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- Herausgeber: John Wiley & Sons
- Kategorie: Fachliteratur
- Sprache: Englisch
Create a profitable, sustainable business while improving yourself and your community In Secrets of Next Level Entrepreneurs: 11 Powerful Lessons To Thrive in Business and Lead a Balanced Life, business strategist Alex Brueckmann presents a collection of practical and insightful resources that walk you through how to grow a profitable business while maintaining a healthy and fulfilling life. You'll learn to run your company while, at the same time, contributing to and improving a community and world we all want to live in. In the book, industry leaders offer hyper-specific and actionable advice about issues that dominate the thoughts of every business leader and owner at one point or another, from how to implement environmentally and socially sustainable practices to building high-performance workplace cultures and setting optimal pricing strategies in environments of high inflation. You'll also find: * Frequently overlooked perspectives and unfamiliar topics that hold huge value for courageous readers with open minds * Strategies for prioritizing self-care while running your business, ensuring you don't neglect yourself while you're taking care of everyone else * A philosophy that emphasizes the creation of sustainable, profitable businesses that contribute to the health of their founders, employees, stakeholders, and communities A singular and powerful collection of resources for entrepreneurs, founders, managers, executives, board members, and other business leaders, Secrets of Next Level Entrepreneurs will also earn a place on the bookshelves of coaches, consultants, and other professionals who serve business leaders.
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Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2023
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Table of Contents
Cover
Title Page
Copyright
Introduction: Why I Compiled This Book and Who It Is For
THEME I: Three Essential Hard Skills Every Business Leader Should Master
CHAPTER 1: Creating a Winning Business Strategy—It's Easier Said Than Done
What Is a Strategy Anyway?
Strategic Specificity Matters More Than You Might Think
Define The Term ‘Strategy’ for Your Business
Without a Purposeful Strategy Businesses Can Quickly Derail
Having No Strategy in Place Is Unethical
A Great Strategy Is Built on Reinforcing Loops
The Best Time to Start Creating a New Strategy Was Yesterday. The Next Best Time Is Now!
About Alex Brueckmann
Notes
CHAPTER 2: The Smartest Way to Boost Profits Is Clever Pricing
To Set the Right Price: First Understand the Value Drivers of Your Business
Differentiate Prices to Avoid Leaving Money on the Street
Behind Every Price Differentiation Should Be a Product and Service Differentiation
Start with Value Pricing and Manage Your Business Based on Long‐Term Profit
No Company That Turned a Profit Ever Went Bankrupt
Business Owners Should Measure Profit as Economic Profit
Price Increases Are Easier in Times of Inflation, But Watch Out for Phantom Profits
Strong Changes in Currency Exchange Rates Can Add or Offset Inflation Risks
The Future of Pricing Is Driven by Big Data and AI
Choose the Right Pricing System to Determine the Optimal Price and Capture Value
The Boundaries of Pricing Are Ethical and Political, Less Economical
About Hermann Simon
CHAPTER 3: Creating Value and a Sustainable Impact for Your Business
Defining Value
Creating Value
Thinking Efficiencies
Thinking Partnerships
Aligning Value
Communicating Value
The 3E Model for Impact
Connection, Innovation, and Growth
About Sheetal Khullar
Notes
THEME II: How Businesses Shape Impactful Cultures Through Leadership
CHAPTER 4: Mastering Disruption and the Future of Work
Disruptors Lead the Way
How Do We Make It Easier?
To Be Competitive, Innovation Is No Longer Enough
Disrupting Ourselves
Long‐Term Visions for the Future and Mastering Disruption Go Hand in Hand
Conscious Decision Making and Embracing Disruption in the Workplace
Where to Begin with Conscious Disruption
Company Culture Cultivates an Environment for Disruption and Innovation
How Digital Transformation Creates Disruptive Progress
Remember: You're Resilient
About Charlene Li
Note
CHAPTER 5: Six Components to Build a High‐Performance Culture
Purpose
Values
Behaviors
Recognition
Rituals
Cues
Adapting Your Leadership Style in a Post‐Pandemic World
Changing the Way You See Work
Be Wary of Corporate “Spying”
Look for the Positive
The Buck Stops Here
About Terry Jackson
Notes
CHAPTER 6: Creating an Impact Culture
The Transformation Trifecta Is Driving the Future of Work
It Starts with You
The Leadership Mentality: A Cornerstone of Responsibility and Purpose
Let's Talk Culture
Full Circle: A Call to Action
About Angela R. Howard
Notes
CHAPTER 7: How to Make Conflict Resolution Easier and More Productive
The Cost of Unresolved Conflict Is Massive
The Role of Mindset in Resolving Conflict
A Better Way to Think About Conflict
The Top 9 Unhelpful Beliefs on Conflict and What to Replace Them With
Five Steps to Respond to Conflict
About Jerry Fu
Notes
THEME III: Self‐Care: The Secret Sauce for Leading a Fulfilling Life and Successful Business
CHAPTER 8: Self‐Leadership and Leading in Challenging Times
How Does Self‐Care Fit into Self‐Leadership?
