Managing 101 - the Basics, Part 3

"You already have my trust.  I will work with you as an individual to understand your expectations of me and to work at meeting them if possible.  I will make my expectations clear and make sure that we agree that they are reasonable.  We will set up regular sessions for us to discuss all things work related as well as non-work related.  I will be as open as I can with my management thinking, and share my personal hopes, dreams and fears."

Openness on the part of the manager breeds openness in others.  Time on the calendar for meetings should be set for the same time every week.  I hear managers sometimes say, "Well, my door is always open if someone has a question or wants to talk.  There is no need to set a regular time to meet."  I could not disagree more with this statement.  I firmly believe that the key to building a strong relationship is effective, regular communication.  And the cornerstone to understanding the individual is to have a strong relationship.

To be continued.  Posted by Tony

Words to Live by in Business

I ran across this quote by Charles Hampton Turner, a professor at the London School of Business:

"No product or service can be better than the people who produce them. Quality derives from emotional issues and the relationships between employees and customers based on integrity and respect.  As a result, productivity, innovation and quality depend more on the strength of the relationship and the emotional attachment of its people."

Managing 101 - the Basics, Part 2

Managing 101 -  the Basics

This is a previous Perfect Biz Match blog posting.  It will be used as the first in a new series.

The Downside of Being a Ruler Company in a Kingdom

For the last ten years my favorite example of a company that was clearly in a Kingdom marketplace has been Microsoft.  In terms of the Perfect Biz Match model, it has maintained a premium price for its products and controlled distribution through its dominance of operating-system and business-application markets.  

It has also been clear that over the years Microsoft has maintained a certain level of arrogance during negotiations about the quality of its value added products, even to the point of relying on customers to experience and report major software problems for them.  The Vista operating system of a couple of years ago is a good example.

Companies that have this kind of dominance often fall prey to the same deterioration of their positions that IBM and many other large firms did during the 1980's.  When attempting to maintain their market positions while supporting their large bureaucracies that had matured, the price/value equation was often equivocated.  They become more arrogant and less relevant, until the market suddenly upended their dominance.

On our Perfect Biz Match grid, such companies' positions slid toward the lower left corner of the Kingdom.  When this happened to IBM, the company eventually had to be reinvented. 

Similarly, when one reads this linked article from the New York Times, we get a view of how Microsoft's internal organizational culture has evolved into a one that today manifests itself as a "clumsy, uncompetitive innovator."  Arrogant Rulers of their Kingdom markets are headed down similar slippery slopes.  Infighting gradually reduces the ability to attend to market needs; and products and services are delivered late, eventually becoming irrelevant. 

Avoiding the Commodity Trap of the Battleground

In what kind of market does your company or division compete?  Has your market changed?  Please take a fresh look at the results of your free Perfect Biz Match assessment, and let us know how you are using innovation to avoid the commodity trap.  Posted by David

Climate Change - An Opportunity for Many Businesses

Whether or not scientists are accurate about their climate predictions, business managers can view this as a great opportunity for innovation, expansion, and bottom-line growth. 

Getting out of the controversy is the first step.  Understanding the opportunity presented for new services and products, and modifying present offerings is the second and most powerful position.  Many businesses have already embraced the movement and are searching for green opportunities, especially in this difficult economic environment. 

The technical controversy will continue.  Meanwhile, getting caught up in whether or not predictions are accurate leaves us in a vulnerable position with our competition.  When Wal-Mart, Chevron, and Coca-Cola embrace this trend, the arguing is basically over.  I am not taking sides in the debate; that seems like a waste of time, with no end or sure outcome.  Companies are already on the move and we need to be part of that. 

These two linked articles from Business Week and The New York Times have more to say on this subject.  After reading them, consider how you might turn the climate-change movement into an opportunity for innovation within your own business.  Innovative thinking, after all, is essential in all four types of markets:  Jungles, Battlegrounds, and Kingdoms . . . as well as Frontiers.  Posted by Jack

Shoemaker in the Kingdom

How Often Do We Think About Innovation?

If you listen to Harvey Mackay, he would say, "Not enough."  Harvey in this recent article said,  "If you have a dollar, and I have a dollar and we exchange them, each of us still only has one dollar.  But if you have an idea, and I have an idea and we exchange ideas, you and I have two ideas.  And ideas lead to innovation."

Certainly innovation is critical for Pioneer companies to pursue in Frontier markets.  But how is innovation also crucially important to those of you trying to stay in a Kingdom market . . . or striving to compete more effectively for market share in a Battleground market . . . or even attempting to define a narrower niche in a Jungle market?  After taking your free Perfect Biz Match assessment, please let us know what your latest thoughts are on how innovation can help your business thrive.  Posted by Steve

You Just Never Know

Tony has written eight blog postings about the advantage of networking. "You never know what the next connection's going to be; so you're always in a networking mode.  I found this linked article that covers the issue well, and it highlights an event scheduled for those interested in the possibilities that active networking can offer. 

Where in Your Industry Value Chain are You?

After you take your free Perfect Biz Match assessmentyou may find a mismatch between your organization's characteristics and those of the market in which you compete.  Linked here are some answers to the most frequently asked questions about this assessment.

Many managers and small business owners who discover a mismatch find that they need to reconsider the definition of the dimensions of their market . . . and where they add perceived value.  Another tool used by the Jack Tesmer Institute in its Quick Plan sessions is the Industry Value Chain.  A market-centric approach is used when asking clients to start by analyzing and redefining precisely where their organization adds perceived value within that segment of their industry's market which they serve.  This link provides a snapshot of how Value Chain Analysis can help you create a sustainable competitive advantage.  Posted by David

Rules for Virtual Teams

Teams that operate from a distance have some advantages and disadvantages in attempting to be productive.  The following paragraphs are drawn from a case example of a successful venture and what the team learned.  The last point is particularly interesting.  (Taken from Human Resources Executive Online)

In their Harvard Business Review article, "Can Absence Make a Team Grow Stronger?" (May, 2004), authors Jessica Lipnack and Jeffrey Stamps report on a special collaboration between Boeing Inc. and Rocketdyne to build a new engine.

The team worked entirely virtually, with no face-to-face meetings.  It was comprised of individuals from different disciplines, with unique product-design backgrounds, various organizations, and distinct design practices.  Most on the team had never worked together before.  Its ultimate design had to convince conservative Rocketdyne senior executives to agree to fund the design for final testing.

The result?  The team reduced the number of parts for a critical component from about 1,200 to six.  It cut manufacturing costs from a projected $7 million to $500,000. Predicted quality (failure rate) was less than 9 sigma, versus the best practice in the industry of 6 sigma, and a typical 2 to 4 sigma.  No member of the team dedicated more than 15 percent of his or her time to the effort.  The project came in under budget after an elapsed time of 10 months versus the normal.  The final design passed executive review with flying colors.

The specifics for how Boeing-Rocketdyne pulled off this feat are particular to the task it faced. But general lessons learned provide valuable insight:

* Provide context and motivation for participants;

* Choose a leader who believes in working virtually, across organizations;

* Provide the right technology and tools for communication -- in this case, simple audio conference plus access to a "shareable" PC whiteboard -- and a shared team space for managing all documentation, with edit privileges and version control;

* Use standard processes, templates and participant-led facilitation techniques for all planned interactions and post-meeting documentation, and rules of etiquette for impromptu discussions; and

* Minimize e-mail communication, which has been shown to be a leading contributor to failed communication, misunderstanding and lack of trust.

What do you think?  We would love to hear your thoughts.  Posted by Jack

Three New White Papers for Management

Our associate, Paul Pelkola, this week shared with us three new white papers of timely, practical, and valuable help to all executives, managers, and entrepreneurs.  His papers are now available to all for free.

Paul's first paper, Establishing Job Competencies, provides a review of the practical Six Sigma lessons he has learned over the years in structuring, creating, and analyzing job competencies.  Paul's second offering walks the reader through Project Definition - A Critical First Step to Process Improvement.  Finally, for organizations of all size, Paul outlines the most important Things to Do before Setting a Team in Motion.

To learn about Paul's extensive background as a manager of organization development as well as process improvement functions, please visit his web site; then be sure to download at this page your free copies of any or all of his three new white papers.  Posted by David

Why Saturn Failed in a Battleground Auto Market

If you are looking for an example of a company that neglected to understand its market, the Saturn automobile experience supplies it well.  After more than two decades, millions of dollars, and the efforts of thousands of people, it closed its doors as a complete failure.  Why?

