People. Everyone knows human capital is your biggest asset — and your biggest risk factor. So why not take a deeper dive into "people issues" when you do your due diligence -- to know where the "soft spots" are in the team and whether they are growth needs, fixer-uppers or show stoppers? For investors — a PowerUP assessment can tell if an existing management team has [...]
Paying customers. Avid users. Devoted followers. Outspoken promoters. Nothing else is as important to succeed — whether you're a scrappy start-up or a giant like Apple, Sanofi or EPIC. To shift late adopters from naysaying and worst-case scenario-building to "can-do" possibility thinking. So they don't just see what your innovation can do for them -- but don't see how to live without the breakthroughs you [...]
Diagnosis is Step 1 for Leaders to Make Courage Contagious. Inventive thinking doesn’t “just happen” — even when you recruit brilliant stars, give them autonomy, give them funding and ask them to bring you their best recommendations. Can you recognize when your team, task force, Board Meeting or customer negotiation falls into one (or more) of these risk-averse traps - and gets derailed or [...]
Are investors wow'd by your value proposition and unfair competitive advantage? "In fewer than 20 words," we ask presenters, "what's the ONE key message you want investors to remember about your pitch - that will call them to action?" Try it. See if you're clear - and if the take-away is enough of a WOW! to compete for share of [...]
To make learning fun, turn it into a game - and put it to work There's a classic joke. In Philadelphia, someone asks, "How do I get to the Academy of Music on Broad Street?" The answer: "Practice." In his book, Outliers, Malcolm Gladwell shows that raw talent and insight are not enough. There are no shortcuts. It takes 10,000 [...]
Will you have enough conflict - so your Big Idea becomes a commercial diamond? If you trade in innovation, you know the odds. Fewer than 20% get adequate funding. Fewer than that get launched. When you ask about the failures, you hear about product flaws and a lack of market traction. You have to probe deeper to see why really [...]
Take a G&A function — like yours With courage to PowerUP Brilliance™, you can transform your G&A function from overhead to a profit generator. You can be a voice of conscience and an advocate for adherence that says, "Yes, can-do" and finds breakthrough possibilities — rather than "No way" or "That's unreasonable." For example: A Marketing group projected a contribution [...]
There's no bigger joy than a CXO's … …when s/he sees his/her team lift their game and PowerUP Brilliance™. That's the magic of a culture-shaping innovation workshop. In just a few intense hours, we take a fresh look at aggressive KPIs, new standards of accountable care, lagging revenue targets, technical hurdles. It's always a thrill when a smart team shifts [...]
The innovator's dilemma "SMART goals," the CEO said, "can only WOW investors and customers if we dare to set the "A"-level at Awesome and Audacious Achievements, rather than settling for something Achievable, Average, Adequate." We can set Specific, Measurable, Relevant and Time-bound goals without making anyone's palms sweat. But when we set the bar high and someone says, 'Ouch!' - [...]
Lean thinking to streamline work that does not add value - and find opportunities for revenue generation One of Merom's first consulting assignments, years before he ventured out and founded his own firm, was with a famous potato chip manufacturer in Central Pennsylvania. Ask any Baby Boomer who grew up within a 4-hour radius of their factory and they’ll remember [...]