Building Capacity Beyond Yourself
Let's Get Battle‐Ready
The Humility Advantage
The Impact of Your Self‐Leadership
About Tony Martignetti
Notes
CHAPTER 9: Creating a Balanced Life That You Love
The Four Emotional Intelligence Skills for Well‐being
What Is Emotional Intelligence?
Not Letting Big Emotions Make the Big Decisions
How Do I Self‐Actualize? How Do I Achieve Life Balance?
What Is Meaningful, Not Just Social Impression or Obligation
Flipping the Switch
Assessing Your Circles
Does This Mean We Don't Consider Other People?
Blow Up Each Circle and Get Specific
Are You Balanced?
About Teresa Quinlan
Note
CHAPTER 10: Whole Person Self‐Awareness: The Key to Transformation
Starting Your Own Business Instead of Working as an Employee for Someone Else
Is Your Job Making You Miserable?
Are Square Wheels Better than No Wheels at All?
Holistic Self‐Awareness: The Key to Success
About Ken Keis
Notes
CHAPTER 11: Four Powerful Mindset Shifts to Help You Conquer Love, Overcome Death, and Succeed in Business
Mindset Beats Skillset
Drop the ‘F’ from Fomo
Aim for Speed And Agility
Embrace Abundance
Grow Beyond a Fixed Mind
How to Enact the Mindset Shifts
About Alex Brueckmann
Note
Acknowledgments
About the Author
Also available by Alex Brueckmann:
The Strategy Legacy
(Summer 2023)
End User License Agreement
List of Illustrations
Chapter 1
FIGURE 1.1 The Entrepreneurial Strategy Compass, adapted from Joshua Gans, e...
Chapter 2
FIGURE 2.1 Additional Revenue Potential at Differentiated Price Points
Chapter 3
FIGURE 3.1 The 3E Model for Impact
Chapter 9
FIGURE 9.1 Self‐Actualization: The Circles Exercise
FIGURE 9.2 “Work” circle and potential contributors to fulfillment
Chapter 10
FIGURE 10.1 Working hard when a smarter way is so close, © Performance Manag...
FIGURE 10.2 Personality Development Factors Model, © Ken Keis & CRG
Guide
Cover Page
Title Page
Copyright
Introduction Why I Compiled This Book and Who It Is For
Table of Contents
Begin Reading
Acknowledgments
About the Author
Also available by Alex Brueckmann: The Strategy Legacy (Summer 2023)
Wiley End User License Agreement
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SECRETS OF NEXT-LEVEL ENTREPRENEURS
11 Powerful Lessons to Thrive in Business and Lead a Balanced Life
ALEX BRUECKMANN
WITH CONTRIBUTIONS BY
Dr. Hermann Simon * Teresa Quinlan * Tony Martignetti Charlene Li * Sheetal Khullar * Dr. Ken Keis Dr. Terry Jackson * Angela Howard * Jerry Fu, PharmD
Copyright © 2023 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved.
Published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc., Hoboken, New Jersey.
Published simultaneously in Canada.
No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, scanning, or otherwise, except as permitted under Section 107 or 108 of the 1976 United States Copyright Act, without either the prior written permission of the Publisher, or authorization through payment of the appropriate per‐copy fee to the Copyright Clearance Center, Inc., 222 Rosewood Drive, Danvers, MA 01923, (978) 750‐8400, fax (978) 750‐4470, or on the web at www.copyright.com. Requests to the Publisher for permission should be addressed to the Permissions Department, John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 111 River Street, Hoboken, NJ 07030, (201) 748‐6011, fax (201) 748‐6008, or online at http://www.wiley.com/go/permission.
