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Strategic Discipline Blog

Positive Reinforcement: Grandma’s Rule Gets Me Home Again

Posted by Douglas A Wick on Mon, Sep 24, 2012

Thursday of last week my Doctor used Grandma’s rule for positive reinforcement on me to ensure I was able to go home on Friday.   “As long as you don’t get a fever or have any other complications overnight, we’ll be sending you home tomorrow.” He offered. 

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Topics: Acute Myeloid Luekemia, Bringing Out the Best In People, Aubrey Daniels, positive reinforcement

Change: Did Henry Ford Practice Topgrading?

Posted by Douglas A Wick on Thu, Sep 20, 2012

One of the dramatic influences I’ve been forced to embrace is change.  The Acute Myeloid Leukemia I encountered on February 25th dramatically changed my life.  It forced change upon me and it also made me more open to change.  In another blog I will discuss these changes more.  Today let’s focus on an icon in industry that faced the need to change.

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Topics: Acute Myeloid Luekemia, People, A Players, Topgrading, Greatest Business Decisions of All Time, keys to good decision making

Core Purpose Importance –Southwest Airlines Example

Posted by Douglas A Wick on Mon, Sep 17, 2012

A critical component of the One Page Strategic Plan is determining Your Core Purpose.  In Patrick Lencioni’s recent book The Advantage he pronounces clarity as being critical to business growth.   To achieve this he asks six questions about your company.    The first one, "Why do we exist?" is possibly the most challenging and difficult for a business to agree upon without a leadership team’s dedication, effort and the ability to resolve conflict.  And it simply won’t be achieved without the CEO making the commitment first.

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Topics: Acute Myeloid Luekemia, People, One Page Strategic Plan, Patrick Lencioni, The Advantage, Southwest Airlines Core Purpose

Networking & Making Connections - Critical For Business Growth

Posted by Douglas A Wick on Wed, Sep 12, 2012

Last Blog we discussed the irony in life.  Another irony learned through my challenge with AML is the critical value of continuing to network and make connections.  As the CEO of Positioning Systems, and perhaps even more so on a personal level one can tend to pigeon hole yourself on who you associate and make connections with.  You can take a very selfish perspective on who you  should market to, and even who you should have in your network of friends.

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Topics: Good to Great, Acute Myeloid Luekemia, Business Growth, People, Jim Collins

Transplant Day Reached Through Discipline

Posted by Douglas A Wick on Sun, Sep 9, 2012

Life can be ironic.  Positioning Systems fundamental coaching principles surround the ideals of discipline.  The reason Positioning Systems focuses on Strategic Discipline for meetings, metrics, and priorities is due to my personal beliefs in the foundational teachings from Mastering the Rockefeller Habits and Jim Collins in Good to Great.  They remain to me the most important element in achieving business growth and success. 

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Topics: Discipline, Good to Great, Acute Myeloid Luekemia, Strategic Discipline, Mastering the Rockefeller Habits, Jim Collins, Bone Marrow Transplant

Are Your People The Priority They Should be?

Posted by Douglas A Wick on Tue, Sep 4, 2012

If you’re not a fan of college football, and you’re a business owner there’s one thing you should pay close attention to for growing your business.  It’s Jim Collins principal for Good To Great, First Who, Then What.  If you look at the college football rankings this week you’ll see a list of teams (Alabama, USC, LSU, Oregon, Oklahoma, Florida State, Georgia and Arkansas) that are perennially on the top ranked college football teams.  Why?

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Topics: Acute Myeloid Luekemia, Business Growth, People, Mastering the Rockefeller Habits, Four Decisions, Jim Collins, A Players

Trust – Critical Element in Strategic Discipline

Posted by Douglas A Wick on Thu, Aug 30, 2012

Yesterday I re-entered the hospital.  It goes without saying that I must trust the doctors, nurses and health care for bone marrow transplant that is planned for me.

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Topics: Acute Myeloid Luekemia, Strategic Discipline, People, performance, Trusted Advisor

One Thing – Chet Holmes Passing of Leukemia

Posted by Douglas A Wick on Sun, Aug 26, 2012

A week ago on Friday I had lunch with a former client.  It was my first time at a restaurant since February when my health issues began.   Late Tuesday of that week, my doctor gave me permission to travel.  With a credit we had for our missed March spring break vacation with the boys, my wife and I left late last Friday evening to visit the condo we share with her parents, for Mesa, Arizona.  Imagine a tall balding fellow wearing a white surgical mask on the plane.  That’s what I looked like in order to avoid the germs that plane flights are notorious for.  

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Topics: Acute Myeloid Luekemia, One Thing, Stockdale Paradox, Chet Holmes, Michelle Wick

Leadership Requires Vulnerability

Posted by Douglas A Wick on Thu, Aug 16, 2012

Many business and leadership skills are counter intuitive.  Take the idea of less is more.  Most of us believe if we tackle more we get more done, when precisely the opposite is true. 

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Topics: Acute Myeloid Luekemia, Five Dysfunctions of a Team, leadership, Mastering the Rockefeller Habits, Strength Based Leadership

Eliminate Discretion at the Operating Level of Your Business

Posted by Douglas A Wick on Mon, Aug 13, 2012

Discretion at the operating level of your business can absolutely destroy your business!  When you fail to be consistent, customers come away with a different experience every time.  This headline, “Eliminate Discretion at the Operating Level of Your Business” is a mantra from Michael Gerber’s E-Myth, Why Most Small Businesses Don’t Work and What to Do About It. It is the principal of systems at its core.  A starting  point for systems take precedent over people.  (See Topgrading - Was Michael Gerber Wrong)

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Topics: Acute Myeloid Luekemia, E-Myth, People, customer satisfaction metrics, Business Culture, E-Myth Revisited, Eliminate Discretion at the Operating Level of You

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Positioning Systems Brand Promise

1. Priorities: Determine your #1 Priority. Achieve measurable progress in 90 days.

2. Metrics: Develop measurable Key Performance Indicators. 

3. Meetings: Establish effective meeting rhythms. (Cadence of Accountability)  Compounding the value of your priority and metrics. 

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Positioning Systems

 

The Strategic Discipline Blog focuses on midsize business owners with a ravenous appetite to improve his or her leadership skills and business results.

Our 3 disciplines include:

- Priorities
- Metrics
- Meeting Rhythms

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