This article from Harvard Business Publishing describes how GM decided to play in the Battleground with the Japanese and try to produce a cost-competitive car.  What Saturn executives did not appreciate was that their high-overhead infrastructure in both manufacturing and R&D was set up as if the company were in a Frontier or Kingdom environment that would allow for fat profit margins.  Thus the cost of starting the product line and producing in a low-price range lost enough dollars on the bottom line of the income statement to sink the rest of the enterprise . . . even though at one point Saturn was successfully competing with Japanese manufacturers in terms of its top-line sales figures.

How do you think Saturn executive would have completed their own Perfect Biz Match assessment?  Posted by Jack

Networking to Build Relationships, Part VIII

(Continued from Part I, Part II, Part III, Part IV, Part V,  Part VI, and  Part VII)  Question from reader, Paul:

- - - - - - -
Tony,

So, it seems that there are two levels of network here.  One is "semi-active," and the other is "activated".  That's a pretty useful concept.  My experience in networking is that in the activated kind that remains ongoing, there is some mutual, but not always shared interest each person has in the other.  Each brings something that the other person finds of value to the relationship . . . which can be as simple as friendship, or an opposing or different view of the world, or even business opportunities.  What is your experience with this?

There is a third thing you do . . .  which is connecting individuals with each other.  How would you describe the value of that in your networking experience?

Thanks,
Paul P.
- - - - - - -
Paul,

Your thought on "activated" networking rings true.  Unfortunately, I find that most people are uncomfortable with this, and/or don't put a priority on it; and therefore it falls by the wayside.  Then when they find themselves in need of some kind, they are at a loss.
 
I think that real "networking" is about getting out of a comfort zone and hearing about different things.  After all, we don't know what we don't know.  If we only deal with people who have a common interest with ours, then we may very well miss out on a learning opportunity at the very least . . . and perhaps something bigger either now or in the future.  Building and nurturing relationships through networking certainly takes a commitment.  If we can make it part of our routine and build it into the things that we do on a regular basis, the time and effort required can be minimized.  The benefits can be great over the long haul.
 
As for the people-connection part, I find it so interesting that most people are reluctant to introduce others to people that they know.  Why might that be?  What if they don't like each other?  What if they have a negative experience?  I can say that 90 % of those I have connected have had some kind of positive experience.  I get real gratification when people tell me how much they enjoyed meeting so and so, etc.
 
I ask every person I meet to give me two things in return:  (1) Keep in touch, and let me know how you're doing, and (2) Allow me to send people to you in the network.  To a person they always agree and most actually follow through.

Irrefutable Laws of Leadership

I found John Maxwell's "21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership" to be very profound, and every single one encourages thought and reflection.  How many of us can be thought of as real leaders in terms of these laws?

Here they are.  See what you think. 

1. THE LAW OF THE LID:  Leadership ability determines a person's level of effectiveness.

2. THE LAW OF INFLUENCE:  The true measure of leadership is influence; nothing more, nothing less.

3. THE LAW OF PROCESS:  Leadership develops daily, not in a day.

4. THE LAW OF NAVIGATION:  Anyone can steer the ship, but It takes a leader to chart the course.

5. THE LAW OF E.F. HUTTON:  When the real leader speaks, people listen.

6. THE LAW OF SOLID GROUND:  Trust is the foundation of leadership.

7. THE LAW OF RESPECT:  People naturally follow leaders stronger than themselves.

8. THE LAW OF INTUITION:  Leaders evaluate everything with a leadership bias.

9. THE LAW OF MAGNETISM:  Who you are is who you attract.

10. THE LAW OF CONNECTION:  Leaders touch a heart before they ask for a hand.

11. THE LAW OF THE INNER CIRCLE:  Leaders' potential is determined by those closest to them.

12. THE LAW OF EMPOWERMENT:  Only secure leaders give power to others.

13. THE LAW OF REPRODUCTION:  It takes a leader to raise up a leader.

14. THE LAW OF BUY-IN:  People buy into the leader, then the vision.

15. THE LAW OF VICTORY:  Leaders find a way for the team to win.

16. THE LAW OF THE BIG MO:  Momentum is a leader's best friend.

17. THE LAW OF PRIORITIES:  Leaders understand that activity is not necessarily accomplishment.

18. THE LAW OF SACRIFICE:  A leader must give up to go up.

19. THE LAW OF TIMING:  When to lead is as important as what to do and where to go.

20. THE LAW OF EXPLOSIVE GROWTH:  To add growth, lead followers; to multiply, lead leaders.

21. THE LAW OF LEGACY:  A leader's lasting value is measured by succession.

Posted by Tony

How might these laws be adapted and adopted differently by the different styles of leadership (Rulers as Chiefs, Warriors as Commanders, Hunters as Coordinators, or Pioneers as Cheerleaders) needed to succeed in the four different kinds of markets (Kingdoms, Battlegrounds, Jungles, or Frontiers) suggested by your free Perfect Biz Match assessment?  Posted by David

The Future of the Web and Its Implications for Entrepreneurs

It is not just the social media craze that we are facing.  It is an array of technological advances that will influence our daily lives and change our decision processes . . . both in our private lives and business dealings. 

O'Reilly and Pahlka piece the future together in this short article that is well worth your reading and commenting on.  We look forward to a discussion on this site about the implications that you envision.  Good reading.  Posted by Jack

FAQ's about Perfect Biz Match Assessment Results

As the number of business leaders who take a free Perfect Biz Match assessment rises, we are receiving and answering more and more of the same types of questions.  Of course, you could find answers to all of your questions in Jack Tesmer's groundbreaking book, most of which is published among the hundreds of pages of this web site; and the site map could help you navigate your way to finding specific answers.  But who has the time to look?  So this blog entry is posted to link you to answers to the most FAQ's you may have.

How long should I have spent taking the assessment?

The validity of your results depends on the care you take in answering each of the 40 questions.  Here are some guidelines. 

From what perspective should I have taken the assessment?

You may consider your "organization" to be a department or division of a large company . . . or perhaps a small business you own.  Please consider this advice.

What are the 40 questions of the assessment really measuring?

Twenty questions relate to your "market," and twenty assess your "organization."  For both your market and your organization, there are five questions that measure each of four descriptors identified here.  The dimensions measured for your market can be reviewed in the figure displayed here; and the dimensions measured for your organization are depicted here.

What is a "perfect biz match"?

To maximize your chances for business success, your organizational type should match your chosen market type.  These four linked pages provide insight into these matched pairings:

     Warrior . . . Battleground                 Hunter . . . Jungle

     Ruler . . . Kingdom                           Pioneer . . . Frontier

What if I get a message on my output that identifies certain questions with the phrase:  "Responses . . . incongruent with the majority of the responses"?

It's normal to have a certain number of these "outlier" responses the first time you take this assessment.  Please review these questions to make sure you answered them from the same perspective, considering the same definitions of your "market" and your "organization."  This assessment is designed to raise important questions for you and your firm.  Perhaps you'll want to ask your colleagues at your company also to take the assessment, and then compare your results on all 40 questions.  Strategic thinking starts with a questioning mind.

Can I take the assessment as many times as I want?

Yes, this assessment is free to take as many times as you want, either from the perspective of a single organization or from that of any number of organizations that you know. 

If I have a mismatch between my organization and my market, where can I read about changes I need to make?

To learn more about transforming your organization, you might want to start here.  For information about leading your firm toward the changes you need to make, this page offers a good starting point. Click on these blog entries for ideas about leadership style and corporate culture changes needed to help make your organization match your market.   

Will the information I submitted when I took my assessment be kept confidential?

Absolutely!  All individual information is held strictly confidential. You can read here our privacy policy.

Where can I find out more information about the Jack Tesmer Institute and its other assessment instruments and services?

Right here.

If I have a question, comment, or need more advice, whom should I contact?

Why SWOT?

Are you being challenged by the changing landscape of your marketplace?  Can't figure out what is wrong or what to do?  When is the last time, if ever, that you and your team sat down and reviewed the Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities and Threats (SWOT) that you face in the market for your products or services?

A few weeks ago I wrote on the advantages of conducting a PEST analysis, an excellent step toward conducting a full SWOT analysis.  PEST is usually used first, since it assesses both the positive and negative uncontrollable external influences on your business.  Once you have completed a PEST analysis, along with a free Perfect Biz Match assessment, you will want to list the several key questions that they raise.  Then you can try to answer them with the help of a full SWOT analysis, which allows you to evaluate how effectively your company's own controllable internal strengths and weaknesses will allow you to pursue alternative strategies.