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COVER DESIGN: COURTESY OF THE AUTHOR
IntroductionWhy I Compiled This Book and Who It Is For
We have gotten used to reading that we live in unprecedented times, that the speed of change and disruption has never been greater than now, and that our world is increasingly volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous. As if we had required any more proof that these statements are true, the COVID‐19 pandemic and the war in Ukraine remind us that peace, prosperity, and health cannot be taken for granted. Effectively, we are witnessing supply chain disruptions and inflation rates higher than we've seen in recent decades, especially in the Western hemisphere.
We have been adjusting our consumption patterns, with consequences for how much money we spend. We see new demands from an increasingly flexible workforce, challenging traditional career paths and prioritizing their personal over work lives. Digital innovation has maintained a high pace. While it enables new business models and entire industries on the positive end, it can also feel overwhelming to keep up to speed with digital transformation.
Countless businesses, small and large, were swept away by the chain of events that sparked in 2020. Some of them had operated unsustainably for a while; for them, these crises were the nail in the coffin. Others operated under business models that were profitable but too inflexible. They got dragged under the bus because they couldn't adjust to a rapidly changing environment. All other businesses must learn the lessons and equip themselves for the next inevitable inflection point. And come it will.
If we learned one takeaway over the past two decades, it is hopefully this: the next crisis is already waiting around the corner. I have spent almost my entire adult life in one crisis or another, from the dot‐com bubble burst, the war on terrorism, the financial crisis, the state debt crisis, the refugee crisis, the COVID‐19 pandemic, and Russia's war in Ukraine, to name the most prominent ones.
Let's be honest: crisis mode seems to be the new normal. And most of these crises are outside our immediate circle of control. But it's not all doom and gloom. The changing landscape opens opportunities for business owners willing to create more appealing offerings for consumers, employees, and shareholders. Instead of hoping and waiting for better times, we must adjust our businesses strategically and operationally to make the most out of what we can immediately influence.
As entrepreneurs, corporate leaders, and business owners, we must prepare ourselves and those who work with us for the future. It starts with us and how we grow beyond what we know today. What made us successful in the first place—the subject matter expertise we used to build our businesses—will not suffice to create the same caliber of success. We must learn essential skills, understand ourselves, and shift our mindsets accordingly. The time is now to reach the next level and grow beyond existing limits—personally and professionally.
There are three mission‐critical pillars that contribute to building future‐proof businesses: strategy, leadership, and self‐care. It's essential to strategically re‐adjust a business for success, consciously shape leadership and culture, and practice self‐care as we humbly accept our limitations as entrepreneurs and leaders.
Instead of celebrating the hustle culture, promoting a glamorous view of entrepreneurship, or glorifying the few that amassed incredible wealth, this book is about, what I call, Next‐Level Entrepreneurship. It's about building businesses that take the right steps to do well, be profitable, and contribute to building more equitable communities. It is for entrepreneurs and leaders who embrace their responsibility for social and environmental justice, and are eager to contribute to a world worth living in—for us, our children, and generations to come.
This book holds specific advice on issues that are on the mind of every business owner and leader at one point or another. I invited some of the brightest minds to contribute their perspectives on Next‐Level Entrepreneurship. We shed light on a range of interconnected topics that are critical success factors in today's business world. This is not a theoretical textbook. Instead, we offer actionable solutions that you can put into practice right away—written by business owners and leaders for business owners and leaders.
Based on his ten commandments, Hermann Simon helps us sharpen our understanding of pricing in a high inflation environment. With the zeitgeist shifting our perception of businesses, Sheetal Khullar introduces a model for a socially and environmentally sustainable business approach. Tony Martignetti and Terry Jackson offer insights into leadership components that allow us to build people‐centric, high‐performance cultures in the workplace. Teresa Quinlan and Ken Keis show ways to overcome the outdated paradigm of work‐life balance and instead self‐actualize and achieve personal transformation.
Depending on your personal experience, some chapters will be easier to engage with—previously overlooked perspectives are waiting for you as you read some chapters with a beginner's mind. Other chapters hold suggestions that might feel unfamiliar or foreign at first sight. Allow yourself to approach them with the open mind of an eager learner to explore what's in it for you.
I encourage you to embrace the full variety of topics we cover, as all of them are critical factors to living a happier, healthier, and more fulfilling life—including leading a limitless business.
You'll find that each chapter comes with an ‘About the Author’ section. Many of the authors have published books on their subjects that will help you dive deep into your topics of interest. The authors invite you to connect on social media and to benefit from additional resources on their websites.
