Strategic Discipline Blog

In Leadership Discipline – Emotional Intelligence I promised to provide you with four of the eight traits of transforming companies that Todd Klein “Built to Change” author presented.  Instead here’s one of the four – Detachment.  Detachment is characterized as:  Companies that embrace the value of periodically doing absolutely nothing are more transformative than their constantly action oriented counterparts.   It’s what we call proactively inactive:  these companies stop, measure, plan, and retool with greater frequency, regularity and purpose.

Here’s my problem. I’d like to give you as much as I can in small doses the impact ideas you can apply and learn from the Fortune Growth Summit in Phoenix.  On my flight back Friday I scanned my notes (reviewing increases retention).   As I poured through the pages I attached sticky notes to each segment I felt was worth a blog topic or idea.  It required 49 post it’s!   Not all of these teach a lesson on Strategic Discipline (What my marketing people demand I stick to in my blogs).  Yet all have valuable lessons for your business – anyone of which could provide you with a breakthrough.  With that in mind I plan to select the best ideas from the 49 topics I identified and deliver them to you in the days and weeks ahead.  Still I thought you might like a quick overview of the speakers and a little on each of their specific topics. 

As today’s Fortune Growth Summit came to a close one of the coaches next to me, Howard Shore, whispered that this might be the best Growth Summit yet.  I’d have to agree.  Verne Harnish always wraps up the show with a short conclusion, several sponsor messages and today a comedian who is also a Jewish Rabbi.   Rabbi Stephen Baars offered excellent comedic relief as well as an exceptional message on thinking.  More of that in another blog.  Todd Klein, author of Built to Change and Sally Hosghead, consultant and author of Fascinate: Seven Triggers to Persuasion and Captivation had great messages and ideas all share in the coming weeks. 

The first day of the Fortune Gazelles Growth Summit is an avalanche of information.  I’ve already collected 18 pages of notes containing many incredible insightful ideas for you to apply to your business. 

In Jim Collin’s new book Great by Choice he asks the question:  What’s coming next?

Monday’s blog will continue insight from Jim Collins “Great by Choice.”  One of my clients and partner provider wrote a blog that provides insight into the current economy that I thought my readers would find interesting.  Read his short blog Ray Dalio says this is no recession. 
Dalio runs the biggest hedge fun and has received a better return on his investments than Warren Buffet.  You can read more on Dalio in this Wall Street Journal article Ray Dalio Down on Europe, High on Fed.  If you read it I’d be interested in your perspective on his views on the economy.  Please provide a comment on my blog.

At Positioning Systems and Gazelles you know by now that we’re big fans of Jim Collins books Good to Great, Built to Last, and How the Mighty Fall.  When Collins new book, Great by Choice arrived last week I just had to pick it up.  If you receive Verne Harnish’s weekly newsletter you know that he’s reading it as well. 

Imagine it’s the biggest moment of your life.  Your opportunity for glory.  The moment professionally you’ve practiced and prepared for. Now imagine it’s in front of a live audience and millions of TV viewers.  In fact it’s the biggest stage in the world!  It’s a critical moment for you and the people you work with. 

Aubrey Daniels in Bringing Out the Best in People insists leaderships’ role in the employee feedback loop is, “… is not to find fault or place blame, but to analyze why people are behaving as they are, and modify the consequences to promote the behavior they need.”