Lawrence Uren Associates

How it works?

A consultant gets an insight. The entire world’s problems –or at least those of an attractive market segment, multinationals, frustrated executives, and ambitious middle managers- can be solved through a simple set of rules. The eight step process for organizational change, the 7 habits, the 7 S, Six Sigma etc.. or anoverarching concept Execution, Leadership, Vision and Mission statements, Strategy.

 Because at the heart there is usually a real gem of value Michael Porter’s five forces strategy model, (http://www.amazon.com/Competitive-Advantage-Creating-Sustaining-Performance/dp/0684841460/ref=sr_1_11?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1220973334&sr=8-11) for example, the book gets snapped up and spends some time on the New York Times Bestseller list. The author can now charge $50,000 USD for a key note speech at a management retreat.

The company set up under the aegis of a bestseller will franchise the methodology and see how many would be consultants it can turn into a sales force for the product.

 ¿Y Lawrence Uren Associates Qué?

(Como diría un ex presidente zorrino de México.)

What Happens?

The original idea really is a valuable new insight which can help understand better how to face the business or organizational environment.

I always tell participants in my workshops and consulting clients that if you do not read anyone else read Drucker.

Without Drucker we have no Learning Organizations (http://www.amazon.com/Fifth-Discipline-Practice-Learning-Organization/dp/0385517254/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1220892693&sr=1-1 ) no Intellectual Capital, very little in the way of understanding entrepreneurship and innovation. (http://www.amazon.com/Innovation-Entrepreneurship-Peter-F-Drucker/dp/0060851139/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1220892739&sr=1-2)

I always tell participants in my workshops and consulting clients that if you do not read anyone else read Drucker.

Caveat Emptor

Ideas, like food, if not chewed well and digested are not incorporated by the organism and can cause severe discomfort.

The business world, especially the world of large corporations has been bombarded over the last few decades by witch doctor consultants selling the latest BIG IDEA.

Management by Objectives (MBO)
Total Quality Movement  (TQM)

Customer Relationship management (CRM)

The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People

Change Management

The Balanced Score Card

Etc

Etc

Etc……

In Mexico they made their appearance after a certain time lag which has been getting shorter and shorter over the years, in one or more of the following manners:

The Guru, witch doctor himself would be appearing on Billboards announcing his appearance at some five star hotel with maybe videoconferencing for other locations.

For all those that   scoff at gurus, there does remain a question. Why are they so successful? I believe that the best of them provide a valuable new insight which helps to clarify real problems people face in their organizations, businesses and personal lives. Of course once you have become a real live celebrity management guru, a host of minnows swim in and out between your teeth trying to snatch some of the morsels that are too small for your attention. Some of these purchase a franchise to represent your concept and use your training materials.

I hope I am managing to communicate my healthy skepticism to magic formulas. I have spent a lot of time seeing up close the handiwork of consultants who have flown in to apply the then latest fad - Reengineering, Total Quality Management, Customer Relationship Management, etc.. often resulting in eviscerated companies shedding decades of accumulated intellectual capital for short term gains which generally are the harbingers of a prolonged period of declining performance and value.
A study quoted in The Witch Doctors http://www.amazon.com/Witch-Doctors-John-Micklethwait/dp/0812928334– a great skeptical overview of the consulting and management theory industry- found that “ the shares of downsizing companies outperformed the stock market for six months after a downsizing was announced. Three years later they lagged.
So let me state clearly that I have integrity. The only way I wish to be associated with the above management fads is in the financial returns on their initial idea.

Inspired by Francis Wheen’s How Mumbo Jumbo Conquered the World, http://www.amazon.co.uk/How-Mumbo-jumbo-Conquered-World-Delusions/dp/0007140975
and his advice to wannabe gurus, it dawned on me that I had a magic number with which to launch myself on the path to gurudom.

The number was 7 (Five plus or minus two as Barbara Minto reminds us in The Pyramid Principle http://www.barbaraminto.com/). I was in this whimsical mood when I realized that as I looked back on the companies and projects I have been involved with, especially the ones that despite initial promise ended in abject failure, almost invariably two or more of the 7 Pillars were disastrously weak- in fact could not support the structure which relied on them for support.

I then started reflecting on cases I had read about and realized that where I had thought I had stumbled on a cool acronym, I had come up with a model: The 7 Pillars of Success.

Eureka! I had it. Every single project I had worked on in the last 20 years slotted into ELITE® and CORE®.

Estrategia, Liderazgo, Innovación, Trabajo en Equipo

Comunicación, Orientación a Resultados, Ejecución

Over the next few weeks it slowly dawned on me that I not really seen this anywhere, despite being a compulsive reader of management and business literature, subscriber to most of the leading magazines (HBR, Strategy+Business, Inc., Businees Week , Expansión, etc..).

I forgot to mention I was trying to convey these concepts to a Spanish speaking audience. And whereas acronimitis is all pervasive in English, I have found it a real challenge to translate SMART objectives and the like without losing their powerful mnemonic associations.

This was my challenge: My company’s raison d’être slogan is From Vision to Results. After years of frustration being hired by customers to run a strategic planning retreat, an opportunity detection exercise, a leadership training program or a team building event only to see everyone go back to business as usual within a few weeks; I decided to focus on specific execution related skills such as Strategic Selling, Negotiating Presentations, Time management, Business Writing, Effective Meetings etc..
Here the problem was that, usually, the companies that hired me, expected a quick fix to a problem whose root causes lay in flawed strategies, poor leadership, outdated products and processes, and top management teams that spent more time merchandising their successes or covering their backs (and other parts of their anatomy), than focusing on desired outcomes for their companies, their teams or even themselves.

I needed a unifying concept to integrate the front line – those who actually deal with customers which where the execution of the business takes place with what the senior management team thought it was doing.

CONSULTORÍA
Estrategia , Desarrollo de negocios, Comunicación y Cambio organizacional.

CONSEJERÍA ESTRATÉGICA PERSONALIZADA
Individual y de equipos

PROGRAMAS DE APRENDIZAJE ACTION LEARNING
Desarrollo de conocimientos y competencias del equipo directivo-gerencial y líderes de proyecto.

It was 3.30 in the morning and I knew I had to get up. I really did not want to switch on the light, because I knew that if I did I would never get back to sleep. So groping for a post-it pad, in the dark I scribbled two words: ELITE and CORE. After a while I relaxed and was able to go back to sleep knowing that by morning I would not have forgotten.

I have these Kubla Kahn http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kubla_Khan moments from time to time- a flash of inspiration, in the middle of the night. Something I have been working on for days, weeks, months or even years, suddenly everything gels into a clear, communicable concept.

This was it. The fundamental foundations all successful businesses have in common.

1. Strategy,
2. Leadership,
3. Innovation
4. Teamwork
5. Communication
6. Focus on Results
7. Executing with Excellence

I not only had my magic number 7 I also had a great acronym.