The SWOT analysis headings provide a good framework for analyzing the relative merits of any proposed strategic direction for a company, a business proposition, or any other idea.  Completing a SWOT analysis is very simple, and is a good subject for workshop sessions.  SWOT analysis also works well in brainstorming meetings.  Use SWOT analysis for business planning, strategic planning, competitor evaluation, marketing, business and product development, and research reports.

Here are some examples of what a SWOT analysis can be used to assess:

     * a company (market position, commercial viability, etc.)

     * a method of sales distribution

     * a product or brand

     * a business idea

     * a opportunity to make an acquisition

     * a potential partnership

     * changing a supplier

     * outsourcing a service, activity or resource

     * an investment opportunity

     * a strategic option, such as entering a new market or launching a new product.

Be sure to describe the subject for the SWOT analysis clearly so that those contributing to the analysis, and others seeing the finished SWOT analysis, properly understand the purpose of the SWOT assessment and implications.

Understanding Market Position is Critical

      "The position your company has in the market is determined by those who would buy your products/services."

That statement seems pretty obvious, doesn't it?  But consider the following example of how one executive who completed the free Perfect Biz Match assessment thinks of her company.  The company specializes in mentoring and related consulting.

     "My assessment results indicated that we are in a Jungle market.  But I would say that is inaccurate since, although we do have competition, we are more of an elite product or service, and are able to differentiate ourselves that way.  I think we are in the Kingdom."

We had lunch not long after and I shared my thoughts/two cents:

     "The 'market,' i.e. your company's prospects and clients would view your firm as a consulting company.  Yes, your company has a niche that differentiates it from others; however, most consulting firms also have their own niche that distinguishes themselves from others.  The key here is that your prospect/client has 'X' amount of money to spend on consultants.  Competition for that dollar is fierce.  Which one is going to bring the most value?  My conclusion would be that your company is clearly in the Jungle, and as such is doing everything it can to provide great service along with the actual product value."          

After discussing the issue, the executive agreed that indeed, her company was in the Jungle and she really could no longer think of it as being in a Kingdom market.  This started a chain reaction of changes in how the company thinks and operates to be more effective functioning in as a Hunter organization.

Moral of the story:  Being open to understanding how you're viewed in the market is the all important first step to achieving ultimate and optimum success as a business.  Posted by Tony

To Increase Innovation, Some Widely Held Beliefs About Motivation Need to Go!

Recessionary times drive businesses inevitably toward the Jungle and Battleground markets faster and faster.  Margins disappear, and markets close down.  Many companies find themselves in the Jungle position of "more for less" long before they would traditionally be there.

For this reason innovation becomes critical to counter that erosion, not only in product functionality, but in the way we do things in the business.  Yet most of our motivational theories are born and installed in times when incentives were available.  Dan Pink shows in this linked video that we need to change our understanding of what really motivates innovative activity. 

Be prepared to be asked to debunk much of what you have come to know as effective in motivating people to innovate creatively, certainly in today's difficult economic environment, and perhaps in the future as well.  Posted by Jack

The Synergy of Sales Management and Leadership

Understand your sales forces' strengths and weaknesses.  You may have a semi-clear picture of the individual strengths and weaknesses that each member of your team possesses, but that picture can - and usually does - change.  What was a strength in a strong economy may be a weakness in this economy.  This is a big part of the [vision + resources = employee empowerment] equation.  Without a deep understanding of individual strengths and weaknesses (for which you'll need to put on your one-on-one-management hat), you'll never know what your resources really are and never realize the benefits of the corporate synergy.  If you don't have the time or internal resources for this, look to outside help; it's that important.

I personally have found the Objective Management Group to provide incredible insight into the strengths and weaknesses of the sales person to execute a selling process when they're face-to-face with the prospect or client.  They also have an insightful tool for growing leadership teams.

Know that business opportunities and risks are subject to change.  In many sales organizations, there seems to be a tendency to analyze an opportunity and the associated risks, and then carve them in stone.  If you could somehow freeze all the initial conditions present when you set out toward your destination, you'd be fine.  But you can't . . . and you won't.  Instead of brainstorming opportunities and risks only at the outset, plan regular rest stops to gather new information and adjust your course accordingly.  The Perfect Biz Match assessment is a great tool to facilitate that dialogue.

Know employee motivations.  Adversity brings out the best in some people, but not everyone; and what inspires one employee to greatness may leave another flat.  If [inspiration + coordination = teamwork], you'll need some inspired ideas and excellent employee coordination.  Again, if you don't want to go this one alone, seek an expert in the field.  With sales professionals, I often work with their Emotional Quotient, specifically Workplace Motivators. 

Understand what you shouldn't do as much as what you should.  There are countless ways to navigate your business toward its goals, but there are only a few ways that won't take you through the badlands or through ultra-busy metros.  Before you travel and during the journey, identify areas of the map - actions that are counterproductive to long-term business strategy, tactics that undermine employee morale in favor of short term profit, etc. - that you'll avoid, even if doing so seems to make the trip longer.  In the end, doing the right things in the right way is the framework upon which all the other synergies are based.

What are some of the lessons you're learning about balancing and creating synergy between sales management and leadership?  Posted by Danita

Strategy. Execution. Results.

Danita E. Bye 

CEO / Founder - Sales Growth Specialists

C. 612.267.3320 - O. 612.246.4806

P.S. Find out if you're REALLY focused on growth for 2010. Click here.

Perfect Biz Match builds on Boston Consulting Group Matrix

LOW Growth Rate & LOW Market Share = DOGS (to liquidate)

LOW Growth Rate & HIGH Market Share = CASH COWS (to milk)

HIGH Growth Rate & LOW Market Share = QUESTION MARKS (to explore)

HIGH Growth Rate & HIGH Market Share = STARS (to exploit)

But over the last seven years that I have known Jack Tesmer, I have come to appreciate more and more how his Perfect Biz Match model, complemented by the MAP work of Manuel Fernandes, builds significantly on the valid (though somewhat simplistic) framework of the BCG Matrix.

Prenuptials:  Handle with Care

Here are some of the points I emphasize in an article that appeared in the July 2009 issue of MinnesotaBusiness Magazine.

     1)  Put the topic of prenuptials on the family meeting agenda long before any of the adult children get engaged, emphasizing that everyone has a say in whether it is the right thing for the family.

     2)  If the family determines that a prenuptial is desired, when a son or daughter becomes engaged, share this philosophy with the future daughter- or son-in-law, explaining that it is a way to preserve stock from having too many owners.

     3)  Reinforce the concept that prenuptials are merely business tools meant to preserve the stock in the family business, and not a reflection of your love and respect for your family members.  You might invite a third party to your meeting to facilitate this discussion, emphasizing how happy you are about having them in the family, and that you want to make this a win-win situation for both the new member of the family and for the family business.

     4)  Listen to your future son- or daughter-in-law, making sure that he or she knows you have heard and understood his or her point of view.

     5)  Represent both parties by separate and independent counsel to draft the prenuptial document.

In short, discuss prenuptial agreements before they become family issues.  This is a sensitive topic that needs time and thought to implement properly.

My entire article is available only in print from the publisher.  But even from these few observations, I'm curious about your thoughts and responses to them.  I look forward to hearing from you.  Posted by Tom

         Tom Hubler

         Hubler for Business Families

         80 South Eighth Street - Suite 900

         Minneapolis, MN 55402

         (612) 375-0640

         E-mail:  tomh@thehublergroup.com 

         Web site:  www.hublerfamilybusiness.com

Assessments?  Bah, Humbug!  Who needs them?

It is one thing to find that an organization is in the lower right part of the Ruler quadrant.  That, by itself, is a huge warning sign, especially in this environment, that the organization is really out of touch with its market, not able to listen or adjust.  But when the market score from the same company is in the upper right part of the Jungle, where the business is being given away while taking more and more effort, one would think this would be enough evidence to begin to look for answers, or help, or something!  The market is going to hell in a hand basket, and the organization is being ruled by edicts at the whims of a market-blind leader!  Unfortunately, those who most need help are often those least likely to ask for it. 

Data are beginning to come in that verify our experience.  Few companies match their organization's position with that of their market.  We have a discrepancy score that measures the distance between the market and organization positions.  In the last 20 assessments, coming from various sources, seven out of 20 have a serious discrepancy.  Another six are in a poor market position, one that is not sustainable over time.  Eleven of those same 20 have a dysfunctional organizational culture, meaning that it is overstretched, out of touch with the market, with either too much or too little time spent trying to work together.

