Image via Wikipedia The rock face has many parallels to business’ external environment. Rock climbing starts by understanding it. Stand back too far, you see everything, but can’t see initial steps up the rock. Stand too close, you’ll likely climb to a dead end i.e., without safe steps up the face. With the right distance (the one that an exciting new growth strategy is discovered from) you see a promising directional route. B2C companies should throw out existing assumptions about customers. A 20% and growing decline in household wealth is transforming our consumption patterns and preferences. We’re at a pivot point where change is non-linear, not trend-like. The greater your insight into this transformation, the stronger your organization will be. Your B2B strategic planning should focus on this question – What can or could we uniquely do to help a target market become…
Strategic Leadership in Fearful Times
I took up rock climbing to confront my fear of heights. I’d follow my planned route, stopping to decide on my next steps. Stopping for too long, usually out of fear, was always a mistake. Fear aroused the oldest part of my brain that screamed, “Any move other than right back down the way you came is dangerous.” I’d hold onto the rock for too long, and only look narrowly in front of me, missing potential steps. I’d exert more energy than was needed, sapping my power to move upwards, and eventually forcing me to retrace my steps. We’re in the scariest economic time in our working lives (unless we worked in the Great Depression). Fearful, we hold tight to what worked in the past. The only next step we see is the age-old wisdom: “Cut costs and lower break-even points to conserve…
The 5 Core Business Model Strategy Questions
Image via Wikipedia Your business model strategy answers 5 core strategy questions about your business. Where will we compete? Who is (are) our target market(s)? What business are we in? Why will we win? What value promise (where value = benefits received less the price paid to acquire these benefits) will earn target customer loyalty? What differential advantage(s) will enable us to reliably deliver on our value promise and leave competitors unable to easily copy it? Why will we be profitable? What factors will lead our benefit-price exchange with customers to generate economic value (profits and shareholder value) for us? Wait, you might argue. Aren’t these questions product-positioning questions we ask marketing to answer? Yes. Business model innovation defines and position your organization’s entire offering. It forces you to think synergistically about your entire portfolio. In an economy in which the copying of…
The Real Strategy Work Is Business Model Innovation
Image via Wikipedia Many business leaders debunk strategic planning. “The external environment is too uncertain,” they argue. Or, “Strategy is decided at the point of contact with our customers and markets.” I also hate strategic planning because the decisions from strategic planning are strategic in name only. We delude ourselves into thinking that we’re planning strategically, when really we’re working at varying levels of the tactical. Year long tactical plans are as wasteful as a one-year plan for parenting teenage girls. Parenting tactics are decided daily subject to vision and values. There’s no other way through the confusion this age presents, just as there’s no other way through rapidly changing markets. The core strategy decisions for an organization are deceptively simple. The challenge rests in finding answers, as these questions are highly interdependent; and, strong competitors may have already claimed the obvious business…
About Kay Plantes
My career has taken me into many organizations, but at each stop you’d see my deep passion for making a difference, a sharp intellect that creates clarity out of complexity, enduring optimism for others, gratitude, and spiritual wonder. Clients tell me that I’m an unusual blend of visionary and practical – able to see what’s possible in any situation but knowing what to do differently tomorrow to realize the possibility. By education, I’m an economist (Penn State-BS and MIT-PhD) who left a University of Wisconsin Madison assistant professorship after two years because I’m an advocate more than intellect. I relish applying knowledge rather than creating it. I started Plantes Company following the birth of my daughter, Lauren, who is now 30. We help leaders create thriving businesses through business model innovation and sharpened strategic leadership skills. We work largely with B2B companies, but…