We have all heard strategic plans can catapult an organization towards success, yet so many fall short. Here are top excuses (ah hem), top reasons that refrain people from strategic planning and expert tips on how to do strategic planning right. 1. “We do just fine without a strategic plan.” While this may be true, you may be missing an opportunity to know for sure. Strategic planning is a great way to gain honest input Read more…
Living in a Coffee Shop Summers growing up included being woken by the sounds and smells of buttery coffee beans from the ground floor of our family’s house in Vietnam. There it was. The beautiful industrial, yet fairly small roasting machine. My elder cousins had to squat to work the machine. I watched quietly as they poured in the beans, ground the coffee, sealed the bags, loaded the moped, and drove away to deliver the Read more…
The Chief Executive Leadership Conference November 3-4, 2022 Denver, CO & Online What it’s about Chief Executive’s Leadership Conference is the premier senior leadership conference in the United States – offering peer-tested tactics and strategies that will help you and your organization accelerate growth and profitability – no matter the state of the economy. It’s a unique opportunity to fine-tune your strategic assumptions, future plans and tactical priorities in collaboration with world-class speakers and thought Read more…
Every week someone tells me they want to be a consultant. It’s a job that seems so ideal. You get paid to help, you get to work with a variety of clients, you get to do things your way (mostly), and you’re seen as the expert. Then they ask me how do you do it? I too thought of being a consultant years before I became one. 5 years ago I joined an in-house boutique Read more…
About to embark on strategic planning? Here’s our webinar with Bloomerang on community engagement in strategic planning. Gain tips on how to build more inclusive planning processes. We also share stories of what’s worked and what doesn’t. Walk-away with specific tools you can use as you lead stakeholders through community-driven strategy development. Full Transcript Opening & welcome: Steven: All right, Julie. I’ve got 1:00 Eastern. Is it okay if I go ahead and get this Read more…
Public education has been hit hard in recent years. I’m here to share with you a bright spot and how we achieved it, as you absolutely can too. We started with abysmal graduation rates, unhappy neighbors, multi-cultural mis understandings, and shrinking budgets. We also started with a mindset of we can and we must, as we cannot have one more child under achieve or one more family not being able to access resources that are Read more…
42% of people in U.S. can’t name one well-known Asian American. 11% said Jackie Chan and 9% said Bruce Lee (who died nearly half a century ago). This isn’t family feud folks! Just getting Asian names on the board isn’t good enough. We are diverse. Not just kung-fu super heroes. We have been here since the 1850s. We are firmly rooted in the fabric of America. This is our home, yet we are invisible. The Read more…
Consultants have played an important role for organizations through this pandemic. Helping organization leaders make emergency shifts during lockdown and supporting ongoing needs as the pandemic continued. A year later, there are some valuable lessons learned that will help shape the future. Remote Work is Here to Stay In a recent PWC survey, “over half of employees (55%) would prefer to be remote at least three days a week once pandemic concerns recede.” Yes, there will Read more…
You’ve planned the perfect meeting with the ideal people, at an inspiring venue, and a spot-on agenda. Nothing can get in your way, until a BEAR shows up. And boy is this bear persistent. It walked right up to our venue, peered into the windows, and put on a show. Competing with you for time and attention. This bear was not metaphorical. It was real and made me think on my toes! Pulling from my Read more…
“But what about my supervisor?” “Is leadership going through the same training?” These are questions I often receive when teaching leadership and management workshops. Participants love the information but worry about their chances with success with difficult managers. They want to know how to get their supervisors or company leadership to ALSO learn to be better leaders. In some cases those leaders and managers are also participating in or are open to their own professional Read more…