The companies that are represented in this group are mainly in the upper northwest of the US.  More aggregate data will be forthcoming as we get more people . . . from both large companies and small businesses . . . taking the free assessment.  Please know that all assessment results for any individual company are held in absolute confidence, following our strict privacy policy.  So try asking your colleagues and friends to log on to this page and see if their reactions to their real-time assessment results will be "Bah, Humbug" . . . or "Let's talk."   Posted by Jack

Golfing in the Kingdom

I recently had the privilege of traveling to Scotland to play the St Andrews golf course, the birthplace of golf.  It was certainly a thrill to walk the hallowed ground of the most famous golf course in the world.

It was also clear the "Old Course at St Andrews" is also a business, a very successful business.  There can be no better example of a business that successfully positions itself in squarely in the Kingdom.  It absolutely owns its market.

   - Green fees are high - around $300.00 for non residents.

   - Demand is high.  People come from all over the world.  Those who are lucky enough to have tee times had to get them many months in advance.  There are many that show up without tee times hoping to get on.  They stand by for hours and sometimes days waiting for a cancellation so they can play the Old Course.

   - St Andrews has rules, and they are enforced.  A few examples:  high handicappers need not apply because they are not welcome; no carts of any kind (pull or power) are allowed; every golfer must have a caddie.

   - Exclusive brand:  While one can purchase all kinds of St Andrews golf attire, accessories and gifts all over the city, there is only one place that the official Old Course logo, the "Claret Jug," can be found; and that is at the Old Course golf shop and clubhouse.  And of course the prices are premium.

   - The major industry in the city of St Andrews is tourism and there are many, many hotels, restaurants, gift shops, and all else associated to prove it.  The Old Course drives all of this and appears to be recession proof.

These products are now competing with major new offerings, and Cisco is experiencing significant margin pressure.  It is now actually in a Jungle market and highly vulnerable to competition, a position that has been greatly exacerbated by the current economic downturn.

Cisco has instituted a new overlay organization that seems to have a strategic goal of increasing its level of innovation - a trademark for which the company was at one time famous.  It now has a highly structured committee system across the company. 

Read about it in this Wall Street Journal article,and then predict its potential outcomes, based on the Perfect Biz Match model.  Let us know what you think!  Posted by Jack

What's Your Strategic Fitness Plan?

Why do some companies succeed in consistently outperforming their competitors?  Authors William Joyce, Nitin Nohria, and Bruce Roberson published the results of an extensive five-year-long study of the most effective management practices of successful businesses in their book What Really Works: The 4 + 2 Formula for Sustained Business Success.  The book reviews data collected on 160 companies and more than 200 management practices.  Their findings and conclusions are summarized in a surprisingly simple and straight-forward "4 + 2 Formula."  In short, success for any business firm demands that managers show mastery in all four of these following primary areas:

Strategy        

Execution      

Culture                      

Organization

plus any two of these secondary areas"

Talent of employees

Leadership and governance

Innovation

Mergers and partnerships

Heading this list of critically important predictors of business success is strategy - the practice of charting (and re-charting) how and in which market(s) an organization will compete.  Successful execution of any strategy further requires that a firm's organizational structure, culture, and leadership style be compatibly matched with the demands of its chosen market. 

Networking to Build Relationships, Part VI

• Keep a list of every single person you know.

• Decide those with whom you would like to keep in touch.

• Spend a few minutes a week to send brief greetings (on-line) to people as you stay in touch.

• Be open to meeting with people as they are referred to you in the network.

• Refer them to others in your network who you think may be a good conversation-fit.  Always ask their permission before you do so.

• Meet with someone face-to-face or via telephone at least once per week.

• Keep track of people who leave your day-to-day workplace and stay in touch.

The key is to get started and continue to pursue it.  It will serve you well over the long term.  Posted by Tony

Getting Control of the Social Media

If You are a Consultant, How Do You Generate New Leads?

Consultants everywhere have an ongoing difficulty finding new business from either new or existing clients.  This issue has been around since the beginning of time.  Unless you have a very successful brand that generates new business by itself, this problem will be with you continuously.

Consultants go about the business of marketing until a new client is secured.  At that point in many cases, the active search for new business grinds to a halt.  Now, I know many of you are saying, "Not me, I continue my efforts around the clock."  I am sure that it is ever present in your mind, but if you look at it logically from the standpoint of time, something has to give.  If you are busy with a client engagement you just do not have the ability to give this process its due. You are busy!  What can a person do about this?

I would like to tell you what some are doing that is new.  There is an organization called Independent Business Experts that has developed a process that pulls all of this together for you.  Here is how it works and what it can mean for you.

When you sign up with IBexperts you join an ever growing group of consultants who specialize in many different areas of expertise.  This is very valuable from the standpoint of creating synergy, potentially broadening your offerings to any client.  If you don't cover a particular area, you can find someone in your new network who does.

Independent Business Experts provides you as a consultant with a web site specifically dedicated to you and your business clients.  These are not cookie-cutter web sites.  They give you the opportunity to create your own content and blogs.  This provides you with the opportunity to carry on a conversation with your clients and potential clients.  You can replace or supplement your current "static web pages" (which may be really nice on-line brochures), with a dynamic new site that encourages your clients to follow you for new developments and interactions.

The single most important piece of this organization is the Perfect Biz Match assessment.   Developed by the Jack Tesmer Institute, this quick and easy assessment allows your business-owner clients to see for the first time just which markets they compete in (Jungle, Battleground, Kingdom, or Frontier), and to understand some of their predictable dynamics and most promising strategic solutions.

It also lets your clients know whether or not their organizations match their market positions.  Is the best way to arrange and manage their business enterprises as a Hunter, Warrior, Ruler, or a Pioneer?

This is your key as a consultant.  Most of the time there is not a match between a company's market type served and its organizational culture.  You can provide your CEO clients a unique insight, perhaps for the first time, into understanding a market-centric approach to managing their companies' future directions.  If more than one member of one of your client's management team takes the assessment, you will most likely discover that the CEO and the CFO or GM have very differing views of the company's market position. What problems do you think such a revelation will be revealed?  How might you then be able to step in and help your clients more effectively?

If you choose to become a member of Independent Business Experts, you will be trained to interpret the assessment results for your clients.  Everyone who participates in the assessment also gets an initial interpretation, upon which you as the consultant can build.  What this does is open the doors for you to have new and meaningful discussions with both clients and prospects to discuss their results and what they mean.

How many times have you made a presentation to a client and not secured a contract?  If that has happened, you now have a great reason to go back to those same people with something new that they have not seen or experienced before.  The assessment is very accurate; and with your additional insight, you will be alarmingly accurate.

You can send you potential new clients to your site to take the assessment for free.  You have a response from the client and now having something to talk about. This call is now at very least a warm call.  You have added a new arrow into your sales quiver.

The clients that you have been working with currently will also benefit from the assessment.  This may be the opportunity for you to offer help them address new areas of concern.

In the final analysis the assessments can serve you very well as lead generators.  They contribute to solving the problem you have with finding enough time to generate new business.  There are some alternatives available to you in the market place in terms of lead generation, but they are very expensive and may be limited to nothing more than creating at best a cold appointment.  They don't add to your offerings or credibility at all.  And they can't help you re-approach a past client with something new.

Health Care Reform:  Effects on Small Business

To be sure, earlier in the 20^th century there were a few early Pioneers offering different forms of health-care "insurance" in Frontier markets:  Kaiser Permanente, Blue Cross and Blue Shield, the Mayo Clinic, and a handful of private insurers writing hospital-indemnity policies with $15/day benefits.

Then in 1948, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) ruled in the W.W. Cross case that the Taft-Hartley Act required employers to negotiate with union employees regarding group health-insurance benefits; and a year later the ruling's applicability was extended to General Motors.  And so was born today's prevalent practice of buying our health insurance "at the company store" . . . by the company (following negotiation with the leadership of any applicable union).  Then there were two or three third-party intermediaries (employers, unions, and insurers) standing between patients and their doctors. 

