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 companys 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.
CONSULTORÃA
Estrategia , Desarrollo de negocios, Comunicación y Cambio organizacional.
CONSEJERÃA ESTRATÉGICA PERSONALIZADA
Individual y de equipos
PROGRAMAS DE APRENDIZAJE ACTION LEARNING
Desarrollo de conocimientos y competencias del equipo directivo-gerencial y lÃderes 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.