Saturday, July 29, 2006

What drives "Breakout Growth"?


Running businesses, we are all focused on what critical levers we can push, which will result in growth. Not just slow-and-steady growth, but blow-your-socks-off growth. The kind of growth that injects cash and momentum into a business -- and which is sustainable.It can't just be growth for a year or two, which leads to breakdowns later. We are all interested in knowing what steps we can take to drive our businesses forward aggressively.

Later this year (in November), Jackson Leadership consultant and Dartmouth B-School Prof Syd Finkelstein (with 2 co-authors) comes out with his next book on this very topic. For more info, check out this link.

At Jackson, we already have an opinion on what the critical levers are. However, unlike some consultants, who simply devise a theory, sell it to clients, and later (if ever) test it to see if it is actually linked to success, we are testing our theory before selling the results.

If you would like to take part in our research and complete a 12-minute Web survey on your own organization, please let me know (click here). We'll be sure to email you a complete report later of our findings (and non-findings).

Thanks for contributing to our knowledge of organizational science.

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The Seven Habits of Spectacularly Unsuccessfully Executives

It's rarely discussed, at least not as much as the habits of successful CEOs, but the truth is that it takes some special personal qualities to be spectacularly unsuccessful.

In this Ivey Business Journal article from 2 years ago, Syd Finkelstein discusses how leaders can be not only instruments of success, but sometimes also architects of failure.

It's the most popular downloaded white paper from the Jackson Leadership website.

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'Breakout Performance' Weblog Launch


Welcome to the 'Breakout Performance' weblog launch. This is intended to be a forum to allow for those with an interest in how leadership, strategy, and process drive exceptional organizational performance to share thoughts and ideas.

I have studied and consulted about this area for over a decade. For the academics out there, I studied at the Columbia Business School's Department of Management under Don Hambrick. My doctoral dissertation studied the link between pre-IPO firms' officers' and directors' backgrounds and IPO and post-IPO performance.

My consulting firm, Jackson Leadership Systems, Inc., has worked with with organizations on helping their leadership, strategy, and process drive 'breakthrough performance' since 1989. Recently, we collaborated with Sydney Finkelstien, Dartmouth Tuck School of Business Professor of Management, on 2 new practice areas which address this topic: Driving Breakout Performance and SMART Early-Warning System.

I look forward to chatting with you over the coming months and sharing more info.

Cheers,

Eric

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