Our federal and state governments became the next third-parties to enter the mix, with the passage in 1965 and 1966 of Medicare and Medicaid legislation.  Over the next three decades hundreds of private insurers and managed health-care companies became Hunters in truly turbulent Jungle markets that offered a myriad of new alphabet-soup product and service offerings:  HMO, PPO, POS, FFS, TPA, HRA, HSA, ETC.  Given the tax subsidies afforded to both employers and their employees, and the growing number of third parties standing between patients and doctors, health-care inflation rose steadily at a rate roughly 2.5 times that of the Consumer Price Index.

Then over the last dozen years or so, most metropolitan areas saw a consolidation of competitors on both the supply and demand sides of their markets, with fewer and much larger players emerging as dominators.  On the supply side, hospitals and managed-health-care networks merged into fewer and fewer provider groups in an attempt to increase their oligopolistic power.  To counter that pricing power, large employers and insurers banded together on the demand side of the equation in an attempt to increase their own oligopsonistic purchasing power with health-insurance purchasing coalitions and insurer-shared preferred-provider contracts.  In short, most cities have witnessed a transformation of their health-care markets into ones dominated by a few Warriors competing on Battlegrounds.

This year proponents of all kinds of health-care reform initiatives have emerged again.  If you are a small business owner, what do you think the new market for health care insurance will look like?  A key requirement for all strategic thinkers is to be planning your responses to the various political, economic, social, and technological winds that may reshape your industry's operating environment.

Webinars for Development

Developing new skills demanded by new market positions requires using the available resources on the internet.  One of these is the "webinar," which is becoming more readily available as a flexible tool to assist managers in acquiring and practicing needed competencies.  Many webinars are freely available.  This linked article provides several routes to those webinars that are most appropriate.  Use its directions to find the ones that you need.  Posted by Jack

A Contrarian Approach, but Effective for Small Businesses

The other day I had a discussion with an owner of an antique store in a small town in Wisconsin.  I had noticed that several other antique stores had located next to the owner's place.  I asked him if there was a problem with all the competition.

His reaction startled me at first.  He was very pleased to see these establishments take hold.  His reasoning was that the accumulation of these enterprises in the town became a draw for more people to visit.  Increased traffic was the goal.  "Competition will take care of itself; it is good," he said.

Perfect Biz Match Assessment Helps Consultant

Organizing to Implement Your Market Strategies

Why do so many business strategies fail?  Too often the actions planned are right on target, but they never get fully implemented.

   - Ruler organization in a Kingdom market,

   - Warrior organization in a Battleground market,

   - Hunter organization in a Jungle market, and

   - Pioneer organization in a Frontier market.

JTI's business clients, who devote three half-day sessions to developing their own Quick Plans, come away with a deeper understanding of their markets and the strategic directions they need to take for each of their product or service lines.  But most often their plans will not succeed if they don't adapt their organizations to implement their new market-centric actions.

It's easy enough to understand how leadership styles and corporate culture can differentiate between Rulers, Warriors, Hunters, and Pioneers.  But JTI's Quick Plan clients, after completing a 36-question Organizational Change assessment, are able to drill deeper into their understanding of nine dimensions of their company, and what it will take to implement their plans successfully.  Developed by organizational-development expert Jack Tesmer to evaluate a company's relative emphases on individual vs. team accountabilities . . . as well as external vs. internal orientation . . . this assessment measures nine dimensions that relate to a company's:

   - Direction, Performance, Growth, Employee Selection,

   - Structure, Alignment, Contribution, Management, and

   - Core Values.

No single set of organizational dimensions is right for every company.  What's right for you as a company is that which matches your market's demands.  To modify slightly an old axiom:  "Those who fail to plan their plan's organizational-implementation requirements . . . are planning to fail."  Posted by David

Mapping Market Strategies for Your Products and Services

Whenever a small business spends three half-day sessions developing its unique JTI Quick Plan, the company's management team members are invariably impressed by the ability of a dynamic MAP to chart the potential profit margin and strategic directions for each of the firm's product or service lines.

MAP is a sophisticated and sensitive . . . yet easy-to-use-and-understand . . . computer model that was developed by Manuel Fernandes, CEO of G-T Transnational in Portugal.  His tool builds upon the 40-question, market-centric results available for free when you take your first Perfect Biz Match assessment.

By answering only 35 questions about each of your product/service lines, Manuel's MAP will plot for each line of your business its:

   - relative perceived value,

   - relative effort needed to produce or deliver,

   - profit margin,

   - market growth potential,

   - market penetration capability,

   - overall profit potential, and

   - strategic directions and tactics suggested for each kind of market:

      * Kingdom:  Leveraging tactics,

      * Battleground:  Exploring tactics,

      * Jungle:  Controlling tactics, or

Coupled with an in-depth understanding of your markets' various "opportunities" and "threats," the Quick Plan MAP is designed to provide you with practical framework for making market-centric strategic decisions over the next 18-24 months.

The next questions then are:

   - "Does your organization match your market?"

   - "If not, what changes are needed to the nine dimensions of your organization so that you can implement your new plans effectively?"  Posted by Tony

Shrinking Lines of Credit for Small Business

A recent article in All Business describes an increasingly difficult time for small businesses that rely on lines of credit.  They are experiencing more and more difficulty competing with larger companies, as the liquidity squeeze tightens.  Small businesses must rely on a heightened level of innovative thinking to survive.  On the biz/match grid, the credit crunch is pushing the market position of most small businesses further to the right, into untenable territory.  It is becoming more and more difficult to satisfy customers' needs, as owners struggle to cover their fixed costs, including those relating to their employees.  Quoting from this article:

Refinancing Your Business Line of Credit - The Bad News

According to a July 2nd article written by, CFO.com banks across the U.S. are dramatically tightening business revolving line of credit availability and raising pricing.

Refinancing rates are higher when a borrower asks its bank to refinance its revolving line of credit.  The average rate from existing line of credit relationships has increased by 200 - 400 basis points.  Presumably banks are arguing that risk is higher and supply is down, which are all true. Some banks that secure lines of credit with A/R and inventory are possibly worried that the value of collateral is somewhat compromised because of the general recession.

Companies that are trying to compete in a Jungle market are being hit particularly hard.  Extraordinary means are needed to survive this liquidity freeze.  One is to create greater collaboration among Jungle partners/competitors in the same or similar business and aggregate some of the costs by sharing ideas and people. 

In the great depression in California this is what the grape and fig growers did to survive.  They formed cooperatives and other associations that supported one another and made sure the industry survived.  How is your small business surviving?  What new steps are you taking?  Please share them with us.  Posted by Jack

If we watch all of the changes that are appearing on the horizon from Washington (Health Care, Cap and Trade, Financial bailouts, Auto takeovers, Stimulus #3), I think it's time to get serious about PEST.

Of course I am referring to the PEST (Political, Economic, Social, and Technological) analysis that has been in use by businesses of all sizes for quite some time.  Many of us have used it, but generally we review our environment only every so often . . . maybe even as infrequently as once a year.  With all of the changes coming at us so rapidly, I suggest that every business needs to start using this simple tool more often to understand how you are being affected, or will be affected.  None of us is immune.  I encourage you also to incorporate the use of our free Perfect Biz Match assessment as well.

This website offers a very useful template for you to download for your PEST analysis.  Enjoy and let us know about your discoveries.  Posted by Steve

Networking to Build Relationships, Part III

(Continued from Part I and Part II)  The best time to get out, meet people, and build relationships is when we don't need anything.  That's right.  One of the key reasons for taking the time and effort to meet new people, renew old acquaintances, or continue to develop a friendship/relationship is simply to find out what's going on outside of our little world.  We don't know what we don't know, so we best get about the process of finding out.

We never know when an opportunity or an idea is going to come our way just because we asked questions and listened to someone else's story.  At the very least, we will have developed a friend/key contact who may someday have a great opportunity to offer.  Yes, it takes time, but the rewards can be significant.

Strong, long lasting relationships are a great insurance policy if and when a downturn occurs in one's career.  Posted by Tony

Product Life Cycle in the Insurance Industry

I recently sat in on a discussion between an MBA student and his instructor about the insurance industry and its position in the marketplace.  I thought it was very interesting in light of what's going in insurance in general . . . and specifically health insurance.

Student:  Should the industry be consolidating, with specific companies employing a strategy to acquire smaller insurance companies so there are fewer, bigger players in each sector?

Instructor:  I would say that the strategy should be two-fold:

        1. Yes, it is a perfectly natural order of things in the product life cycle for Jungle market companies to acquire or be acquired.  This affords opportunities for efficiencies and synergies which allow for reducing costs and thus, reducing prices as the product moves into a Battleground market for commodities, where price is king.  Typically there are a few large players left in the Battleground once the smaller players are squeezed out or acquired.  Examples:

   -  A few large beer companies share 80% of the national market.

