy with my colleague, Don Van Winkle. Take a listen! Todd Ordal coaches CEOs to higher levels of success. He is a former CEO and has led teams as large as 7,000 people. Todd is the author of, Never Kick a Cow Chip On A Hot Day: Real Lessons for Real CEOs and Those […]
Prepare for bends in the road But know you can’t predict everything Todd Ordal “Management is prediction.” —W. Edwards Deming I used to live in the Twin Cities and drive back to western Minnesota where I grew up to visit family. My wife and I joked that once you got onto I-94, you could fall […]
The faster you move, the brighter they have to be Todd Ordal Author E.L. Doctorow once said: “Writing a novel is like driving a car at night. You can see only as far as your headlights, but you can make the whole trip that way.” This also describes running a business. You can only see […]
Moving forward for success Todd Ordal “If the rate of change on the outside exceeds the rate of change on the inside, the end is near.” —Jack Welch Although Welch’s statement is simply put, it’s a brilliant message that we too often ignore. There are many examples of this on the public stage. If you’re […]
Where will you compete, and why will you win? Todd Ordal “Why will people buy from you versus your competition?” I asked a CEO. He recently went through a “strategic planning” process, so the question seemed reasonable. He couldn’t answer it. Some of you reading this can’t either. More often than not, CEOs believe they […]