With that, I hope you enjoy the book and stay courageous.
THEME IThree Essential Hard Skills Every Business Leader Should Master
The first theme addresses some essential hard skills for business leaders. I chose three topics that I consider highly relevant for anyone leading a company. In my over twenty years of working in business, I've collaborated with many types of entrepreneurs and corporate leaders. They range from early‐stage start‐ups to solopreneurs. Others are leaders of medium‐sized enterprises, some of them family‐owned, and others are corporate leaders of global enterprises.
While these managers have varying needs in many ways, they do have more than a few things in common:
they all operate in a marketplace with competitors
all of them want to sell their offerings to clients
they are all affected by consumer demands for a more sustainable way of doing business
No matter the size of a business, its industry, or governance structure, these three topics have major implications for any business leader.
First, leaders need to understand strategy as a discipline to be able to paint a compelling vision for their business and create a strategy to bring their vision to life. Every business leader and entrepreneur needs to develop a level of strategic understanding sufficient enough to lead the way. Without a strategic plan in place, businesses lack clarity and direction. As a consequence, companies allocate resources to priorities that aren't mission‐critical whatsoever. The resulting lack of focus leads businesses to stretch themselves too thin and miss out on what really matters for success. In my first chapter, I will focus on the topic of business strategy, using the examples of go‐to‐market strategies for start‐ups and competitive strategies for corporations. The key to mastering business strategy is a consistent definition of ‘strategy,’ a thorough understanding of the significant characteristics for an impactful strategy, and the place that ethics holds in strategy.
The second implication is that business leaders need a better understanding of the biggest lever of profitability: pricing their services and products accurately. Especially during times of high inflation, pricing plays a crucial role in protecting your bottom line. Dr. Hermann Simon, world‐renowned management thinker and leading pricing authority, shares actionable insights on how to maximize the profit potential through pricing. He describes easy‐to‐implement approaches to discover the essential pricing drivers for your offering and how to turn them into measurable results. He also shares his ten commandments for pricing in times of inflation, which come in handy. Simon describes the benefits of value‐pricing and why you should focus on economic profit as the ultimate measure of profitability.
Once we understand how to implement tailored strategy and pricing to our business, we can move on to the third implication for leaders: we need to better understand how to realign our businesses sustainably. Companies embracing their responsibility to impact this world positively can strongly benefit from changing market demands, fueled by more conscious consumption patterns. Reshaping a business's role by contributing to social and environmental justice is about combining planet, people, and profits into one cohesive approach. Sheetal Khullar, a sustainable development and impact strategist, shares how we can overcome skepticism when talking about sustainability and profits. She shows us how businesses can fill knowledge gaps, create new value‐based consumer touchpoints, and build effective partnerships.
CHAPTER 1Creating a Winning Business Strategy—It's Easier Said Than Done
Alex Brueckmann
If you ask three business owners “what is strategy?” you will likely receive three different definitions. Their answers might range from “a plan on how we create value” or “our priorities for the next few years” to “an approach to winning against competitors” and “a framework used to make decisions.” There is nothing wrong with these answers. As a matter of fact, if you research a definition of the term strategy, you will find suggestions that match these ideas to a large degree. So, which definition is the most accurate? Which approach should be used for your business?
I would accept any definition of strategy as long as it captures some of these ideas if used consistently in your business. This can prevent businesses from running into major issues with severe consequences. The term strategy is highly versatile in all aspects of life, from the world of sports to business and beyond. It does not come as a surprise that many find it difficult to make sense of it.
This chapter will focus on strategy using examples of go‐to‐market strategies for start‐ups and competitive strategies for corporations. I will define what strategy is, describe the characteristics and importance of an impactful strategy, and examine the ethics of strategy.
What Is a Strategy Anyway?
The first matter to take care of is to define the term itself. For start‐ups and entrepreneurs, the term strategy is closely associated with go‐to‐market strategy: how they plan to penetrate a specific market with a new product, technology, or service offering. Serial entrepreneur Richard Branson, the founder of Virgin Group, is quoted to have said, “And in the end, you just got to say, ‘Screw it, just do it’ and get on and try it.”1 Now, Branson certainly made some significant business decisions in his life, and some questionable ones as well. Having learned from observing Branson, let me suggest that a ‘screw it, just do it’ attitude is the opposite of having a strategy at play. You might want to approach your business with a more focused approach.
