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Wisdoms of The Pricing Man
“It is not the business that earns a profit adequate to its genuine costs of capital, to the risks of tomorrow and to the needs of tomorrow’s worker and pensioner, that “rips off” society. It is the...
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Primary Market Research: The Pathway to Great Strategy
I have written often about the peaks to valleys to peaks dynamic of a typical strategic planning process, and how without a Breakdowns leading to Breakthroughs flow it is difficult to attain truly...
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A Five Step Approach to a Great Financial Forecast
What makes up and how does one develop a great financial forecast for a smaller, privately held company?Should the forecast be “realistic” – i.e. feel “doable” and in line with past results or……should...
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Can Your Business Survive on a Handshake?
“Good businesses are ethical businesses. A business model that relies on trickery is doomed to fail.”- Charlie Munger, Wesco Financial Corporation Annual Meeting, 2009I am blessed as part of my...
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First Great Strategy, then Decisive Action
Every business needs a vision - a clear definition of what its leadership seeks the business to become.And every business needs a strategy - a road map of how the business will reach its vision.Once...
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Chopping water when you should be carrying wood?
Don’t chop water when you should be carrying wood.- Old Zen Proverb (updated for the 21st Century)Last week, I wrote about the connection between vision, strategy, and action in a business, and...
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Are You a Fox or a Hedgehog?
The fox knows many things, but a hedgehog knows one big thing. - Ancient Greek AphorismIsaiah Berlin, in 1953, famously referenced this as a jumping off point for an essay on the relative importance...
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When Winning, the Right Way, is the Only Thing
People ask me what I do in winter when there's no baseball. I'll tell you what I do. I stare out the window and wait for spring. -...
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What is a Business Intervention?
I recently moderated a strategic planning session for a Texas-based developer and distributor of specialty software for the financial services industry.For them, on the one hand it was truly the best...
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Breaking the Shackles of a Business' Past
The past is never dead. It's not even past. - by William FaulknerA vexing challenge in attaining a business breakthrough of any...
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What the Research Shows about Strategic Plans
The research is conclusive:A study completed by the University of Oregon showed that companies that prepare business plans are 20% more likely to grow their business, and twice as likely to secure...
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Great Advisory Boards: Harnessing Their Power
Over the past few weeks, I have talked about the demonstrable, high ROI of strategic planning for companies of all types and sizes, along with suggested processes and tactics to complete that plan on...
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More Risk. Good for Your Business?
Risk is good. Not properly managing your risk is a dangerous leap. - Evel Knievel"The Strategy Paradox,"...
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Why Most Businesses Get Stuck (And What to Do About It)
Why do the vast majority of businesses get “stuck” - doing well enough to "stay alive" but not even close to being either a) a source of significant cash flow for their owners or b) an attractive...
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In Business, Making Real Choices and Avoiding False Ones
Effective executives avoid false choices, decisions where only limited, and variously unattractive, alternatives are considered.Instead, when confronted with a false choice, the best executives reframe...
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Bridging the Global Achievement Gap
The fundamental challenge of modern business is finding that right balance between tactics and strategy, between execution and innovation, between management and entrepreneurship.Typically, as...
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Taking Exponential Business Leaps Forward
“Work on Your Business, Not In It”This popular, and somewhat cliched refrain, has for many years been suggested as a managerial and entrepreneurial best practice, and as "the...
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In Modern Business, Authenticity Trumps All
Today, almost all businesses interact with and relate to their perspective and existing clients through multiple channels: in-person, on the phone, over e-mail and increasingly text, via social media...
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When Buying (Not Starting) a Business is the Right Strategic Choice
Wal-Mart.McDonalds. Starbucks. What do they have in common? Well, for one, they are businesses that were not started and grown from scratch by their original founders.Rather, they were all started by...
View ArticleGetting to the Right Strategy in 15 Minutes or Less
I regularly engage with entrepreneurs and executives to help them determine the right long-term strategic plans and goals to pursue, toward the end of maximizing their businesses’ valuations and their...
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