   -  Pepsi and Coke own the soft drink market.

   -  The largest banks in the country probably still have 75% of the market.

        2. Innovation will allow a company to capture a market for a new and unique product.  Separate a group of people out to work on "skunks works" projects, pilots, experiments, etc., in a "try-it, do-it, fix-it" mode.  If and when a product is a high-potential hit, then market, market, market to get the brand out there first before anybody else. That is how Kingdom market products come about.  A parallel strategy here would be to seek out and acquire small companies that have developed a promising product.

Student:  Do you think the insurance industry is becoming more like the soft drink industry in terms of its market position?

Instructor:  The soft drink business is strictly a commodity business.  Yes, the market has its brand loyalty, and people will pay a little more for whatever brand they like.  However, price is king here.  If the price gets out of a narrow range and the competitor is less expensive, market share will shift.

Insurance, I think, is somewhat different.  First, it depends on the line of insurance; e.g.; auto and homeowner lines are very price sensitive.  Insurers' advertising is about strength and security (jacks or better) and price.  There are a half dozen or so very big players.  The rest are small, and price has to be competitive with the big boys. Those big boys keep acquiring the smaller ones. This is a classic Battleground.

Health insurance may be similar.  It is about cutting costs, streamlining, etc., to keep prices as low as possible.  After all, insurers here have to compete with non-profits like the Blues across the country.  As for dental insurance, I would say it also has become a commodity product in a Battleground market.  But life Insurance, annuities, and investment products are still sold on the basis of each company's history, reputation, strength, etc.

In the McKinsey Quarterly for June 26, 2009, UCLA's Richard Ruelt and McKinsey's Lowell Bryan claim that one of the consequences of the prolonged economic crisis is a major increase in "uncertainty."

What this implies is that many companies are moving toward the right on our Market Matrix, indicating less and less control.  They face a different set of rules in the marketplace, and need a very different kind of organizational culture to support their new positions. 

For some, it means moving to a new market quadrant . . . from the Kingdom to the Jungle . . . for example.  For others it means being positioned on the far right of the matrix, where complexity and unpredictability are debilitating. 

Changing economic conditions do not call for a "hunkering down" period so much as a revision to one's strategic intent, and a change in the organization to support it.  It seems counter-intuitive for car companies to close distribution outlets (dealerships) in a Battleground market.  So, perhaps after all the jostling, the new auto market is ending up in the Jungle, where more points of distribution do not represent the key strategy, but customer involvement does. 

It may no longer be critical to emphasize the convenience of a nearby dealer, since people can get all the information they need on the Internet that would pertain to price and options.  What customers need now is a bartering place and somewhere to experience a collection of cars from which they are actually going to select. 

All businesses need to assess what the new economy is doing to their market positions, and how far to the right it is taking them.  Margins are also being squeezed, which indicates more and more businesses are trying to make a living in the Jungle.  This is traditionally the most demanding market in which to survive; here it is a continual struggle to provide more and more service while keeping less and less margin.

It is essential that businesses understand this change from a strategic point of view, rather than as a temporary change where "hunkering down" is an adequate response to the crisis.  Posted by Jack

Match Leadership to the Biz

Leadership is simply getting a group of people to move in a direction toward a worthwhile goal.  And if you can clearly define that worthwhile goal and sell them on the purpose of it, then you have leadership.  Why does anyone lead any kind of group?  It's not because they say, "I want to be a leader," but because they say, "we need to get this done, and I'm going to do it."

Arguably the most important factor in any entity's success is having that effective leadership.  Major decisions on direction and strategy will determine initial and continued success or eventual failure.  Making these decisions is the leader's number one priority.  In order to make those decisions, it is very important for any leader of any sized entity to understand their position in the overall marketplace, i.e. how are their products viewed and what's important to the buying community---price, service, responsiveness, brand, etc. Once that is understood, strategy decision can be made and communicated.

Critical to success is having the right leader at the right time for the specific entity.  It is another key part of the overall Perfect Biz Match.  Posted by Tony

Dynamic Markets, Shorter Product Life Cycles

In 1998, Gary Culliss was a brilliant Harvard Law School student who in his spare time developed a truly innovative "popularity algorithm" for use in Internet search engines.  In only a few months he found that his fledgling company, Direct Hit, had moved from the Frontier into a Jungle environment with scores of new competitors, including Alta Vista, Lycos, HotBot, Yahoo, Excite, AOL, and MSN.  Before his investment banker could even complete the underwriting for his IPO, Gary became a multimillionaire, selling his patented intellectual property to another Jungle competitor, Ask Jeeves. 

Then for the next few years the market for Internet search engines consolidated into a Battleground with fewer and fewer competitors able to survive intense margin pressures.  The most popular search engine that emerged was Google, a company that did not even exist before 1998.  In much the same way that Kleenex became largely synonymous with tissue paper, "to Google" soon meant "to search."  The company seemed to be able to rule in its Kingdom market.  But for how long could that last?  Can Google now maintain its sustainable competitive advantage, or will the innovations that Bill Gates is now promising with Bing force all new companies back into a Frontier market?

You can see Jack Tesmer's graphical depiction of the new direction of typical Product Life Cycles on this page.  And in almost all industries the pace of market change is quickening.  That's why you may want to use your free Perfect Biz Match assessment at least annually.  Posted by David

What's Wrong with the Plan?

A recent article in the Wall Street Journal identifies the five most common reasons why business plans written by business owners are rejected by their prospective lenders and/or equity investors.

The last three named business-plan flaws written by entrepreneurs are: 

  -  overestimating projected future profits

  -  overselling the education and experiences of the owners, and

  -  understating the risks and uncertainties of their ventures.

But the top two reasons for the failure of business plans to win approval from prospective funders are:

  -  inadequate descriptions of the unique need to be met and/or customer problems to be solved by the small business owner, and

  -  a lack of targeted marketing research that supports sales projections in a unique market segment.

Effective business-plan writing does not consist of saying, "With a couple of beers and an Excel spreadsheet, we can make a lot of money in no time."  No, if you cannot address and eliminate some measurable pain in the marketplace, your firm will be seen (if at all) as only another elephant in the herd.  

That's why all of the products and services of the Jack Tesmer Institute are market-centric . . . starting with an honest market-centered assessment of the positioning of your products and/or services.  Posted by Steve

Your Most Dangerous Competitor

Recently two owners of a small family business completed together our free Perfect Biz Match assessment, and they were puzzled by the results.  The assessment showed that although they were organized as Hunters, their answers to the assessment indicated that they believed they were in a Frontier market . . . clearly not a match.

After further consultation with these owners, we discovered that they really were not alone as innovators in a Frontier market.  They had failed to consider a strong competitor whose product offerings and distribution system did not look like theirs.  In fact their company had already slid into a Jungle market, as their profit margins had started to shrink.  Now their Hunter organization would match with a proper assessment of their market as a Jungle; but they had to consider how best to carve out a market niche that would differ significantly from the strong competitor that they had failed to consider.

The lesson learned was one I read again today on my ODNet listserve.  It was written by Karl Albrecht, who has a large international consulting business in San Diego.  Albrecht's Law #9 says, "Your most dangerous competitor probably doesn't look like you."  Your competition is the entire set of options your customer has for meeting the need that you claim to be able to meet.  Posted by Jack

Am I Attracting the Right Sales People?

A recent article by Danita Bye highlights the unique problems managers face when hiring the right sales person in today's depressed economy that is now overflowing with applicants.

I often hear from business owners that they really don't feel they have the right people in the right places, and that they need to evaluate job applicants more effectively.  I am convinced that part of this problem stems from the fact that they have not identified the market in which they compete.  Are they in the Battleground, Jungle, Frontier, or Kingdom?  Why would this be so important?

Each of these markets demands that organizations be matched appropriately to their market conditions. For example, a sales person that has sold medical devices (in a Frontier market) may be applying for a position with a soft drink company (on a Battleground).  On paper that individual probably looks very qualified.  But the odds are that such a hire not work out very well. One might be very successful in one market but would struggle with a new company.  Why is that?

A large soft drink company competing in a Battleground market requires sales people to sell what is essentially a commodity that is almost exclusively driven by price.  The need here is to match the organization with the right sales person who has a Warrior mentality.  You receive your orders and go out every day and do battle for shelf space.  On the other hand, the medical device company in the Frontier market demands the attitude of a Pioneer. You are challenged to have your customers "try it, do it, and fix it".  You are selling something that no one else offers . . .  usually for a premium price.