FIGURE 1.1 The Entrepreneurial Strategy Compass, adapted from Joshua Gans, et al.2
A simple way to develop a straightforward strategy is to start with the Entrepreneurial Strategy Compass. It describes four types of strategies that help founders and entrepreneurs make educated, rather than impulsive, go‐to‐market decisions.
How would these strategic go‐to‐market options look in operation for a real business? To understand further, I've come up with a not‐so‐hypothetical scenario. Let's assume you are an aspiring entrepreneur living in Bellevue, Washington, USA. It is 1994, your name is Jeffrey, and you want to launch a business based on your best idea: selling books online. You examine the following strategic options to consider your ideal strategy to enter the market:
Option 1: Disruption—you pick one product category, books, and move fast. You compete against giant book retailers and take them by surprise. They don't take you seriously at first; however, your mission is to change that.
Option 2: Architectural—you create and control a new platform and allow retailers to sell their products via Amazon.
Option 3: Value Chain—you partner with publishing houses, helping them circumvent retailers as gatekeepers and use Amazon as the key to a profitable business‐to‐consumer (B2C) business.
Option 4: Intellectual Property—you help large retailers modernize their sales channels and build a white‐label online bookstore.
Strategic Specificity Matters More Than You Might Think
It seems that Jeff Bezos maneuvered his strategic options wisely. Now, Amazon can hardly be described as a start‐up anymore, but rather a significant corporate player. In the corporate world, the term strategy describes an organization's business or competitive strategy. There are many examples of how the term lacks specificity—and the potential issues that arise. Let me share two particularly notable examples, which are publicly accessible on the respective company websites of Porsche and Boeing.
Example 1: Porsche—2025 Strategy
“The company’s main objective is to achieve value‐generating growth. Only by achieving such growth can we make sustainable investments in innovative technologies, new products, and, most importantly, in our team here at Porsche. With this approach, we are already on our way toward rethinking sporty mobility. We want to excite customers with our products and services. We also aim to consolidate our reputation as an excellent employer and business partner that fulfills its social and environmental responsibilities. And the return needs to be sufficient too.”
Porsche's strategy consists of four key pillars:
Excellent employer and business partner
Inspiring customers with a unique product and brand experience
Excellent profitability with a return on sales of more than 15 percent
Innovation and sustainable business practices.
3
The pillars are specific, immediately showing an understanding of their intentions and direction. Porsche's four pillars are linked to each other; they also are mutually beneficial and could not stand on their own. No pillar is self‐sustaining, and each point contributes to the main objective of value‐generating growth. Also, the pillars align with their company: anyone reading them can quickly develop a clear understanding of any of them.
This is a solid explanation of Porsche's main priorities and focus. It consists of concise sentences, is clearly structured, and contains a timeframe with ways to measure their success. Let's be clear: this strategy description is better than many other examples of company business strategies.
Example 2: Boeing—2025 Strategy
“Enterprise Strategy:
Operate as One Boeing
Build Strength on Strength
Sharpen and Accelerate to Win
2025 Goals:
Market Leadership
Top‐quartile Performance and Returns
Growth Fueled by Productivity
Design, Manufacturing, Services Excellence
Accelerated Innovation
Global Scale and Depth
Best Team, Talent and Leaders
Top Corporate Citizen”
4
Let's briefly examine the Boeing strategy. It does not consist of proper sentences and lists three brief bullet points, followed by eight goals for 2025. This hardly qualifies as a strategy. It's a nondescript list rather than a description anyone can read and comprehend. The three main bullet points couldn't be more generic and resemble internal corporate marketing jargon.
The parts that could be measurable are unspecific. For example, it's unclear what they mean by “Top‐quartile,” as it could refer to Fortune 500 companies, airplane producers, the aviation industry, or any number of things. The content and direction of the three strategic themes leave maximum room for interpretation, as they are nonspecific and very short. In addition, it is unclear how Boeing's themes and goals are related.
Since the 1970s, Boeing's business strategies have resulted in a creeping loss of market share to its primary rival, Airbus. In the 2000s, Boeing failed to develop more fuel‐efficient passenger planes. It became a major problem when their competitor Airbus, introduced the A320neo, which became a best‐seller. Boeing didn't have a comparable aircraft ready to compete. Due to the time and cost involved in designing a new plane from scratch, Boeing decided to update their existing 737 model with larger and more fuel‐efficient engines and related design additions, sold as the 737 MAX. An upgrade.