This ongoing problem seems to scream out to sales managers to find out the kind of market they are in, and then evaluate sales candidates against the unique needs of their organizations.  If they don't know where they live, the first step for sales managers would be to take the Perfect Biz Match assessment.  Posted by Steve

  -  Some are task-focused and highly competitive individuals.  For them I recommend applying at companies that are Rulers of their Kingdom markets.

  -  Some are customer-oriented and highly competitive individuals.  For them I recommend applying at companies that are Warriors in Battleground markets.  

  -  Some are customer-oriented and team-oriented players.  For them I recommend companies that are Hunters in Jungle markets.

  -  Some are task-focused and team-oriented players.  For them I recommend companies that are Pioneers in Frontier markets.

But how do they know what the corporate culture of the companies at which they apply really is?  I advise them first to "look on the walls" to see what their prospective employer is celebrating as its "values" and/or its "heroes."

  -  Do you see a series of photographs of former presidents of the company?  Hmm.  Probably a Ruler culture.

  -  Do you see a great number of industry awards for differentiated customer excellence?  Hmm.  Probably a Warrior culture.

  -  Do you see pictures of "Employees of the Month" who work on Customer Service teams and/or lots of customer testimonials?  Hmm.  Probably a Hunter culture.

  -  Do you see creative photos or modern art on the wall?  Hmm.  Probably a Pioneer culture.

What's on the walls of your firm?  What message are you sending to prospective employees?  Is it consistent with your leadership style?  Does it match the market in which you're competing?  Posted by David

Health Insurance 101

Demographics and economics are on a collision course in time, accelerating this year because of the spending spree taking place in Washington, D.C.  Over the next several years, it's likely that no economic issue will affect businesses in all industries - both large and small - more significantly than reforms to our national system of delivering health insurance through employer-purchased group plans. 

Both proponents and opponents of the President's plan to offer a public-option alternative to these private plans can be expected to debate the merits of various reform provisions based on their ability to improve our ability to meet the four cornerstone (yet apparently competing) objectives that must underlie any balanced health-care policy platform:

   - Cost containment

   - Assurance of quality

   - Resource availability

   - Equity of access

But another way to look at the pros and cons of various reform provisions being championed is to examine their potential for reducing the pitfalls of our current "Health Insurance Hazard Morass," which is driving up the cost of doing business at an unsustainable rate.  Depersonalizing the debate, by using automobiles instead of our human bodies, may help our elected leaders understand the political, social, and economic forces that should be addressed.

So, suppose that private-sector employers had been able to deduct any amount they paid in premiums for health insurance designed to cover the cars of their employees and dependents . . . and that their employees did not have to report these premium contributions to their coverage as imputed taxable income.  Suppose further that to cover the health of the autos of the elderly and the indigent our Congressional leaders had enacted both Motorcare and Motorcaid.  What do you think we would have seen?

  -  Automobile mechanics seized the financial opportunities afforded them by legislation that effectively hid from consumers virtually all the costs of treatments prescribed.  Under the auspices of the American Mechanics Association (AMA), new graduate programs at major universities not only awarded motor doctor (M.D.) degrees, but also established internship and residency requirements for areas of specialization and sub-specialization.  Hosts of new vehicle illnesses and treatments were soon discovered.  Legislatures responded to published journal articles by mandating coverage for an ever-widening array of morbidity hazards.  Health policies were soon required to cover treatments for such conditions as ethanol abuse, dermatological paint abrasions, on-board computer viruses, trans-manifold joint (TMJ) disorders, carpool tunnel syndrome, and grill-bra prolapses.

 -  Facing only a nominal $25 cost-sharing co-pay, insured employees exposed their insurers to the moral hazard of overutilization of services, as they read Popular Mechanics for hours on end in car-care-clinic waiting rooms, while their automobiles received monthly tune-ups.

 -  On the other hand, elaborate in-patient auto hospital services proliferated to meet the mounting demand of others who manifested the morale hazard of practicing a lack of preventive care by not taking care of their cars and letting them smoke too much.

 - Society's propensity to sue for mechanical malpractice grew with its collective entitlement expectation for perfect treatment outcomes, thereby reflecting an increasing mores hazard.  Trial lawyers opposed all tort-reform proposals, and one made millions suing a mechanic who tried to deliver oil changes prematurely without using expensive "C-Clamps."  (He later ran for Vice President of the United States, before cheating on his cancer-stricken wife.)

 -  The moron hazard deepened, as insured individuals had to try to understand their motor doctors' diagnoses for their cars, explained in Latin, complete with co-morbidity prognoses and polysyllabic prescriptions scrawled illegibly onto tiny slips of paper.

 -  And vehicle medical facilities evidenced a pernicious more & more hazard, as they abided by the technological imperative to use only the newest MRI equipment to isolate a broken fan belt.

For a much deeper economic analysis of what is being debated in Congress this summer, you might want to read Health Insurance 102.

Regardless of the industry or market in which you compete, it's critical to ask, "What will various health-insurance reforms mean to my business?"  "Should I view them as opportunities . . . or threats?"  These are among the many questions posed in Jack Tesmer's Quick Plan process.  Posted by David

Kingdom to Jungle Product Life Cycle

We just finished doing some work with a commercial property management company that specializes in developing, leasing and managing suburban shopping centers. They have been in business for over 70 years and three generations.

When they started, shopping was done in neighborhood commercial districts and downtowns.  Indoor malls came about in the 50's and 60's as suburbs grew.  Still there were very few strip centers in those suburbs.  Those that were built really owned the market for retailers who wanted to be in the growing markets of the suburbs, but who could not or would not go to the indoor malls. They could be selective about who they took in to their centers. They could set lease rates wherever they deemed appropriate. They truly ruled in a KINGDOM market.

As time went by and more and more strip centers were built, competition became more acute, tenants (customers) demanded more for less, and hence margins eroded.  High quality service and services are critical to attract and retain quality tenants for the properties.  This is a JUNGLE market.

Next stop: BATTLEGROUND.  This is all very typical of a product/service life cycle.  Posted by Tony

Am I Terminally Unique?

And by the way, what the heck does that mean?

This thought has been bouncing around in my head for some time.  We use it in our consulting business, and I see it on social networks for describing a need for some kind of intervention.

Well now, after I see that word, "intervention," I am not sure if this is for me.  After all, I am a business owner who really knows my stuff.  I started this company with a few dollars and a few ideas.  I grew it into a sustainable business, and it is doing well considering the awful economy we are in, even though I am not sure which market I am operating in (Jungle, Battleground, Kingdom or Frontier).  All of the issues that are before me are unique to me, this industry, and my company.  No one has ever experienced my concerns.  Even though I have more than my share of issues as a CEO, no one, I repeat no one, could possible get a grip around my problems.  Why then should I look for help?  They just wouldn't get it . . . or it would take just enough time for me to tell them my story to a point that they might understand.  Therefore I am not going to go through the effort.

If I were to really examine my self deeply enough, I know that I would find a variety of issues surrounding my business.  I find myself at various events playing the "everything is really great" card.  After all, I was taught to never openly admit that I am having troubles.  Always appear to be strong and successful.  By the way, when I do meet very successful people, I leave feeling honestly depressed.

Why do I need to worry about this anyway?  What effect is it having on my company?  After all, these issues are unique to me.  I need to fix them.

At the Jack Tesmer Institute we have seen this kind of dynamic much too often.  It usually prohibits CEO's from looking for help that can save their companies in the long run.  Most who possess this attitude rarely look outside themselves.  They reach a point where making even a small decision is very difficult.  After all, we have all the answers or at least that is what we think other people are thinking.  Many times we can't be sure we are making the absolute correct decisions . . .  so therefore we don't make any.

The end result is that we position our firm for missed opportunities in buying other companies or technology.  We don't look for various ways to improve and market our ideas.  We don't change.  We don't bring in the right people with the skill sets that can help and improve our company, and maybe take it to the next level.  After all, I know everything there is to know and we probably tried that ten years ago, and it didn't work.

You see where I am going with this.  I think we can agree that thinking strategically is critical to any sustainable venture you can work on.  Some of you who are "terminally unique" may not get this piece.  But if you identify with what I am saying, maybe a good start would be to take the initial assessment offered here.  It will give you a quick look at where you are and what your organization is and/or should be to match your market.  You can do this privately and no one will know.

I think you will find this exercise quite liberating.  Maybe you are on the right track.  If that is the outcome, it would be very nice to know that you have done or are doing the right things.  If not, you now have initiated a new beginning of change.  JTI will assist you in whatever you may need.  YOU DRIVE THE BUS.  JTI has a variety of specialized channel partners to help you in various ways, be it technology, organizational development, sales, finance, strategic planning, product and/or business development. JTI can do much of this through the use of technology that really helps to minimize the cost.

My overall point is there is absolutely no reason for you to remain in this quagmire, any longer.  Step out.  Posted by Steve

Adjusting Your Leadership Style to Your Market

No doubt each of us has reported to different type of bosses:  ruling Chiefs, controlling Commanders, orchestrating team Coordinators, and rah-rah Cheerleaders.  Which one is best?  Perhaps surprisingly, not any one style is always preferred.

According to Jack Tesmer's Perfect Biz Match, the type of leadership style most effective is the one that is consistent not only with a chosen organizational structure, but also with the focus of the type of market in which the firm is competing:

In markets that are more stable (Kingdoms and Battlegrounds), Chief and Commander leaders who encourage and reward more individualistic achievements tend to be most effective; but in markets that are more turbulent (Jungles and Frontiers), Coordinators and Cheerleaders have been found to be more effective, since they rely more on encouraging team accomplishments and downplay individual competition between employees. 

At the same time, in markets where all eyes must be focused on the consumer (Battlegrounds and Jungles), Commander and Coordinator styles of leadership work the best; but in markets where most attention must remain on internal control or product development (Kingdoms and Frontiers), ruling Chiefs and pioneering Cheerleaders get the best results.

Similarly, the type of organizational structure most effective is the one that fits best with the focus of the type of market in which the firm is competing:

   - Hierarchical bureaucracies in Kingdom markets

   - Flatter controlled structures in Battleground markets

   - Matrix organizations in Jungle markets

   - Flexible, seemingly chaotic structures in Frontier markets

Is your leadership style consistent with both your organizational structure and with the market in which you compete?  Have you assessed your organizational-market fit?  Posted by David

Designing your Organizational Ship to Manage Change

Managing organization in today's markets can be likened to sailing a ship under conditions that are as different as the winds and weather that captains encounter.  Organizations and ships both need to be fashioned to work optimally under different kinds of conditions.  Do you need a schooner, brigantine, cutter, or sloop, for example, to navigate optimally through the changing waters and winds of your market?

Determining which market seas to sail, developing an organizational culture that is best adapted to that market, and building your organizational ship that best fits that culture are all the jobs of management.  Managers need to determine what needs to change in the organization to attain this new culture.  Where do we put our attention so that the cultural change actually happens?  What is the big picture of the new system that guides management members as they adjust to new or changing markets?

Critical to this is knowledge of the design characteristics of organizations that will best sail in the different seas of the four markets.  These are the characteristics that must be adapted as market circumstances change.

To determine this, we need to understand that an organization, like a sailing ship, is a system with many parts that need to work together.  It brings something into that system, like "wind" for the sailor, and changes it and moves it out as a product or service.  In order to do that it must have a way to create energy to get things done.  As with a ship and the wind, this energy must then be captured and directed toward specific goals to accomplish the transformations of the business. 

Managers need ways to direct that energy.  Left alone it will go in many directions and the organization would have great difficulty sustaining itself. Managers need ways to create what we call synergy, which is the result of everyone pulling together in a cohesive fashion to get the work done.  Synergy has different characteristics in the four markets where we do our work.

We have found (especially with our clients that assess their potential for navigational success with our Nine-Dimensional Organizational Assessment) that when business strategies are most often unsuccessful, it is not because the strategy was faulty, but because the organization is not able to adjust to the dynamics of its new market.

We, therefore, think it is very important that the guidelines for creating energy and synergy are consistent with the new market environment.  Otherwise we take the chance that the organization may actually be working against its strategy by the way it is positioned and by the rules it enforces.  To read about an old organizational ship foundering in a changing market sea, click here.  Posted by Jack

Redesigning Organizations for Market Changes

A consulting company that helped customer companies select and install various kinds of information technology systems was run by an entrepreneur who was fond of management courses and the latest books about new management techniques. He tried very hard to provide a company to his employees that allowed them to perform at their peak level. 

When he first formed the company, there were some competing companies like his, but he was able to prove to his customers that his consultants were better able to serve their clients than others.  His proof was that his employees had elaborate systems for sharing information. They were in touch with each other constantly, sharing notes from one company experience to another. They worked in teams, and spent time together comparing experiences and worked on improving their processes. 

They were organized by customer group types, and specialized in the skills needed in each type, and the problems of installation that were encountered in each kind of company they worked in.  Management spent a lot of time with these consultants, learning what their issues were and devising ways to change the system so that these issues were dealt with. 

After a few years it became evident that growth was not taking place as rapidly as in the first years.  Clients were haggling more about prices and not so interested in how different the consultants were from their competitors.  There were also fewer systems being installed and some of these were able to be installed without nearly as much outside help.  In other words, the market was changing.  It was moving from a competitive Jungle market to a commodity, or Battleground market. 

Simultaneously management began to realize that cost/profit ratios were becoming more and more negative.  The labor cost percentage was growing as they were able to charge less for services and fewer services were needed.  It was a new world.  The old organizational ideas were no longer valid, not because they were intrinsically wrong, but because the company was now in a new market.  The nature of installation did not need as much problem solving with the new systems.  The information sharing, team operations, and management attention were no longer positive differentiators. In fact clients were turned off by all this added work.

It was time to redesign the system to meet the new market conditions. Management needed first to re-think the strategy so that they were in the market they really wanted to serve and in which they could sustain themselves.  Then they needed to determine the kind of culture that would support that market situation.  Finally, they needed to redesign the system to fit that culture.

If they were truly entering a Battleground market, they could no longer survive as Hunters, but needed to become a Warrior organization to thrive.  Posted by Jack

How Entrepreneurial is Your Firm?

Published this year in the International Journal of Business and Management is a most timely look at "How Entrepreneurial Firms Prosper while Larger Firms Crumble" - especially during these trying economic times.  How do such companies as Wendy's, Nucor Steel, and Proctor & Gamble differ with respect to the frequency of their entrepreneurial activities and the intensity of their innovation and risk taking?  How does the author's "Entrepreneurial Grid" complement your understanding of Jack Tesmer's PBM quadrants for organizations:  Ruler, Warrior, Hunter, and Jungle?  Where would you plot your firm?  To find out, simply download this four-page article, by clicking here.  Posted by David

In the 1950's and 1960's one could clearly see that the U.S. auto market showed all the characteristics of a Battleground market, where market share was fought over by the "Big Three," organized as Warriors.

Gradually over the past decades, however, the U.S. auto market has become much more turbulent, with unpredictable gasoline prices, rapidly escalating concerns about carbon emissions, skyrocketing domestic employee-benefit costs, and the rising dominance of many foreign competitors.  It has now moved close to . . . if not clearly in . . . a Jungle market, where competitors claw to carve our market niches.

Emerging this year from bankruptcy court will be the new Chrysler and General Motors corporations, to be owned - and essentially run - by the federal government and the UAW.  Is it possible to come up with more classic examples of bureaucratic Ruler organizations than the legislative and executive branches of our national government? 

Given their new owners, can Chrysler and GM transform themselves into Hunter organizations, embracing the culture of customer service and flexibility needed to succeed in today's domestic Jungle auto market?  Or might these companies' new Ruler owners be able to transform, through various legislative mandates, the U.S. auto market into the kind of Kingdom market that they can rule?  Stay tuned.  Posted by David

PBM in an MBA Classroom

In different MBA classes over the past few years I have used Jack Tesmer's Perfect Biz Match assessment to bridge the gap between the academic and business worlds.  After taking a PBM assessment of their own company, division, or work-unit, students with an average of 5-6 years of business experience were easily able to articulate where and how they saw mismatches between the structure, culture, and leadership style of their organization . . . and the demands of the type of market in which they were competing.  Many Strategic Management students returned to their employer, asking others in their companies also to use the PBM assessment as a diagnostic tool in their strategic planning efforts.

In another Research Methods course, students were able to assess the reliability and validity of the PBM assessment instrument itself.  They left the course with a deeper knowledge of and appreciation for the kinds of reliability and validity (construct, content, convergent, etc.) that must be built into any survey or assessment tool.  Posted by David