In October 2018, and again in March 2019, two 737 MAX aircraft crashed, with 346 casualties. The fallout for Boeing was significant. The 737 MAX models lost their clearance and were grounded. A United States Federal Aviation Agency investigation revealed that design flaws concealed by Boeing caused the disasters. As a result, the company lost the trust of regulators and the public. The total direct costs of the 737 MAX groundings are an estimated US$20 billion, and indirect costs are over US$60 billion. This excludes the US$2.5 billion settlement Boeing paid after being charged with fraud to avoid criminal prosecution.5 While I'm not suggesting that it was only because of their strategy—culture and leadership appear to have played a role as well—Boeing paid a high toll for their mistakes.
I chose to examine Boeing's and Porsche's public plans to illustrate how vastly different strategies can look, and how various companies communicate their strategies to the public. I'm sure internally, both companies adopt a more succinct and focused version of their strategies. However, this is what Boeing and Porsche are publicly declaring and sharing as their strategy.
Other companies publish strategies that are looser vision statements, aspirations, or missions, which hardly qualify as strategies. Almost every organization I have worked with started by creating a new strategy based on an unclear understanding of the term strategy. But all of them—despite the fuzziness—still used the term, in one way or another, despite their varying directions. For example:
‘We need a new pricing strategy to compete with the other players in the market.’
‘Our hiring strategy is not delivering the talent pipeline we expect.’
‘We need a clear strategy for the purchasing discussion next week.’
‘Our digital product strategy is outdated.’
This omnipresent yet blurry understanding of the term ‘strategy’ tends to cause even more issues up to the very top of organizations within senior leadership teams.
Define The Term ‘Strategy’ for Your Business
Ideally, a leadership team typically consists of accomplished professionals with years of experience. In these years, they would have seen different strategies, some more successfully implemented than others. They would have had exciting and sometimes long and tiring discussions about strategy. They would have potentially read classic books, such as Competitive Strategy by Michael E. Porter, who defines strategy as “a competitive position, deliberately choosing a different set of activities to deliver a unique mix of value”.6 And now these very individuals embark on a business venture to define a new strategy based on the variety of experiences and preconceived notions about what a strategy is, and what it should contain, in their views.
As a result of this misalignment, discussions about strategy are difficult and must be interpreted on a case‐by‐case basis, with their thoughts and individual understanding. Over time, my colleagues and I understood that before we could start strategizing with a client, we needed to help those involved form a common understanding of what ‘strategy’ meant and how they would use the term going forward. What we often achieved was a common understanding and a definition along these lines:
“A strategy is a framework against which we make decisions to sustainably deliver our unique value to our customers, employees, and suppliers. It is a plan describing how we win in our chosen marketplace, where the unique value of our offering is repeatedly chosen over our competitor's offering.”
Based on this definition, let's describe what strategy is—and what strategy is not.
What strategy is
What strategy is
not
A set of key priorities to achieve a desired vision or goal, (i.e., a desired state in the future)
A plan that captures how you create value for employees, suppliers, and customers
A way to achieve results that will make your customers go “wow!” and leave your competition baffled, asking, “how did they do that?”
A framework against which business decisions are made
A guide to the next two to five years
The big picture
A map helping you maneuver the business through partly unchartered territory
A rigid and detailed plan that doesn't change
A magical formula that guarantees future business success
A formulated answer to questions of all disciplines in your company
A plan coping with every aspect of your business over the coming ten years
Tactics
A bold statement about the future
Without a Purposeful Strategy Businesses Can Quickly Derail
In the late 00s, I got to know an industry that was, and still is, heavily under pressure: high‐volume printing. Back then, it involved mail‐order catalogs, magazines, and direct mail. The company I worked for had a history of great financial success—and this success became their own worst enemy. For years, leadership and personnel alike had been clinging to the glorious past, where everyone had their share of the golden times. The issue was that these times were over, and the corporate culture had become complacent and change‐averse. They were staying the course and hoping that better times would return; it seemed to be the 'strategy' for many.
With media advancements opening opportunities for e‐commerce and publishers, market demand for catalogs and magazines had been shrinking rapidly. None of the leaders in the organization had experienced anything like this before in their careers. Until this point, change had occurred in small doses, within the subject expertise of those in charge; change used to be incremental. In the 00s, the pace of change had shifted towards rapid transformational change in the printing industry. With one eye on the past, and without a business strategy in place, leadership seemed paralyzed.
